City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. If everybody wants to grab a seat, we'll get started with our meeting. Okay. We're going to call this Monday, June 8th, City Council meeting to order. Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Council Member Carter is not present. Council Member Capizzi?

Here.

Council Member Edwards? Here. Here. Mayor Pro Tems Bradley.

Here.

Council Member Lebowski. Here. Council Member Ryan. Here. And Mayor Lennards.

Here. We have a quorum. If you join me in the invocation followed by the pledges. Heavenly Father, thank you for bestowing upon us as a city council the privilege of serving this wonderful city we call home. Please give us as the city council open minds and wisdom to do what is best for our community. Thank you, Lord, for all the amazing blessings that you've bestowed upon in this beautiful place that we get to call home. Lord, thank you for the recent rains. We appreciate what you've given us, but we could use more if it's in your will. Lord, be with the family of Juliet Watson as they mourn the confirmation of her passing. Please look after and protect our hardworking city staff as they help us to better serve and improve our community. Lord, be with our first responders who work diligently to keep our community safe. Jesus, keep us humble and obedient in your word. In your name we pray. Amen.

and indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Mayor, just a reminder, we have overflow in Tejas.

I think some of these people standing up are here for our proclamation, but if you're not here for our proclamation and you can't find a seat, we do have overflow seating across the hall. Okay, we get to start the meeting out with some fun proclamations. Our first one up is Make Music Day. If you're here with Make Music Day, come on up. So whereas New Braunfels is a community which supports and celebrates a thriving and welcoming music scene that draws residents and visitors alike. Whereas Make Music Day is an annual celebration on the first day of summer, showcasing free live music throughout the community and inviting all to experience and participate in making music. And whereas on June 21st, 2026, New Braunfels will celebrate its second year of participating in Make Music Day, highlighting the city's vibrant culture and local talent, while inviting the community and visitors together in celebration of music. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Neil Linnertz, Mayor of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, hereby proclaim June 21st, 2026, as Make Music Day in New Braunfels, and I encourage all citizens of New Braunfels to come together in celebration of music as a unifying and inspiring force in our community.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council, and City staff for recognizing Make Music Day and presenting us with this proclamation. We are excited to bring together community and visitors on June 21st to celebrate a day of free live music. Thank you for supporting and recognizing this worldwide celebration. All over town.

Next one is Fatherhood Month. If you're here for Fatherhood Month, come on up. So whereas everyone deserves a chance to reach one's full potential, and we have a moral and economic duty to support our children and to promote positive outcomes for youth through early intervention, quality education, and family support programs, Whereas fathers, whether biological, a father figure, foster or adoptive, deserve our honor and gratitude. And whereas the celebration of Father's Day is a time to honor fathers and thank them for their love and support and the vital potential role they play in helping our children grow and set goals for their future. Whereas, good fathering and co-parenting during infancy, childhood, and adolescence contributes to emotional security and has overwhelming positive psychological and economic benefits for children, families, communities, and other sectors. And whereas, children are less likely to face poverty, infant mortality, and abuse and or neglect when there is an involved father in their lives. And whereas all fathers must invest in providing emotional and financial support for their children at every juncture in their lives, supporting, involved, nurturing, and responsible fatherhood. And whereas strong families are the foundation of thriving communities, which are essential as we address social challenges like addiction, teen pregnancy, crime, and school dropout. And whereas throughout our state, we aim to promote positive fathering and co-parenting to showcase providers of fatherhood resources and services and to increase public awareness of crucial roles of fathers. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Neil Linnertz, Mayor of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, hereby proclaim June 2026 as Responsible Fatherhood Month in New Braunfels. Thank you.

Hey, man, we just want to thank the mayor and the council. And remember that strong fathers create strong families. Strong families create strong churches. Strong churches create strong cities. Strong cities create strong states and so on, and then nations. So I just applaud all these men up here. And if you are a father or grandfather, I applaud you. Keep being responsible. Thank you.

Take a photo? Please, James. Squeeze in the fit. Next up is National Safety Month. If you're here for National Safety Month, come on down. So whereas the safety, health, and well-being of the City of New Braunfels workforce is essential to delivering high-quality services to our community, and whereas National Safety Month, observed each June, provides an opportunity to recognize the importance of cultivating a strong culture of safety across all city departments and operations, And whereas the City of New Braunfels is committed to proactive risk management strategies that reduce workforce injuries, control losses, and support the physical and psychological well-being of team members. And whereas through ongoing training, hazard identification, incident reporting, and continuous improvement efforts, the City strives to provide a safe and resilient work environment for all team members. And whereas the leadership engagement and team members participation are critical components of an effective safety program fostering accountability, collaboration, and shared responsibility at every level of the organization. And whereas recognizing and reinforcing safe behaviors helps prevent workplace incidents, reduces risk exposures, and ensures team members return home safely at the end of each workday. and whereas national safety month serves as a reminder to recommit to safety as a core organizational value and to prioritize practices that protect our workforce and the public we serve now therefore be it resolved that i neil leonards mayor of the city of new brownfields texas hereby proclaim june 2026 as national safety month in new brownfields and I encourage all city team members to actively engage in safe work practices, participate in training and risk reduction efforts, and contribute to a culture where safety is a shared responsibility. Do you want to say anything?

Thank you, Mayor. I'm Kaylin Cronin, the human resources manager in charge of risk and safety for the city of New Braunfels. And up here I have our risk and safety team along with our safety coaches across multiple departments because we certainly could not do it without them. I want to just thank the mayor, city council, and our city leadership for buying into this program. Throughout the course of the month, we're offering different training opportunities, screenings, and different engaging events to help incorporate safety to make sure that every city team member goes home at the end of the day.

Okay, our next item is citizens communication. This is a time for citizens to address the city council on issues and items of concern that are not on this agenda. There will be no city council action at this time. If you'd like to address council, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ. And if I don't see anybody approaching the podium, I will close citizens communication.

Okay. David Warmke, District 5. Deja vu all over again. You know, it's been a year since I've been here. I stopped and I've been doing music for a year, playing music every night. So tonight actually ends up sort of with some lyrics of a song. But I came back because of the election. And this election was really unique and very different than anything I've ever seen in New Braunfels. Mud slinging. I see billboards and mailings put up by PACs without the candidates even necessarily knowing they're going up. This was not good. The city attorney sort of got hung with it, the meeting. There were some questions of agenda last week. Councilwoman Carter brought up something to address the rules and just let it slide. I'm really disappointed. Looks bad. But there's a silver lining. I'm a 40,000-foot guy. So, Mr. Mayor, your first meeting three years ago, you let me do a song with a guitar. I don't have a guitar, but I have lyrics for a song. I've done three songs about things that go on down here, and they're essentially so people don't forget. This is called, they call it railroading. They call it railroading, keep the machine, keep the machine a moving. Keep the trainer rolling, all costs, keep the trainer rolling. Run to problems, find a scapegoat to blame. Keep railroading, keep it steaming, keep on steaming right along. We fired a city attorney May 26th, an election up for whatever reason. A 33-year-old charter finally used literally, whoops, it's been illegal, it's been illegal for three decades. Keep the machine a-movin'. Keep the train a-rollin'. At all costs, keep the train a-rollin'. Run to problems, find a scapegoat. Keep on railroadin', keep on steamin'. Keep steamin' right along. Election day, pick for low turnout. A large, faithful chamber vote loyally, easily rules the town. The chamber selected on the ballot, easily elected. The machine keeps rollin'. Machine keeps rollin' along. Keep the machine a-movin', keep the train a-rollin', all costs keep the train a-rollin'. Run to problems, find a scapegoat to blame. Keep on railroadin', keep on steamin' right along. Now if it's close, let's make it a plurality. Hard to vote an incumbent with no runoff. All a perfect plan for a long time. Keep the machine a-runnin', keep the machine in charge. Whoops, it's illegal. What do we do? Find a scapegoat. Our outstanding city attorney, she will do. Do it quietly, do it in executive session. Whoops, she made her honorable stand in general session. Keep the machine a-movin', keep the train a-rollin' at all costs, keep the train a-rollin' along. We're under problems, we'll just find a scapegoat to blame. Keep on railroadin', keep it steamin', keep steamin' right along. Wheels comin' off? We can still ride. We can still ride till it finally crashes. Looks like that could be real soon. Thank you for listening.

