City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, Mayor, you ready? Yep. You can start in three, two, one. All right, we'll call the city council regular meeting agenda for Monday, March 23rd, 2026 uh to order at 6:35 p.m. Uh if you would all rise uh and join us as we're led in an invocation by Council Member Carbone, followed by pledges to both of our flags by Council Member Kosa.

If y'all would bow your heads with me. Dear heavenly father, uh thank you again for another day. Uh thank you for everything that we take for granted uh here in this city in this state and this nation. Be with those that are protecting our freedoms uh overseas. Be with the first responders here in the city that uh that are ready to uh to help and serve at a moment's notice. Be with the deliberations tonight. help us to uh be respectful and uh make decisions that are honoring and pleasing to you and to our citizens and get everybody home safely tonight. In your name we pray. Amen. All right. Thank you for that. Uh we'll move forward in the agenda. Roll call and certification of quorum. Um madam secretary, I'll certify we have a quorum present as all members are present with the exception of Miss Javaria uh who will be absent for the evening. Uh before I move on for citizens, I would like to repres uh recognize uh our newest member of the team over here, our assistant city manager, Jennifer May. Uh joined the joined the group last week, went through uh the week-long uh new employee experience and is now on the

ground running. So uh welcome her. Y All right, with that, we'll move to citizens comments. I believe we have two that are all under general comments. Uh, so Mayor Pro Tim will call your name and give you instructions. Uh, Kyle Haynes, I'm going to make your way to the podium and just state your name for the record. You've got three minutes to speak. Appreciate you being here.

Hi, my name is uh Kyle Haynes. Um, I'm coming to address a concern that's happened in the new Dr. Horton community, Alexander. I bought my house July of this past year and when I purchased my house, there was no mention of the addition of town homes in our community. Um, as of recent, we just found out one of the newest residents to our community. Um, his realtor made it clear that there was going to be town homes in our neighborhood. It's going to be onethird of the entire community. Uh, Dr. Horton says that this is uh public information on the city website as well as on their website. Um, I've combed their website as well as the city site. There's no mention of town homes in our community. Uh, Dr. Horton is saying that the city has uh placed a law requiring that all new build communities have uh town homes inside of their community and is saying that the city will not allow them to change the permitting from town homes to single family homes within our community. um basically leaving their hands tied, which I I understand is not true. Um they're stating that this will not devalue our homes or our ability to resell their homes. Uh given that one of the town homes is going to be directly uh to my rear, my backdoor neighbor, I I do know that this will affect my ability to resell my house. Uh it is to the extent where Er Horton uh offered me $5,000 in order to reconcile this issue as well as reduce the cost or the purchasing price of one of my res uh the residents in our community's house by $5,000. This gives me the intent that they know that something is going on that is being uh acting in deceit and they're just trying to kind of hush people up regarding this issue. So that's all. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. We we can't back and

forth with you because it's public comments. Um I think staff can probably step out

real quick. I can make a statement and then I'm going to have our director of uh development services uh just talk with you outside. I think you I think you know um we've not created any ordinance law resolution requiring uh town homes. It was an application that they asked for them. Uh so um we can we can clear that up with you real real quick. Um and just for fun, I'm going to ask for a clip of his comments uh sent to my inbox in the morning. I'm going to share that with the uh heads of Dr. Horton. Uh so and our lack of appreciation for their comments directing their citizens this way. So with that, we'll move on to the next one. Thank you for being here tonight, though.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, sir. David Dizzo. Again, state your name for the record and you have three minutes. Thank you for being here. Uh, good evening, mayor and council. My name is David do and I'm here regarding my request for a conditional use permit for an accessory dwelling unit to take care of my mother. Um, when I attended the original meeting a few weeks ago, I came in good faith believing that this was simply a formality. I didn't understand that I would be expected to defend my request in that setting or that my request was even controversial uh or that it would have been helpful for me to proactively address some of your potential concerns uh or propose some solutions of my own. Uh that misunderstanding is on me. Uh but the result is that I feel that my request was evaluated without the full context or preparation that it deserved. Since that meeting, I've taken the time to better understand the concerns raised and how I can address them in a way that aligns with the city's goals while still allow allowing me to use my property reasonably. I am more than willing to work within guard rails, conditions, and reasonable compromises. Whatever it is I need to do to take care of my sick, aging, and financially constrained mother. I am simply asking for the opportunity to revisit this request with a complete and informed approach, one that allows for solutions instead of a one-time final denial based on what now feels like an incomplete discussion. So my question is pretty straightforward I think but um it's you know is it reasonable to expect that this could be put back up for consideration at the next council meeting two weeks from today my family has been waiting for this for more than four months and we are in need of a solution. Look forward to working collaboratively with the city to find a path forward. Thank you for your time.

Thank you sir. That's all our public comments. All right sounds good. Uh thank you David for being here tonight. With that, we're moving to the consent agenda. Before we present that, uh item E is in uh echo is being removed completely to a future agenda item. So, it's just going to be items A through D. Uh we have asked for A to be removed. So, Mr. Kosa, uh would you present uh consent agenda items A through D with the exception of A? Yes, Mayor. consideration and possible action on consent agenda items A through D with the exception of A. So, so move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, call for that vote.

