City Council - Regular Meeting

Ms. Lowe's view of the budget officer as a decision architect led to the creation of the City of Pearland's Office of Management and Budget in fiscal year 2025. As its head, she championed the use of performance metrics to evaluate service delivery, introduced a target-based approach to year-end estimates in fiscal year 26, and led a citywide program inventory ahead of the 27 budget process to support a transition to program-based budgeting. Rachel is an adept practitioner who has embraced fully the underlying principles of rethinking budgeting and is a prime example of a decision architect at work. In the kitchen of budgeting, Rachel is head chef. That was your quote, so I'll let you continue, Joel.

Well, Victor Brownlee and I, Rachel and I both report to Victor, and we thought it was a great opportunity to have her acknowledged on the big stage. We were heading to Chicago to the conference, and we said, wow, it would be a great opportunity for us to nominate Rachel. And, wow, she got the award. So congratulations, very well deserved. She got to eat a better lunch than we did one day, so they did a nice luncheon and all that good stuff. But the award, I think, where Rachel's accomplishments are concerned, speaks for itself. So thank you for everything you do.

Thanks, thanks, thanks.

Well, thank you to Joel and to Victor into the whole city. I do lead the Office of Management and Budget and I couldn't do without my team who I appreciate very much. We've been working at this very hard. We hope that when we present the budget on August 4, it's clear you can understand our strategic priorities and you can see how the spending the city does benefits the residents. Thank you.

That's what the tapes are for. All right. Thank you again, Rachel. All right, so we've got a few more minutes. As they say, you are free to move about the cabin. We haven't started yet, so we have four minutes.

We're not actually for this one. We have a audio board. It's actually right there.

Yeah, it came out nice. I mean, if not, I can log into my Canva and play it from there. Um...

But I sent her the slideshow.

Can you send me a link? Yeah. Well, actually, this Oh. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, Mayor, are you ready? You can start in three, two, one. Welcome to the City of Pearland City Council regular meeting for July 27th. I'll call this meeting to order at 6.30. If everyone could rise, we'll have the invocation by Councilmember Echols and the pledge by Councilmember Cade.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we come to you today with humble hearts. We pray for those that are serving our great nation in the military. Keep them out of harm's way. Protect them as they keep our lands safe. I pray for our first responders. Pray that you'll be with them. Pray that you will grant unto them grace as they do that which they've been called to do and given by the authority of you to protect our great city. I pray for divine wisdom tonight for this council as we do business for the citizens of this city. I pray grace over each citizen today that is here in the chamber and that that is listening on air as well as those that reside. We need your grace. And I pray unto he that is able to do that which is exceedingly and abundantly and above all things that we could either ask or think in his precious name, Jesus. Amen. Amen.

»» Thank you. At this time, we'll move on to roll call and certification of quorum. Madam Secretary, I certify that all Councilmembers are present except for Councilmember Patel. Moving on to citizen comments, I'll ask Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria to help facilitate this portion. I just want to preface by saying that citizen comments, in order to comply with provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, oh sorry, I'm sorry, I'm moving too far ahead. Thank you, Council Member Barnum. So first item is presentation. We have a presentation to talk about the most influential insect in our county, and that is the mosquito. So we have a presentation here from Tiffany Walker with Brazoria County Mosquito Control District, and regarding an update for the West Nile virus. And we also have present with her, looks like he's working on the acoustics, that is Commissioner Stacey Adams.

Thank you, Mayor. I wasn't paying attention. I was making sure the technology back here was going to work. No, glad to be here with our Mosquito Control Operations Manager, Tiffany Walker, to inform y'all, let you know what the Mosquito Control Department does. We probably ought to do this about every quarter, have the County Museum come talk to you, the County Parks Director and Library Director. A lot of great county services that we all pay for. So it's always an opportunity to come here and educate you on what we do. And I'm gonna let Tiffany take over here, our Operations Manager.

Hi, everyone. I'm Tiffany Walker. I'm Mosquito Control Operations Manager. And today, I have Jose Marquez with me. He is our lead surveillance technician. So I'm going to talk about the operations, and he's going to talk about all things mosquito. To start out, mosquito facts. There are over 3,500 species worldwide. 46 of those we have found in Visoria County. Only the females bite and not all species bite. A little bit of our history. We were established by the Commissioner's Court in 1955. I like to point out that we are a district, which means we do not fall under public health or environmental, which means we are able to spray for nuisance mosquitoes, which is a big deal, especially with our down south where all of our salt marsh mosquitoes are. Today we have a staff of 18. We're all licensed through the Texas Department of Agriculture. Yearly we do our CEUs. We are members of Texas Mosquito Control Association. I'm actually on a few committees. So we stay up to date as much as possible with everything mosquito. Our operations are not just spraying. We're busy year round. This map shows how we have the county separated out into spray routes. So basically we can cover each one of those sections in a night. For reference, we have eight spray routes that are in Perry Land city limits and then there are four that have bits and pieces of Perry Land city limits in it. We start out the year by rebuilding our spray units which we build in-house. We take them apart. fix them, make sure they're running correctly. We do all the body work on all of our fleet. We have an in-house mechanic, so we're pretty much efficient out at our location. And this is where Jose is going to take over and talk about our operations.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having us. As you see on the slide here, these are two of our larvacite rigs. The one on the left side is our newest rig. It's a hopper. It sprays out a granule that you see there on the slide. We use that truck to larvacite along the ditches. And on the bottom of the slide there, you see the briquettes that we use. We put those into the storm drains. And so far, we've put out 5,476 of those briquettes into storm drains around the city limits. These are preventative measures. We do this to prevent the mosquitoes from even flying up before we come in and have to try to spray. Another thing that we do as far as our mosquito control program is surveillance. Each one of those stars is a checkpoint that we go to and we get a landing rate count and we also dip and account for larvae as you see there on the slide. If you look at the map of the county, there are certain areas that don't have a blue outline around them. Those areas are wildlife refuges. We cannot treat those areas, but we are in partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Texas Parks down at the Justin Hirsch Refuge, and we can go in and check the mosquitoes out there and check the activity to see if we're going to have an outbreak of mosquitoes coming into town. Another thing as far as the program, as far as surveillance goes, we have traps, as you can see on the slide there. We put out 30 traps each week. Our traps consist of a cooler that contains dry ice, a small fan with a light attached that pulls the mosquitoes into the nets. The bucket you see at the bottom there has fouled water and that also draws in mosquitoes and pulls them into that net. And on the map on the right side, those are all trap locations that we've had throughout the county. On this slide, it'd be showing a live action of the dry ice evaporating out of the cooler there, and the nets on the right would be full of mosquitoes. And after we get our mosquitoes in, we separate specific species. The Culex mosquitoes is what we use to test. They get ground down, separated, and centrifuged. And then the liquid that's left over is tested then, as you can see there. And we get our results on Wednesdays. We trap on Tuesdays. We get our results Wednesdays. We also send samples over to Austin where they do further testing for different other viruses, chikungunya, Zika, malaria, to name a few. The slide on the left, you see the current number that needs to be updated of West Nile traps that we've had in the county. And on the bottom of the slide, that's from the state showing what counties have tested positive for West Nile. So the West Nile is a disease that is transmitted by birds. The mosquitoes would bite the bird and then the mosquitoes would then go out and bite either a human or a horse. Both of them can be infected with West Nile and both are end hosts for the virus. We have here some pictures of just some of the mosquitoes we have in the county. The two on the left are the ones that can carry the West Nile virus. The one in the middle there is the large one that we normally see come out with floodwaters or heavy rains. They have a powerful sting. And the two on the right are our salt marsh mosquitoes or nuisance mosquitoes.

Okay, what happens after a spray request is submitted? As most Missouri County residents know that you can call us or put a request in online. And so I'm gonna take you through what we see in the office when this happens. This is our dashboard. The red dots indicate spray requests that have not been treated. As you can see, there are total spray requests for the year. and this is a couple weeks old now, is 25,000. We've been very busy. So we take this information, and this is displayed on TVs in our office that we can see at all times. We take this information and we take This information which our surveillance team brings in when they go out twice a week to survey the county, we find out where the adults are and where the larvae is so we can take that data along with our trap information and the service request and decide what areas need to be treated. We do not have a set spray schedule. We decide daily once all the data comes in And we do post them online every day by 4 p.m. We have it in a map where it's shaded in. And then we have verbiage. The verbiage is really hard because we say Pearland and it's not always all of Pearland, but we do what we can to try to get the information out there. This is this up close shot of our spray units. They are connected with a computer and a GPS tracking system and all those components are there. The drivers have tablets inside that gives them all kinds of information that I'll be able to show you on some slides further in. As part of our operations, every year, twice a year, we calibrate and droplet test our sprayers. And this is where we can go in and set how fast our drivers can go, because our biggest complaint is our drivers drive 40 miles an hour during the neighborhood. Well, it automatically shuts off if they go faster than 20 miles an hour. The spray engine will still be on, but the sprayer shuts off. And also this makes sure that we're putting out, per the label, how much product we're supposed to. The microns shows how small our droplets are. As you can see, the ULV fogger is at a 20, and human hair is 70. So our droplets are much smaller than the width of your hair, and that is to target mosquitoes. These pictures are overlaid, so it's kind of hard to see everything, but we can see exactly where our trucks are at, at what time, how much product was being sprayed, if the sprayer was on and off, and how fast they were going. So if you ever have a complaint, you can call us and we can look your address up and we can confirm what they were doing. We're also able to send messages to the drivers. These two photos show a notification that a resident wants their driveway sprayed if they're farther off the road, which is the one on the left, and it flashes and beeps at them. And on the right, we have notifications for no sprays. We do that as a courtesy to the residents. If you do not want to be sprayed for various reasons, We will take your information down and we'll block out a polygon on our maps and they'll turn the sprayer off when you're in front of your property. Aerial spraying is contracted through a local business in Danbury. We fly the planes when the mosquito populations are very high. We're very lucky to have this contract, because when mosquito outbreaks happen, they happen fast. And we're able to contact him, and he's normally in the air that evening or that morning. This is just a yearly compare of what all we do. Our products are listed out there, both our adulticides and our larvicides. And we cover about 1.4 million acres a season. And then again, I'd like to say that we have a lot of spray requests, 25,000 so far this year. And in Pearland's city limits alone, we've had 7,233 requests as this morning. Some of the challenges we face is weather. If the winds are too high, if the winds are too low, if it's too cold, if it's raining, we can't spray. Insecticide resistance, public misconceptions, and then public education. We try to get out there to get the correct information out to the public as there's lots of misconceptions. And that is the end of our presentation.

Thank you all for having us.

Typically, when people give presentations, there are no applause, so thank you for that. We value what you do. And as I pass this off, I know that there are some concerns and questions from people in the community about the safety, efficacy of some of the things that you're doing. And as I hand this off to Councilmember Cade, she has some questions that would really help not only us, but residents in the community as well.