I'm back. My name's Thomas Campbell, and I'm a resident here, mayor, mayor pro temp. Thank you for having me. I appreciate being able to have the right to stand here and talk. So I want to say something first. I said something incorrect earlier. I want to admit I was wrong, and Wayne Peterson corrected me. And so that particular fact that I misspoke about I didn't get it right, and it was that our mayor used to be able to run twice so you could do it, and now you can run three times. So I want to stand corrected about that. The prior speaker, I'm sorry, sir, I don't know your name, is absolutely correct that it has been broken for a really long time. And I did a bunch of research, because that's sort of what I do. And he explained to me about when they changed that. And it has been this way since 1958. That's older than me. And sometimes we just kind of cope with that. But in 2020, the city's attorney's office was specifically tasked with reviewing it. And I'm sure they reviewed it a whole bunch of times. And I spent my career in software. And we have a word for the flaw that a review is supposed to catch and it doesn't. And really, there's only certain people that are responsible for it. If I run a company and I have a bug in my software, then I'm responsible for it if I'm running it. But in the case of elected officials, Well, I mean, there were other people here before that. So who do we blame? We don't really, we can only go to the city and say, hey, you know, this should have been fixed, but there are actually seven problems with the charter. Most people don't know this. I spoke to several people about it, and I wrote and I submitted a paper. Hmm? Yes, exactly. To the city about it, because that's what I could do, explaining what was, in my opinion, broken about it. And I think that when I've had to let people go for writing bugs for the company that I worked for and I ran. and it was unfortunate and it made me sad, but that's just the reality is that someone has to be responsible for it, especially if they're being paid for it. And so I want to say today that I'm not here for a scalp. A lot of people in this gallery have been for weeks, which is the reason I'm here. And I have a name for that pattern. I call it the ever-blamer. The ever-blamer doesn't have a goal. The ever-blamer has a target. The charter is broken, fault the mayor. The mayor moves to fix it, fault him for fixing it wrong. The vote follows procedure, fault the procedure. There is no resolution for the ever-blamer we'll accept because the resolution is not the goal. Blame is. Sitting next to an ever-blamer is like sitting next to someone at a pro wrestling match. Some of them know it's fake and enjoy the show, and some of them have their legs shaking because they've fooled themselves into believing it's real. The fakeness becomes emotion, the emotion becomes conviction, and the conviction becomes how they vote. The town doesn't get better when one person falls. The town gets better when the documents get fixed. And let me tell you how a broken charter survives in plain sight for 30 years. It survives because almost nobody is watching. On May 2nd, the turnout in Comal County was 12%. In Guadalupe County, it was five. The leading candidate for a mayor of a city of 100,000 people, and it's even more than that now, took the seat with 36, well, took what we thought was the seat with 3,600 votes. The conflict in this charter went unnoticed for decades, one reason so few of us ever showed up to find it. It's our responsibility to see those things, the citizens, that the empty room that is the empty room the loudest voices count on. Our democracy does not die in some distant capital. It dies in the quiet moments when we fail to exercise the rights we already have. And let me be clear about what this document is. Under Article 11, Section 5 of the Texas Constitution, this charter can be amended exactly one way, by a majority vote of the qualified voters of New Braunfels. The council can propose a change and place it on the ballot, but the council cannot amend it. They can't change it. They don't have any control over that. The city attorney cannot. The city secretary cannot. Only we can, the residents, at an election.

Sir, I'm sorry. Your time is up. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Is this working? Awesome, good deal. Michael Murphy, non-resident, y'all's most favorite non-resident out there. I'm here tonight, I've been coming here for years talking about character. And we need to build character in this city. And it starts right here at the top. And as this gentleman alluded to, this election process has been anything but. It's just, everyone sitting up here on this dais has a responsibility. to show good character, show class. And that's not what's been happening. We got a mayor pro tem that's using Facebook as his personal go get you page. Opposition research could or could not be valid. Nobody's really substantiated it. We just had people's opinions of what they think. That's very unbecoming of a mayor pro tem. Really is. Let the results fall where they may. We're not gonna know till the 13th. And hopefully we won't be like California counting for a month later. But we'll know after the 13th who the people have chosen. There shouldn't be any mudslinging, there shouldn't be dragging people through the mud, shouldn't be questioning people's character, questioning their backgrounds. They're a convicted felon, yeah. They shouldn't even be running. But it's mind boggling to me that where this thing is going, right? Mayor Lennarts, you had the New Brunswick's Young Republican Club come out and support you. Can't read it, but I'll tell you what it is. I ask you to condemn them for what they've done. Their president was arrested for theft from Academy in the Houston area. That's documented. There's an arrest record of it. He supported you. Now you're paying him $5,780 to block walk for you. I mean, to me, that's mind-boggling. Just the appearance on face value alone is not a good look. you know, is what it is. That's your campaign, you choose how you want to run it. But I'm telling every one of you sitting up there, that's what the American citizen is tired of. We're tired of this. Tired of the blame game. Tired of dragging people through the mud of, well, I'm better, and I don't like this person, so I'm just gonna drag them through the mud. You're supporting a criminal. You're paying a criminal. That's your opinion? But anyway, it's just disgusting. It really is where this thing has gone with this city. We're all better than that, every single one of us, and it's on both sides. There's no denying that, right? All I ask, like I've asked every time I've come up here to speak is think about it. The gentleman up before me said it best, don't run on emotion. Emotionally, you'll make bad decisions. Don't use Facebook as your personal platform to go bash somebody. Don't try to tell somebody what they need to write because you disagree with it. That's First Amendment, freedom of speech. You know, we talk about naysayers. There's naysayers out there everywhere. Just like this individual back here. Got TDS, apparently. It is what it is. I mean, that's... That's their prerogative. That's what they choose to do and that's their deal. I just ask that y'all be better. Be better and represent the city for what it's always been. I've been coming up here since I was a kid. Family vacations, I chose to live in this area and it's definitely not once what it was. This business has turned into an ugly business and you're not gonna right the ship by doing what you're doing. You know, I've seen a very noticeable difference in the past few weeks about engagement from y'all up here. That's what matters. Get engaged, right? Pay attention to some of the naysayers. Like I say, the naysayers spoke on the first election. There may be more of them out there than what y'all realize. And I know it's hard to get everybody on the same page, and it's hard to get an opinion from everybody, and I think that's where politics has went. People are so beat down because politicians don't do what they say they're gonna do, so they just choose not to go vote. And then it's just, go run roughshod over the hen house, the people that sit on the dais.

Sir, thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening. I'm Marcy Salinas, I'm a resident. What I have to speak about tonight may seem a little trivial, but I hope not. If you have never been woken up between, let's say, 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., 5 a.m., by those who modified their mufflers on their vehicles or their motorcycles, well, I'm happy for you. But really, it's a real disruption to sleep. And the whole stretch of land becomes a raceway after 11 PM. I know there's a city ordinance against certain decibels of noise. But I'd really like to ask you to work with the police and let's start getting those mufflers redone the way they came from the manufacturer because sleep is so vitally important to many of us. I even, I love certain concerts and musical venues. A lot of them provide earplugs, and I always have mine with me. In case the music is too loud, I can dial it back a little bit with the earplugs. But thank you for your time and attention to this matter because it really is serious. And many people don't realize it, when they're going through their day, that they may have been woken up too many times and really not gotten back into the deep sleep. So I thank you for listening and thank you for serving our community. Appreciate it.

And just real briefly, ma'am, we do have the police chief sitting in the audience, so I'm sure he would be happy to discuss some of these issues with you and make sure. Oh, no, I was just saying the police chief is in the audience this evening, so if you guys, before you leave, you want to step out and talk, I'm sure he would be more than happy to hear your concerns. Thank you. Thank you.