I I apologize. Which ones are removed? A and E is moving to a future agenda. Okay. Thank you. Member Kosa. Hi. Member Carbone. Hi. Mayor Prombbarum. Hi. Member Cade. Hi. Member Fernandez. I. Member Patel. Hi. The motion passes six to zero. All right. Mr. K, if you present item A, please. Yes. Consideration possible action resolution number R2026- 62. So moved. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Quick staff report.

Thank you, mayor, and good evening, council. This is an interlocal agreement with the Gulf Coast Center, and what it does is it'll create a crisis co-response team, and that uh unit consists of one sworn paral police officer uh as well as working alongside a certified mental health professional. Uh this is a grant program uh with the Gulf Coast Center where they uh fund the mental health uh personnel and we provide the officer. And the purpose of this is as we have those types of calls, we have uh an ability to avail ourselves to many more resources to to work with those those folks that are in need from that standpoint when our police is responding. So that we'd be h we'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Mr. B, you asked for this to be removed. I did. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I primarily just asked for it to be removed to recognize the need for this. I think this is a great initiative of our community. I appreciate you guys bringing it forward. We've talked a lot from this dis as well as in our community about the need for mental health services in in Perland and in Brazoria County. And so um I'm very much in support of this. I know that our officers as well uh need support internally as well as in our community. So I just wanted to thank staff for bringing this forward and find a way to make this happen. Good deal. Any questions, comments? Agree. It's a great opportunity. Madam Secretary, call for the vote. Member Kosa. Hi. Member Carbone. Hi, Mayor Patyram. Hi, member Cade. Hi, member Fernandez.

I member Patel. Hi. Motion passes six to zero. Turn the page here. All right. Moving to new business. Mr. Carbone, if you'd present item number one, please. Thank you, mayor. Consideration possible action resolution R 2026-51. So moved. Second. We have a motion and dual seconds. Uh with that quick staff report.

Thank you, mayor. Uh this item accepts the city's annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 25. And first before handling it, handing it over to our auditors, I want to get give credit to uh our interim director of finance, Tanisha Williams, and our controller, DA Long, and their team. Uh they've done a great job working through this process. Um and have led it led us through this audit season as we continue to make incremental uh improvements in this process. and have it now completed on time within the new state deadline to complete your annual uh report. Um, also want to say thanks to our deputy city manager, Victor Brownley for leading that team. And at this point, I'll turn it over to Andrew Janette with Whitley Penn to present the audit for fiscal year 25. Thank you.

Welcome. Just make sure you give us your uh name for the record and look forward to your presentation.

All righty. Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, good evening, city council and mayor. Uh my name is Andrew Janette and I am with Whitley Pin. And so I was the senior audit manager on this year's financial statement audit and federal single audit for the city of Periland. I have a brief presentation prepared for you tonight that's going to go over the audit process, the results of the audit and then we'll end with some required communications. Our audit um engagement leadership team is on this slide and so we had Sean Barry uh myself and then we had Patrick Simmons who's engagement partner as well as Lupe Garcia and he was a quality reviewer also a partner with our firm. The audit process takes several months to complete. For us that started over the summer where we perform our interim procedures. During that time we perform procedures in the areas of internal controls and compliance. We perform walkthroughs. We meet with multiple departments uh across this city. Um gaining an understanding of how the city operates. We look to gain an understanding of what policies and procedures are in place in order to produce accurate and timely financial statements. Once the city's fiscal year has ended, we will return for a year-end fieldwork at which point our time in time our procedures are more geared to the financial information that's being produced and generating the annual comprehensive financial report or the ACER. We perform substantive test work on significant account balances and transactions. We also confirm information with third parties such as your legal counsel and financial institutions. We also perform various analytical procedures based on what we know has transpired during the city or during the year in the city based on decisions that we know that this body has taken during the fiscal year. Over this time over this entire

period, we're gaining audit evidence so that we may express an opinion on the financial statements as ultimately that's the objective of this entire process and that's to determine whether these financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects for your users of your financial statements. This slide just highlights some of the critical areas that we performed internal control testing over. Um, so you had human resources, payroll, procurement, AP, information technology, your CIP, utilities, municipal courts, license and permits, parks and wreck, and financial closing reporting. As external auditors, there's a number of different conclusions that we can come to throughout this process. On the far left, you have the disclaimer. This indicates that the records did not exist or were in such poor condition that we're unable to form an opinion. The middle you see qualified or your modified opinion. This says that everything was fairly stated in material respects except for those items noted noted in our report. And then on the far right you have the unmodified or the clean opinion. This is the highest level of assurance as external auditors that we can provide the city. And this states that your financial statements were fairly stated in all material respects. And we do conduct our audit in accordance with the generally accepted auditing standards and the government auditing standards. And so I'm happy to report that this is the opinion that the city received on their fiscal year 2025 financial statements is the unmodified or clean opinion. And so um this next area is for we also issue because the city was required to have a single audit in fiscal year 2025. We also issue the auditor's report on internal controls and compliance. And so there's a snapshot there of how the city's performed over the past four