Thank you, Ms. Walker. My first question is, there was a slide that listed what y'all used to spray, but that's nowhere on the website. I looked at surrounding counties, Harris County, Fort Bend County, Galveston County, all their websites have the chemicals used listed on the website.

It's public information. If you contact us, we will let you know. We'll tell you what we're actively spraying at that time because we do rotate our chemicals out. But I will take that back to the office and see if we can get it put on there.

Thank you. Also, if you're in a neighborhood like where there is West Nile or there was West Nile, if you see ditches with water in them, do you use larvicides at that time?

Not at night, but here recently with all the positives we have had in Pearland, we are sending our day crew, because we have two different shifts. We have a day crew and we have a night crew. They've been up here for the past four weeks, I believe, treating ditches. We've retreated all the storm drains, any water. We went ahead and treated it with the larvicide, trying to get rid of the problem. It's been a big issue at Cripple Creek. I know actually Jose was up there when we pulled the manhole covers there was larvae in all of it and almost all of them in that area so we did treat that area trying to stop it. And to just throw this information out there the Culex mosquito which is the ones that are testing positive Their life lasts between six and eight weeks. And in that life cycle, they lay eggs three to seven times, laying 100 to 300 eggs each cycle. Now times that by 100 mosquitoes, it's just a never-ending cycle of hatch-offs, which is why we treat with larvicide and then come back in with the adulticide to try to knock them out, because it's... There's no way to stop them. I mean, they can't eradicate it or it would already have been done. So we do our best to try it and we hit it from all sides that we can.

I'm happy to hear you're using larvicides. Thank you for that. I think I had one other question. It says you're starting to spray at 8 o'clock, and it's still daylight, or there's still light outside at 8 o'clock, so you think there might be bees still active at 8 o'clock?

Well, their shift starts at 8, and we're in Angleton. So by the time they get loaded, they get out where they're supposed to be, it is dark. They're supposed to wait. We do follow the label to the extent. The bees, you know, beekeepers are encouraged to keep their bees 300 feet off the road, which our spray swath will not pass past that. And at night they're supposed to be inside their hives and it's not supposed to be an issue. And on the trucks, what is on the trucks? What spray? What product? Yeah, what chemical? The spray trucks are, we rotate between Fifenon and Control 3030. Okay, Dibrom is the only aerial? Yeah.

Okay. I think that's all I have for now. And thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. It's really helpful. Thank you.

I have a couple questions. One, you mentioned there was no schedule. Is there a cost implication as to a schedule?

It's because it's been proven to, if you say I'm going to Pearland on Mondays and Angleton on Tuesdays, that it's not effective in treating the adult mosquitoes. So we go where the populations are so we're not spraying for no reason.

Okay, no, perfect. I just wanna make sure I'm asking questions that I know have been asked. Is there, the dashboard that you showed, is that one of them, not the one, there was one that just said, hey, we sprayed in this area so many times. Is that public, or is that only internal to the county?

The service request dashboard?

I believe it was an earlier slide. It just said, hey, you know, we've sprayed in this. What I'm trying to get at is, as residents continue to make their requests, if there was something made available to them to show that when the requests were made that, hey, you know, in this area, we had 35 requests. The county did spray because, you know, just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So just to kind of help us and maybe potentially quell some of the requests that you get that are redundant.

Um, We post daily, and it changes daily, but we can definitely talk about making it like a historical thing so you can see. We do spray in the middle of the night, so lots of people don't know we're even out there.

Exactly. And then, last question, specifically for West Nile. When those areas are identified, is there an increased frequency in spray because you've noticed an indication of an area?

Yes. So when we get the positives back, whether it's in-house or coming from the state, we send the trucks to that area for three nights in a row. And then we spray the beginning of shift and end of shift, alternating the products. And then we retest the following week. And that's just, there's not really a standardized protocol for West Nile treatment. But once we talk to all the other mosquito programs out there, we just kind of all It's redundant treatment to get it taken care of.

In the slide, if I missed it, is there a number that people can call that was listed in here to request a spray?

Our main office number is the 1532 number right there. But if you scan that QR code, that'll take you to our website, and there's an online request form there.

Just want to make sure when people are watching this, they can go back to it, screenshot it, keep it if they need it. And then another point of clarification, because I know, Commissioner, I had a conversation with you, and this came up over the course when mosquitoes began to become a larger nuisance, is that you only cover Rosoria County. And so we have multiple people in multiple areas. And so I want to make it clear that you only cover Brazoria County. Is that correct?

Yes. So unfortunately, on both this side of Pearland and the opposite side, there's neighborhoods that are Pearland city limits, but our Fort Bend and or Harris, maybe Galveston County, the neighborhood is separated. So we can only go to our boundary line.

I mean... You spray a little bit more? I'm just kidding.

Just kidding. The problem is, is Harrison, Fort Bend don't spray for nuisance. So unless there's a positive, they're not spraying. And so... If we're up there spraying for nuisance and then we're spraying in their territories, then it's against how their program is formed.

I just wanted to make a moment to make it clear that that's kind of the predicament that we're in when we're in multi-jurisdictions. And just a point here, since we brought Brazoria County, if at a future date a possibility to bring either someone from Fort Bend or Harris to kind of provide a presentation for the residents.

One of the slides said something about the pesticide, the mosquitoes are resistant to it. Is it possible that we're over spraying?

We haven't found any resistance in any of the mosquitoes that we've tested. We're actually doing another cage test. In a couple of weeks, the test for resistance. We don't even spray at the top of the allowed amount of product to be used. So all the data that we've gotten back in doesn't indicate that we have any type of resistance.

I really am curious about the chemicals used being somewhere accessible. I'm wondering if people would not request as much if they read the labels on some of the stuff. Yeah, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you for the comment and questions. Any other questions?

All right.

Thank you so much for the presentation. Really appreciate you. Thank you. at this particular time.

All right, thank you.

Moving on to our next item, which is citizen comments. And so for this particular item, I will hand it over to Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria with the caveat that We want to make sure we abide by Texas Open Meetings. And with that, individual comments are to be kept to three minutes. And if you're speaking for a particular organization, you're allotted five minutes. Unless you are commenting at a particular item on the agenda, if you're making general comments, council is not able to deliberate on those comments. However, they will be taken very much so into consideration. So with that, I'll hand it off to Mayor Pro Tem Shavria.

Thank you, Mayor. So we have several general comments, and I'm going to go ahead and call you in threes. So when I call your name, if you can proceed to the podium, and you will have three minutes unless you are representing an organization. So Dave Dan. Dave Dan here with the Brazoria County Bees Keeper Association. I apologize.

I was dinged.

OK. Apologize. Claudia Boyk and Catalina Boyk. Mr. Day.

My name is Dane Beto. I lived at 5710 Cottonwood Street here in Pearland. I'm a founding member of Bezoria County Beekeepers Association. And I'm here tonight to talk about we're kind of on the flip side here of the mosquito department. Unfortunately, this spraying they're doing for nuisance, they're wiping us out. I personally have lost one complete yard here in Pearland. There's a very large operation here that I won't mention any names, but he also resides here in Pearland. He's lost three yards. I'd like to remind everybody that Pearland is a bird sanctuary. It's not only a bird sanctuary, but it's also a migratory route for several birds and species and insects, one of them being the monarch butterfly, which is federally protected. By doing this nuisance spraying, and we're just making a dent in all this, I'd like to see the county revert to more larviciding and slow down on this nuisance spraying and maybe try to get it under control that way. It seems kind of redundant to go after adult mosquitoes that are going to die in a couple of days. I think if you larvicide and you get them when they're hatching out, we'd be a lot further on. Mrs. Cade here touched on the pesticide product labels. As a member and founding member of the Bezoria County Beekeepers Association, 15 years ago I tried to get these labels posted on their website. The Mosquito Department refuses to, Ryan Cade refused to, the Commissioner's Court refused to, and the Bezoria County District Attorney's Office refused to address the situation. I think of... People started reading these labels and what they're being sprayed with, I guarantee you, you're not gonna get the phone call requests that you're getting. For instance, this is the arsenal over the last 15 years of sprays they use in the truck. What they use in the plane all along has been Dibrom. That's some nasty stuff that they're spraying. But again, if everybody was able to read these labels, I can promise you, you're not gonna request being sprayed by it. You're gonna find other alternatives. We understand that when you get positive tests in mosquitoes, you gotta spray. You don't have to spray the whole city or half the county. Fort Bend doesn't do nuisance spraying, they do spray. But when they trap something, they only spray about a mile out from that trap. Same thing with Harris County. They do not spray a whole section of town. So there again, there is no reason for the over-inundation and saturation of chemicals. It's gotten bad enough that the EPA is addressing it. What's happening is as labels come up to be re-registered, they're wanting language added to the labels. For instance, one of the labels that was mentioned that they're using, it states right on the label that it is not to be used with ground saturated or standing water. They've been spraying. The language also addressed endangered species. There's special things that need to be taken care of when you're spraying around endangered species. But again, I'd like to see the county put the labels on their website. I don't know why they're dragging their feet on or why they refuse to do it, other than, again, if you read what's in this stuff, you're not going to want to be sprayed with it. Also, they have the request to spray form. Why do we not have a request not to spray form? The hoops we have to jump through to get you guys not to spray our area as beekeepers is ridiculous. When Joe Smuckatelli can pick the phone up, go on the internet, put their address on there, and it's taken care of. So there's some things that need to change with this. I appreciate you all's time. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Please state your name for the record.

My name is Claudia Boak. I live at 3519 Woodbine's Place. My street borders a farm, a 20-acre farm. I got a letter last Friday telling me from Berkeley Development that they intend to build 190 multi-units there on a 20-acre farm. This is behind the strip center that has Ash Kitchen on 518. I think it's too big. I think 190 units, and they said it would be two, three, and four bedroom units. The schools are full in our area. I'm not sure where they think the kids would be going. There's a pipeline of some sort behind my house. And I'm just hoping. And the other thing they said in the letter was that it is currently zoned commercial, and that they will have to come to you and get a variance to get it zoned high density And these are rents. These are not places to own. And I'm just pretty blown away. And this is the first place I've come to talk about it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Caitlin Boyk. And just a reminder, you don't have to give your address. You have three minutes. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Caitlin Voak. I also live on Woodbine Place. And I've come to talk about that I also oppose this proposal as it currently stands. One of my concerns is about the infrastructure. So currently, that is a large stretch of land, touches a lot of water. There's wildlife, and that would be changed. And I would like to make sure that all of the cost is going to be fairly distributed, that also any water is mitigated, and also Sorry, excuse me. Oh, yes, and the streets. So that would be another concern of ours, this traffic, and just how that would affect our neighborhood as it currently is. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your feedback. So the next three would be Steven Tyler Mason, Cameron Cole, and Lornette Patterson. Thank you, sir, you can begin.

