City Council - Regular Meeting

Guys ready any of you call this meeting to order. This is the uh council workshop on November 25th, 2025. It's 3:00. Uh Councilman Vos, would you lead us in prayer? Yes.

Please stand if you're able. Please join me in a moment of prayer. First of all, heavenly father, remind us all that this that every day is a day of thanksgiving. and remind those of us here gathered here today that we need to be mindful of those that are less fortunate than we. And we ask, Father God, that you will provide for them whatever their needs are. Heavenly Father, as a new day starts, we thank you for life and the chance to begin a new. Fill our hearts with hope, strength, and trust in your plan for us. Help us to let go of yesterday's worries and help us face today with faith. Guide our steps and grant us wisdom. Let us spread love and kindness, shining a light for others. Lord, we give this moment to you. Lead us on your path and let every moment move us closer to your purpose. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Amen. All right, let's move to agenda item number three. Discuss the Odessa Development Corporation and Tiny Footprints LLC facade and infrastructure performance agreement. Mr. Bhutan, good afternoon, mayor and council, and happy Thanksgiving to you in advance. Um, you have before you a uh an agreement with uh Dr. Dr. Hector Garcia operating as Tiny Footprints. Uh Dr. Garcia has a limited pediatrics practice in Midland plans on opening a uh fully operational pediatric clinic in Odessa at 310 Doatsi which formerly was formerly was the Evans Pharmacy facility. Uh again, this is coming under this agreement is uh being presented to you under the facade and infrastructure grant program that has I think in many many ways uh improve downtown Odessa and it falls within this this uh property falls within downtown Odessa. Uh there he's going to spend uh over $225,000 for facade and infrastructure improvements. Uh he qualifies for $25,000 in facade uh grant uh and uh 66,31250 in infrastructure uh grant for a little over $91,000. Um again I think this is another uh example of how we have been able to improve uh not only the looks but the functionality of our downtown business uh facilities. Uh and again hopefully

we'll be able to move this on down uh the newly added uh portion of South Grant to the interstate. Um, so I would I'll be presenting to you at your next meeting uh approval of this of this agreement. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thanks, David. Gentlemen, any questions? Yes,

did we get the contracts for these cleaned up so that it uh you know like Dr. Kiros had some work requirements in his just for the facade grant and that delayed his payment and you know just the kind of traps that we fell in that it took over a year to get him paid should be simple and straightforward. We've worked in in thanks in in in large part to what's happening in within the finance department and how they're processing these at this time. Okay. and and and I I don't want to uh understate the involvement of the economic development department of the chamber and Tom's coordinating efforts in that regard too.

Thank you. Anybody else? If not, we look forward to seeing you counseling. Thanks, David.

But don't move a muscle because agenda item four says discuss ODC and UTPB performance agreement. This is uh another agreement that we are bringing before you that um aims at improving our workforce. Uh we think that's uh an area that we've begun uh uh more emphasis in the last two or three years. UTPB is beginning a civil engineering program and we believe that this program uh will turn out uh an a number of qualified civil engineers and those are really good. We know those are really good jobs, really great parts of our labor force. they're required to they'll start out with uh uh 10 students uh to graduate and and uh ultimately that number ratchets up to 60 over five years. Um we're they've asked us for $2 million and they're planning on spending over $6 million in order to get this program going. Um didn't realize I had that kind of effect, but uh

mayor couldn't hear it anyway. Huh? The uh static

we're we are we are anticipating uh Midland Development Corporation contributing $2 million. Likewise, this is another example of how the two development corporations have been able to work together uh financially to uh I think push things forward economically for our for our region. Um we we've done it in the past. One of the best examples is uh the pledges that we've made with regard to text dot programs where we've bought bought those down. I know we've had some discussions about those and whether that's a good thing or bad thing, but they've been very successful in in a number of projects and securing those and and making those happen quicker and and we've done that with MDC with with a like program. So, this is another example of that. Um I don't know if you have any questions with regard to that. Dr. Woodley is here uh if you need any technical information with regard to the engineering program, but we think this is really a really a nice program to have.

Yeah. Um is there any way we can tie this into getting some interns on this civil engineering into the city while they can do some training and stuff too? Uh that could be a big help to this city. If we're going to donate $2 million, we should be getting something else in return for our money, too. We could get help where we need help at, and that's in our civil engineering department with our engineers here. Does that make sense?

Well, we're always open to any kind of internship programs, whether it's with UTPBs on the engineering side or the master of public administration side. there's so many opportunities for uh um uh for these internships. That's that's how I started my career was with an internship, right, with the city of Allen, Texas. So, uh I believe in that pipeline and I can certainly work with both Odessa College and UTPB uh to try and create that internship program uh down the road.

Yeah. I think one thing I think Councilman Hayne has mentioned before is that We all need help. Odessa needs help and using both the leverage we have with and the the programs we have with UTPB and Odessa College. We'd like to grow them and keep them here. If we can get them hooked into a a workforce here and get them experienced, get them to know people, know the what's going on. I think we believe they would be more likely to stay here after graduation. And so obviously this area, this state needs engineers, but we want them to stay here if all possible. So, I think anything we can do, Dr. Woodley, that would uh I guess a synergy between UTPB and the city or and I guess let's don't we don't want to cut off the county or anyone else, but anytime they can get experience and real world experience, add to their resume and body of work and as well as uh you know, help them develop as an individual and as and as an engineer. I think it's fantastic. I love this program. I think it's a fabulous idea. We appreciate you bringing it to us. Gentlemen, any other questions for David? They'll be on They'll be on next council meetings agenda.