Angela Allen, I'm a resident here in New Braunfels. First, I just wanna say my motive here, my purpose is not to cause more division and I want you to understand who I am. Whether I agree with you or I don't agree with you, I am called to respect you and I hope I can stay true to that And I want you to listen to my voice. And I think when we, regardless of whether or not I agree with you, when we don't respect you, I believe you still have a duty to listen to me, but it makes it hard. And I get it, right? Emotions run high. And I'm asking you to just still listen to me because I have done that. I have given you respect. So I have a few things I want to say because I just want to use my voice. So I'd appreciate it if you'd listen. Every election reminds us that transparency and public trust are the foundation of good government. Those principles become even more important when questions arise about how our city conducts its business. As a candidate I carefully read the election order. Based on the language I saw it appeared to me that the mayoral race was being conducted as a popular vote. Wanting clarification I went directly to a city staff person, and I asked. The first time I asked, I was clearly told that the candidate would need to win by a majority vote. Trusting that answered, I moved forward. Then there was silence. It wasn't until I raised the question again in mid-April that I received a different response. This time I was told the election was based on a popular vote, and I received an apology for the earlier information. That conversation left me with even more questions about how such a fundamental issue could change an active election. What has unfolded since has raised concerns far beyond one individual. From my perspective, accountability appears to have been directed at one person, while larger systematic issues have escaped meaningful scrutiny. If there was confusion over the election process, that confusion did not begin overnight. I have some questions. Why had there not been a comprehensive charter review during the city manager's 13-year tenure? Did staffing shortages within the city attorney's office contribute to this problem? Were outdated procedures or unclear language allowed to remain unaddressed until they created a public controversy? Those are legitimate questions that deserve answers. Equally concerning is the issue of due process. Public servants should be held accountable, but they should also be treated fairly. Before someone's reputation is publicly damaged, there should be a transparent process that allows the facts to be fully examined. Good government is not about finding one person to blame. It is about identifying failures in the system and fixing them so they never happen again. This is bigger than one employee or one election. It is about whether our city government is committed to transparency, accountability, and fairness. The citizens of New Braunfels deserve leaders who ask hard questions and who will accept responsibility when mistakes are made and hold everyone from the top down to that same standard because accountability doesn't begin with the easiest person to blame. It does begin at the top. Thank you.

JIM HOSTER, RESIDENT.

My time's wrong on there.

Go ahead and get started, sir. It'll reset. It's going to reset? OK.

I missed the earlier meeting, but just show this one, and then I'll go to my PowerPoint presentation. I hate to switch on you like this.

What does that show?

Housing Authority Board. And what does it show? There's five board members. Four are vacant right now.

How come you didn't appoint those?

I'm just wondering. That's on your website. And if you need to hold somebody accountable, I think it's the city manager if he hadn't informed you. All right. Go to my PowerPoint presentation. Thank you. Is anything going to be screwed up? It's usually our administration, the Housing Authority Board. City of New Braunfels Public Housing Authority Public Facility Corporation, and I misspelled corporation because I prepared that just about two hours ago. It was a new government creation by the arm of the city. More housing for elderly? I don't know. Actually, it is not. Density in existing neighborhoods? Yes, in District 3. More welfare for outside developers? Yes. Next slide, please. Okay, this is a misrepresentation of the multi-housing building that's going to be over there. It is four stories. The city only required them to do three stories. Reason? Because in four stories, they have to have an elevator so it could serve the elderly. So it's not going to happen. No elderly service here. Next slide. Performance history of the Housing Authority, an unresolved lawsuit concerning property. There's lots of property that the Housing Authority's trying to acquire back. Poor federal housing audits, if you ever looked at them, they're almost always at 70 or below. Media reports on housing conditions, San Antonio. Next slide, please. Okay, I'm not gonna go over this, because it just documents what the New Braunfels-Herald, San Antonio media reported about. You can read it, next slide. Okay, this is another housing authority bill. It has this sign. Next slide. This is what I found. Over 60 days, the streets were full of trash over there, dumped by the city housing authority, I guess. Next slide, please. What is the tax exemption deal for the developers? Granted by NBISD and the city response, silence from the mayor and city manager. Comal County took steps to put guardrails to place and protect their taxpayers. Our council, silent. Next slide, please. Oh, this just appeared in the San Antonio paper earlier this week. Housing tax breaks challenged. Bexar County is very concerned with these housing breaks tax exemptions. Next slide, please. In 225, the city of San Antonio will forego 3.9 million. Bexar County, 4.4. That's just one year. Northside School District will lose 4.8 million. North ISD, 2.8 million. What is New Braunfels going to lose? School District and NBISD. Next slide, please. The demographics, you will look at this. The average income for a Social Security recipient at the Housing Authority is about $2,100 a month. None, you won't see the developer put any slots in for the elderly. Housing Authority didn't negotiate that. Next slide, please. Seguin Public Facility Corporation. Seguin is very concerned, so they let their city council run the Public Facility Corporation. Next slide, please. Who will conduct oversight of the housing project on loop 337? Answer, mayor or the housing authority board. Voters? Voters can remove the housing. Can voters remove them? No, they can't. But they can remove the mayor, or the mayor can remove the board, but he can't fire the manager over there. Contrast this to sound management practice taken by the city of Sagin and, yes, Bernie. Next slide. Housing authority meeting room. Look at there. I went to the meeting there. It's a tiny little room, nice color, but you see those columns? Let's say we put two columns in this room where half the people couldn't see anything going on in the meeting. I did have a friendly conversation with a lady in the wheelchair there. I'm running out of time. You can't hear anything there because there's no audio, no video recording, seating limited, columns in line, in line side of the audience. There's those columns. They need to move this meeting to the city council chamber. Next slide, please. May 19th, we established the PC, PFC. We have really questioned, no accommodations have been made for the elderly. Everybody but the elderly. An open discussion about tax exemptions, and I would ask you, anybody on the city council, but by Ferley, the mayor, and Mr. Edwards, since he represents region three, that we do a sleepover there so we can make sure that that building's in better condition than it was. Next slide. That might be it. Thank you very much. Find out why that board wasn't appointed.

Good evening, Mayor and honorable city council members. My name is Jay. I am a resident of New Brunfels for 25 years.

What's your last name, Jay?

Ryder. And I'm also the founder and lead developer of Road to Rule, a Texas registered company. Our firm specializes in modernizing municipal operations through strategic technology platforms. And tonight, I'm here briefly to introduce you to Comal Growth Ops. In essence, it's a centralized operations platform meticulously designed to address the intricate challenges of managing county infrastructure, fostering transparent development, and enhancing public engagement, particularly in rapid growing regions like Comal County. I understand that many of you might be considering practical implications such as how does such a system truly streamline complex project workflows, consolidate disparate data, and improve our responsiveness to resonant concerns without adding more administrative burden. And I'm glad you asked because these are precisely strategic questions that Comal Growth Ops is built to address. And my purpose here tonight is not to present a detailed proposal or anything like that, but rather to spark a conversation. At Road to Rule, we believe that by integrating project tracking, complaint management and field reporting, as well as public communications into a cohesive system, we can significantly elevate operational efficiency and data-driven decision-making across the entire county. Therefore, I respectfully request a focused meeting with the mayor, commissioners, and relevant department leaders to delve deeper into these capabilities and discuss with me how Comal GrowthOps platform can be tailored to meet the specific strategic objectives and unique needs of Comal County and our rapidly growing city of Dubronfels. I would like to also present you with a copy of this handout. I've also uploaded it when I signed in to attend the meeting today, so I don't know if you have a copy of that or not, but if you don't, I can place the copies right here for you to pick up. It's just a one-pager to let you know what it does, request for formal discussion, et cetera, et cetera, and also has my name and contact information.

Thank you. The city secretary did forward that out to everybody.