How's it going, Mayor and Council? I would just like to say good afternoon. My name is Steven Mason, and I've lived on Woodbine Place for all of my 32 short years of life. And it's a great street and a great neighborhood, and I understand that we're all here to do business in their private rights to land, and people can do what they want with their property. But I'm just here to speak about fairness and just a way to do things. I got a letter from Barkley Development about the worst thing that we in our neighborhood could have possibly imagined. We have a half street that should have been connected to 518, but we have a little corridor. And it's given me a lot of trouble throughout my entire life. There's a fence that was put up by the Homeowners Association that has never been maintained, and I've constantly shouldered the burden of maintaining that fence and corridor, of getting robbers out of the neighborhood, and all sorts of things that just really aren't supposed to be on my shoulders and my plate. I've asked my neighbors to help multiple times, and it just seems like this development would just be adding to a problem that would really never and I tried to step in as a very young, concerned citizen, and I just don't think that this is moving in the way that it was intended. There's just a litany of problems when it comes to this development, and I just wanted to bring attention to it and just let folks know. the name and number of the rezoning, and it's zon2026-0254. And I just wanted to bring it to y'all's attention. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, appreciate you.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, staff members, and everyone here present. My name is Cameron Cole. It's no secret that my father's former mayor, Kevin Cole, and under his leadership as mayor of our great city, he was committed to government accountability and transparency. One promise he made during his campaign in 2020 were town halls for every resident to attend, ask questions, interact on a personal level with their mayor, no matter what their background, political preference, or religious beliefs were. Upon winning his 2020 campaign for mayor, he immediately began fulfilling that promise by scheduling quarter town halls, which quickly transformed got transformed into monthly Talk of the Town. So you may have recalled these Talk of the Towns that he used to do on the last Wednesday of every single month. In his six years of service as mayor, he never once canceled or rescheduled a Talk of the Town. In fact, communications may remember this, they did a Talk of the Town live from Austin, Texas one time instead of rescheduling. He was always committed to government transparency, so much so that when something could be considered a black eye for the city, his first question to staff and council was always, when are we going public with this information? And the council must, our residents, the citizens must know about it. Well, that was then. This is now. He's no longer on that dais. And ever since March, we've been having a conversation. Well, what do we want to do next? One idea that kept coming back to was creating our own podcast geared towards local leaders, local impact, local stories. And on July 6th, earlier this month, we had our premiere episode, and this morning we posted our fourth episode. So we are committed to provide weekly podcasts centered around local issues and local topics, and we're considered, or I should say we're committed to keep providing that accountability and transparency. So I invite you all, if you haven't done so, to already to please follow, like, subscribe, and share. We are on 12 or 15 different platforms, some including Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, amongst others. And the last thing I want to say is to you, Mayor, I want to extend my hand to you as a... As an invitation, as a possible guest on our podcast, I sure hope that you would be willing to come on and talk with us one day soon. I know we can't dialogue back and forth because of Tom and all that, but can I get maybe a thumbs up if you're willing to? You're not sure yet? That's fine. That's perfectly fine. We'll be reaching out to you to hopefully schedule that with you. But I appreciate you, Mayor, Council, and everybody else. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Learnette Patterson, and I'm a resident here in Pearland, Texas, have been for over 18 years. I am standing before you today, the council, because on June the 24th, I took my time to write a letter to the council asking questions as a concerned citizen. I was not asking for any concrete response, but I was looking to receive a response, and it saddens my heart to know that I've only received one written response and one verbal response. I am a servant public leader. I'm a pastor of a church. And if my congregation writes to me, calls me, or emails me, it's my responsibility to respond to them, whether I respond favorably or unfavorably. But I think that you lose trust, you lose confidence, and you lose the people's support when you do not respond. And so my concern is that my city council did not respond to my request. Thank you so much.

The next three, Scott Shado, Mark Wright, and Robert Barney. Mr. Scott would be first. Shadow or Shado.

Good evening, Council and everybody. My name is Scott Shado. I've been a resident of Pearland for 47 years now, quite a while. And what I want to talk about is this issue about the water bills going up. And I'm concerned about everybody's price increasing on the water bill, but I want to point out something. And I don't know if you guys realize or not, But in 2014, I met with the Deputy Director of Hobby Airport, Ross Underhill, because I smelled kerosene in my yard constantly. I worked in Afghanistan and Iraq for six years almost, and we smelled it every day. I come home, my yard smells like a war zone. I'd already lived there, you know, almost 40 years at that time. And so I met with Deputy Director Ross Underhill. I said, what's going on? What's all these aircraft coming over about? He says, well, they've realigned the aircraft. I talked to some pilots. They've realigned some other aircraft. So what I'm saying is I don't believe you can produce enough water at a reasonable price for all these people to pressure wash their property every three months, six months, or whatever it takes. And I talked to businesses along 518. They're pressure washing their parking lots every six months. It takes a lot of water. Some businesses every three months. And I think it needs to be addressed. I think these planes are coming over, 25 planes an hour. I've counted 25 planes an hour in 2017, Sunday after Thanksgiving. And just saturating my yard, destroying the brick on my house, the roof, causing the roof to leak. It's washing the cement out of the shingles. It is so bad. washed out flashing around one of my Riani water heaters in three years. Three years, it had an area about this big washing out the flashing, causing a leak. And I mean, how often does everybody want to put a roof on your house? I mean, everybody's sick of putting a roof on their house right now. You don't have enough waste facilities to put all the shingles in. I mean, every 10 years you need a new roof. But you cannot make enough water for everybody here to pressure wash their property. Something needs to be done. And I have some paperwork here, some stuff I've gathered, and a letter I wrote to Ross Underhill, Hobby Airport director. But I also would like to say, since things connect, is pressure washing and all the water runoff causes mosquitoes. That's one issue. The other issue is we have traffic running through the neighborhood about 50 miles an hour all day long. McGinnis, Taylor, Sleepy Hollow. And we have commercial trucks coming through. And guess where the water lines leak? They leak where the commercial trucks come blasting through. So I just want to say that there's some issues about the speeding, the infrastructure. Maybe you guys can do something about it. I don't know.

That's it.

Thank you very much for listening, guys.

Thank you so much. Mr. Wright.

Good evening, esteemed Mayor and Council. My name is Mark Wright. I'm here to talk about missing crosswalks on Veterans Road between Pearland Parkway and Bailey Road. So these are crosswalks that were in place, painted on the road this time last year. They went through and repaved Veterans Road last, probably fourth quarter last year. And they finally re-striped Veterans Road, I believe January of this year. And when they re-striped, they did not replace the crosswalks. One at Turner High School and the Recreation Center, and the other one at Stonebridge. and veterans that is much closer to parallel parkway sorry not not parallel parkway those roads don't um i guess no it's um magnolia thank you magnolia parkway so veterans road between magnolia parkway and bailey road so i have uh has been calling public works since february of this year trying to get it corrected, been given the runaround. Oh, we'll address it, give us six weeks. I keep calling back, and every six weeks, still not done. So I finally escalated to EVET with Pearland Accountability, I guess, department. And she has said that they were not replaced because of budgeting issues. So they had enough money to repave the road, and restrite, but not enough money to put the most important safety feature back, which is the crosswalks. So she has assured me that before school starts on the 18th or 19th, that the one at Turner High School and the Recreation Center will be replaced. But the one at Stonebridge, maybe next year if it's in the budget. So just I don't understand why it was there before. There's enough money to have it repaved, but not enough money for the safety feature for the pedestrians. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We appreciate your comments. Robert Forney.

Robert Farney Thank you, everyone. I'm Robert Farney. I live on Woodbine Place. And I did not receive a letter from Barclay Industrial Development or whoever wrote the letter to these other individuals. And one, I think that's a misstep on the developer's side where they should be notifying the entire subdivision that they're going to be building an adjacent very large development. And the other issue that I wanna bring up is that the connection from County Road 666 to Smith Road, like the other gentleman brought up, it is a safety concern that we have where there are people that are going in and out. You're gonna build a 190, development with multifamily homes and you're going to have a lot more congestion in there. And I believe that they might open up that road. And I just want to ensure that council takes a look at keeping that road closed whenever there is doing construction on North Fork in front. We had a lot of drivers going through the neighborhood. well over 30 miles an hour and it's very unsafe in that area and i just am concerned that as soon as you connect that road you're going to have more people going through our subdivision trying to avoid lights to get to 518 that much quicker so i think it's a major safety concern i would hope that council goes through and ensures that there's a sufficient tia study done for that development to ensure that all of that is addressed as well as wait till there's the actual TxDOT expansion so that we can get accurate information. TxDOT, TIA right now will not be sufficient until we get the expansion on the roads. The other thing, I just wanna be adamant, I am opposed to the rezoning from general business to residential. I think in this specific area, we have a considerable amount of apartments and town homes that have already gone up in the past five, 10 years. And I don't think we need additional housing in this area. I'm not saying we don't need housing in Pearland, but I think in this area, we have plenty of housing that is available for residents. And I think with the zoning map currently showing it as general business, that was the intention for that area. prefer that planning and zoning as well as council does keep that zoning as general business. I think we need the tax revenue from the city to bring in all of that information or all of that additional funds for the city and we want to keep that as general business and would like to see something go in there for an actual business.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Not to comment, but I just want to make sure that staff can provide him, because in this particular format, to submit a statement against, this is, while it's public, this is not the appropriate channel. And there's a way to do it through conditional use to file so that it's on record. So if somebody on staff can help to help facilitate getting him the information to do so, as well as other residents.

Okay, in our final general comment, you will have five minutes. What a handy. Thank you.

Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the Pearland City Council. My name is Swetha Pandey, a student of Shadow Creek High School and a volunteer of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. It is a privilege to be here as we celebrate an extraordinary milestone, America's 250th anniversary. As Hindu Americans who proudly call Pearland home, this celebration is especially meaningful. Pearland is a city known for its diversity, strong neighborhood, excellent schools, and a spirit of service. People from every background come together to make this one of the greatest cities in America. And the Hindu American community is proud to contribute through volunteerism, civic engagement, charitable service, and cultural programs that strengthen our community. Our ancient tradition teaches us . The world is one family. We came to America carrying values of respect, service, family, and harmony. In return, America has given us the freedom to practice our faith, preserve our traditions, and contribute fully to this great nation. For that, we are deeply grateful. This historic anniversary inspired an incredible display of unity across the parallel area. More than 40 Hindu temples proudly displayed America's 250th anniversary banners, honoring our nation's journey and celebrating the freedoms that have allowed generations of families, including ours, to thrive. These banners represent more than a celebration. They symbolize our gratitude for the blessings of liberty, our respect for democratic values, and our commitment to being active, responsible citizens. They remind us that while we cherish our cultural heritage, we are equally proud to be Americans. As we celebrate this remarkable milestone, let us continue building bridges of understanding and friendship. Our diversity is one of America's greatest strengths, and by working together with respect, compassion, and a shared commitment to service, we can build an even stronger and more vibrant Pearland. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. On behalf of the Hindu American community, congratulations to our nation on 250 years of freedom and independence. God bless Pearland, and God bless the United States of America.