Okay. I I can at least give a thought there. Uh I don't know that we've ever written into an agreement a requirement like that. I know the intention of this program uh helping this program is that we know that if they run through UTPB, the likelihood there's a lot more likelihood that they're going to stay here and add to our workforce. Uh from a legal perspective, I don't know. I don't know how that that could happen. I'm not I don't necessarily want to sp speak for Dr. Woodley, but I would be shocked if she uh wasn't interested in trying to facilitate uh some of those uh uh civil engineering students to fulfill some uh program here that we have at the city in order to help. I I think I'd be shocked if she if she wasn't interested in doing that. I don't I don't know exactly how that might happen, but we can certainly look at that.

Well, the mayor, as you might point out, Dr. Willie is right behind you, and I'd love to bride her up to the podium to help shed some light on maybe what they've thought of that they could do or might be able to do.

Well, thank you for the question. You know, we have a a very uh extensive internship program. And so, absolutely, all of our uh students are um you know, encouraged to work with employers to find paid internships. So there's absolutely uh uh you know no question that we will work with the city on an internship uh program. We already have one and so all we have to do is get you included on the handshake and you may already be included on that with our career services and we will actively make sure as our uh civil engineering students make their way through that we prioritize the city engineering uh internship program. I think that'd be fabulous. We can we can absolutely do that. Thank you. We already have it in place. Appreciate it.

I have a couple of questions. Um, is there a civil engineering program going on now? Yes, we we took our first set of uh engineering students. We have about 10 in the p how much? 10 10 in the pipeline right now. They just started in their, you know, first, you know, two years. Uh, it'll be a while before they get into the engineering program. It's four-year program. And that's what I was going to ask the second question. Was it a two or four year program? It's a four-year program. It's a balorate degree program.

Great. You know, our goal is to be able to have, you know, 50 a year that go through that program and graduate. So, we'll have to build up to that, but this $2 million investment in the others that we're working on will really help us get that program a good start. Are these just civil or they civil? And these are is a civil engineering program. Yeah. So, we So, this will make five undergraduate programs. Uh, civil will be the fifth one. Gotcha. Anybody else have a question for Dr. Woodley or We sure appreciate you coming up, helping us. We look forward to working with you guys and best of luck.

All right, let's go to agenda item number five. Discuss renewal of the radio system maintenance and software update agreement with Motorola Solutions and the upgrade to the virtualized Prime AXS console D series multiplier. Getty.

Yes, sir. Uh the IT department is requesting approval to renew the radio system maintenance and software update agreement. The services are budgeted and allocated within the IT maintenance and software account. Uh the IT department is requesting approval to upgrade the following radio and dispatch equipment. This is a six-year project. Um this will replace G series prime site with Astro virtualized prime site. um also upgrade the AXS dispatch consoles and also the D series and MC edge radio sites.

So simple English, what is all that stuff? Is that our fire and police? Yes, sir. It's our public safety and then there's some some um billing collections and code enforcement and everybody that uses the radio system. So this is basically a a service agreement that they'll repair our existing system right now. Okay. The the rest of it is to upgrade equipment that's going end of life. So in few years all this equipment is not going to be maintainable anymore. So we're kind of trying to preempt that by replacing that equipment in the next year two, three, and four. Tony, I assume you have the money in budget and if so, what's that amount that we're looking at?

So, the this first year is just going to be software and it's 650 $656,000 roughly and that's already budgeted. We're going to pay for that. The rest of it, that's where we got with finance and we got with Motorola and we figured out a pay structure that would work for us. So the the next three years after this year is going to be in the two millions and that's because we're replacing servers and hardware and it includes the software and then we're going to replace you know hardware equipment that needs to be replaced. So but we're spreading that out over the six-year period so we don't have to take that $6 million hit in one year. Right? So, and that's kind of why we're bringing this now so we don't end up in a place where we're asking for $6 million or $7 million. So, we're trying to be a little proactive here. Um,

look like the total price is 8.6. And is that a guaranteed price? Yes, that's what we're locking in. Okay. Point. Okay. And we have Motorola here if you'd like to ask questions about any about the pay structure or um any hardware or anything. I have a question, just one question. Um, in the transition over the years in doing that, uh, when you're working on different segments of it, you have no down time or just minimalized down time. Yeah, that's a deal with the down. Yeah. Come on up. Introduce yourself.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, city council members. Uh, Tom Henderson with Motorola. Um when we do these type of transition projects, we will have a project management team that will coordinate with the uh the IT team and with the dispatch and the agencies to there will be short downtime, but we'll stage the equipment to try to minimize uh we also will work within the hours that we you you know the city feels is best to do the cut over uh as well, but it it's usually pretty quick, fairly smooth and uh plan months in advance as we do this to to minimize that risk. Right. Definitely. Yep. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Jim. Any other questions?

Uh, I'd like to know, uh, this is the first time you tried to replace this. I haven't done it and tried to do it the last two or three years. I mean, we've replaced the Well, we just had a a big upgrade was the Midland. Um, so we've done similar stuff and um, this last one, I would say, fairly well. Actually, the what we did is we went from the R4000. We went from the R4000, which was pretty antiquated. They didn't support it anymore. We went to the MC Cor is what we have right now. So, that was about seven years ago that we did that. Okay. Thanks. Anybody else? Not look forward to seeing you on the agenda, guys. Thank you all very much. Thanks.