years. And so for fiscal 20 fiscal year 2025, you can see that there were zero material weaknesses and zero significant deficiencies identified. And so there were no instances of non-compliance material to the financial statements noted. The fi final report that we issue is the report on compliance for each major federal program. This year's federal program was CDBG non-Entitlement grants or ALN number 14.228 and we noted no findings or question costs. Finally, we'll end with some required communications. As part of the audit, we do res review the city's accounting policy to ensure that it's following all current pronouncements. There was one significant pronouncement effective this year and that was Gazsby statement 101 for compensated absences. This was implemented during fiscal year 2025 and accounting policies and methods are appropriate in accordance with industry standards. The financial statements do include estimates. We reviewed management's basis of these estimates and concluded that they were appropriate and being made in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. There are significant risks in financial statement audits. These occur in any financial statement audit and are not specific to the city of Parland, but that's the improper revenue recognition. We bring that up and that to let you know that we're aware of this and that we design it in our audit procedures to mitigate this risk. In our testing, there were no material misstatements noted. There are some adjustments that we do propose, but management reviewed, approved, and took responsibility for those and posted them to the city's general ledger. We had no disagreements with management over the application of accounting principles or management's judgment on accounting estimates. We encountered no difficulties in dealing

with management in performing and completing our audit. We had the city's full cooperation through each phase of each of the audit. The final final piece of audit evidence that we obtained is the management's representation letter. This letter is signed by management and represents to us that everything that we asked for was provided and that nothing had been withheld. We are not aware of any consultation with accountants or auditors made by management on any matter. And lastly, we do serve as a resource to the city. We will provide guidance and answer questions, but at no time do we feel that the way we answer or the position that we take on a matter is a condition on our retention as the city's auditors.

All right, we'll open up for questions, comments, concerns from council. Uh we have any

Thank you, mayor. Um, we had an audit committee meeting earlier, so I got to to hit you with all those questions earlier. Um, I could we go back to slide six. Um, just wanted to clarify, we've always we've been receiving clean opinions, but when you look at the the internal controls, um, we did have some material weaknesses and significant deficiencies back in 22 and three. Um, but this uh 24 and then now in 25 u no issues noted and um I'm a former auditor that that's a big deal to get those uh closed out. So I wanted to thank staff especially with the turnover um we've had um to be able to get it um get a clean audit out on time uh with no findings is uh sometimes we take that kind of stuff for granted but we shouldn't. So, so thank y'all and um yeah, I appreciate the longevity we have with Whitly Pin as well. And uh y'all ask Ly to come back make a presentation sometime.

I just um you mentioned that we were required to have an audit in 2025. Is that uh yes, but but more the federal single audit and so some cities don't receive the the funding that would would require a federal single audit. So that threshold is a a million dollars of federal expenditures during the year. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Patel. Um thank you, Mayor. So, I just want to ask you, you guys have been on this audit for what, two years now? Uh, this is year three.

Year three. Okay. Uh, did you I guess the time you budgeted, was was the audit completed within the time you guys budgeted? There there's some Yes, I think so. Um,

I I don't know. I'm I'm paused. I'm I don't know if you're still thinking or you want me to speak.

Oh, uh yes, I I believe so. I think that you know we had a goal to get this audit done uh before March and so I think you know everyone worked really hard to get it there and um especially coming from the past two years. I think last year we issued in in April and in the prior year was either May or June and so I think everyone's been working hard to get it there and and get get under this um deadline. So, I guess I guess maybe I need to rephrase my question. Um, I guess the hours you allocated to this project, are they within those hours that you allocated? I think we're getting there. I think it was a little higher than what we would want it to be. Um, just with the turnover and and kind of getting through um getting these material weaknesses and significant deficiencies cleared up um you know, and and getting everything where it needed to be. I think there was a little bit of overage of what we would expect, but you know, I think we're definitely trending towards that as we move into our fourth and fifth year um um of getting it to where you know it's typically in the budget range for a city this size.

Okay. Yeah. And I guess that's that's my concern, right? that um because we have such a I've been here three years and I feel like every year we've gotten a new financial director in their position and everybody has a new way of doing things and so uh and I do appreciate what Mr. Carbone pointed out that yes, our deficiencies have gone down and internal controls, but uh I just want to make sure that next year um we don't even have a director yet, right? So we'll have somebody new and again when you do your um audit next year, I want to make sure that we're being more efficient on this audit, right? For cost purpose. And then uh you talked about the adjustments that you recommended. Um how how large were these adjustments? I don't have an exact dollar amount off the top of my head. We do include our adjustments with um our management representation letter. I know we discussed in the audit finance committee that we would be providing that detail to you so you can see those numbers. Um but there I I did misspeak when I when I said that that slide. There were a few material mist uh adjustments that we proposed and that city reviewed and took responsibility for and posted to their ledger that we assisted um preparing this year and so those will be notated in that um report as well. Do we get that report?

I've asked for it in the past. I I guess I just it'll be interesting to see I guess what adjustments you're proposing and if it's uh I guess the question would be have these adjustments been proposed in the past and they just keep disagreeing or was it something new? These adjustments are showing up. There's some repeat ones that um we have proposed in the past um particularly on the capital asset side. Those those adjustments of course they're with capital assets so they're larger in in in dollar value. Um, so I think as the city's working diligently to um clean up that area of the audit, I think those those entries will be transferred um in and prepared before we even get on onto site.