Thank you so much. So Mayor, that's all for general, the rest are for item specific.

All right. Moving on to the next area on the agenda is consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed? I think I heard item D and E. D as in dog, E as in elephant. E and E. Who was removing D? And then E. All right. Any other items? No? Seeing none. Council Member Koza, would you present items A through F minus D and E?

Certainly, Mayor. Consideration possible action on consent agenda items A through F with the exception of items D and E. So moved.

Second. Motion was made by Councilmember Koza, second by Councilmember Cade. Are there any questions?

No? No questions?

Seeing none, Madam Secretary, would you call for the vote?

Member Koza?

Aye.

Member Echols? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. Member Byrum?

Aye.

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

The motion passes six to zero.

Thank you. Councilmember Kaye, would you present consent agenda item D, please?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Consideration and possible action resolution number R2026-133. So moved. Second.

Motion was made by Councilmember Cade, second by Councilmember Byram. Mr. Epperson, do you have a report?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. So this resolution is in support of authorizing the submittal of a funding assistant application to the Texas Water Development Board. They have a grant program that was passed during the 89th legislative session with a little over a billion dollars in funds. And this authorizes us to apply for those funds up to the maximum amount of funding that we could possibly get allocated. As we mentioned earlier in today's workshop, we're probably looking to go after about $9 million of funding through this process as we've got specific projects that meet the criteria and will get the maximum amount of points, giving us the best chance of getting these outside funds into our system to help with our overall cost of operating our water and wastewater system. So with that, we'd be happy to answer any questions.

I didn't really have any questions. I just wanted to hear about it again. Thank you.

If we don't have any more questions, Madam Secretary, can you please take a vote? Member Cade?

Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Koza?

Aye.

Member Echols?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. Member Biro?

Aye.

The motion passes six to zero.

Council Member Koza, can you please present item E?

Before I do that, I need to recuse myself from this item. The company American Materials is a customer of the company that I work for, and as per state law and city ordinance, I need to recuse myself. So I'll be recusing myself at this time.

Thank you.

Consideration possible action resolution number R2026-120, so moved. Second.

Motion was made by Council Member Byrum, seconded by Council Member Fernandez. Any questions? Sorry, Trent. Staff report? Staff report, yes.

So this is a resolution authorizing us to utilize Brazoria County's contract for the purchase of road materials from American Materials. We do this through an arrangement with an interlocal agreement with Brazoria County. Those road materials are used for when the county comes in through our interlocal to repave roads within the city of Pearland, as well as we use it for our own road crews. So this authorizes the purchase of those road materials from American Materials in an amount estimated to be about, estimated at $500,000 annually.

Any questions? Questions? Any no questions? Madam Secretary to call for the vote.

Member Brown?

Aye.

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Echols? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. The motion passes five to zero.

Council Member Fernandez, would you please present item, new business item number one?

Sure, Mayor. Consideration of possible action in resolution number R2026-124. So moved.

Second. Motion made by Councilmember Fernandez, second by Councilmember Kaye.

Thank you, Mayor. As a participant in the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, which we utilize for insurance, property insurance, and liability insurance, we do get to participate in the process of nominating for their Board of Trustees. So, they've got some positions open. The Board of Trustees has oversight on their overall governance, strategic direction and financial management, underwriting and claims oversight. establishing the risk funds, investment, and IT sponsorship, as well as member engagement and governance. So a local representative that's been on the board, and I believe is currently serving as their vice chair, is the city manager of Jersey Village, Austin Bleas. And so with him already being on there, being from the Gulf Coast region, with alignment with what our needs are in this region from a TML risk pool standpoint, we recommend renominating him for the board. and we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for anyone? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, could you call for the vote?

Pardon me, Mayor. We actually have to, somebody has to nominate him as the person. Staff did not want to presume since it is a council nominee. Absolutely.

Is anyone willing to nominate? So moved. I have a nomination from Councilmember Byrum.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Koza.

So I'm taking that as a proceeding with staff's recommendation nominating David Austin.

Can we talk about it? Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Absolutely. Austin McKay. Is this a person that's already seated in that position, you said?

Yes, they're currently on the board.

Their term expires in October, I believe.

What's the concern?

It's not a concern, I'm just curious why we aren't nominating somebody from Carolina.

I think we have the ability to. Victor and the rest of the city management team were familiar with him and have a relationship with him. Excuse me. And so I think based on his experience there and where he is on the board, we would recommend that. But the council has the purview to say who they want to nominate.

Do we want to reconsider? I mean, obviously, there's a vote, so we can. Any other discussion or question? Seeing none, thank you for that, Mr. Provost.

I have the nominee for place for being Austin Bleas. That is an affirmative.

Yes.

Oh, yeah. So, we're calling it a nomination, but technically, it would be a motion to amend. So, if we can have that. I'm taking that move to amend the resolution to reflect place for Austin lease. Is that what you intended, sir? So moved. Second. If we could have a vote on that, and then the vote on the amended resolution.

Okay. Madam Secretary, call for the vote.

Member Byrum?

Aye.

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez? Aye. Member Koza? Aye. Member Echols? Aye. Mayor Prochambe Chavarria? Aye. The motion passes 6-0.

Thank you. Councilmember Kaye, would you present this item? I apologize if I didn't state it correctly. No, you did. You did. I apologize. On the amended, because we made a nomination. So, Madam Secretary, would you call the vote?

Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Koza?

Aye.

Member Echols?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavadilla? Aye. Member Byrum? Aye. Member Cade? Aye. The motion passes 6-0. Thank you.

Council Member Cade, would you present new business item number 2?

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Consideration and possible action. First reading of ordinance number 1121-4. So moved.

Second. Motion was made by Council Member Cates, seconded by Council Member Koza. We do have a public comment for this particular item.

Yes, Julianne Robinson, you have five minutes. Thank you for being here.

Good evening, Mayor Wiltz, Mayor Pro Tem, distinguished members of the city council, city management staff, and our city staff. My name is Julian Robinson. I've been with the city of Pearland since February 2016, and I'm here on behalf of the Pearland Police Officers Association. As the rest of our board members are currently returning from a conference, the ppoa would like to express our support for the proposed changes to the retirement ordinance we sincerely appreciate city manager mr epperson and city staff for taking the time to engage in open and productive dialogue with our members throughout this process their willingness to listen collaborate and consider feedback demonstrates a commitment to supporting the employees who serve the city every day We believe these changes are meaningful investment in our employees and will strengthen our ability to retain experienced personnel, not only within the police department, but across the city of Pearland. Retaining dedicated employees benefits our organization, our community, and the residents we proudly serve. In today's environment, recruiting and retaining qualified employees has become increasingly competitive. While salary is certainly important, long-term benefits and retirement security often play an equally significant role in employees' decisions to build a career within an organization. This ordinance sends a clear message that the City of Pearland values its employees and is willing to invest in those who choose to dedicate their careers to serve in this community. We also hope this continues to build a positive momentum we've seen through the collaborative relationships between the city, its administration, and the employee groups. When we work together towards common goals, everyone benefits. Employees, our organization, and most importantly, the people we serve. On behalf of the PPOA, thank you for your time, your consideration, and your continued support of the city's employees.

Thank you so much, and thank you for your service.

Thank you. Staff, did you get a report?

Thank you, Mayor. So this ordinance, first reading of this ordinance, is to update and provide some clarifications on our retiree health care benefits. The main items in there that we're clarifying that's only for retirees, not their dependents, that meet the thresholds to where they're eligible. It also clarifies the premium versus the portable options and gives some flexibility there for folks that go to work elsewhere and can still come back and take advantage of the portable option. And then it also creates a process for confirming the continued eligibility throughout the use of this for our retirees. So in summary, the changes do have the potential to lower some of our long-term financial impacts through the portable option, but it also maximizes the flexibility for retirees through that portable option. And as was so stated, we did work with the PPOA as well as the Firefighters Association through this, and it is a key piece of our package to attract and retain qualified and exceptional employees, so we recommend approval of the changes here. Thank you, Mayor.

You're welcome. Any questions on this particular item? Anyone? Council Member Byron?

I just, I didn't have a question, I just had a comment. I wanted to say thank you to the PPOA for being here this evening. Thank you for working with staff, and staff, thank you for you guys putting the time and effort to be creative in how we save the city money everywhere that we can. This is a great idea. I think it makes sense for our people, so I appreciate you guys.

Right. Any other comments? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, could you call for the vote?

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Koza?

Aye.

Member Echols?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. Member Byron?

Aye.

The motion passes six to zero.

Thank you. Council Member Byron, could you present new business item number three? Sure. Consideration of possible action, resolution number R2026-112. So moved. Second.

Motion was made by Councilmember Byrum, second by Councilmember Cade. Representative, any reports?

Thank you, Mayor. So this item updates our agreement with the Gulf Coast Water Authority for our water supply agreements. Currently, we have two water supply agreements with Gulf Coast Water Authority, or GCWA, and this combines those two water supply agreements into a single agreement. And what this does is it secures our rights to 20 million gallons a day for a long term. It continues the first 10 MGD, which we're currently utilizing and producing potable water at our surface water treatment plant. It continues that at the same current rate, GCWA's system rate. And then on the second 10 MGD, which we have not started to produce or used yet, it does a couple of things there. When that water was originally secured in 2006, it was out of Gulf Coast Water Authority's B Canal. which our plant is on the A Canal. And so if those rights weren't transferred where we could take them out of the A Canal, there would be another large pipeline project to move that water from the B to the A Canal. But this agreement allows it to be moved to the A Canal where our plant is located, eliminating that potential or that need for a capital project in the future. And so, it secures that 10 MGD through 2056. And then, on the second 10 MGD, it actually, we keep that at no additional cost. through 2034. So in 2006, when that second 10MGD was acquired, us, City of Galveston and City of Texas City financed the purchase of the Chocolate Bayou system for Gulf Coast Water Authority. So since then, that was basically pre-paying our water rights into the future. this they ran out or they would run out under this current agreement in the next year this extends that through september of 2034 to where we do not pay to reserve those rights and then after 2034 through 2044 we would have still have those secured but have to start paying the option rate at that point So it gives us a long runway for the future of determining when we need to bring those supplies on. So why are we doing this? It ensures the reliable, dependable source of water for the long term for the city of Pearland and locks in some certainty on the cost of that. And then it also creates flexibility to explore becoming a regional supplier in the future. So we recommend approval of this and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions? Councilmember Koza.

Thank you, Mayor. Trent, on talking about the A to B canal and the capital project, we had a pretty lengthy discussion prior to this meeting in regards to water rates and whatnot. Could you kind of explain how the impact of not having to pay for that capital project to be between A and B?

Sure, thank you, Member Koza. So eliminating that potential capital project means that when we would need to build that pipeline or that conveyance project to get the water from one canal to the other canal, since we no longer have to do that, we would not have to sell the debt to complete the construction of that project. And if you go back to, you know, we had our discussion earlier on our water and sewer budget, a big driver in our rates are based on the capital improvements and the debt we've had to sell to complete all those capital projects. So, it eliminates one capital project, a fairly expensive one, so that that does not have to be considered as part of our future rates. And just that's not built into the rates we talked about earlier this afternoon because we knew we were moving forward with this.