Okay, great, great. Then that's all. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hello, Lynn McCord, living here in New Braunfels. Why is it important to vote locally? Local elections often have the biggest impact in our daily lives, so let us remember that, first and foremost, we are neighbors. Let us remember that if we consider ourselves Christians, we should consider ourselves in our practices. For me, voting is about experience. Local leaders help make decisions about roads, parks, public safety, water resources, libraries, economic development, growth, transportation and the overall quality of life in our community. These decisions affect where we work, live, raise our families, spend our tax dollars. Unlike national elections, We are neighbors. Our council members live in our neighborhood. So these are things that we should be thinking about. We should be thinking about experience. We should be thinking about folks that understand and know Texas laws. We should be thinking about our children. We should also be thinking about the next generation. Also thinking about your city's fiscal responsibility, making sure that local leaders that get into this office understand the city laws. They understand Texas law. They understand how it works. They understand the governance of running it. They understand the potential for taxpayer dollars. They understand the city's financial ratings. They understand the process. They have the experience. All of those things matter. A well-run city requires leaders who understand that growth. They understand that budgeting policy. They understand public safety, water resources, economic development, and reasonable stewardship of our taxpayer dollars. Cities don't decline overnight, so problems often start with a series of poor decisions. New Braunfels is a great place to live. It's in great shape. It's better in a lot of areas than other folks are, than other cities are. We need to take some time to get out of the emotion, and really get into the numbers, understand it, get involved in our boards, get off Facebook, ranting and raving. By the time the residents feel the impact, the damage can be difficult and expensive to reverse. And I don't know about you, but I am worried about the next generation. If you care about the future, now is the time to get out and vote. Now is the time to get involved. Now is the time to understand the experience. Now is the time to look at the experience of your leaders. to vote not against your best interests, not against emotion, not against partisan policies, but to vote for the best interests of your city and to understand the leaders and their experience. We can't discount folks' experience in the city by simply mudslinging. If these folks have served on the city board and they have acted, look at their voting history, look at what they're doing. But let's start making more sound decisions. So New Braunfels I think is worth fighting for. I've been here in the city for 11 years, love the city. I volunteered here locally with my church, local organizations. I think it's a city worth fighting for, but I also think that national politics is getting in the way of local politics, and these are people that you live near. These are people that you see in HEB. These are things that impact you, and you need to do it with dignity. So thank you.

I came up a moment ago, and I was getting... Excited about the fact that I have loved this town for 36 years, and I'm watching it explode. What's your name, ma'am? Rita.

Rita, what's your last name?

McNeil Owens. Thank you. I've been very grateful for these little publications that we get in the mailbox, the community impact. And every time I get a new one, I am more shocked and appalled by what's happening to New Braunfels. And I'm so grateful that they're not only reporting just kind of a general story as a regular newspaper like the Herald might do, just kind of vague facts, but this is specific numbers. This is the numbers of apartments and homes that are out of control. And we're wondering, are the developers in control? Is the Chamber of Commerce in control in demanding more growth and more growth and more growth? at an unchecked speed. It's obvious that evidently very few developer permits are denied because every time we see a lovely landscape near our neighborhood, six months later it's been bulldozed and the trees are gone and they're building 7,000 apartments there or a luxury four-bedroom apartment. Story building for retirees with lots of amenities But it's been sitting there empty for about two years and I would love to know what the demand For a four thousand dollar one-bedroom apartment there is going to be but never mind. Let's just build some more of those Let's declare that there's a need for them before we've proven that there's a need for them and then when I I'm right there at Viramendi, which used to be a beautiful pasture with cows to drive by. They're basically extinct now, and I was appalled to see that there's been another patch bulldozed now of green. Pretty soon, I don't really know if we're going to have green because homes are built so closely together there in Viramendi. They are most of them now. Those that are not apartments hidden way off out of sight, so nobody will see too many of those. But the homes are so close together that there really is not going to be much room for any green. And I guess that will lead us to the water situation because we're always in a certain stage where we're not supposed to be using water and we're supposed to feel a lot of anxiety and guilt about using water. But we're also told on the converse side by some NVU people sometimes or spokesmen from here that, no, no, we've got it all under control. We've got, you know, 10 or 15 or 20, you hear various numbers, guaranteed water supply because that's why we're allowed to build thousands more apartments because we're bringing people in who will need all of that water too. And then the Linden Ranch plopped in right there on 337 where we passed that. I bet that's gonna be just beautiful, beautiful landscaping, very aesthetically appealing. I wouldn't bet my life on that because that is going to be housing affordable, let's see, a total of 303 units I can barely read this because it's so pale. The affordable units, whatever that euphemism means, are 151, so half of them. And the other half are market rate units, whatever that means. And I just wonder, when all of these people come and make these presentations to you, have they proven that there's a need for all of this? And if we build more places for homeless people, we will of course have more homeless people and more crime. I don't understand how the chain reactions are getting addressed. You guys make it sound so easy like, well, we've got a planning commission, we've got this goal that by 2030 we've gotta have so many units for the workers so they can drive into San Antonio. It sounds like such a utopian scheme until you look at what our city has tried to accept in terms of the thousands more cars that are here. I don't have to, I can't go through a day without hearing seven people say, the traffic is unbearable here. It is unbearable. And yet we want more cars and more apartments. When is enough enough? I just want to hear that message discussed in one of these meetings. Valid issues. And I bet if you took a poll, that's probably why nearly 1,000 people voted for a new administration. People are sick of it, and we're tired of never hearing any answers to these questions. And I predict that the results on the June 13th election will be an even wider gap of people who are fed up. responsible growth there's no accident to that title there's a group online excellent group sharing information and it's called responsible growth citizens for new brunfels that's what we want we're not seeing you slow down one bit

Denae Delaney from Canyon Lake. And boy, she set me up, didn't she? I'm here to talk with you tonight about the water issue. So recently, on April 16, your New Braunfels Utilities CEO stated to the Comel County Commissioner's Court that if we don't put in purple pipe water reuse systems or as development is happening, it is cost prohibitive to put it in later. So they've studied that several times according to him. I would encourage you to look at this. I would like to talk with each one of you or one of you about this. I'm not your constituent. I don't vote you into office and I am a community advocate and I see you. I understand that I am we the people and you are also we the people. We are we the people, all of us. and it's important that we remember that when we have these conversations because your community members are feeling frustrated and at the same time there are when there are more brains in the room there are more solutions and and we can all do that together i will say moving here after 30 years i'm a texan born and raised but i lived in california for 30 years and i did find bircher corp one of their upper level people said that to receive the entitlements and variances that they request from the city, they have teams of people to stay ahead of the local government and the community. So just remember that. There are people who are staying ahead of you in order to build and do what they want. Concerning Canyon Lake, I came to you guys in February and asked for a resolution so that we could protect Canyon Lake and get TCEQ to place Canyon Lake on the chapter 311 list for protection. It's the highest protection that the Highland Lakes have. So I gave you guys first dibs and then I didn't hear from anyone so I contacted Senator Campbell and I think it was four days. In four days she sent a letter to TCEQ requesting formal rulemaking authority the process to begin how that happens. And also she's had a meeting with them. So she was very responsive and very quick to act once she knew. So community members must begin to research facts and know what can be done. and then your leaders will listen to you. So concerning Canyon Lake, I again request that I can meet with you because on Tuesday, June 2nd, there was a very informed, well-researched group of citizens that attended a TCEQ meeting and during the Q&A, someone actually had a question and they got the TCEQ standards implementation team member to admit that TCEQ will do something after the waterway, the waters of state is a soupy sloppy mess. So they are not going to protect before, so the neighbor said, will you protect, so you're saying you won't protect until after degradation occurs, and he said yes after. So Texas Water Code 30, TCEQ is required by that to protect waters of state before degradation occurs, not after. So Canyon Lake is a tier two lake by its designations. It's also on the Edwards Aquifer and Trinity Aquifer contributing zones, different areas of the lake. It's very important that I'm coming to you and that Help me help you to help all of us get our water supply and our water quality protected. Putting Canyon Lake on the Chapter 311 list for protections will not stop development. It will improve development and improve our water supply because we'll stop watering grass and landscaping with tap water. Austin has been doing this throughout the Highland Lakes for 40 years. We know how it's done. The state of Texas knows how it's done. So if you could please meet with me, I would like that meeting. I request that and then we could talk about maybe a resolution we could come together in order to get TCEQ to act on behalf of the people and our water asset. That's not just the state's asset. They hold it in trust for the people. And there's many people that are forming. The coalition is happening. People coming together that want the water protected. Thank you very much. Good evening.

I'm so sorry, one moment. Can I just get a clarification from city staff? Do we at city council have any authority of regulating anything outside the city limits?

My understanding is no, the council does not have authority to regulate anything outside of the city limits and certainly limited authority even within the ETJ. I'm asking for a resolution, not regulation.

Okay, ma'am. Yes, my name's Rosa Hopkins, and I was born and raised here in New Braunfels, but I don't live in New Braunfels currently. I live in Comal County, outside of New Braunfels. But my thing is, regarding promises that are being made by some candidates regarding things like the development here in New Braunfels, that they can stop it, that they can stop the problems with the water and all of that. Well, as I understand, those problems come from the state. The state is the one that has the laws that allow for the development. This issue is not only in New Braunfels, it's across the state. There are even like data centers that are being built that 500 data centers that we have in Texas that were approved because of the state laws. It's not to do with the cities or the counties. It's the state that's the problem. And the way to deal with that problem is to vote those people out and vote people in that are gonna change the stuff that we are complaining about. Because it's not just New Braunfels that has this problem of over development and over water usage. contamination of water. It's across the state. So that's where it needs to go. And that's what we need to do. And local off, you know, the local government is the rules that are implemented by the state of the laws. We have to abide by them at the local government. Is that correct? Yes. Right. So that's the problem. So I just wanted to make that clear. So the promises that are being made are to me are empty promises by some people. Thank you.