Okay. Yeah. If if staff can please share those just to kind of get an idea of what the adjustments they are and in the past if these are repeat is there way you're footnoting them that they hey these were proposed last year or similar or Yes, we can absolutely include those. Okay. All right. Thank you. Note on that. Yes, Mr. Fernandez.

Thank you, mayor. I just want to recognize the city um the different departments within this. Uh when I saw this to prepare for tonight's uh meeting, couple things that I want to bring up uh that it was notated in our uh report. The government finance officers association GFOA of the United States awards the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting to applicants of this compreh comprehensive annual financial report. Uh the city has received this 48 consecutive years. So I think that needs to be no notated. Uh, also the city has received the GFOA's distinguished budget presentation award for 38 consecutive years is currently awaiting approval for the 39th year. Um and then lastly, I just want to point out that uh we recently the um the um uh city secretar's uh office received the transparency star and open records open government and compliance award by the state contraers office. And so for all that I just want to say thank you to all those that that make that possible within our staff. Thank you mayor.

Thank you mayor. If I can just confirm that we received today confirmation that we have uh the GFOA budget award for the 39th year. Excellent. Thank you.

Any other questions, comments? Seeing none, I I do I want to echo uh the same thing u that council member Carbone, you know, mentioned. It's it's nice. Uh the trend that we see here is good. Uh that tells me um all the work that we've done behind the scenes, Victor and your team, uh your guidance, your leadership along with with finance and uh Trent and your leadership in in making sure that we're doing things the right way. I think I think one thing I I want to say this publicly and and and you can talk about a little bit because you know there's there things get thrown out there and people may listen and and see this. What gets really really difficult in a city our size when we've got sizable projects that we have going on uh whether it's a wastewater treatment plant, a water treatment plant, uh a major roadway, you know, uh we're not talking about an expenditure of a of a few hundred,000, but we're talking about multiple millions of dollars and moving rapidly. There's a lot of line items that are coming through and we've got to close the books on September 30th. we have to draw a line and boom on September 30th, what does the financial picture of the city look like? And you've got these large capital projects. So, you heard him talk about one of our difficulties is is is in making sure that we're capturing on September 30th exactly uh what has been spent to date. And you can imagine, you know, to the penny, how do you do that and do it accurately, uh, when you've got, you know, when you've got invoicing and all kinds of stuff that's going on with these large capital projects. So, uh, a city our size with with and it and and this isn't we're not the only city that has difficulty with this. All cities that have this kind of a capital intensive, you know, program going on has a difficulty making sure that they that they do this. But the audit has to

be correct, has to be accurate. Our finances have to be accurate. So, uh it's just real hard to uh to get that to tie back. So, we're as as long as we have large capital projects, we're going to have difficulty every year, you know, on September 30th, making sure that we we we zero that out and and do that. So I just wanted to I just wanted to note that it is something uh but it is our our team internally certainly knows uh what to expect what our expectation is what their own expectation is. Uh Tanisha and you and your team have done a great job in the in the interim uh in getting this to this point and and where we are. So I want to thank you for all that. Like I said, uh you know, it's three years in a row where we can or uh two years in a row we have the zero material weaknesses and we just need to see that trend continue. So I want to thank you guys for that. Uh Madam Secretary, with that I'm just going to call for the vote.

Member Carbone. I penro. Member Cade. Hi. Member Fernandez. I member Patel. Hi. Member Kosa. Hi. The motion passes six to zero. All right, with that, Mr. Bum, if you would uh take item number two. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Consideration and possible action resolution number R2026-57. So move second. We have a motion, a second. We'll move to staff report.

Thank you, mayor. So, uh, city council as well as senior staff, uh, had a strategic planning retreat which we held on Saturday, January 31st of this year. And the purpose of that was to uh review, update and prioritize the city strategic priorities as well as the associated milestones. Uh there were new milestones and action items discussed along uh with realignment of some of the ongoing milestones. Uh so what what you have in front of you tonight is the adoption of those updated strategic priorities and milestones. And um we're going to walk through a brief presentation uh mainly focusing in on the the new things and and uh and and then some things that were tweaked. So always want to start off with what are our strategic priorities and and our our layout here is very purposeful uh because we look at resilient finances and trusted government as really the foundational things that if we do not have those two things and if that's not how we conduct our business we really can't do the what. So that's a found those are foundational and then the what are uh safe community strong economy sustainable infrastructure and connected community and all of that is uh to accomplish our why which is to be the community of choice. So with that uh just recapping um we reviewed our 25 accomplishments at the retreat. Uh we looked at some of the highlights of what we're working on in FY26. uh city council members shared their desired legacy uh and we reviewed our existing milestones and explored new ones and new action items associated with those as well. Uh so the culmination of that and we shared it out in the memo uh was uh 11 uh milestones completed from past years. Uh we modified two milestones, added six and then we had eight new action items uh that we're working on. So completed milestones uh under trusted government uh the agenda request modifications. So we made modifications to our agenda reports last year to help