All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. And then also you had made a comment that we would have the ability with reserving and I guess extending first and then later on reserving the water rights to be able to increase both for our citizens of Pearland as well as if we wanted to sell to other communities, i.e. Iowa Colony, Manville, Alvin would kind of be in my mind, the targets that would be interested in that. Could you kind of talk about if we were to in 20, between 2034 and 44, when we have to look at buying those additional rights, what exactly does that do for us?

So, you know, I think the first thing is, you know, as we continue to grow and reach towards build-out is what is ultimately what we need to serve our citizens. And then we take a look at what is remaining above and beyond that, and we would be able to work with adjoining communities that would want to partner with us on providing water supply to them. So, I think by 2034, we'll have a real good sense of that. And at that point, if we've got partners, would work with them on how to secure those rights if we're not ready to start, if they're not ready to start taking water or start producing water at that point. So work with them on securing those moving forward and so we could be that regional provider in the future.

All right, thank you very much, and thank you for that report as well as, you know, extending this to be able to help the future, whatever needs we might have. So thank you very much. Yes, sir.

Any other questions, comments? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, would you call for the vote?

Member Byrum?

Aye.

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Koza?

Aye.

Member Echols?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. The motion passes six to zero.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, would you present item number four, please?

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Consideration possible action resolution R2026-123. So moved.

Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria.

Mayor Abson, a second? I would say that the motion failed for lack of a second. Absolutely.

Moving on to other items of business. Mayor-council issues, council discussion. So, I'll present this one. consideration and discussion regarding the current status of municipal utility districts, MUDS 236, including their governance, emergency services, and relationship with the city of Pearland. From that, there's an item that was added. Is it possible to put that up or no?

Oh, sorry, yes. I was gonna say, I believe we've got several public comments.

Sure. Yeah, Mayor Potem, would you help facilitate this? And I'll just reiterate, again, three minutes for individual, five minutes if you're representing an organization.

Thank you, Mayor. So we have several comments, general comments, so I will be calling up in threes. Steve McClee, Carl Bernard, and Cameron Cole. You can proceed to the podium and you will have three minutes. Thank you so much for being here. Mr. Steve.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I first want to thank the council and all the citizens, I mean, employees of the city. I know you all don't have an easy job, and I want to tell you I appreciate it and thank you for that. So tonight I'm here to talk about the discussion about annexation, in particular my MUD 2. I live in Silver Lake in MUD 2.

I'm sorry, sir, can you please give us your name? My name is Steve McElie.

Yes, ma'am. And I want to talk about it in a little different, give you a real-world example of what we had, a tangible example of why the MUDs work well for us. Our mud noticed a problem. And the problem they noticed was that when they had a lot of rainfall, the storms, the sanitary sewer system got overwhelmed. The treatment costs of rainwater was high. There was an engineering study commissioned and done and an evaluation of our sanitary sewer system the engineers of record, which was Quiddity Engineering, came back with a proposed solution, which was to fix the existing pipes that were aged underground through trenchless technology. And they performed that work through a subcontractor with very minimal problems for the neighborhood. They didn't really have to dig much up. There was really just a one-day kind of temporary impact instead of waiting for it to fail and then having to dig people's streets and roads and backyards and such up to do the repairs. And that repair process extended the service life of these utilities at a minimum of about 30 years, depending on what research study you do. And I came from this industry, so I have a pretty strong background in it. Not waiting for the failure, having the local experts of our engineering firm evaluate it, come up with the solution, implement the solution, and keep us and fix our infrastructure so we don't have a big burden going forward is very beneficial. And I think that's the benefit of keeping the muds, not being annexed by the city, and using our local mud tax dollars to fix our local mud problems. Thank you again for all your help. Thank you, sir.

Mr. Carl?

Yes. My name is Carl Bernard. I've been a Silver Lake resident for only 25 years. I serve as the director of Brazoria County MUD number three and as a member of the board of directors of the Silver Lake HOA. I'm speaking tonight solely in my individual capacity. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for holding this discussion. I appreciate the opportunity for the residents to hear directly from the city about this. My first question is what prompted this discussion at this time? Was there a specific issue, study, or concern that led the city to bring this item before council? My second question concerns the supporting memorandum for the agenda. It discusses MUD governance, ESD governance, fire and EMS, and the statutory annexation process. Are those simply background topics for the council and the public? or do they reflect a broader direction that the city is considering? I've seen this community grow for nearly 25 years, and I appreciate the service that's been provided by the city, and especially by our MUDs and ESD-5. I simply hope this discussion will be transparent and give residents a clear understanding of where the city sees things going. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Cameron.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria. My perspective, first off, my name's Cameron Cole. My perspective may be a little different. I do not live in Mudd 2, 3, or 6. I do live in the city limits, but I still want to voice why I am in opposition of the proposed possible annexation. I want to bring up two main concerns. Number one, it was kind of mentioned earlier in the first comment here about infrastructure repairs. The area in question, MUDs 2, 3, and 6, they're 30, 35 years old. So what's going to happen in 10, 5, 10, 15 years? Infrastructure repairs. Well, if they're annexed into the city, well, guess who now shares the burden of of paying for those infrastructure needs. It's all residents of the city of Pearland, myself included. Quick study analysis, recently we did a infrastructure over in Willowcrest, that's off of between McCalla and McLean area. A lot smaller area, cost the city roughly $15 million. Buds 2, 3, and 6 combined is about 12 times larger than that. So quick math, 12 times 15, $187 million that the taxpayers of the city of Perryland would have to pay for if we went down this route. Secondly, you may or may not know or understand what SB 15 or SB 840 is. SB 15 is a tiny lot bill. SB 840 is the apartments being built by rights on commercial development. If annexed into the city, we immediately hit the threshold of 150,000 in population, which then triggers those bills. We had people here today, three individuals who stood at this podium in opposition of a possible development. Well, if we annex this portion of the city in, we don't have a say. Those developers can develop on that 20 acres by right, according to the state, if we annex in muds two, three, and six. So I am extremely opposed to this, and I would ask our council tonight to really ask the questions on the reason why. Why is this on the agenda? This is backwards. If you guys don't know the state law, it is the mud board that comes to the city, not the city going to the mud. And I do know that our mayor is the one that put this one on the agenda tonight. So the residents that have questions on ulterior motives or maybe the reason why, it starts with him. He's the one that put it on the agenda, and I hope he's able to answer why he put it on the agenda tonight.

Thank you, sir. The next three on deck will be Christina Tamayo, Lisa Welch, and Jessica Rodriguez. Just a reminder, you have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for your attention this evening in putting this on the agenda. I'm a Civil League resident of seven years. I work in the infrastructure development industry as a profession.

Excuse me, ma'am, can you please give us your name?

I apologize. I'm Christina Tamayo. And I'm a Silver Lake resident of seven years. I'm very concerned about why this item is on the agenda, on the city agenda first, not my MUD governance and not noticed to me by my HOA. So I have significant concerns about stakeholder engagement, stakeholder notice, and the ability to engage in a conversation outside of these official public meetings. I really would like to see a transparent stakeholder notice process. What are the studies? What are the analysis? What are the decision-making processes you're considering and why? How does this fit into Pearland's growth? How does this fit into Brazoria County's growth? There are multiple levels of jurisdiction and local governance. There is an HOA. There is a municipal utility district, MUDS, three of them. as well as the various county governance that's going around. So I'd like to see more of that stakeholder engagement integrated. Please explain to us why this is on the agenda, why it's important. We can all read on the public notices here all the attachments and who sent them. So I'd encourage you all to research and get more involved when you see things like this on the city agenda. This decision will affect much more than just what you hear about annexation and jurisdiction. There is a lot of budgetary concerns. I, as a constituent, am not able to vote. I'm not a member of the city of Pearland, so I am concerned about budget implications that were voted on by constituents in which I don't have a voice. I as a person intend to serve as a conduit of information engagement for my neighbors. I would really like transparent and accessible stakeholder processes that are redundant and accessible to people who can't make 6.30 or 3 p.m. special sessions. I appreciate that this is streamed live and it's recorded and there are various reporters and members of the neighborhood here to help others. So once again, as a Silver Lake resident on the matter of potential annexation study and emergency services jurisdictions, I'd really like to encourage an open stakeholder process that's transparent with adequate notice and a well laid out process. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Ms. Lisa. Lisa Welch, Pearland resident for about 30 years now, was in the first round of annexation of mud number one. It was a different process. And I too am concerned that it came to us via our HOA notice that there was a city council meeting tonight. We did not receive any prior notice of any of the proceedings going on. My concern is the long-term ramifications of the annexation of three very large areas. How is the city of Pearland, who is struggling at this point, to budget and provide services? This is going to tax the police department, the fire department, and the public works department. And I don't see that there's a positive. to come out of the process. I am thankful that, hopefully, if this makes it to a vote, that it is voted down by the residents. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Ms. Jessica? Jessica Rodriguez. Good evening, mayor and council. I live in Silver Lake, Brazoria County, mud number two. As I reviewed this agenda item, I kept coming back to one question. How does everyone benefit? I believe that's the question both current Pearland residents and residents of months two, three and six should be asking before the city spends significant staff time or taxpayer dollars evaluating annexation as a potential path forward. For current Pearland residents annexation increases the city's tax base, sales tax base and population, but it also brings additional responsibilities, more roads, infrastructure, parks, police, and other municipal services that all Power Land taxpayers will ultimately help fund. Before moving forward, residents deserve to know whether the long-term costs outweigh the additional revenue. For those of us living in the muds, the question is different. In 2017, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 6, fundamentally changing how annexation works in Texas. Annexation is no longer something that simply happens to residents. It now requires the consent of the people who live there. If we're ever asked to support annexation, our decision should be based on one question. What value will we receive by becoming Prairieland residents? Many of us purchased our homes with the understanding that one day the MUD tax would go away. What isn't explained is that upon annexation, the MUD tax generally is replaced by city property taxes. Today, MUD 2 has a tax rate of 39 cents, and we pay an additional 10 cents for ESD 5. for fire and EMS. Law enforcement is already provided for Brazoria County, and we pay county taxes whether we're inside or outside of city limits. Pearland's tax rate is 63 cents. If residents are asked to pay more, they deserve a clear explanation of the additional services or improvements they will receive in return. There are also practical questions that deserve answers. MUDs 2, 3, and 6 are not entirely within Pearland's ETJ. They also extended to Manville's ETJ. With much of MUD 6 located there, how would these jurisdictional issues be resolved? Would Manville agree to release portions of its ETJ? If the districts were divided, would the remaining portions still be financially sustainable? My request is simple. If this conversation continues, let it begin with transparent financial analysis, objective comparisons of taxes and services, and meaningful public engagement, not assumptions that annexation is automatically the right answer. Annexation should be a choice based on value, not simply a change in jurisdiction. Thank you. Thank you.