Let's move to agenda item number six. discuss the purchase of Fus and DFR for the police department. Chief Gerky,

good afternoon, mayor and council members. This is simply a a request to enter in contract and purchase um Fus and Skyio's DFR program. Now, when I bring up the names of these companies, understand that they're both owned by Axon. And that's important because everything we do, almost everything we do is Axon related. So this will integrate seamlessly over without without worrying about those hiccups and bumps that we when we try to integrate other softwares into an Axon system or into any other system. So Fuses is is that software bundle that will allow us to bring in outside camera views. So imagine that we enter into agreement. We we don't make them. We enter into agreement say with a convenience store to allow us to view their their surveillance cameras on a net needed basis. So fourth and Dixie there's a robbery. Now is how important do you think it is for that officer to be able to know if there's a robbery where someone's pointing a gun at the clerk or someone walked in, grabbed a six-ack of beer, and ran out of the store? That's two totally different things, right? Also, imagine a situation where that same person jumps into a white van. Now, before you have the ability to look at cameras, you don't know that he jumped into a white van. I will guarantee you in my 28 years, I have driven past a suspect as I've headed to a call because I didn't know. Right now, you give that officer the information and intelligence to to do his job faster, safer, and more efficiently. So, that's the fus part of this. The DFR is drone as first responder. So basically what we do with that is we put there's there'll be five drones involved here. Two will be stationed at the police department, two at uh fire station 6 and one at fire station 3. And we can remotely launch those to

critical incidents to to uh major accidents to major fires any of those types of things. and they can get on scene before uh OFR personnel, before OPD personnel, and actually give us that intel back, that information back, so we know how better to to deal with the situation. Um the cost of this is uh $34,000 a year, $34,9990 a year. Um this is budgeted. It was approved in the supplemental budget. Um and I'll take any questions. Tim, any questions, chief? Could it help you do your job better and help us be safer and absolutely have more data for fires and police?

Right. How can you go wrong with it? May I have just one? Sure. You have to ask. Um, we're definitely on board in catching the bad guys and providing safety for the community. Sure. But an Orwellian comment, you're watching after civil liberties just as well. Sure. I mean, these are not things that are we don't have the personnel to to monitor every camera that we would have access to 24 hours. It's not a reminder, right? It's not possible. And we have we always place policies in place that say this is only for uh official use, right? You you have to have a reason to pull these cameras up. You can't just pull them up to kill time and and uh

for your own morbid curiosity, right? That's right. Right. Yeah. You have it. Secondly, so these are just commercial agreements. They're not like you can't you're not going out and you want my Ring doorbell, you want my

Well, I mean, no, it we we it could devolve to that, but I think at this point because what Fus does it the package we we're looking at buying will allow us to bring in 7,000 cameras. Okay. So, I mean, if you can't hit every Ring doorbell in town for seven with 7,000 cameras. So if you think about convenience store, if you're getting every camera, that's probably five or six or seven cameras, right? So you you only have we only have the ability through this package for 7,000 cameras. So no, it wouldn't be all the Ring doorbells, but just commercial. So only convenience stores or

I I think anybody that we could we we look at the data and find out, you know, we we look at where those cameras are in in our town where we're having the high crime issues and things like that and we would concentrate on those first. Bring those in first. Thank any other questions, Chief. Thank you. Look forward to seeing J.

Thank you. Agend item number seven discuss extra county in and local agreement for a joint drainage improvement master plan. Mr. Tucker, good afternoon. What I brought to you is a it's an interlocal agreement to do a a flood master plan study with the county. Um to my knowledge, this has never been done. It's so it's kind of unprecedented uh cooperative effort. I mean, and it makes sense. Rain doesn't fall in the county and fall or the city. When it rains, most of our flood planes are interconnected. So, we've uh formed an agreement with the county. Uh we've got a consultant on board that uh has is ready to get started on this and I've got representatives from the county. Mr. Avery is here and Mr. Carlile with Half. Uh they're going to perform the study and if y'all want to come on up. I believe Half's got a short presentation they'd like to show you on exactly what we're looking at. Sure.

Absolutely.

Come on up, gentlemen. Thank you all. Um, good afternoon. So, my name is Bryce Carile. I'm with Half. Um, I'll just give a quick overview of the project and kind of the scope that we're looking at doing. Let's see if I'm able to click these. Great. Um, so this is kind of the team. Um, my name is Bryce. Like I said, I'm in love. Um, David Smith's the principal in charge on the project. And, uh, and then we have Andrew House, the project manager. And, uh, they unfortunately weren't able to be here today, but um, we're looking forward to get started on the project. So, um, quick agenda. I'm just going to go over the scope, kind of what we're looking at. These are the six tasks that it's kind of broken out into. U, but I'll go through them all quickly in a moment. So, just a project overview. Um, the goals of the project are really to provide a flood risk assessment for the county and for the city initially. Provide an assessment um, and then identify and prioritize the areas of concern and then come up with solutions for those problem areas. um and then begin to strategize and uh work toward solutions u and come up with a plan for how to implement those solutions and how to fund them um as well as developing an updated drainage criteria manual. So, our approach will be really to start with data collection and public outreach. Um, collect data and and communicate with the public, move into an existing conditions analysis, um, and a flood risk assessment and then identify where the problem areas are, begin to identify what the solutions could be for those problem areas, um, and then plan them out, fund funding, and then work on the drainage criteria. So, um, task one of the of the project is really the management task, but that includes coordination meetings with with city staff, with county staff, including, um, um, city and council, sorry, city council and county commissioners as well. Um, the second part of this is public outreach. So, we'll do public workshops and public