My name is David Smith. I'm a resident here in New Braunfels, have been for a long time. I just want to talk a couple of things about our decorum here. It's kind of aggravating in a way. Let me just say, as a frequent attendee here at New Brunswick City Council meetings, I'd like to express my concern regarding the conduct of certain attendees during our public sessions. I've observed recurring instances where people are snickering, laughing out loud about things while individuals are addressing the council.

We are not in high school anymore.

I believe this behavior is immature and disrespectful to the democratic process. It undermines the civil environment necessary for all perspectives to be heard and considered. I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard of decorum to ensure a more professional and respectful atmosphere for all our participants because we are all neighbors here. And I just want to say thanks for giving me a chance to say that. Thank you.

My name is Eva Pepitone. I'm a resident of the city, and this is just something I would like to put up for consideration. I come from a big city that was once a small town, and I watched this type of growth, and one thing that's happening right now that concerns me is the low-income housing units. My sons moved into an apartment out by Creekside, and they were the lone um, residents of an eight building apartment unit for nearly a year. There was not another car or person and I think it would be more wise to incorporate low income housing into apartments that exist by subsidizing those rents or making an arrangement with the developer before they build that a certain number of those units would be set aside. And I say that because when you group people with low incomes together, there tends to be fewer parents at home, less guidance for children, and more problems, more drug use, more drug dealing, the neighborhood starts to degrade. And if we had more of a spread so that low income people could live throughout the city, I think it would be healthier and safer for all the residents of New Braunfels. I don't know how you could think outside the box to make that happen, but I just wanted to bring that up because I've seen it happen time and time again. Thank you.

Seeing no one else, we'll close citizens communication. Next item up is consent agenda. All items listed below are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the city council and be approved by one motion. There'll be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member or citizen so request, in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as part of the normal order of business. Citizens must be present to pull an item. Council, are there any items you'd like to pull? Mrs. Wilkinson, have any items been pulled?

No, sir.

Okay, we'll be taking up action items A through F, as well as approval of a resolution granting the authority to New Braunfels Utilities to sell a 1.43 acre tract of land located at 156 Texas Avenue, New Braunfels, Texas, 78130, Comal County parcel ID number 151576, and authorizing the New Braunfels Utilities Board of Trustees or designee of such board to negotiate and execute all necessary documents in connection therewith and an ordinance being the approval of the second and final reading of an ordinance of the City of New Braunfels, Texas accepting and approving an annual service plan update to the service and assessment plan and updated assessment role for the Psalms Landing Public Improvement District making and adopting findings, providing a cumulative repealer clause, and providing an effective date.

I make a motion to approve. I'll second.

Council Member Ryan moves for approval. Council Member Lebowski seconds. Any discussion? Okay, Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Councilmember Carter is not present. Councilmember Capizzi?

Aye.

Councilmember Edwards?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tems Bradley? Aye. Councilmember Lebowski? Aye. Councilmember Ryan? Aye. And Mayor Leonard?

Aye. Motion carries. Next up is discuss and consider the approval of an ordinance authorizing the issuance of City of New Braunfels, Texas Utility System Revenue Program Notes, taxable series, in an aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $25,005,000 to provide interim financing to pay project cost for eligible projects for the City Utility System approving and authorizing the execution of agreements to be entered into in connection with the program notes and resolving other matters incident and related thereto. Mrs. Williams.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, Jessica Williams, Chief Financial Officer, NBU. And that was a really long title for what we're going to talk about this evening and what we're here for approval for. So we are seeking approval for a letter of credit with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. So a letter of credit is a financial instrument that we are able to utilize to receive collateral that NBU pays to ERCOT to be able to trade in the day ahead in real time markets. So as part of our electric operation, we've been trading in the markets for years. And one of the things that we do periodically is that we provide cash collateral to ERCOT. Right now we have approximately $9 million in cash collateral that is with ERCOT to allow us to trade in the day ahead in real time. Using this letter of credit will allow us to replace the cash collateral that we have on the books with ERCOT with the letter of credit. We're asking for 25 million, $5,000. So 5,000 of that is one of our initiation fees. And the 25 million is 25 million in a letter of credit backed by Wells Fargo for NBU that will sit on the books with ERCOT to allow us to trade. Now this allows us to bring back not only the 9 million that we currently have in cash collateral with ERCOT, but it allows us to hedge against times when ERCOT will come forward and ask for additional collateral. So that can be times when there's any instability in the market, there's a big winter storm coming, it's exceptionally hot in the summer. Any time that the calculation that ERCOT does that secures our collateral says, hey, you guys need to come forward with additional cash. And we do that by wiring actual cash collateral. So as a market participant in ERCOT, MBU buys and sells power in the day ahead in the real time. ERCOT does that calculation that I just mentioned, where they're going to calculate our total potential exposure based on daily activity. And then they will make mandatory collateral requests. So ERCOT does mandate the financial security to cover our total potential exposure. They accept cash, surety bonds, or letters of credit. So the letter of credit is a strategic pivot for us and something that we've talked about as we've talked about how we are diversifying some of our financial activities. So our current strategy is that we send cash. It is restricted. It stays with ERCOT. ERCOT does invest that. We get some return on that based on how many people are in the pool that day. Our proposed strategy will put into place this letter of credit with Wells Fargo that will unlock our liquidity and allow it to return back to the utility. So that releases that cash back for operations, infrastructure, payroll, and allows investment in NBU's investment ladder. So we've taken this item to our Board of Trustees for review and approval. So they have brought forward a resolution that they have approved requesting council to approve our request for a letter of credit. So we are here on June 8th requesting approval. We will then complete the process by mid-June and we will be able to release that cash collateral back to NBU and put into place that letter of credit. Questions?

Any questions?

I do have a quick question. On one of the slides you specifically said participation requires by, so will you just kind of explain that, like we just can't, do what we want with ERCOT, correct? This is something that all utility companies are beholden to across the state?

Correct, correct. So anyone who is participating in the ERCOT marketplace has to secure collateral, whether that be cash, surety bonds, or letters of credit. Other municipalities throughout the state utilize letters of credit. It's a great way for us to release liquidity back to the utility while still ensuring that we're able to do all our daily trading.

Wonderful. Are there any concerns or points where this could have a negative consequence further down the line?

There could be, and I'll caveat that. I will say that, yes, there could be a time if we did not make payment on an invoice that our letter of credit might be called upon. In that event, we would then need to replenish the bank immediately, and we would have some changes we would need to make internally. Sure. our team manages the desk daily we manage our settlements and complete our settlements and payments of invoices by 5 pm every single day so i am confident that this team will continue that that same diligence as we move forward and that this will allow us to have that additional liquidity returned wonderful thank you just to be clear for the public basically

We have a nine million dollar bond sitting over here with her cut. We use the line of credit to release the nine million so that we have liquidity but the line of credit is our coverage or insurance policy against the draft. We had a catastrophic event, then we utilized the letter of credit to pay our obligation to ERCOT, and then it gives us time to rebuild the fund or pull it from other sources to rebuild that or to pay down the letter of credit as need be, correct?

In a catastrophic event, yes. We might do that. What I would say is we will go through our flow of funds first. So we would make every attempt to cash collateralize to pay our invoices at that time prior to the letter of credit being drawn upon. Putting this into place, we are intending not to draw on the letter of credit. We are intending it to be there simply for that day ahead trading.

That's a good cash management tool.

Yes.

Any other questions? All right, we'll open this item to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ.

Good evening, Council and Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem. I'm Tiffany Kelly, resident D4 constituent. I have a question for the CFO of MBU. How does this letter of credit compare to other utilities of similar size? Or are we I mean, because you're asking for more than doubling this letter of credit with our cot?