with clarity on how they support strategic priorities and clarity in the document the information and um some more consistency in the documentation associated with those. And then uh we also um update uh quarterly updates to the audit committee. So, while that's an ongoing one, we've implemented it, so we're considering it completed from a milestone standpoint. And then strong economy, we uh completed adopt completed the Oldtown revitalization plan and have adopted that. And of course, that uh is going to see additional action coming out of that, things we've already started and other things that are in the works. And then uh we also completed the HGAC FM 518 corridor study which also is now moving into a ne the next phase of looking at uh how how that's going to work with the oldtown study. under safe community under police. Uh we completed a unified dispatching uh study uh which recommended some additional personnel there but not a uh not not making a unified dispatch at this point but something to continue to monitor uh to make sure that to move towards at the appropriate time. And then our public safety training facility which we did complete land acquisition uh this past year. And also under safe community emergency management. There was one to look at incident management team certification pay. We looked at that within the context of our overall certification pay and our pay plan and uh did not make a recommendation to move forward with that. So and then under sustainable infrastructure evaluating the productivity of the drainage maintenance plan. So that is our 10-year plan which you heard about tonight. Uh so uh we continue to evaluate that. We feel like we're ramped up now and can really determine over the next couple years whether we meet that 10 year uh 10-year goal and um you know as we move into some of the areas that are more heavily underground storm sewer uh we got to make sure we keep up with that goal but right now we feel like we're we're

making progress and on track. And then under resilient finances, uh implement recommended changes in the financing staffing. Uh which one of those the major one there was to establish the office of management and budget. Pull the budget piece of that out and into the city manager's office. And uh we've we've done that. And then under connected community, our customer service assessment and report completed that. We've stood up our customer experience team and we continue to work to uh grow that and and uh over this next year we'll start to implement the next portions of that. And then we also implemented the Cisco call center application associated with with the Parland uh customer experience team. Uh a couple of milestones I think it's two maybe three milestones we made a little bit of a modification to. under strong economy. Uh we had uh previously continue the process to update the UDC, the unified development code. So we just tagged on here including reviewing the plan development process as we've discussed recently and assuring that uh it h it has alignment with paral 20 240 and the uh the comprehensive 2040 comprehensive plan as well as paralle prosperity plan. So really what we come out of the UDC specific to plan development that'll potentially drive some changes in the comp plan as well as parallel prosperity plan future updates. And then under uh resilient finances uh we've had the develop mid-range three to fiveyear financial planning which we rolled out this past budget cycle and uh so we just added to that including a strategic level overview for funding the internal service fund. So um we're really taking a look at that. We're going to have some things to contemplate and look at for the next budget cycle when we get to our early budget input session associated with those internal service funds. Um, new milestones. So, these are the new ones that came out of our session in January. Trusted government develop and implement a citywide framework for ethical artificial intelligent use that aligns

with the city of Parland values and operational goals. trusted governant government uh and the this is a little bit of a continuation but continue uh you know monitor assess and respond to state legislative actions that preempt local control um and I think you know a lot of these are are around land use controls um and then it kind of these two go together where you're you know develop internal protocols and external engagement strategies to address the multif family housing proposals and future legislation implications as it impacts local zoning authority under safe community. Uh we talked a lot about uh you know our uh emergency response for fire and EMS and uh where we do that outside the city limits within ESDs within mutual aid areas and just uh trying to put our wrap our hands around the cost of that and are there strategies to uh to help with the cost of those um those things. And then uh also updating the effectiveness of coverage study uh for the fire department. Basically uh the last time we did that predated the annexation law changes from several a couple sessions ago. So we need to update that bas based on our current um city limits and limited ability to annex into to other areas that were included in the previous study. And then uh under resilient finances review the fund balance policy. So we've been working on that. We're looking to potentially take more of a a riskbased review of that and we're gonna have some additional information coming up at the early budget input session as far as how we look at that. So that in that concludes the actual milestones. Um, so the milestones we look at as kind of bigger overarching uh goals that are hung off of the strategic priorities. And then we also had some more staff action items. I think they're a little quicker, a little just more uh things to to accomplish over the next few months. Um, and to kind of build into the way we

operate. So under trusted government, utilizing the national community survey results to support budgeting and decision-making processes. So, I think um that's something that as we review uh the national community survey, we always kind of take into account of what's the comm what's the community looking at or what are what are their concerns to try to drive where we go with budgeting. Um but kind of re reintroducing that and reemphasizing that through our budget process. And I the other thing that was asked about um was when that was presented is is there especially in some of the areas that I think we scored lower in some of the pedestrian type things and traffic things. How does that compare to some other Texas cities? I have that. I just haven't had a chance to get through it and get it shared out, but we'll have that out as well uh here soon. Uh under safe community provide EMS collection recovery model and current statistics. So we've got a uh that we've got work in progress there to provide that. Then historical data on police staffing per thousand residents. These will all likely be memos that that we'll be compiling and getting out over the next uh few weeks to months. Um and then evaluate tools available to reduce running red lights including but not limited to traffic control uh devices, technology, public awareness campaigns, and enforcement. I think, you know, when when typically you think of um seeing seeing people run red lights and how it we seem to see it a lot more than we used to. Um that you know just in while enforcement's good, we can't enforce every major intersection all the time. And so we wanted to expand that to look at um you know how we can potentially uh impact that with traffic control devices uh technology. some of the, you know, the technology we're putting at our traffic signals today that help us not not only detect vehicles, but count vehicles and actually see how much of this type of behavior we're seeing at an intersection can then help us potentially modify, you know, how long

is the yellow is is there does there need to be a little bit more of a gap before you get the green going the other way? Those sort of things. And then, of course, public awareness campaigns.