meetings um to gather public info on input on where flood happens and um um, excuse me, I'm sorry. and stakeholder meetings so that we can get their input. It also includes the general um PM task. So moving into kind of the technical part of it, we'll do data collection. So this is really where we gather all the publicly available data, land use, uh LAR, any existing studies that are out there from publicly available data as well as what the city or county already have on file. Um and we'll use those to leverage them into our our studies. So um any uh record drawings or flood impact reports will also be gathered. Moving into task three would be the existing conditions analysis. So what we're going to do is develop a rapid assessment model um 2D rain on mesh model simulate rainfall events and come up with what hotspots are. And so we'll come up with 30 areas that are identified as the primary flood risk areas. Um and those will get pushed really into the next task which is flood mitigation solutions. So out of those 30 areas, we'll we'll narrow it down to 20 and we'll come up with um potential solutions for those. So uh that's broken down into 12 for the county and eight for the city. And those will include potential improve we'll look at potential improvements such as structural improvements like detention or channel improvements or coververts um or non-structural such as a flood warning system or or potentially uh flood proofing or even and buyouts could be considered. And once we have those 20 areas with potential solutions, uh we'll look at prioritizing those solutions and then working toward a planning and funding phase where we can look at uh developing cost estimates and benefit cost ratios for those. Um and then the last task here is really um develop a drains criteria manual, updated manual so that we can kind of get ahead of these problems. um equip the city and the county with a updated manual so that

we can enforce um drainage regulations to make sure that development is not causing additional um flood problems for the future. So task six is really just uh the deliverables for that. So that'll include the a technical report for the for the drainage analysis as well as a CIP report for those proposed projects. Um a master plan report that summarizes everything and then as well as the uh the drainage criteria manual itself. So overall recap, we expect this to take about two years. So hoping to get started in January. Um wrap up sometime uh in January of 2028. So about two years from start to finish. So all right, and I'll take any questions here.

My only comment is that I think this is a time of unprecedented cooperation between our county and our city. Proud of all the leaders that are working together to make these community, this county and city a better place to live. So I want to thank the county and thank you guys. Joe and everyone for getting this putting this project together. I think it's a great idea. Any questions, council? So, just so I understand this, the study alone is going to take two years. No, sir. The the study um as well as developing the potential solutions and the CIP plan and the drainage criteria manual. So, all of those deliverables will be accomplished with Yeah. But it won't do anything actually for the drainage till after that. Uh that would that would be correct that the uh now

no that's what I'm trying to understand because I mean we all know we all know so what uh what we've also uh I spoke with David a little bit okay um on the principle on the principal with half on this and uh we're going to identify uh several uh hot spots right off the bat and we're going to start start developing some plans to to actually get it so we can as a city and the county can start working on those while they're developing the rest of the plan. That's that makes more sense. That's what I needed to know because I mean every time when we rains it rains and we all know where the water goes and we know who gets affected and

and one part of it I'm excited about is the drainage criteria man. Ours is way outated. Fact I haven't really used it for years because it's it needs to be That's an important part. That's basically how our consultants design that needs to be done. It's okay. Sounds great. Any other questions? Has there been any discussion with Midland? Because the water coming down Fudrey goes from Ector into Midland.

What we did do is when we started conversations with the county, it was just in the county, but when we the project we expanded it to include the part of Odessa that's in New County. So we will have well Bankhead Highway I think is where Greg I put words in your mouth but bank I know they've built some retention plots. Horton building a bunch of houses back there. We have pretty good shape on that side of town because for the last 20 years or so we've been concentrating a lot more on detention. Right. Yeah we have. We're in pretty good shape there, but it will be in park included instead.

We're just going to basically divert it all down to Mon draw and send it to Midland. That's what's happening now. But it's collecting Don Wood's front yard down there. Take away our friends from Midland. Take away our fishing point. That's right. Just, you know, it's curious to hear if there's been attention paid in the last 20 years. I don't remember floods out there like there have been in the last five. Yeah, we had some floods that hit that area with that kid. We had one serious last year, but two that I remember. Yeah, you got to go look at all the concrete that's been put down. I know. It all runs that way.

Yep. We know where it's going to happen. So, I'm excited. Okay. I can't help I can't help but to ask, but software simulated rainfall to um procure your data. What what how many inches do you normally program inches for that? So it's it's based on statistical u observations of rainfall events. So we we gather that data from it's called Atlas 14 which is a conglomeration nationwide of of rainfall statistical data. Um so 100year storm um maybe a 9 in 9 inch rainfall event um over 24 hours. So you'll take worse projections just as well. Yeah,

that's right. We'll we'll actually look at multiple storm events. So, a a one-year storm, which is a more frequent event, um or all the way up to a a 100-year event, which is excellent. A 1% annual chance. So, any more questions? If not, gentlemen, we appreciate your report. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Forward to it. Let's go. Agenda item number eight, update on the next waterline replacement project. Alex, good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Good afternoon. The utilities department's here to uh discuss the new or the next waterline replacement project within the utility job order contract. Um it is in district 1. Uh it's down Pearl Street um off of Grand View. Uh just a little bit about this project. It is from that water line is from 1957. It's an 8 inch cast iron line. Uh currently it has six line breaks over the last 10 years. Um, but the issue that we're having right now is that there are six with the valve assessment uh project that we have. We have six valves there that make that line uh very hard to isolate when we do have some problems with it. So, uh we're going to start with this one. Uh we're going to replace 2566 linear feet of 8 in uh cast iron uh that will be replaced with PVC. Uh we're also going to be adding uh five new hydrants in this area due to lack of fire suppression for that air for residents in that area. Um so we're going to be replacing one and adding five new ones. Uh the overall project is going to add 20 new valves to the project. It's estimated for 16 weeks and uh this project is on the rehab water master plan. So um go to the next slide. Uh the cost estimate for this project uh total with a 10% contingency is 863,72256.

