City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. Uh we're going to open the meeting with our pledge to the US and the Texas flag. Uh if you would stand and please remain standing uh following for a moment of silence.

If you join me. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag to the Texas one state one and indivisible. Thank you. You may be seated. Once again, welcome to the regular meeting of the Flutterville City Council on this February 10th. We appreciate you being here. Uh the first item uh or rather the next item on our agenda is public comment. I have received no forms indicating anyone wishing to speak. Is there anyone in the public wishing to make public comment on general items at this time?

He's got come on forward. You can take the podium. Uh you'll have uh let me let me read the uh the legal ease. In accordance with the Texas Attorney General Opinion, any public comment that is made on an item that is not on the published final agenda will only be heard by the council. No formal action, discussion, deliberation, or comment will be made by the city council. Each person providing public comment will be limited to three minutes. Um, just so you know, we're not allowed to respond or deliberate, but we'd be uh delighted to hear you.

Okay, great. Uh, good evening. My name is Joseph Brown. I live in the Green Ridge community over here in Flugville. Um, I'm call uh come up here today to uh to follow up on the road conditions in our community. uh extremely um pertaining to Cheyenne Valley and Gatiscu Road with the light there to see what the progress is but there haven't talked to Mr. Evan, I think he's over here today. Uh, I don't see him. And see how that's um progressed. Also, the city of Blueville has come in and painted the fluorescent type uh stripes uh for the ro um walkways for the children and everybody to get across the uh new black top cuz the new black top had destroyed all that before. But it's not completely finished. And it's not finished on the main thorough fur roads which is Boone Valley and Cheyenne Valley which is the most dangerous roads in the community cuz everyone uses that as a threrur that cut through to other side of huddle and to Penley Park and they go extremely fast and it's very dangerous because that both those roads have bus stops. It's also where the park is for the children in that area uh in our area. Um, according to um highway.dot.gov, let me read this right quick. Uh, a driver may not see or be aware of conditions within a corridor and may drive at a speed that feels respon reasonable for themselves but may not be for other users of the system, especially vulnerable road users, including children and seniors. A driver traveling at 30 miles per hour who hits a pedestrian has a 45% chance of killing or seriously injuring them.

At 20 m an hour, that chance has dropped down to 5%. So that road Cheyenne Valley and Boone Valley both at 35 miles an hour. They have a park there. We have Emily crossing the street. We have women. I see them all the time u next to the park trying to get their cribs out, walkers out. There's no parking. So, you got cars going by at extreme speeds. I hate to say 60 m hour or more sometimes coming down the hill. They get out out of the community, get to the other side of Gatsk road. Um we have bus stops there. I see children catch the bus there every morning. And we just need more safety for the pedestrians in our community and and everything. And that's all I have. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. I imagine uh I do see Evan back there. I imagine he'll be happy to have a conversation with you uh as the evening progresses. Uh is there anyone else here wishing to speak during public comment? All right. Before we move into presentations, I did want to pull one item up from our uh later in our agenda. It was also on our work session agenda. I wanted to where did my agenda go? make sure that uh we get through that quickly because we may have some people in attendance who will leave immediately following that. So I'm going to open uh item 8D. Uh that is an open the open session item discuss and consider action regarding case number one col24-CV-00914-8 Impactway LLC v Flugerville Community Development Corporation in the city of Flutterville pending in the Western District of Texas Austin Division.

Mr. Mr. Mayor, will you accept a motion? The floor is yours. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I move that we uh immediately uh defund uh all uh PCDC funding for the legal department for their legal council. Second.

I have a motion and a second from David and Rudy. Uh motion fails.

Thank you, David. Uh we will return to item number four. Uh I have a couple of proclamations to make. I will uh move to the podium. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. This is a mayor's proclamation declaring February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Flugerville. Uh, Black History Month, uh, was originally Black History Week, but in 1976 was expanded to recognize the entire month. It's now celebrated all over North America. During this month, we celebrate that many achievements and contributions uh have been made uh by our black, our African-American community. Black History Month is a time where all Americans are encouraged to reflect on past successes and challenges of black communities and look to the future to ensure freedom, equity, and inclusion persist in this great nation. So, I hereby proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Flville. Uh Bobby, did Bobby make it here? Uh we were going to have uh Bobby Mack um accept this proclamation. We'll make sure that she gets it. Bobby owns one of our restaurants here in town and we were very fortunate to uh have the food here uh for the council catered by them tonight uh in an effort to show our support to our black community and those allimp important blackowned businesses. Thank you.