Sure, that's a great question. So other municipalities, municipal utilities throughout the state and private utilities use letters of credit. So to come up with our request of 25 million, we completed a very similar exercise to what ERCOT completes daily when they're asking us for additional collateral. And so we took into account what have the last three years looked like and where have we had some really large spikes. previous to that three years, Winter Storm Uri, we all remember that one. It was a lot of fun for all of us who lived in Texas. So we took into account what we think will be our maximum in one of those life-altering type of events, and that is where we came to our 25 million.

My name is Richard Kelsheimer. I'm a resident. And the question that I have is once that $9 million is released, is that already planned to be spent? I assume that's going to be spent on things that MBU needs. Is that correct? And if so, how is it going to be spent?

At this time, NBU has no intention of spending the nine million when it is returned. Right now it is secured from reserve funding and so it will be returned to reserve funding and there is no appropriation in NBU's contemplated budget going into 27 to spend that nine million.

Then a follow-up question to that would be why is it necessary to release that $9 million and take out a $25 million line of credit with the bank with regard to ERCOT and what the requirements might be for your obligation?

So with all public utilities in the state, we do have to maintain reserves. Maintaining reserve funding is not only a best practice, it is required and it is something that even our credit rating agencies look at when we are going for things like a bond issuance. So for NBU returning that $9 million and putting it into our investment ladder, gives us an additional opportunity to capture all of the interest that we can earn. So for example, on a one year at 3%, you could earn say $350,000. So we wanna return those funds back to NBU, which returns those to not only NBU's reserves, but future rate discussions as well.

So just to clarify that I understood what you said, that is that the $9 million is actually being released so that you can invest that money at a higher interest rate because you have the appropriate amount of letter of credit that you need in order to handle and work with ERCOT, is that correct? Okay, it's not gonna be used for future expenditures for things that MBU needs.

No, it is not appropriated in MBU's budget.

Okay, thank you. Seeing no one else, we'll close public hearing. May I entertain a motion? Motion to approve.

I'll second.

Council Member Edwards moves for approval. Council Member Capizzi seconds. All in favor, raise your right hand.

Mayor, we need a roll call.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It's fine. Council Member Carter is not present. Council Member Capizzi?

Aye.

Council Member Edwards? Aye. Mayor Pro Tems-Bradley? Aye. Council Member Lebowski?

Aye.

Council Member Ryan? Aye. And Mayor Lennard?

Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Next item is discuss and consider approval of a resolution of the City of New Braunfels, Texas authorizing the use of eminent domain proceedings by New Braunfels Utilities for the acquisition of easements that are necessary to advance and achieve the public use of expanding the New Braunfels Utilities water system to increase water capacity to meet existing and future needs and ensure reliability in the event negotiations are unsuccessful We need A, a permanent easement, permanent utility easement of .005 acres and a temporary construction easement of .042 acres being situated out of lot 13, Pleasant View subdivision in Comal County, Texas, according to Platt thereof recorded in volume four, page 54 of the Matt and Platt records of Comal County, Texas as conveyed to Leonardo Hernandez III, Herman G. Hernandez, Yvette Hernandez-Rodriguez, Ivan Hernandez-Garcia, and Michael R. Hernandez by gift deed recorded in document number 20176012849, the official public records of Comal County, Texas, as it may have been modified by affidavit of correction concerning instrument recorded in document number 2020-06-01-6641 of the official public records of Comal County, Texas, also known as Comal County parcel number 44948. Mr. Hay, whoop. We've got Mr. Short and Mr. Habe.

Good evening, mayor, members of council. I'm Mike Short, director of engineering at MBU. And again, I have Mr. Habe here, our real estate manager at MBU, to help along with this presentation. This presentation is about the eminent domain process for the western downtown and Morningside pressure zone conversion project. It is brief, I will go through the agenda real quick. I will talk about the public need and necessity for the project, the project timeline. I'll provide a little bit of an alignment map. We have some remaining parcels. We have one remaining parcel that we have to acquire. Talk a little bit about the condemnation overview, the legal requirements, the timeline, and recommendations. The purpose of the project is to construct approximately 17,000 feet of new eight inch to 18 inch water lines to replace some existing old two inch, eight inch water lines. The project will do the following things. It'll address existing pressure issues. It'll add additional capacity for future demands. It'll connect our new Psalms pump station and ground storage tank being built at the HQ site to the rest of our MBU system. And we have determined that these easements are required to complete the project. This is our project timeline to date. We're currently out for construction. We anticipate construction to be complete in 2027 for this project. This is the alignment of the project. As you can see, it follows along FM 482, along Old Highway 81, and along IH 35, again terminating in our HQ site. That red box is the only easement acquisition we need left. We've acquired 33 out of the 34 easements, and I'll let Mr. Habe talk about the requirements for obtaining that easement. Bruce.

Thank you, Mike. So as you can see, this is the Hernandez parcel. It's at the corner of Rush Lane and I-35. The Eastman that we need is that little blue wedge, which is actually a gap between a 1937 Eastman acquired by the Psalms Landing Water Supply Corporation and MBU at Eastman that was acquired in 1989. The legal descriptions created this gap, so that's what we need, along with the temporary construction of Eastman on tap. And so, very small Eastman. It's only 220 square feet. But we've made our initial offer letter. We've made our final offer letters. The landowners are all siblings, and there's conflicts between the siblings, and for various reasons, we just can't acquire the easement. There's also, which added another complexity to it, there's a tax lien that exceeds the value of the easement. And so that needs to be resolved as well. So this is the overview of the process and where we're at right now, we've gone to our board, we've gotten a resolution from the board that declared this project a public necessity and for public purpose. They've asked us to come here today and seek this authority from you. Hopefully if we get that authority, We'll file petitions against the Hernandez's, and then there'll be a special commissioner's hearing. And after the special commissioner's hearing, they'll award, they'll determine what the value of this easement is going to be. That value will be put into the court registry, and the lien holder can go after the money, or the founding members can acquire the money, however they see fit. So as to the legal requirements, we far exceeded the initial offer, and we far exceeded the final offer on the 14 days and 30 days needed. Matter of fact, we've been working with the Hernandez family for close to three years now, letting them try to work out their conflicts, and we've just gotten to a point where we need to do the project, and that's why we're here today. And so where we're at here on our condemnation timeline is June 8th. We're here to seek city council authorization and proceed with this process. And so again, we'd still like to negotiate this thing, but I just don't see it going any other way. And if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer.

Any questions? Okay, we'll open this to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ.

Angela Keller, ETJ. Because I'm looking, I just saw this right now. I don't know, it just came up. So they're coming to you to get authorization for eminent domain. However, if you go to the Board of Historic, the one that John Frazier was gonna be elected for, the Historic Commission or whatever, this is already on the agenda. How can it be on the agenda if it has not yet been approved for zoning? I'm just curious. Go look it up. It's already on the agenda.

I have no idea what she's talking about.

I'm not entirely sure of the question, but again, we're acquiring an easement for utility relocation. There are no improvements or upgrading at this location.

I think this actual charter, our attorneys can speak. It's the council that has the authority for condemnation, not the board of trustees. And so that's why we're seeking your authority.

and not the historic committee.

Okay. And even though if we were to give authority to do, go forward with condemnation, you're still gonna go forward and work with the family as best you can until there's no other option.

Okay, seeing no one else, we'll close public hearing and entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

I'll second it. Council Member Edwards, move for approval. Council Member Lebowski, seconds. And any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries unanimously. Next item is discuss and consider the second and final reading of an ordinance requested by Paul Paniagua of approximately 0.3 acres out of the city block subdivision 3007, lot four from C2 General Business District to C2 SUP General Business District with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence currently addressed at 1258 West San Antonio Street. Mr. Looney. Thank you, Mayor, City Council.

This second reading is on your individual agenda tonight because the first reading at your last meeting's vote was not unanimous. As a reminder, Rezoning would allow the existing home with two bedrooms and two baths to be converted into a short-term rental. It is located on San Antonio Street west of Walnut Avenue. It is zoned commercial, which allows short-term rentals, but because there is a house on the site that would be converted into the short-term rental if approved, our ordinance requires that this special use permit or special use overlay be approved as well in order to proceed. the code requires two parking spaces for the short terminal and there is adequate offsite parking, but the owner would need to pave the driveway per the ordinance requirements. Um, If approved, staff and planning commission both recommend these three conditions, that the residential character of the house be maintained, that it remain in compliance with the submitted site plan and floor plan, and that they pave that driveway and parking area, as I mentioned. We mailed 18 notices, received three responses in favor, one opposed, and this has not changed since the first reading. Thank you.