The next three will be Colt Melrose, Shannon Murray, And Maritza Wang. Just a reminder, you have three minutes, and please give us your name.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Colton Melrose. I live in the Weatherford section of Silver Lake MUD 6. My sentiments echo the lady that just spoke, as well as the residents of Pearland that have spoken in opposition to this consideration. We've been a resident for a little over two years, and I can't... I have spent the last four days since I saw this on a Facebook post. trying to figure out how this really benefits me and my family. And we have good roads, we have emergency services, have access to a neighborhood pool, and I have non-resident access to the Parks and Rec Center here in Pearland, which is a beautiful facility. We've done activities there. My daughter goes there for therapy. The extra cost as a non-resident does not outweigh the additional burden on my tax revenue should the city choose to pursue annexation of MUD 6. I can't think of any other reason that this would be on the agenda per the mayor's request other than going out to find additional tax revenue. Doesn't take anybody a whole lot of time to find that to be the bottom line. I own a business. When my business needs money, the first thing I do is I go to try to find more revenue, not cut my spending. It's easier to make more money than it is to reduce your spending, reduce lifestyle spending, and when we translate that into the government, it's the responsibility of the government, it's the responsibility of the governing body, this council, the mayor, and the city staff, to care for the dollars. My clients choose to work with me because they find value, and they choose to spend additional revenue with me because they find value. As residents, we have the privilege of being in charge of our tax dollars. We get to vote with our voices, and that's why I'm here tonight instead of at home with my family. And so my perspective is, Mayor, you're barking up the wrong tree. I don't think this is a problem that you should be concerned with. Listening to all of the general comments of all of the other things that the city of Pearland has to deal with, to me, this is not the best use of your city resources. It's not the best use of your staff resources. It's really not even the best use of this council meeting's time. I have 30 seconds, so I'm gonna use them. And so, I love Pearland. I love our schools. My daughter will be student council president at Rogers Middle School this year. My second daughter will be a house leader at Silvercrest Elementary. My third daughter with Down syndrome is a proud member at Silvercrest Elementary, and she is making waves, and my son will start kindergarten at Silvercrest. We love Pearland, but we love being in control of our own dollars. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Shannon.

Good evening, my name's Shannon Murray and I'm a 25-year resident of Silver Lake. I love living where I live and we bought the property there for a reason 25 years ago. I also have raised my children in Pear Land and I love our schools. I also want to say that I can't think of a time that I've been disappointed in the mud services in 25 years, and that's not an exaggeration. I'll give you, I have many examples, but one of them is during winter storm Uri in 2021, the city of Pearland lost water for four days, and we had fresh running water the entire time in mud three. I had friends that are residents of Pearland that came to my house to take showers. The MUD has never failed us, and I really have one question, and it kind of, it reiterates what other people have said. Why, Mayor, have you unilaterally put this on the agenda tonight without consulting Council or the MUDs for information? This has been voted down many times in the past, and this is really a waste of everyone's time. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Maritza?

Good evening. My name is Maritza Wong. It's W-O-N-G. Sorry for my handwriting. But I'm here to speak on this item to just say that I'm not interested. I am a resident of Silver Creek. We have lived there for 16 years. And prior to that, we lived in South Down before it was annexed into Pearland. So we've never lived within Pearland city limits, and that's always been just great. So I have no interest in being annexed to become within city limits. But I do thank you for the chance to speak tonight while you are gauging interest. I don't know what the provenance of this discussion is, but as others have been saying, I really don't see any benefit to me as a resident of Silver Creek to joining City Limits. It would add another layer of taxation, bureaucracy, and politics, none of which I'm interested in. I've done advocacy for a long time at many, many different levels. I don't want another layer. Respectfully, I'd rather be at home tonight than here, but if you're not at the table, then you're on the menu, and I don't want to be on the menu. And I will also reiterate what others have said, that I've never been disappointed in the services we currently receive right now either. In the 16 years in our current home, we've had to call the Brazoria County Sheriff once, the fire department in our ESD once. We've had to call animal control four times. But our needs have always been met. We've never been let down. I have planned a fun run through Silver Lake, and I was glad at that time to only have to work with the county on that and not the city. Another fun run that was planned by an acquaintance within city limits, their process that they had to go through was much more restrictive. More than once, as the previous speaker noted, there has been a boil water notice in City of Pearland due to a natural disaster, while our mud was unaffected. And so I appreciated our services at that point. From what I gather, city water bills are very expensive. I don't know a lot about the issue. And I don't really want to know, because I'm not a stakeholder at this point. But that seems like a bit of a problematic issue for the city. I would also want to say that thank you again for the chance to voice my opinion now before the city invests resources in exploring this. I do see the value in letting people speak now, but I look forward to whatever the discussion, whatever the reasons are that are given, I look forward to hearing those. Thank you. Thank you so much.

So, the next three on deck are Robert Farney, Petros Pantelis, and Mark Walker. Reminder, you have three minutes. Mr. Robert?

Robert Farney, I'm back again. I've been a resident in MUD 2 for 33 years. And like everyone has been voicing, we've had no issues. Our taxes, seemingly half of what Pearland would be offering for utilities. One item that hasn't been brought up is the waste management. They pick up absolutely every single piece of trash that we can throw out there, regardless of how large it is. And I believe that the city of Pearland actually has a schedule as to when you can actually put those larger items out. So that's just instantly we get annexed and we're not able to release the same amount of trash that we have been accustomed to for the past 33 years. Uh, like some other people have mentioned, this is previously been tried to be annexed in and it was rejected. And I think at that point was when we had to create the ESD for our area because Carolyn was at the time providing that for free for us and I'm understanding why Pearland doesn't want to provide anything for free. And so that's why we created the district and we have that district and we're not having any issues with emergency services now. I mean, I haven't had to use an ambulance or any fire trucks or anything to come to my house, but I've seen plenty of neighbors that have used it and I have seen no issues from that side. Again, I think everyone here on our side is wanting to ensure that we stay in the mud. It works a lot better for us. It seems like it's gonna work better for the residents of Pearland. And so that's it.

Thank you, sir.

Hi, Council. My name is Petros Pantelis. I've lived in Pearland EJT since 2009. with my wife, Danielle, and my children, Luke, Sam, and Sophia. I'm speaking tonight to maintaining the independence of mud number six and the Pearland EJT. I do not want either of them to be annexed. Mud number six has a very long history of low water rates and low mud taxes. Currently, my 2025 mud taxes are lower than they were in 2019, which is even after property values have gone up since then. And that is a feat that not many utilities can boast of. Regarding emergency services, mud number six, as you know, is patrolled by the Missouri County Sheriff's and have two dedicated sheriffs for that mud area. Again, number six is very well run and efficient and they need to remain independent. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Mark Walker.

Thank you for giving me the time to speak, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Mark Walker, and I have been a resident of Lake Point at Silver Lake for 30 years. I moved there in 1996 as a new construction. I guess I have to say that every person that has come up here, and I don't know if I'm the last or not, but the remarks have been universally negative regarding this issue. And I won't pile on with some of the things that I had intended to say, because most of what I wanted to say has been said in one shape, fashion, or form by somebody else. What I will say, and there are kind of two issues here. One, if the council does decide to move forward with this, I hope that they will take the time to lay out exactly what benefits might accrue to the residents of Silver Lake, the Southwick area, and the other mud districts, because I'm having a lot of trouble seeing anything at all. What I will say about a couple of negative things that haven't been brought up that is important to me is it may interest you to know that Municipal District Number 2 has some of the softest water in the area. Lime scale does not really develop on pipes, fixtures, rough ends the way it does with other Pearland water. I can tell you almost universally, having been here for 30 years, that when I talk to my neighbors in Pearland proper, almost invariably they talk about how bad the water is in Pearland. Water is three times harder in parallel and proper than it is in municipal district, my district number two. So that's one thing that I would throw out and basically say if you wanna protect your pipes and not have expensive bills later on, if you have expensive fixtures, which I do, that is a consideration. The other point that I wanted to make is just about the taxes in general, and comparisons are a little bit difficult. I do know that we pay exactly the same rate to Pearland ISD in Brazoria County as the residents of Pearland proper, but when I look at some of the stuff in the districts, the water, the sewer, some other things, It looked to me like, and if they do decide to move forward with this, I would want to put a sharper pencil to this, but it looks to me like the cost to the residents of Silver Lake, Southwick, et cetera, would be marginally higher if we were to agree to be annexed. And for those two reasons, it's a non-starter for me. And I would hope that this issue is dead when this meeting is over. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, sir. So the next three are Ashley Worthy, Jeff Capel, and Jules Mu. Thank you for being here. You have three minutes.

Okay, hello, everyone. My name is Ashley Worthy, and my parents currently live in Mud 2. I grew up in Pearland. I know I look young. I'm a product of the Pearland school system. Went on to Texas A&M and got my master's in policy from American. just coming back from dc so thank you to everybody here and i just want to bring up the point that my parents live in lakes of edgewater's estates and i know people have said great things about the muds but not all of them are created equally my parents are currently paying a lot of money in taxes because they pay mud and then on top of that they pay the city So I just want to bring that up for consideration maybe when we're looking at the mud with a more fine-tooth comb. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mr. Jeff?

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. My name is Jeff Capelle. I'm a resident and homeowner in Silver Creek neighborhood, located in Brazoria County, MUD 6. I'm married to my wife, Allison. We have two girls. One attends Dawson High School this fall as a senior, and I have a graduate at Texas A&M. I'm here tonight to voice my steep and absolute opposition to any plans or discussions regarding the residential annexation of the Silver Creek into the city of Pearland. As this council is well aware, the legal landscape surrounding Texas municipal boundaries has shifted drastically over the last decade. Following the passage of House Bill 347, forced annexation of populated residential areas is completely illegal. Our neighborhood is protected by a consent-based framework. Under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 43, the city of Pearland has zero authority to absorb our community without a direct democratic vote from only the citizens living inside MUD 6. This is not a citywide vote. It is only the affected residents. We have absolutely no desire to consent to that vote. I promise I will campaign harder than I've ever campaigned for anything in my life. We have watched with deep concern as Pearland residents have been subjected to ever increasing municipal water and sewer utility rates. Point of fact, five of the last 10 years, there have been double digit water rate increases to the city of Pearland residents, with another 12% proposed today. We refuse to abandon our efficient mud system just to watch our monthly utility bills skyrocket under the city's utility rate. We're also deeply concerned at how Pearland maintains their roads. Our roads are perfect, they're pristine. And if I drive off of 518, off any feeder road that goes into 518, the roads try to put me in a ditch. So people have asked about water. And the city had a meeting today trying to get a 12% increase approved. So straight off of their collateral material, they show that physical year 26 for 6,000 gallons of water, the water bill is $114.20. For physical year 27 proposed for 6,000 gallons is $127. My July water bill was 22,300 gallons. I paid $75. I have a 7,200 gallon water bill for April. I paid $45. That's all.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Jules?