Uh, sustainable infrastructure. So provide a list of all roadway projects by funding mechanisms including the 2023 bond program drainage projects that include roadway improvements. So you saw a compilation of that tonight in the presentation of just uh you know this past year and this current fiscal year how much is go are how much money is going into our roadways uh not just from our operating budget and not just from our inter interlocal with Broria County but also from those 2023 bond program drainage projects uh where we're redoing the roads as well. uh Resilient Finances uh conduct a workshop on the implications of the end of TUR number two uh which will be fiscal year 30. Um so we've got this kind of a little bit in the parking lot right now because we want to get one more year's worth of data from a uh state tax rate um worksheet standpoint. We've taken the last two years and after we've completed that state tax worksheet, we've then redone it as if the TURS ended that year. See what the implications would be. So, we want to do that again uh this year and then look at having that workshop in the fall after we've gotten uh into into the next budget year. And that'll give us I think that three-year look will give us a real good indication of what we're going to look at in uh in 2030 when that actually uh changes things from a assessed value standpoint and how our tax rate gets calculated. And then uh under connected community the okay so these two are holdovers from FY25 um that we really didn't just didn't make any progress on um but wanted to keep them on there and to some extent say you know are we still wanting to continue with these so we had uh explore transit options for the elderly disabled and non-emergency medical transport so we do have the service through Harris County Rides through the Gulf Coast Transit District um and so this was really are there better different options coming out of our transit needs study and it's just kind of been on the back burner. We we've,

you know, still have that service. Um so we'll still look at that when we get some time to to dedicate towards that. Um should be able to sometime this year without it being a uh legislative session year. Uh and then explore the role of nonprofit and other organizations in service delivery. So I think, you know, this is something we we do on the regular. Um, you know, we want to emphasize it as well moving forward. But, you know, from an emergency management standpoint, we've got the the the group of uh of nonprofits and religious uh institutions and churches in the area that have been the mayor's work worked hard with the with our uh with Peter Martin, our emergency management coordinator, to stand up so that and that's really from an emergency standpoint. who what are our resources around the uh community that can help during and after and in the recovery phase of things like that. And I think a real good example is is what you approved earlier tonight with the Gulf Coast Center, the crisis co-response team. So, we'll continue to always uh look for those things and pursue those things to uh uh have that be a portion of our service delivery model where we can. So, uh, before we get into next steps, wanted to say thank you to Megan Flowers Phillips. She's here tonight. Thank you. She, um, really drives this through through our organization. Uh, helped compile everything and make sure that as you see those reports throughout the year, what progress we're making on all those. Um, she's working with all the departments to make sure we've we are are continuing to progress and get the resources towards and and make sure these things happen. So, next step tonight is adopt. Um then we'll update the milestone action plan. Uh we will complete the staff action plans on your list tonight and then uh next um the next comprehensive update that you'll get is scheduled for this summer. So with that be happy to answer any questions or

All right, we'll open up questions, comments from city council. Mr. Carbone.

Thank you, mayor. Um I guess one specific question on the TUR. Um the timing you mentioned, does that give us enough uh enough leeway if we need to go back to our state legislature to get any laws changed to start pushing for that? So if we do that this fall, you know, I think if we recognize anything this fall, we'd have time to pursue that in uh 27. But I think what we've learned from the the first two runs at it um working with Robin Garrett, our consultant that helps us on the tax rate worksheet is that there are mechanisms within the tax rate worksheet itself that um take into account the end of a TUR. So we don't think right now that there's any kind of legislative fix necessary.

Okay. All right. Thank you. That's a good question. I I guess I thank staff and all the council. That's a long day. Um I guess well a long two days and um but it's nice to get away from this dis and be able to have a little bit more frank conversation mid and long long range looking not just playing whack-a-ole on the issues up here every night every Monday night. Any other questions comments?

Yeah. Um under trusted government milestone or strategic priority update 1.2 to monitor, assess, respond to state legislative actions that preempt local authority. Um, I think this is something that not only us as, you know, elected officials, but actually primarily us as elected officials, we need to make it a point to communicate out in the public what's happening between local municipalities in the state. There's a lot of things that got pushed through that we know about in the 89th that nobody knew about. And there is a concerted effort in Austin to consolidate control of the state of Texas in Austin, which eliminates the ability of our local elected officials to influence things in our communities individually. And so, um, I'm glad this is on here. It's not it's not just up to organizations like EML to figure things out. I'm I'm glad that you guys taking the reigns on that. I look forward to seeing what we can put together. Joel, thank you for the efforts that you went through that were nothing short of monumental during the 89th and it's only going to get harder in the 90th coming up and we know that. Um, but the community needs to be aware of what's going on and uh I just wanted to point that out and let you know that that there's a lot of conversations and and your elected representatives and your staff work very hard show up in Austin and try to try to really advocate for our community, but you don't know what you don't know and I want to make sure that we speak to that the community is aware.