Any questions? Is the applicant here? Okay, we'll open this item to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ. Seeing none, we'll close public hearing and entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

I'll second. Council Member Edwards moves for approval. Council Member Ryan seconds. Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Council Member Carter's not present. Council Member Capizzi?

I need to make a point of order real quick. Is there a discussion?

Okay. Any discussion?

I just wondered if the applicant was here.

I'd asked and he didn't step forward.

So no applicant.

Okay. Go ahead, Mrs. Wilkinson.

Council Member Edwards.

Aye. Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Spradley?

No.

Council Member Lebowski? No. Council Member Ryan?

Aye.

And Mayor Lennards?

Aye. So with, we had one, two, three, four, so carries, motion carries. Next item is discuss and consider the second and final reading of an ordinance requested by Maria Chavez of approximately .2 acres out of the city block subdivision 1072 lot 10 from C3 commercial district to C3 SUP commercial district with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence currently addressed at 284 Perryman Street. Mr. Looney.

Thank you, Mayor. This one's also an individual because the first readings approval was not unanimous. It is also a request for short-term rental. for this two-bedroom, one-bath house. We can see here in that image. It is located about a block off of 35 at the corner of, or near the corner, I should say, of Perryman and McQueenie Road. This one's also zoned commercial, same situation as the other. Because it's a house, the SUP is required. And this one also would require, coincidentally, two parking spaces. The requirement in the ordinance for parking spaces for short-term rentals, by the way, is one per sleeping room. If approved, staff and planning commission both recommend these two conditions in this case, maintain that residential character just like the last one and remaining compliance with the site plan and the floor plan that the applicant submitted. We mailed 11 notices, received one response in favor and zero in opposition. Thank you.

Any questions?

Is the applicant present?

Yeah, I've been here for all of these meetings and I still think that this is a perfect location for a short-term rental based on everything around it. It's just been really difficult for her to use this property for a typical residential use because of what it's surrounded by. So I just think that it segues into the residential neighborhood really well, and it's surrounded by commercial but keeps the integrity of the neighborhood.

My question is, who will be managing it?

It will be myself and her. We're actually best friends, and we're doing this together. And I'm in real estate, so I manage properties. And you live in New Braunfels? Yes. Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Any other questions for either Mr. Looney or the applicant? Okay, we'll open this item to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ. Seeing none, we'll close public hearing. I'd entertain a motion.

I motion for approval. I'll second.

Councilmember Lebowski moves for approval. Councilmember Ryan seconds. Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Council Member Carter is not present. Council Member Capizzi.

Aye.

Council Member Edwards. Aye. Mayor Pro Tems-Bradley.

Aye.

Council Member Lebowski. Aye. Council Member Ryan. Aye. And Mayor Lennertz.

Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Next item is discuss and consider approval of the composition and selection process for the proposed Charter Review Commission. Mr. Camerino. Aye.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I came to you at the May 26th meeting with a presentation on our charter review process. I outlined several things, one of those being the composition of the commission and then also the selection process of the commission, as well as the selection process for finding an outside firm to help us with that review process, and then ultimately then provided a draft timeline for the review and proposed amendments that come to the council. to call for an election for a May 2027 election. So for this evening, really there's two questions. It was actually at the May 26th council meeting that the council indicated that you all needed some additional time to consider the composition and the process by which you will select and appoint members to that commission. So there's two remaining questions at this point. The third, which is the appointment of a council ad hoc committee to work with staff during the review and selection process of an outside firm can be pushed to another agenda item, which I would recommend an ad hoc committee of the council to help staff with that process. But really the two remaining questions then being the composition of that commission. In other words, what we had recommended with a seven member commission with each of the council districts appointing a member and the mayor appointing an at-large member. So that's one question. And then also then the process by which you would then appoint, select and appoint those members. There was some conversation at the May 26th meeting about the council possibly appointing directly members to that commission. Also there was some discussion about utilizing an open application process for the council. And so those are really the two remaining questions that we should focus on this evening. The first being are you fine with the composition of seven members is the first question. or if you'd like to propose some additional members.

Any opinions? Well, I think if it gets any bigger than seven members, it gets burdensome to try to accomplish anything, so I would suggest that we not get it too big. I think seven's probably as big as I would feel comfortable. Okay.

I believe that each council picks the member.

So right now, seven members then. I'm looking for consensus on the first question. I agree with seven. The number of commission members.

Correct, seven.

Okay.

Yes.

So the next then is the process by which you would then select and appoint. Do you want to just directly appoint someone from your district and then the mayor appoint someone, a member at large, or do you want to open it up to an application process?

I kinda like the idea of doing application process and then we each select from that application process. You know what I mean? So we take in applications, the community at large gets to submit their application, then we look at those, we review those, and then each of us gets to select somebody from that group of applicants.

If you were to utilize that process, that's absolutely right, then we would open it up for application. We would request that they put which district they're in, certainly give us their address, which district they're in. We could also assist anyone that may not know which district they're in. And then once we receive all those applications, then the applications received from your district will be provided to each one of you so that you can review and then come prepared to a future meeting then to make that appointment.

Okay.

I think we just have to make sure that not only they qualified applicants, but we need to try to get diversity into there from, we don't want it slanted to one side just because we had great candidates completely out of district two or wherever. We're going to be watched closely on this. So I want to make sure we take no missteps, make sure it's as equitable as humanly possible, and we get good people on that can give us qualified feedback. So there certainly needs to be a level of qualification in the applications of some sort to assure that at least we have the coherency necessary to make decisions about what's going on.

so you would like addition just so i'm getting clarification um councilmember edwards so you would like for us to in additionally have a requirement for an applicant to be representative of their district one per each and then one at large for the mayor but that they would have additional application requirements um for them to even be considered what would the like what

High school education, I mean, competent to be able to read and write. Right. You know, been a citizen in good standing for five years or more, something of that nature that says I'm vested in the community. I have the education to be able to understand complex issues and legal issues that may be presented to us. I think those just two or three items like that is enough in the table to do. There may be other suggestions.

Council Member Edwards, I don't know if you've ever seen the applications when they come in. There's a kind of a standard application used for the boards and commissions that has some really good, it gathers some good information such as what district do you live in? Have you been through City U? How long have you lived here? What kind of employment are you involved in? Are you involved in any of their boards and commissions? It gathers some good information. And I personally like the idea of an application because there might be people interested in serving that I might not even think to consider, but having a pool of applicants to pull from, it gives you an idea of who's actually interested in serving.

And certainly with an application process, you still have the ability then to encourage constituents within your district to apply, because if they don't apply, then they really can't then be considered by this council. That's gonna be a requirement, is that they submit their application on a timely basis, right? And so we will ensure that we include a question such as, why are you interested in serving on the Charter Review Commission, so that you know what the answer to that question is, as well as education. As the mayor mentioned, we do have a pretty comprehensive application that we will utilize, but we will also then customize it to the City Charter Review Commission itself. So the feedback that I'm hearing tonight and the direction that I'm getting is seven members open it up for application. And then once we get those applications in, we'll run the application process for about 30 days with a target date of coming to you all for appointment to the Charter Review Commission of August the 10th, okay? So then the council at that time will then make their recommendations for who they want to serve on that commission. concurrently run the process for a request for proposals from firms that specialize in charter reviews that can then assist us with that process.

So make sure that the posting, not only is on our website, but I'd probably make a big deal out of it at the Herald and in social media that we're taking applications for this. So we've done everything in our power to make sure there's a process.

We can certainly do that. Is this something that we would actually be voting on tonight or not?

Well, that was my next question.

Do you need us to take action on this, or are you looking for feedback? I've got feedback. Certainly, if you want to make a motion to have the Charter Commission be seven members with the employment process being an open application process, I can take that motion from you.

Because I do want to say, I mean, I know we've gone through your entire presentation. We've had all this conversation. with the significance of this and the amount of conversation that we're all putting into this between each of us, I would be remiss if I didn't say it doesn't somewhat concern me that we don't have a full council. to give their entire voice on how this committee is going to be constructed and put together. So if we're simply just giving feedback and conversation, yes, but I don't know that I'm comfortable taking a vote on that without a full council on something that is this significant and unique and only comes along. Once in 30 years. Once in 30 years, yes.