My name is Jules Moore. First, I'd like to say gig them to all the Aggies that was up here. It seemed like they put all three of us together in class of 87 from Texas A&M, played basketball for Shelby. But I've been a resident of Pearland for over 40 years. I've raised my family out here. I've had two kids to graduate from Dawson High School. And I'm tired of sitting back, just not knowing what's going on. So I came here today to find out some of the things that's happening in my neighborhood that I'm paying the taxes for, and I want to be part of it. And I'm glad I came today because I'm getting enlightened, I'm getting more knowledge on what's happening in my neighborhood. But I'm very disappointed that I happen to come up here and hear some of the people say they love Pearland, they're happy to live in Pearland, but they're pointing and directing certain things to certain people on the council. I don't think it's fair. I think if there's need to be a change, let's look in the mirror and make the change together. We can agree to disagree, but let's not finger point at one person in particular. We got to get off the couch and do something about it. And that's why I came here tonight to learn more about it. And I'm going to be honest with you guys. I'm for the analyzation for the taxes. I want to be part of Pearland, but I have to educate myself more to find out what the advantages are and what the disadvantages are. And I realized that tonight But I'm not coming in here pointing fingers and saying, you did this or you did that. Let's work together as a community and stand up and be proud to say that we are parallel and we can do this together.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor, we have three that wish not to speak, but they're opposed. That's all. Back to you.

Thank you. Can we pull up the supplemental? Don't mind.

Mayor, can I say something?

Well, what I wanted to do, because it's pretty thick, I want to clear the air. I think it's important. There is obviously information that got distributed beyond the context of the actual council issue for a city council discussion. And I had to really think back heavily when I put this on if I even mentioned that the city of Pearland was annexing any part, any part of anything that did not belong to the city of Pearland. I had to do some searching and some searching, and it seems like because of some of the comments that were made that there's secondhand information. So what I would like to do, I'll put together pretty concise slides so that we really can set the stage of what the discussion item is and what I as a mayor, elected by this city, am trying to do and prevent us from getting where we are today with our water bill. A lot of the challenges we had years uh that lead us to this point are forcing us to make decisions that are impacting the residents in pearland that is a fact i had nothing to do with that so coming on board my first first moment of first action is to make sure we don't repeat problems and mistakes of the past so what i'm doing for people that i don't even represent people that can't even vote for me I want to make sure I give you an opportunity to speak, to learn, to hear and engage what the city of Pearland is doing because it directly impacts you, directly. around you to get to your areas. You don't drive through county streets. Most of you drive through the city of Pearland, where taxpayers pay and invest the money. And I'm glad a lot of the people here from Pearland expressed some interest and said, hey, look, we do not feel like we should be burdened with the extra cost of annexation. Even the people that are in the muds, thank you so much for being here. That is the point. If you ask me my motives, it's to get your feedback, to make sure that you're involved in decisions that impact you, because none of us live in a silo. None of us. And for us to sit blindly and think that for 30 years nothing is going to change, I think we're short-sighted. I can promise you we're bringing on new firefighters, new police. That's going to cost our residents. You don't have police. You got sheriff. You don't have fire. Who do you think is going to pay for that long term? City of Pearland residents? I don't think so. I'm just telling you. So let me start with the introduction. I'm passionate because I care. I care about the people of Pearland. And even though you don't vote for me, I really want to make sure that you have the information you need to make an informed decision, whether you want to be a part of us or not. The City of Pearland is not moving forward with any annexation. That's not the case. That's not on the agenda. Consideration and discussion regarding the current status of municipal utility districts, MUDs 2, 3, and 6, including their governance, emergency services, and relationship with the City of Pearland. So I'll start first by moving into this introduction. And notice, because there were some comments made, the city of Pearland didn't get proper notice. Well, we're not doing anything, we're just discussing. And they gave proper notice following the July 22nd Open Meetings Act. And so if you didn't hear it, we don't represent you. Talk to the people on your boards. There's no requirement for us to go out and engage you. I'm doing it because I care. Next slide. Purpose of today's discussion. Today's discussion is for informational purposes. No action is being requested. This discussion aims to achieve transparency with the community at large as we examine Pearland's long-term safety and emergency services, planning while providing a factual context for residents of the City of Pearland and residents residing in MUDs 2, 3, and 6. Emergency services and safety Nothing about water, nothing about annexation, safety, safety. The primary purpose of government is to make sure our residents and our citizens are safe, whether you live in the city or not. Next slide. I want to make sure you understand how the decisions of City of Pearland impact you, maintaining effective emergency response. Effective emergency responses begin with understanding who provides your services today. Funding structures directly influence emergency response and the needs to keep pace with the growth. An informed public engagement helps coordination and supports regional and local collaboration. It also builds shared understanding. I believe this discussion will help create an opportunity that welcomes feedback and develops a common understanding, governance, responsibilities, and future planning considerations that may influence council discussions and decisions. Next slide. The key takeaways. Understand emergency service districts. Someone mentioned layers of bureaucracy. What do you think that is? You don't vote for us. You have a mud board and an ESD board, and then it comes to us. That's layers. You have to choose whether or not you're comfortable with this. Understand, one, who your people are so that you can talk to them, because you don't vote for us. None of you. We don't have a direct impact. We don't represent you officially. You haven't just said it. So it's important for you to know who to go to, who's making the decisions for you that impact your bills, that impact your lives, that determine your kids and your futures. Understand the elected appointed representation. Understand existing coverage of emergency service districts. That's how we make sure you're safe in the muds. It's important to know who's on there, how they get appointed, because you need to know who to talk to. and also what's key and important so that nothing is miscommunicated through Facebook channels or ABC 13 or anywhere else. you have to understand who you have to go to and how things happen it was mentioned absolutely we can't just come and annex you the laws have changed so that means now you have to be empowered with the knowledge and the information so that you can make informed decisions for your families why because you don't vote for me and anyone up here You have to be informed. That is what's happening. I want to make sure I do my job as mayor representing this city and everybody around us to understand how our decisions impact you. It is vital for us as we move forward because nothing stays the same. Costs don't stay the same. We've talked about it for two hours ahead about how planning put us in a position where we're forced to pay for water. Since you brought up water, let me ask you a question. Brazoria County is getting developed. Further south, water source is going to be utilized. Do you think that's going to impact you and your rates and what they're charging you for water? Think about that. Think about the prices you pay. You pay a direct water bill. We have an enterprise fund, so the water looks like it's going to be inflated. Other costs to maintain your muds are carried in your escrow. You have to understand total overall value and what you're getting in your muds versus what is going to happen to you in the future. That's all I want. I just want to make sure that everybody that lives in Pearland, because it's a great place to live, has the information they need to make the right decisions moving forward. Because at the end of the day, When my time is done here and you look back, you will never, ever say that I never gave you an opportunity to find out, to learn, and understand. That is my job, to make sure the citizens of Pearland, whether you vote for me or not, are well informed and you make the decisions that are best for your families. Next slide. Pearland has strategic priorities. Why is this important? We can no longer think of ourselves to operate in a silo. Connected communities is a priority that was developed way before I even got here, but to make sure that I'm operating in a fashion that makes sure that I can govern with this body to make great decisions. We don't make decisions right now. We make our decisions in the future. There's a strategic priority meeting that's going to happen next year. The input that you give us will provide direct input on the discussion that we have that will guide us in making decisions for next year, the policies, the costs, everything. So for people that said, I didn't give you enough time, you almost have a year. A year. I'm starting now. I'm starting now because you are important. Your kids are important. That's why I got here. My kids are important. Like people say, I've lived here for 20 years. I've enjoyed the schools. I've enjoyed the quality of life. And I've also enjoyed the decision and empowerment that I have to vote for people and not vote for people. That's key. Promote informed decision making is a strategic priority. Connect to communities. Next slide. future alignment with Pearland's strategic priority, safe communities. Ensure residents have reliable, high quality fire and EMS services. We have our own fire department. Our fire department is growing. We're in the process of conducting a study on services and how we respond and those rates. When those rates come back, When those rates come back and it is determined however we need to service our communities, do you think it's going to impact the rate we charge your ESDs? Potentially. Potentially. So what am I doing? I'm making you aware today so that you can do the proper planning that you need for your families and your future. Next slide. That is the end. Councilmember Cade.

I'm sorry, Mayor. I didn't read it to be about annexation. To be fair, that's what I was going to say. And I was kind of excited to hear about the ESDs and how that worked. I didn't know you had slides.

No, no, I get it. Thank you. to the request that was initially put up here. There were bullets. Are you able to pull that up in the email that was sent? I sent an email and it had four bullets, four or five bullets. I just want to be clear. What's important is that any items put on the agenda, there are links, hyperlinks. So this was the request that was put out there to put on the agenda. The goal is to enable discussion that may include, but is not limited to, emergency service district, MUDs and areas. The governance of those ESDs, including the appointment process, the current MUD board representation, the governance structure, the alignment of the MUDs 2, 3, and 6, so you know where you live and where you reside in the city. It was discussed there are multiple MUDs that overlap different areas. Those will create significant challenges if you choose to move forward beyond where you are today. So it's important to understand that ahead of time. Understand the existing and planned fire emergency response coverage in those areas. Give an overview of the statutory annexation process, which most of you, I'm ecstatic. You point out you've done your research. 2017, it changed. Many people do not understand that. And it's important to give them an opportunity to understand what happens, why it happens, and how it's going to happen if people want to become a part of Pearland. That's it. I just want to engage a broader discussion. Thank you. Staff, was there anything that you were able to prepare to give some context based on these discussion points?

I would suggest, I'm sorry, Mayor, traditionally, unless there is a consensus by council, staff doesn't utilize the resources to prepare those meetings or prepare that information. So, if there is a consensus on council that you want a future item to discuss any of these things, we will be happy to do that research after we get that directed.

Absolutely, I just wanted to bring this to everyone here today. If council wants to move forward with anything, I just wanted to start the discussion because the way our process works in Pearland, our budget process is September. We go into strategic prioritization at the beginning of Q1. The information that we collect and obtain from now until then is crucial, crucial for this body up here to make decisions that impact our community. Knowing ahead of time if there's something outside of the city of Pearland is going to be key, because why? We can no longer think in a silo. There's the economy. There's other things that affect how we plan in Pearland. And I just want everyone in the muds to know, as the mayor of the city of Pearland, you matter to me. Your families matter to me. Your kids matter to me. Your livelihood matters to me. And how you plan for the future matters to me. Whether you voted for me or whether you would vote for me or not, That's the burden that I hold that I'm going to move forward. So I thank you all for giving me your time, for showing up here at 6.30 with the notice that you have. I truly appreciate it. I appreciate everything that y'all do. And just know that moving forward, you will be included in the discussion because the last thing is that you will not be excluded. That's the commitment that I'm making. So thank you. I appreciate everyone for listening. And then I can move it on to the next item on the agenda. If anybody up here had questions, all means, ask away.