Any questions? It should be December 1st. December 1st. So that'll run west from Grand View. Yes, it will run west. Yes, sir. To Dixie. I think there's only houses or is it is it there right on Grand View? There is commercial, but then after that it does turn into residential. Yes, sir. Could we notify the residents? We will be sending that out. Yes, sir. Any questions, gentlemen? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Let's go to agenda item number nine. Update to provide a stormwater program highlighting key ongoing initiatives. Elizabeth,

thank you, mayor. So, I guess we're gonna keep on talking about infrastructure. Um so not too long ago I came uh to uh request some funds in order to start doing the scoping for storm water. Um so as you may recall in 2009 storm water was established. It wasn't in 2010 that they actually started collecting funds for it. For the first four years, it was mainly just co uh collecting um funds, building up the team and working with GIS in order to uh what we'll talk in a little bit about the tier systems. Um, and in between 2014 to 2016, that's when they started incorporating more of the management aspect of it. And they started building um kind of buying all of the equipment that are like the the street sweepers and some of the equipment that we use on our everyday um job we can say. So this was created by the Texas Commission Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Act in order for us to create this tier system that you're going to see right now. So basically we have two categories which is residential and non-residential. This is uh depending on how much hard surface you have on your lot, that's how much they're going to uh charge you. And it's for residential is going to be between 185 to 225 per month. It's a flat fee um based on how much you are covered and we like I said we work really closely with uh GIS in order to be able to put that data in. Um so I kind of wanted to give you guys a history uh for the past uh five years just so you can kind of see how much

money today uh we have been collecting uh through this program. Um, now we're going to go more in depth in where the funds are usually used. Uh, like I said, storm water is um an enterprise fund. So, what that means is that it's treated like a business. Every single thing that we're spending has to be related to storm water. We can't just use it in something that doesn't apply to it. It has to be specifically because we report all of our data uh to uh TCQ every single year. Um so like I mentioned we already started with our underground um drainage scoping. Um we calculated we based on GIS we have 19 miles but we've been finding a lot more right now. So, we had put in a window in order to have 25 miles just so we wouldn't have to come back to you guys and uh do a change order. So, we anticipated four things. Right now, we've only been working for a month. Um, and we're at 22% completion for the inlets and then for piping uh inspections, we're at 8%. A lot of that has to do with this. As any project, you're always going to have unforeseen uh issues through there. So, we have been finding a lot of manholes that have been paved over. So, that means that we have to dig them out. And uh that means a different crew has to come in and clean that up and and expose before we can send cameras in there. Um, and then that means that we have to come and kind of put a temporary cover on that in order for us to not have to dig again because we're going to have to come back and raise those manholes to grade level again. Um, we were expecting to have

worn and aging infrastructure. That was expected. Um, and like I said, we're finding a lot of new manholes and piping new systems. Um, so let's go now to this year for what we're projecting to be able to spend. So when I went to council for budget season, um, I projected this uh, scoping that we were going to do and this is there two phases right now. We're in underground and then we're going to go above ground which would be all the basins and the canals. Um so that's where most of our expenditure is going towards and this is not uh including anything that we're finding while we're doing this project. So just to give you a more in detail of where all of these funds are going. So it uh when it says personal personnel services, supplies, services, maintenance and other that is our day-to-day operations, what we usually use in order to be able to uh just keep on doing the work that we do. Uh the capital outlay, those are the specific projects that we're currently working on. Um you've heard me talk about the manhole locks that we need to do. Those are custom that have to be made. Just so you guys kind of have an idea what the manhole replacement inlets and the manhole locks would cost. They're around 25 to 50,000 per uh item. So

why why are those custom? Because of the locks that they have to have and just because of our system. Because if we put plastic ones, they're going to break them. So they have to be made in order. That's just how they they make them in order to have a specific lock. So nobody can go into them. They're not as fabricated. Yes. Okay. So they're basically some sort of apparatus fabricated over the manhole. Yes. And the vintage of those manholes could have been created from any time from let's say the 1940s until prison. Yep. And so there's no real consistency there. So I think probably what we might do take a couple pictures. Yes.

Of those that were of those locks that we're talking about and maybe send them out to council just as an FYI. Yeah. I'll just follow up on Car's question. And I thought, call me crazy, but all cities had the same size manhole coverage. Do they not? No, they all have different ones depending on the use and what they started with. Remember, I inherited what was out there. Um, and what they put in was specific what they wanted to design depending on what was going on in the area. They're not, and I think Monica can explain a little bit more because I'm not out in the field what they're looking. They're not all the same. You'll see like some in the school area how uh we have very long um infrastructure in there that it's a little bit different.

Just feels like to me that for 50 grand a pop, you could replace them with something that's consistent. We have a foundry that's in Crane that make that makes manhole covers and stuff like that. I know you probably not talking to them because they they go out to distributors, but they do sell to cities and stuff. So, and we can when we get to that point, we can always talk to because we haven't gone out for our cues for on any of that and whatever is in our already uh in our system that we can work with. This is also for manhole reconstruction, right? So, we're talking not just about

coverage the top you're talking about the apparatus that goes the structure that goes all the way down. Sometimes it can be 10 feet, sometimes it can be 20 feet. I mean, we've got some holes that are 30 30 ft. So, they're all very unique and different. Some are brick, some are failing. Go ahead. Well, they build plastic ones now. And let me just say they build the plastic ones that are very heavy duty and you can buy them locally. You don't have to even go out of here. They have the different lengths on them. So,

and in some cases, it might be more beneficial to go in and basically shoot them. Is that correct? from top to bottom with what is basically a PVC material that hardens over time. And so then you basically have a shell within the old structure. And we'll explore all of this once. Remember, right now we're just gathering all of the data. Okay. This uh I I was able to experience the cameras down in the hole cuz I was really worried was like on musking gum if it was being clean, right, to help the waterfall. So, make sure you getting something to keep those manholes or the lids on there because you know what I saw down there? Guys show me it was like 10 of those right down in no trash but 10 of the manhole covers.