Well, obviously this is at the discretion of this council. If you want to provide that direction tonight or wait, that's up to this council.

I wouldn't wait. Don't you have enough information to go forward without actually having a vote to go ahead and start the process of getting it ready to go?

Well, I absolutely do. And with the application process, then it's open to anyone that's interested within the entire city of New Braunfels or within your districts to apply. Those won't be considered until after the June 13th election anyhow, because we will actually have it open for about a 30-day window. We will work on that application and probably have it issued by mid-June to late June. So that's why I'm saying with the target date of August the 10th, that will give plenty of time for the application process to be open, plenty of time for us to continue to get the word out, right? Remind people, remind people, and remind people. We can only put the information out, but it's also incumbent upon them to read it. We will certainly do that and then what we'll do then is when we come back for your recommendation as to who to appoint, we'll provide you the information on what we did to actually notify our community about the opportunity.

Well, I think at a certain point, we have to take some kind of action to initiate this charter review.

You all aren't appointing anyone tonight. Right. You're just developing the process by which.

At some point, we're gonna have to take action.

Well, I have a caveat. On the application process, I think it might be important because it is significant, it is first time. do you have experience on a charter review board anywhere? There's a lot of people from all over the place and maybe there's people in the community that have done this in other cities. So I think that question might be important. Yeah, I think that's a good question to include in the application. Yes, sir.

Anything else?

Well, I just want to clarify. What I'm hearing from you, Councilman Capizzi, is that Are there you feel strongly that there should be other additional requirements than being a resident to apply for this and that we should postpone this to add additional requirements or we go more we're collecting casting a wider net. We're not putting any exact limitations. I just wanna make sure that I'm clear on this.

No, I think just what I was saying is that we get all the input from everybody, from all council members. Right. Because it's such a significant endeavor and undertaking in the interest of transparency and making sure that everybody feels 100% included in this process going forward because it is such a significant process.

What we can do is let's say that there is a change in the direction that the council wants to provide and maybe they want to increase the number of members on that commission. Well, we're still a ways from actually getting those applications. And if the council wants to say increase it by two, so now it's each council member appoints a member from your district, the mayor appoints a member at large, and then the rest of the council can appoint two additional members at large, for example, that's nine. And so what I would suggest is if there's any amendments in the future as to the composition of that commission, then it'd be an increments of two so as to keep it an odd number. you all could then use the applications to then review, the at-large applications to then review who else you might you want to include or appoint if you want to make it a much larger commission, if that's your concern.

I think that's fair.

Well, and I have a quick question, too, on the boards and commissions. Do we currently know of any requirements in those boards and commission application process? Obviously we have a process, right? And that's just documented. Do we have anything in our rules or charter that state some understanding about the requirements to be on a board? Or can you clarify?

that I know of. We don't have anything like that. We have a standard application, and as Mr. Camerino mentioned, we can morph it with questions that we would like to put on there, and we can also morph it to make questions mandatory if necessary. Okay, thank you.

And I think what we can do with regards to sort of notifying our community about the opportunity is to include some language about what the charter is and what it is and what it does for our city, right? So that they understand what it is that they're applying to possibly be a part of. I think that would be important information to include.

And I mean, we've seen it on other boards and commissions. I would love to make an attendance requirement.

So it sounds like going forward we could start initially with seven is what I'm hearing. If with conversation with, additional council members or council members from District 1, if there was some additional ask or something that we were wanting to discuss, we could do that to ensure that we get those thoughts or ideas implemented into the process. And then we could also put together some sort of requirements or application parameters at some point after this? Is that what I'm hearing or?

We'll have to do that real quickly because as you know, we'll have to call the election by early February. And so the commission, I wanna make sure that the commission has enough time to actually review the charter along with the outside legal support and then ultimately come back to the council with recommendations for what those proposed amendments may be. And so the sooner that we can get out there and actually get a commission seated, the better, the more time they have. I don't want them to feel rushed and certainly I want them to feel like they've got adequate time to be able to review it. Although the legal support that we will ultimately retain will be hugely beneficial to that commission and help guide them through that process.

So my question is, does this require a first and a second? So if we, just one time?

No.

I think the consensus was that we'd take no action tonight but give feedback that staff can use to start working on the application process and that we'd take action at some point in the future to call for a charter review.

And then the applications, just to re-clarify, will be open for a 30-day window, which would be clearly beyond the election, and whoever's sitting here after the election will make the determination of who it is that decide to pick for their district. Right.

Okay. So do you want me to come back to the council and with an action item on... sort of the composition, because the process is clear. You all want an open application process. That's clear. But the composition of the commission is sort of what's still not yet decided by the council.

I think we've decided pretty much a minimum of seven months, right? But still somewhat undecided. We want to...

The only two things we agreed on is that the seven and that it has to be a representative of the district and one at large. But other than that, we don't have any.

All the details.

And certainly a future council can put an item on the agenda to amend the size of that commission to include two additional, for example, if they want to do that.

I think that's fair and a good process moving forward.

Well, even though we're not taking action, I see somebody chomping at the bit to make a comment, so we'll go ahead and let her comment.

Council, Mayor, Tiffany Kelly again. As I've looked at the charter extensively in the last month and considered this charter review that's coming up, one thing, it seems that we're getting a little bit of our cart before the horse in looking at who should be on the review committee. I would like to implore you all, please, and city manager, please, let's really get a scope defined for this charter review because this, Take for example, Texas state constitution has 530 some odd amendments to it. So I would really implore you to really narrow the scope to look at the legality of our current charter against one, the Texas state constitution and then the overall federal constitution. And from what my very elementary understanding of the history, because I've only been in New Braunfels two years, I understand that this plurality issue regarding the elections came about as a result from some segregation-related lawsuits back in the 90s. So I would look at, not in just regard to elections, but I would look at the document, the charter document, I would ask this review committee, my preference would be let's keep the scope very narrow, look at the document as a whole for its legality against those two governing entities, the state of Texas and the federal government, and just look at it from that. But coming from a corporate background, I know that if you don't come in with a good scope, you're going to get scope creep. And I really think that we need to really, as a community, look at just a very narrow legality review of the document, my take on it. Thank you.

Thank you for some flexibility. I just had one question, Mr. Camerino. The process we have here. Can you state your name, please? Can I, I was just, the process. Yeah, can you state your name? Oh, I'm sorry, David Warmke, sorry. Deja vu all over again, I forgot that part. I used to do that every time. The process you're envisioning, having a city council tied to selecting one individual, is different than the process y'all used tonight here for the board that y'all, the planning commission. Can you explain the reason for that? I'm just curious.

so there is no uh for example creating charter for this charter review commission it really is more of an ad hoc committee that the council can then develop specific requirements for the appointment of members to that committee unlike for example the planning committee all those boards and commissions that were that were that are being considered tonight they have a creation They have an ordinance creating that board or commission, and then it has requirements for composition and selection of those. This is, again, like an ad hoc committee.

Okay, so it's more, okay.

That will only be in place during the time of the charter review process.

Okay, okay, thank you. That was my only question, thank you. And thank you for your wisdom of delaying.

Richard Kelsheimer, resident. I just had a suggestion that might be helpful in trying to find good applicants. Since New Braunfels does own New Braunfels Utilities, and this would also be useful for surveys that are sent out, I think it'd be a great idea to go ahead and have the New Braunfels Utility mail out under the MBU, a notice regarding this and the reason for it. I think you could relate that to the reason that we're having the charter. That would mean, assuming that we have 100,000 people, you're gonna get about a 1% return. That'd be about 1,000 people that you would have an opportunity to apply. and you would have a lot better group of people that you could make that selection process from. Might make it more difficult for you to review some of those and get them within the guidelines that you want, but I think it would be extremely helpful be able to have a larger, that way everybody has had an opportunity to hear and have a chance to speak and to be able to be on that particular committee. Thank you.

Mayor, with regards to that suggestion, there may be a challenge with billing cycles and when those goes out. Would there be enough time for folks to actually then submit their applications? But I certainly appreciate that suggestion.

I'm sure we'll look at plenty of ways to get it out. Yes, sir. And our next item was a presentation, but that has been foregone, and so that concludes everything for our regular meeting. And we're gonna take a short break, and then we'll pick up where we left off with our special meeting.