Any other comments, questions? I just want to echo a couple things. staff. Thanks u thanks for indulging us for a couple of days as we walk through some of this. I echo what Mr. Carbone said. Sometimes it's kind of nice uh take the formalities away for just a little bit and have a very matterof frank conversation. We feel uh empowered to be able to do that. Doesn't matter if we agree or disagree, but we have the opportunity to just kind of sit down and have those discussions. And I think that's important for our council to grow together. At the same time, it it's to hopefully come out of this and we speak with with one voice uh when we adopt these that this is what we're handing over to staff because we want to see it it done. And I always tell people um if if if we are setting that time aside that we're coming in there uh listening you know to 138,000 different voices across this community which is very very hard to do to come to consensus and then bring forward what does it what does it look like you know uh in our uh in our community because ultimately the strategic plan should be the the people's strategic plan. So, I I know we we we we look at at at different ways to get community input and and just hopefully we put all of that to work at one time and we we try to capture what the public is looking for. Uh there's always a handful of people who are real loud, but then there's a whole lot of people who are not and you know, our goal is to represent as many of the majority as we possibly can. So, uh, so I I want to thank everyone for just going through this. Um, you know, my my time up here is going to be limited over the next couple of months. And, you know, when I, uh, stepped into this role almost six years ago, uh, this was something that was very near and dear to dear to me was bringing the strategic planning and the strategic, uh,

framework uh, to bear. And I want to thank staff for uh buying into it uh all the way through the organization, not just at the city manager level, but uh directors and and departments all the way down. They take this uh where it affects them and they they really uh work it hard and and at making sure that these whether it's a milestone or anything else that they take it seriously and they deliver on it. So uh I just want to thank everyone for doing that. As a followup to what Mr. Byron was saying, um, you know, something Joel and I had had talked about, uh, and there's still time to do this. We just have to figure out how we how we do it. But, you know, TML represents all cities. Uh but at the end of the day, what I hear often is from our legislators is if Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and the like uh want something, that's where TML's resources and everything else is going to go. And and and that that's what I hear. And of course, I'm not in their room, so I don't so I don't I don't know that for sure. Uh, so what gets missing all the time and just as for the public's edification as well, um, as reps have told us, we spend half our time fighting the big five and all of our legislation is aimed at them. So I'm like, well, all your ed legislation is aimed at them, but we're the guys that get beat up in the process. We're not your problem child. It's it's the the big five, as you say it. And and so one of the things that we had talked about was trying to find that mid city from 60 65 70,000 to about 200,000 in population. And how do we identify those cities and how do we, you know, become a a conduit u uh that that

that helps put some of that together where we're speaking in one voice with that group where we we are saying the same thing when they're going to Austin, when we're going to Austin, with the different cities and days and counties and county days and all the kind of stuff that's going across. How do we speak with one voice across the state where this mid-range because the the real small cities are typically never in a bracket that get hit anyway? It's always that midsize and then on up and and how do we speak with one voice. So I think part of it is just identifying the cities and then number two, how do we how do we identify and then go and approach and and and see what we can do. Not trying to create another organization, not trying to do anything above and beyond, but that that one that one action item in here may be something that we could start and and create something that's there that that could actually be tangible from uh session to session. So, uh something to ponder and think about. So, uh I think it would be worth at least identifying who those cities are. You could identify the ones in the Houston area. uh Dallas Fort Worth, Sancho, Austin kind of have somebody to go to to help rally. And then you've got other cities across the state like a Waco or uh Abalene and the like who who would fall into that that would be a little bit more of a one-off. So something to think about as we move forward into the into the next session because they're all reeling from the same issues that that we do. Uh they're all concerned about the same uh same things as well. So last calls, comments, Mr. Carbone,

just one point clarification. I said we weren't up here and we got away for a retreat so it doesn't get turned into Hawaii or Mexico. We went to the the new police academy um over off Cullen. So just

just want to make sure Mayor wrap up just real quick. Yeah, valid point on trying to get some of those cities and and it seems like there's more and more cities structuring like we are where we've got a governmental liaison or somebody that's following those things. So I think that's something we'll we'll pursue. And just uh want to say thank you to the the mayor and council for for having a retreat and spending the time in that because it truly does, as the mayor said, it sets our direction. This sets our big level, high level uh direction that we go in. And it's something that we do use throughout the organization to set goals for departments, for divisions, and and individual goals. Um because we want an organization that all sees where we're heading. And and that's one way we can do that. as you set those goals, they tie back to the strategic priorities of the community, of the city council, and then we're all uh working in that that same direction. So, thank you. Appreciate it.

Good deal. All right. With that, we will uh ask for the call for the vote. Madam Secretary, on item number, I. Member Cade. I. Member Fernandez. I. Member Patel. Hi. Member Kosa. Hi. Member Carbone. Hi. The motion passes six to zero. All right. Thank you for that. M Miss Kade, if you will take up number three, please. Yes, mayor. Thank you. Consideration and possible action resolution number R 2026-59. So moved. Second. We have a motion, a second. Uh staff report.