Mhm. Popping up and flowing down with the water. So, make sure we get good locks to help keep that on so we don't end up looking down and see 10 or 12 of them down in the drain. 50,000. Yeah. 50,000 bucks. Um, and this budget does not include two items that we will be talking in the future, which which is Tangle Wood Bridge, uh, which would be, um, around a million dollars. And, um, also Joe just talked about the study with the county, which we would be paying $375 for that study,

this budget. Mhm. So once you include these two additional items that puts our expenditure for 2026 to uh 5 million uh leaving us for next year 3.6 six if we're able to capture which I think we'll do. We just put it at a very conservative conservative amount the uh revenue that we would be collecting but history has shown that we have been able to collect that. I have a quick question for you on that. Is that part of the fee structure discussion? it. Yeah, it well

it it is part of the fee structure and that a total fee a total fee schedule is being prepared and that will give the council the opportunity to look at the existing fee schedule to determine whether or not a change needs to be made. Okay.

Okay. So, as of right now, these are all the projects that we have identified that will be coming in the near future. Um so some of them we're already in the process which is doing all the assessment like I said of the underground and above ground. Um as you can see we have already put in some funds in order to start emergency uh maintenance to them. Uh just because we know that we're going to find collapse systems somewhere out there. Uh we are focusing uh you know it's all going to come based on a priority list that they're going to give us. when they give us an assessment, they're going to give us a cost assessment and they're going to give us a priority. Um, and based on that, we also want to make sure that we're focusing and being um careful with anything that is close to schools and to parks. So, this will just give you uh the future uh capital improvement projects that we have. So, just so you guys can have an idea what we're finding, we're finding we're expected to find a lot of sediment in the pipes. Uh, so that means that we now had to go into another uh third party and where before they can even start scoping, they have to remove all of this. So, it's it that's why it takes a little bit longer. We had projected a six months. Um, and so we have great staff here. We working with our team here that they're helping us remove a lot and it's just I them identifying where it's at. Our crew gets out there, cleans it, and then they come back and they scope and we try to do everything within two weeks. So, um once they're in a certain area, they can do everything that they need to do in that area. Um the this is another example of the YMCA pump station. Um you guys have probably seen this. Um I don't know who designed this but uh that water ends up going into the community so we ourself

are in violation. So that's another project that we're going to be fixing and where we're not the ones dumping the water onto the street and into the neighborhoods so that this pond is is going to have to get digged and lined again in order for it to be more successful location. Elizabeth, yes. Um on that YMCA uh pump station. Yes. Is that the one off from university? Correct. What's that middle structure that's right in the middle of that what I call a pond? Fountain. It's a fountain. Fountain. It don't work. Yeah. Right. It's the fountain. Yeah. Okay.

And this one is the one that has the pump station, right? That we need to fix. Yeah. So out to 23rd.

Yeah. Yes, but what we're getting, we know we identified the issue and we're going to uh address it. Um these are again uh aging infrastructure around schools. Again, they're one of our priorities, making sure that we have everything to code so you don't have anybody that's tripping on anything and then they can get hurt. Um, so this brings me back to uh my summary. Just our goal is to make sure that we're protecting um not only people but their properties and it's not caused by storm water runoffs. Um we have as you saw a whole list of projects that we have to do. um funding will become challenging in the future just because for the past 15 years they have been able to collect all these funds but now we're in a stage where we're trying to be proactive and fix our infrastructure and mitigate what is out there. Um so for our working budget for 2027 if projection follows it would only be 1.8. So, as you can see the list, we're obviously uh going to have to prioritize what's going to be immediate and just work that way, but just wanted you guys to kind of get an a feel of where we're at and how our budget works. Now, I'm open for any questions for you guys.

I would say this before any project is done, we need photographs like this. We if if we ever have to increase storm water rates, I'd like to explain why with pictures. I mean, I some of that stuff's terrible looking, but I think it's hard to understand if you can't see it. So, please have all of our staff and third parties take pictures. Yeah, we do. Any questions, Mr. Greg? Yeah. You mentioned something about street sweepers earlier. We only got one. We got said we only have one driver. Yes. Correct. My whole point.

So, we only got one working. But is that something that you could could Stormwater hire another driver? Could how how street sweepers out on the street? So, uh, Storm Water is the one that funds those positions because it falls part of this management plan.

Um, and a lot of it had to do with um that we couldn't find people to drive the vehicles, the CDL license. Um, and so we're working with fleet in order to replace th those vehicles so they're non CDL and then it'll be a lot easier that anybody can then um be able to apply for those because we can't we're not paying what other is there a plan of action on that? Yes, there is the plan of action timeline on that. Well, the plan sure the plan of action is right now, how many do we have in the in the hiring queue?

Oh, there the positions are posted. So, there's five positions. So, I mean, as soon as we get these positions filled, then we can put bodies in the we can put people in the right the ones we have in the in the existing street sweepers and get them going. That sounds like chicken and egg, though. You're saying we can't hire CDL drivers because we're not paying enough. We went up on our rates. So, we went up on our rates. So, we should be able to hire them now. Did we go up enough to hire CDL drivers? Yes, we're getting we're getting people in the door now, at least at the solid way site. So, I would anticipate perhaps, but are we still going to buy non CDL street sweepers?