Thank you, Mayor. I've got some housecleaning questions for both Trent and or Lawrence. Basically, our council rules state, for the mayor and any two council members to have an item placed on a regular agenda meeting, request shall be in writing and shall be filed with city secretary no later and noon on Monday the week before the regular meeting at which it is requested for consideration. Agenda items requested by the mayor or council members shall be placed on the mayor-council member issues portion of the agenda. If the filing is later than noon on the Monday before the regular meeting, items shall be placed on the agenda of the next regular meeting. Unless the mayor and or city manager determine that delaying the requested item should be contrary to the city's best interest. Now, with that being read into the record, just to let everyone know here, this last statement where it says the agenda or the next, or excuse me, unless the mayor and or city manager determines that delaying the requested item would be contrary to the city's best interest, um and talking with the council members that came up with that uh that line right there it was in case there was an emergency in the city um we're by law required to have two meetings a month and they are scheduled for the second and fourth monday of each month Sometimes that gets moved around due to holidays, i.e., July 4th can push it back, Labor Day, Memorial Day, stuff like that. But we're required to have two meetings per month. So, Josh, if you could pull up my supplement number two and scroll down to the date stamp and time on when this request was submitted. Excuse me, that's the agenda for this meeting, the supplement number three, because it's got the timestamp for the email here. So, Right there, right there. This request came in on Tuesday, July 7th at 1230 p.m. That is after our rules that we have right here that I read. Trent, could you explain why this is on this agenda and not next meeting's agenda?

So this was the item that was on the previous council agenda and I believe the discussion and the request, the initial request around this item occurred before then And this was just the final language that was shared at this point. I believe the request for the actual item had come in within the timeframe required by the council rules. If we need to clarify that the final language needs to be in by that time, we'd be happy to adhere to that as well.

Well, that led to a question. If we're going to go past the noon time, what is the parameters? Because the four years I've been here, it's been pretty straightforward. Noon time, you have to get it in. If it's afternoon, then it falls on the next meeting. If this right here is in the best interest of the city, which I would disagree with because it's not an emergency, it was a simple discussion item, Maybe the mayor, maybe you, maybe Lawrence have a different opinion. But right here, we're breaking the rules. And I remember rules matter from the mayor made a statement one time. And I don't understand because at our previous meeting on July 13th, there was another email that came in late as well. So I don't understand why we continually have late meetings. If rules don't matter, please explain to me what the parameters are so we know how to operate. Because I feel that if we're going to change this, council as a body needs to address these rules so that we can clarify it. Because sitting here waiting for Are you telling me, Trent, that if I send in an email wanting to talk about something before noon and I can't get it wrapped up until Wednesday, it's acceptable?

I would say what we've done is if the request comes in Monday before noon, if there's any questions about the language that needs to be clarified before we publish the agenda the following day, Tuesday, we've gone through that process of clarifying some of that language and gone ahead and posted it on the agenda. If that's not within the intent of the rules, then we won't do that.

Okay, so you're saying that we wouldn't do that. I specifically asked a question about Wednesday because I do know we have notices that have to be put up. We did have several comments from this body of citizens and citizens in our ETJ tonight that said they were not given fair notice. I know that our agenda is posted at approximately 6 p.m. Tuesday prior to, and just for FYI for the folks here, we can have anywhere from, on a light meeting, 1,000 pages to read to upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 pages to read. So, I understand that the notice might not be far enough in advance for y'all, but at the end of the day, we have a lot of preparation, a lot of things we have to read, and the state law requires that we have it done on Tuesday. So, that's kind of what the state law says we have to do and we follow it. Trent, thank you for that. And I would definitely suggest to my council members that we need to clean these rules up so that we don't have these issues in the future. So, with that being said, I'd also like to say there was a comment made by the mayor about an informed public it sounded like to me everyone that spoke tonight was pretty informed. They understood where their taxes, where their water rates, where their emergencies came from, costs for that. They sound pretty informed. So to say that they weren't I think that's pretty weak. As far as ESDs, I don't know who the right person to answer my question. Is there a set rate, maximum tax rate, that ESDs can charge their residents? Yes, sir.

My understanding is that the state law sets an ESD's maximum tax rate at $0.10.

Okay, so 10 cents per 100, correct? Yes, sir. Okay, and so let's say that we provide service in this case, for the most part, not the police side of it, because that's handled by the county, but on the fire side, and that cost, This is arbitrary, it's not me saying what it is or what it's not, but let's say it costs 15 cents per hundred. Who pays that additional five cents?

So currently that would be the citizens of Pearland.

So the citizens of Pearland, you're saying subsidize the ESD?

We have one of our actual strategic priorities is to do the study of that. And while we have numbers that support that, that we do subsidize it, I would wait for us to complete that study to make that statement. And that's fine, that's fine. That's what I've... To add one more thing, just to clarify on ESDs, so an area can adopt an ESD for fire at 10 cents and an ESD for EMS services at 10 cents. So you actually can adopt two, is my understanding, for a total of 20 cents to support those services.

Okay, so that again would require them to increase their taxes. And from what I heard from this crowd this evening, they're fine with the city subsidizing them. So with that being said, no matter what rate we set it at, as the mayor said this evening, we end up subsidizing them. Is that correct?

I would wait for the study to definitively say that, but I think our internal analysis.

The question is, if it's over that 10 cents.

Yes, if it's over that 10 cents, then that would be the city's substance. That's an accurate statement. Yes, sir.

Okay, so I just want to make sure that we're very clear here, because I heard a lot of informed and misleading and all this kind of stuff. I want everyone in here to understand where we're at. and what the problems come from. So with that, thank you very much, Trent. I appreciate it.

And I just want to make a point. Councilmember, it's interesting that this time around, when people speak, you believe them. On June 22nd, this was lit up, and everybody said something, and you didn't believe them. So, I appreciate that. I appreciate that.

I have never not believed anyone. Sure, okay. I never have. Let's go back to point of order. And you want to sit there and make a personal attack? I didn't make a personal attack. No, sir, you did. You just said everybody in here expressed a belief. And I talked about the people that are here.

No, no, you said they expressed a belief.

Let's go back to point of order. Item on the agenda.

All of a sudden, you hear him. Got it. So, yes, Mayor Pro Tem. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. So, I do agree that we need to adhere to council rules. But with that being said, I think what we need to do is look at the amending the rules to be more in line with the House bill. I believe it's 522, which is the Texas Open Meetings Act. So, I think we should probably take a look at that if council wishes. Thank you.

Mr. Yes, Council Member Kaye.

Council Member Kaye I was curious. The MUDS, if they call for police, the Brazoria County Sheriff's go. 100%.

There's always mutual aid if there's a need to help support them, but they are the primary responder, and I would say respond almost all the time.

Thank you. Council Member Byrum.

Trent, you talked about the potential adoption of a 10 cent for fire, 10 cent for EMS. For clarity, that would be adoption by the ETJ. They would have to adopt that, not us. Correct.

So, yes, the way the current ESD was put into place is it was voted into place by the residents served by that ESD.

Okay, thank you.

And to Member Chavarria's point, I know the legislation changed here recently with TOMA that changed our notification requirement from Thursday to Tuesday, but we didn't and i know we updated our rules to be in line with the law but we didn't change our own timing on when we submit things so i think that kind of puts staff under some tighter pressures because we left our ability to submit things kind of at the last minute so there may be some value in looking into looking at those rules a little bit on timing issues just to make things line up a little simpler a little cleaner agree thank you absolutely customer fernandez

Thank you, Mayor. I would agree with Member Byrum as to look into that as well. One comment, one question. Question to the city. Lawrence, just clarifying, have we received any notification, any phone calls from any mud boards pertaining to 2, 3, and 6?

Not that I'm aware of. Okay.

And then I think there was several questions, comments. I just wanted to be crystal clear. You know, I'll speak for myself and then other council members can chime in, but I was unaware of anything about this pertaining to annexation. I saw it Tuesday evening for the first time and did not know anything about it. So I want to end by saying thank you for all those that came. It's late and y'all are here. I think somebody said they'd rather be at home. And so I just want to say thank you for being here. Thank you, Mayor.

Welcome. No problem. Councilmember Echols, sorry. Go ahead.

Lawrence, just have a question for you. Can you explain the processes that this council needs to do to move on looking at our council rules and modifying or amending?

Yes, sir. Based on the feedback that I've heard, there's a consensus of council to have a discussion about council rules. So, there will be an upcoming agenda item, and it will be a discussion about council rules. It'll be up to you all to dictate the framework of that discussion. I'm just, in the future, I would have it there. We've done this. I don't remember if it's four or five times in the past, because I think we're on our fifth iteration or maybe our fourth iteration. So that'll be something that happens in the future. But it's a resolution, and it is based on y'all's feedback. So I can tell you the process will be, we put it on an upcoming agenda. You'll have the opportunity then to revisit those rules. I would say that most boards think of that as good governance anyhow to revisit your rules periodically. And then based on the feedback from that discussion, it'll be a future action item as to whether you want to change those rules.

Just to add to that, we would review it, and if we see any issues, we would bring those to your attention, much like the notification timeframe that did not get changed when the meeting posting date changed. So those type of things, if they're causing internal process issues, we would want to bring those to your attention. But of course, the balance of it would be the council's input on what changes y'all would want to look at and implement potentially.

Just for clarification, on my end, I don't know if you're trying to see what the consensus is. I would be in support of Member Koza to look into it.

I was going to say, I've heard from four of you, so because we've heard from four people, we would not traditionally require a person to send it in with a second. If four people say, we didn't like the way this happened in this meeting, we'd like to have an upcoming change to address that, that would be our directive on the staff perspective.

Okay, thank you.

Any comments? No? At this particular time, the City Council will now hold a closed executive meeting pursuant to the provision of Chapter 551, Texas Government Code, in accordance with the authority contained in Executive Session under Section 551.087, Deliberations Regarding Economic Development Negotiations. And we will now go into Executive Session at 8.52 p.m. Oh, yeah, well, that wasn't the point. The point was safety.

And my foot had an accident, so I had to... We need to know more about this.

I'm really sorry. Thank you.

Council.

All right, we're resuming, coming back from executive session at 10.23 p.m. And, council, there's no action taken at this time?

So, no action on new business five?

Sorry, can we move to five, please?

Mr. Mayor, we're gonna have no action taken on new business item number five, and I propose that we postpone new business item number six until August 5th. Is that a motion? Yes, I motion it.

Second.

Motion was made by Councilmember Byram, seconded by Councilmember Koza. Questions? None.

Madam Secretary, call for the vote, sorry.

Member Byrum?

Aye.

Member Cade? Aye. Member Fernandez?

Aye.

Member Cosa?

Aye.

Member Echols?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria? Aye. The motion passes five to zero.

No other items on the agenda. I'll adjourn the meeting at 1025 p.m.