Thank you, mayor. This is an engineering design contract for the widening of Broadway west of Kirby to Halfoon Bay. So, we got a little preview of this earlier tonight during our CIP uh workshop. So this will extend the six lanes of Broadway uh to Half Moon the Halfoon Bay intersection with a transition west of that. So it eliminates that current awkward transition we have just west of Kirby. So the project costs are being fronted by the Paraline Economic Development Corporation and will be reimbursed through TUR number two. Uh the current schedule have the engineering bidding and award uh completed by next summer and construction completed by the fall of 2028. uh Consor North America was selected as the engineer through our qualification based selection process and we recommend award in the amount of uh just as indicated in the AIR just a little bit over $616,000. Thank you, Mayor.

All right. Any questions, comments from council, is the engineering firm here today? No. U have they done any work? I haven't seen their name before, so I wasn't sure. So they're right now doing design work for PEEDC on uh Shank Road. Shank Road. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Any other questions, comments? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, call for the vote. Member Cade. I. Member Fernandez. Hi. Member Patel. Hi. Member Kosa. Hi. Member Carbone. Hi. Mayor Pro Tim Byum

I The motion passes six to zero.

All right, with that we'll move to item number four. Mr. Fernandez, but I believe uh Lawrence will put it full full text. We'll take it from there. If you be so kind as to say say moved when I am done reading. Consideration and possible action resolution number R2026-64 a resolution to the city of council of the city of Parland Texas authorizing the power of eminent domain to acquire one a 2.399 acre fee simple interest for a public road rightway and a public utility improvement water tower and relator related appertenences and two a 0.245 2454 acre easement for public water line and sanitary sewer improvements. All located in the James Hamilton survey abstract number 876 city of Parland Harris County, Texas being a portion of lot 52 and a half in lot 61 block F of Allison Richie GF Coast Homes Companies part of Suburban Garden subdivision. A subdivision of record in volume 3 page 40 of the map records of Harris County, Texas. more particularly being a portion of that certain residue of lots 51 and a half and 61 block of said Allison Richie GF Coast home companies part of subdivision suburban uh gardens conveyed to Wilbert L. Olrich by an instrument of record under file number K185772 of the official public records of Real Property County, Texas, Harris County official HC PP, no HCO P RP authorizing the city attorney or his designate and other city officials to take such actions as are necessary to acquire said property located within the city by donation. purchase or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain.

Move. Second. We have a motion. We have a motion to second staff report.

This is another eminent domain project that's over in the lower Kirby area. Uh the wreck property uh some of y'all may recognize as I think being soccer fields. Um it's really to do the east west road and then there's a north south road. Oh, I want to say del Papa. my school name wrong. Uh and then um the utility site is going to be the water tower for that area. Trying to make sure that um we we can have sufficient water pressure to serve everything in the lower Kirby district. As of now, we're about $220,000 off between the city's offer and the counter offer from the property owners attorney. We hope to get past that. We hope to not have to go forward, but because of the timelines associated with our projects out there, uh we're doing this in in in an abundance of caution.

Yeah. And that that delta when you put it in percentage terms, they're about 30 or 40% higher than where we $250,000 a number when you consider in percentages. So with that, questions, comments? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, call for vote. Member Fernandez, I. Member Patel. Hi. Member Kosa. Hi. Member Carbone. Hi. Mayor Pro Tim Byron. Hi. Member Cade. I. The motion passes six to zero.

All right. With that, uh, other business, there were none. Mayor, council issues for council discussion. There were none. Uh, we do have executive se session under Texas government code. Section 551.074 personnel matters deliberation regarding city boards and commissions appointments. Sections 551.074 personnel matters deliberation regarding ratification of the city manager's appointment of the fire chief and section 551.074 regarding the performance evaluation and appointment of the municipal court judge. Council will recess into exec session at 7:34.

the session at 8:06 p.m. Uh, with that, we're going to move to new business item number six for just a second. Mr. Carbone, do you have a motion for Yes, sir. I do. I'd like to make a motion to appoint uh Katherine Simon to the municipal court judge position. Second. We have a motion and a second. and just we are uh keeping it as the part-time that we had had talked about in executive session. Uh with that, Madam Secretary, we'll call for the vote. Apologies. So, is this for a particular term, a four-year term? We didn't discuss term

a two-year term because you can either have two or four, and if you didn't discuss it, I'd recommend a two-year term and then come back in two years. It will be for a two-year term. Thank you. Nobody said we had to. All right. Madam Secretary, call for the vote. Member Carbone. I put Byum. I. Member Cade. Hi. Member Fernandez. I. Member Patel. Hi. Member Kosa. I. The motion passes 6 to zero. All right. Thank you for that. And with that, we are going to uh recess back into exec session at 808.

Our city council has returned from executive session at 8:23 p.m. With that, we'll move to new business continued item number five. Mr. Carbone, do you have a motion for us? I do. I would make a motion to ratify the city manager's appointment of the fire chief to Mr. Lewis Harris. Second. We have a motion, a second. Madam uh secretary, call for the vote. Member Carbone. I. Mayor Poten Byum I.

Member Cade. I'm going to abstain from voting. Member Fernandez. I. Member Patel. I. Member Kosa. I. The motion passes five to zero. All right. With that, we'll move to adjournment at 8:24.

Thank you, mayor. Consideration possible action resolution number R2025-CU 2022-0159 uh including the staff recommendation. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. We've had uh questions, comments from council as well as staff input. Uh we are voting to place the condition on the uh uh on the property as uh talked