That's not the plan to buy I mean, it's the plan to buy non CDL sweepers. I don't know what the timeline is. So, let's talk about that for a bit. So realistically, let's go ahead and try and get drivers in the vehicles that we have right now. That investment has been made. There's four sitting there and they're operational. Is that right? Yes. So I think as time goes on and it's time to cycle one of those out, then you replace it when it's in when it's at the end of its useful life and probably through attrition, the the job description would then change for that driver, if that makes sense. So right now the plan is let's try and get people hired so we can get them out on the street.

So in in Fort Worth we were made aware by the salesperson that a service vehicle doesn't carry the same CDL requirements. Yeah, they had the guy from Leick has street sweepers that were didn't have to have CDL to drive them. He showed us one and I don't know anything about other than it would didn't require CDL driver. Have no idea the heaviness is it's the weight. It's a slightly the slightly smaller version that didn't matter. No, no, no, no. He he specifically said it would probably be something that legal could look into that didn't matter. It was a service vehicle, so the CDL requirement went out the window. I heard that as well.

Yeah. And although it the funds come from storm water, we're not the ones that um manage the hiring for those. So it becomes tricky that we we can make that simple though. We can get there on I mean at the end of the day if there's a position that's open and there's budgeted authority there then we can get it hired. We're Sounds like a lot of hiring needs to be simplified. Well, we're I I put gosh, I put maybe 20 through the queue this morning. So again, and and across the board,

if you have a budget and you have budget authority and you have if you got the money, then you can hire the people. That's that's my philosophy on this. We shouldn't be taking 300 positions, right? So for if again if if the budget authority is there, it's in the budget, then we just need to we need to get it out there. Thank you. Mayor, just a little clarification. Are are you saying that all service vehicles don't require a city? That is what we were told and we'll say a salesman told us that. So I was going to bring it back to city for more clarity because I don't know the answer.

Yeah. So, I talked to somebody at TML as well and they stated that the new law in in the new law for service that it a street sweeper is running as a service. Therefore, the CDL may not even be required. Do you know who you talked to? Um, it was Tim. Was it someone in the city of Le? No, it was a representative of Timco. Okay. Well, we can certainly just call a Timco representative and say, "Hey, what what law are you referring to?" And then we can research it from there. Yeah, let me let me look into that. Okay. So, that would be a great idea to keep these going. That's right. And keep what we have and save some cost on new sweepers until we need to replace when it's time. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

I know. It used to be anything a one ton truck and below, you didn't have to have a CDL. Yeah. Anything above that, like a 550, it was a that's not even a a real CDL. It's more of a you have to go get your DOT physical and everything. So, it's not really a CDL required. But then when you get anything 550 and above, it has to have a CDL. So, but the trucks you're looking at are one tons and we should be good to go. We'll let look in that and we'll let it roll. All right. Thank you. Is there anything else? Um, they'll come back to us anyway. Agenda. All right. Thank you. We appreciate it.

All right, Erin. Agenda item number 10. discuss one-year extensions on our industrial district contracts. Sure. Uh I have not had a chance to go over every single industrial uh agreement that we have and there are quite a few out there. My understanding is we have north of is it 60 62 industrial agreements out there. So uh with that I would like to come back at the next council meeting and just say hey let's get a one-year extension so that we can peel back the layers and and really understand what's going on. I certainly don't want to let one expire uh for, you know, no good reason.

Yeah, Mayor, there's seven that expire December the 31st. Okay. And that's and so our thinking was that instead of trying to renegotiate if we could just get a a policy of a one-year extension, maybe authorize the mayor, you know, do any to negotiate execute extensions. We probably won't have them in before you on the 9th, but maybe we can have them before the end of the year. Okay. So, just kind of authorize you to negotiate and execute. Okay. That was the thinking. Sounds good to me. Thanks, Aaron. Let's go. Are we any questions?

Yeah, I got a question. Sir, if these industrial districts, can we can we bring them into the city legally on some of these industrial districts, especially the ones that are real close to the city? Well, you know, we've got that state law that we don't do uh can't annex forced annexations.

No. And so there would have to be some type of request or some type of and it's probably going to be an agreement by an agreement issue, but we'll be sure and look at them and see especially these seven that are coming up. Uh is anybody aware that have they approached the city regarding annexation? Have they ask? I I haven't heard of any and the city's really made whole typically on an industrial agreement. For instance,

that's the whole point is that we're we're supposed to basically taxes in lie of annexation or fees in lie of annexation. We're supposed to be made whole. Uh that's the that's the only reason. If you don't do that, you know, then it's like why why are you providing the service? Well, some of these industrial districts sit right on the edge of where we want to extend out water and sewer. And so if they're annexed in now, we can do this, but only if they agree. Only if they agree. But again, I would give them a chance to take the acceptance. We should be able to give them a chance.

You're raising a good point. When you do these industrial districts and these other things, you got to be careful. uh you know like uh you're going to landlock your city and then you it's kind of what's happening now. We're having to go east. Uh you're right. You know, you landlock your city and there you go. Okay. We'll take a look at that. Okay. Thanks. Looking through the um agreements. Yes, sir. What's the normal term that you're finding? What do they normally set at time wise? Gosh, I don't know the answer to that. I mean, they can be 10 years. That could be 20 years. They could be more than that. They vary. I'm sorry I couldn't hear the question. They What What are the What are the terms of these agreements usually run? And they vary, but you know,

10, 20, 30 years. They can go that far. Okay. All right. Anybody have any other questions? Bring that up on our December meetings. All right. Update on our audit number 11. Aaron.