Can we CLAP on way like a couple hours out?

Okay. Okay. We'll uh we'll we'll make sure she gets it. We'll see if we can get a photo here in a few minutes. Do I have another one here? There it is. All right. Uh I have a second proclamation to make. This is uh item 4B. Uh earlier uh in our work session uh we had a presentation of our engineering department. Uh and I do want to clarify that our engineers do not drive trains. They they they design and build some amazing uh infrastructure here in the in our city. So engineers use their training and specialized skills in creative and innovative ways to fulfill society's needs. Engineering has been called the invisible profession because everything around us and everything we use every day has been engineered in one way or another. Engineering Week promotes recognition of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy. It also motivates youth to pursue engineering career careers. So, I proclaim February 22nd to the 28th as engineers week in the city of Flutterville. Uh we have Jeff Dunworth, our city engineer and assistant director of utility engineering here to accept the proclamation. Jeff, would you like to come forward?

And I invite all my fellow engineers to come with me. Absolutely. The more more engineers means more fun, RIGHT? Let's get right now. We'll be right back.

Okay. And everyone Well, we think we are. Okay. CPAs are financial engineers of council. This brings us to the reading of our consent agenda. Uh I would ask if there are any items uh wishing to be pulled from the consent agenda.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to pull item 5B as in boy and item 5D as in dog. Uh Baker and Delta. And I'd like to pull 5C. 5C as in Charlie. What does that leave? One. This was a short one. Uh Trista, would you uh would you call our consent agenda? I suppose. Absolutely. Uh items 5B, 5 C, and 5D have been pulled, which means the remaining item of 5A may be acted upon. I move to approve the consent agenda such as it is. The minutes. Second.

All right. I have a motion from David and second for Jonathan. Uh we have two members absent from the council. Uh deis uh that passes unanimously uh of those present. Uh that takes us to item six. Uh 6A is discuss and consider action regarding appointments to the finance and budget committee. Uh we do have three vacancies. uh on this committee with terms ending in 2026. I believe we have five applicants uh here with us today. Uh traditionally uh we would call these applicants up to uh introduce themselves. Uh the first on my list is uh Miss AK Brewer. She has expressed a desire to to not approach unless there are any questions that would be required of her. I really want to ask Caesar's question since he's not here.

Mr. B, would you be would be would you be willing to entertain one question? One question.

Good evening, esteemed mayor and counsel. Yes, Mr. Good evening, ma'am. Uh so this is the the question that uh Councilman Ruiz uh traditionally asks. Um why do you want to serve on this committee instead of all of the other committees, boards, and commissions that the city of Flugerville has?

I wish I didn't know you personally cuz no one else would catch the joke. But what I will say is I'll make it short and sweet. General just in general representation. As a citizen, I'd like to know where my tax dollars are going and ultimately as a citizen, how I can support all the, let's be honest, with all the things that's going on within our city, meaning the um the citizens response to the management, to the leadership, a lot of it deals with our budget. So I want to see how I can contribute to supporting our council as well as supporting our citizens and understanding um as best we can per policy, per law, per statute, how we as citizens can support and understand without giving up too much um confidential information that you guys have and aren't willing to share. I think that citizens don't always understand. There's certain things you can and cannot tell us.

Thank you, ma'am. You understand? Any more questions? No, ma'am. Thank you for volunteering, Miss Holidayiday. I'm going around. Mr. Coffman, I'm good. Thank you. We're good. Uh, our next applicant is Ronald Catron. Is Ronald here with us this evening? I received a message that he's running late. Um, so maybe we can circle back if he's still here at the end. We We'll see if we can make that happen. All right. Uh, I have Miss Carla Carol. Carla, if you would come forward. Sure.

Thank you for being here with us tonight. Yes, sir. Would you would you care to quickly introduce yourself and obviously there's one question that it sounds like we'll be asking everyone. Why is this important?