Thank you, Mayor. So today I had a conversation with Cherry Beckard along with Cayla um finance director and Cherry Becker just to let you know we brought them on as accountant help if you will. So this firm is renowned in the state of Texas probably the leader all they do is uh governmental finance. I don't know that they do anything else. Uh so they assist cities uh who are needing some well help with you know just third party and we've worked with uh and we're working with them and have been uh this month uh chatted with them today and they um and we were able today is when all the information was submitted over to uh Weaver to finish the audit. So they have their information. Uh the really where we're at now is they're going to review what's called the trial balances. And then when they review those, then they will be in a position to provide us with a finished audit. Um, so talking with Cherry Becker today, I think that'll probably happen in December. I don't I like to underpromise and overd deliver though, so I'd feel more comfortable saying December or January for that finished audit to be presented. Um, in the meantime, uh, 25 is really, I'm sorry, 2425 is underway in the form of new processes that Kayla has instituted. Um so um I feel confident especially since Weaver has said and Cherry Beckard has said we are going to give you every resources possible necessary to get this thing knocked out in time so that we meet the the letter of the law come come March for the final audit there. So that being said uh they will also be here on December 9th Weaver and Cherry Becker. to have representatives from both entities here on the 9th so that they can get into more detailed conversation about the specifics of the audit at that time.

Do we have a plan once we have that last audit to start approaching Moody's and center for retain our credit rating? Uh that would be the plan is to get with at that point Hilltop Securities our fund advisor to set up meetings with Moody's with Standard and Poor so that we can have the interview process with each of them. uh and get a get a bond rating back. So I'd like to have those set up as soon as we have report on the 9th and we know I'd like to go ahead Lord I don't want to if you wait to set up the meeting sometimes might take 30 60 90 more days. I'd like to get that on the calendar

once those are once those are done. Yes. In fact, we'll go ahead and start with having a conversation with Hilltop to say, "Hey, we anticipate these being done by Dave Certain. How do we go ahead and get in front of Moody's and Standard and Bores for that uh for that interview, if you will." Um, in addition to that, I wanted to chat a little bit about um, you know, how do we maybe move forward? Uh, how do we look at things moving forward so that we don't ever uh, come to this situation again? And Michaela and I were talking about talked with Mr. Stoker about this as well about an audit and investment committee. Uh basically think about an audit and investment committee as a group that meets every quarter. Uh these would be think of it as a compliance committee. Um these would be folks that are appointed by council. It could be a small committee, it could be five, it could be seven uh to give advice to the council uh recommendations of audits, internal controls, um financial reporting, you know, these would be people uh that are accounting people that are CPA people something like that. That way that group has an idea of what's happening with our audit process uh from just u our controls, our processes, things like that. Just an extra set of eyes, if you will, on that specific function that's that's highly important to this organization. Anyway, something to think about. And if that's the direction you want to go, you can say here at this meeting, yeah, let's move forward with that. Uh, and then, um, Norman and I could start working on that process to get that going. I

think I speak for council when I say the city never wants to be in a position again with late audits. There's now there's now statute that would prevent any tax increase. Not that we ever want to see another one anyway, but it's just a bad look and and listen, there it happened and we don't need to talk about the problem. We need to solve the problem. So from my perspective, if you think these committees would be a tool that finance can use to help keep everything on track, I'm 100% for it. Very good. What would be the the membership of this committee in number?

You know, like I said, it could be anything. It could be five, it could be seven, but certainly you want to have somebody uh with backgrounds in financial reporting, somebody who understands financial processes. uh accountings, accountants come to mind, CPAs come to mind. Um but you know, those are sometimes hard to find, but at the same time, uh I think I think it's an important committee and I can already think of a couple uh names right now who already might serve on other committees that would be that we could approach about this as well. Okay. Um and in addition to that, you could also even put a couple council members on that committee. I mean, from that perspective. Sure. Gentlemen, are y'all in agreement? Absolutely. I think we agree. I think cause it to happen.

Maybe I got I got It seems like a consensus though.

The only thing I would add, mayor, is uh the legislature every session they're more and more involved in municipal government. I I don't know how else to put it. Uh, and when you when you create these committees, I know they're they get stacked with th those professionals, but I would uh keep the city attorney's office involved or some legal representation on that committee, something because we don't know what will happen the next session of the legislature and it starts pretty soon, but we've seen what happened in this last session and the session before and it's just it's a new it's a new ball game mayor with the legislature and municipalities and we've just got to recognize that and we've just got to be ready for it. Speaking on that since we're all on audit and that issue, can you give the council report on what TML did with regard to our position on that? Well, to me this is very exciting news and regarding the audit process. Uh, basically the Texas Municipal League put out a statement and in that statement they adopted uh the mayor's press release and sent it out to every other municipality in our state. They also adopted the position of the city of Odessa that the law is not retroactive and the audit only applies to this future audit which would be due in March. So they adopted the city's position and then mayor they also adopted the city's position regarding

audits that once the tax rate is set there's no mechanism to go back and reverse it and that is what we we raise those issues uh with the attorney general and it it's just it's uh very important that the Texas Municipal League related to audits has adopted the city's position and I I just think that's real important going forward. It's a it's a statement that uh it's a it's a very strong statement.

All right, gentlemen. Uh let's go to agenda item number 12. Discuss boards and commission appointments. Norma. Yes. For uh December, we have the ODC board members terms coming up for David Ban. he has termed out as the uh requirement specifies by the bylaws to serve only six years. That's council member Vasquez's appointment and he wishes to appoint Mike Wro for the December 9th meeting. Okay, fantastic. And for Ronnie Phillips, it's Council Member Haney's uh appointment and he's willing to serve again if Council Member Haney wishes to Okay, good. We'll have December 9th appointments then. Fantastic. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, gentlemen. Gilbert's favorite motion. Mr. Mayor, if there's no further business, I move we adjourn. There's a motion to adjourn by Councilman Vosquez. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Haney. All in favor say I. I