Um, I have lived here in Flugerville for let's say since ' 07. I am the founder of the Zeus and Luna to pay it forward Foundation. We donate our dogs to veterans. Um, I have a long history of accounting. I've been an accountant for 30 years. I have been a budget analyst at Space Naval Warfare. I have a bachelor's in accounting, a masters in public administration, and a masters in business administration, and I'm working on my doctorate in business leadership. Um, I'm also currently a uh project controls analyst for AECOM. I work in EP environmental protection planning and I am super with project management.

Next. Well, sorry. All right. I'm going to cancel I'm going to ask Counciloman Ruse's question because he's still getting uh back up to speed. Why this uh committee as opposed to any of the other committees, boards or commissions that the city of Flugerville has?

Well, I live here. Uh I live in Highland Park North and I have seen it grow immensely. We used to have cows come across our backyard and now there's, you know, a lot of businesses and so on so forth. And because of what my personal goal is after I graduate with a doctorate, um, I'm more curious and want to learn more about how their finances go and so on and so forth. So, my goal is I want to go to Congress and help them fix the VA. That's why I'm getting all the degrees, but I need to learn and see what's going on in my own city. So, why not? Uh, like I said, I have project management skills, you know, so I here I'm here to help, learn, and volunteer my time.

Thank you, ma'am. Mhm. All right, ma'am. I I was uh curious. I was reading your uh your application in it. You uh mentioned uh transparency. In no way, shape, or form should any member of the finance committee or council members ask for information and be sidelined. What What do you mean by that? if I ask for or anybody in the public asks for uh most people don't know they can go online and download your financials.

So, if we can point that out to people, that would be a big help. I know that there's a lot of people who don't know that. They're not aware that you pull down financials. That's what I mean by transparency by letting them know, hey, look, you can go online and download all the trans all all the transcripts and where the money is going and so on and so forth from previous years and this current year. Mhm. Uh you also said where was it? Um everyone has a right to learn. Yes.

Um yeah, obviously there are no dumb questions. Um what do you mean by everyone has a right to learn? Everybody in the city has a right to learn what's going on. If they have a question, let's answer them. If they have something that they need to be answered and we don't have the answer for it, let them know. We'll get back to you. That's my biggest thing is I answer emails right away. Hey, I got your message. I'll get back to you. Let them know that you're working on it. And if you don't know the answer, figure it out or leave them to someone else who does. That's what I mean by learning. Everybody has a right to learn. Everybody who lives here has a right to learn what's going on in the city. You know, guide them to the right places. That's all.

I'm curious if that conveys a requirement of other individuals to teach because learning is is individual, right? Well, yes and no. So, if that person is willing to learn, point them in the right direction. if you read case study blah blah blah blah blah, here's the website to it, that's teaching them. So, just guiding people to where they need to go. All right. Uh any any other questions uh for Carla? Um thank you for Yes, sir. for answering our questions. Uh we have uh Scott uh Stiferman, I believe. Is it Stiffer or Stiper? Stifer. Stifer. Okay.

Sorry. You're in a German town and in Germany German they pronounce the second vow. So I went with it but Stiferman thank you for being here with us today.

Uh well I'm very interested in the position simply because I'd like to be able to provide some citizenbased review and audit of the uh budget and finances. Um, I've had a very good understanding and working with uh multiple parties on the team uh regarding questions and answer type sessions that I I hope elicit um deeper dives into some of these financial concerns or some of these issues that have been uh brought up over the past. So I welcome Jonathan for example and his prompt response and his summary of current environments as well as other team members that uh have contributed not only review and audit type roles or type concerns. So I don't have a formal um financial or audit background but I hope to say I'm able to ask the right questions that elicit the right responses. And to team up on the teaching concept, I started out my career as a Microsoft product trainer. So, one of my big things was a lot of people asking for, hey, highlight the stuff I need to study for. Highlight the stuff I need to review. And one of my uh long-standing statements is learn how to learn. Don't learn how to memorize. So, I follow in that same truth of teaching, not necessarily by the book, but by the end goal and the what it takes to maybe get there. Uh, David, did you have a question?

I I think he answered it before I could ask him. Okay. It's always nice to have other people go first. Council, are there questions for Mr. uh Stiferman? Not for me. Good stuff. Well, thank you very much. Uh, and then I have uh Jonathan Reich. Did I get that one right? Yes. All right. That one is German. Okay, another journey. Yeah.

Um, council, Mr. Mayor, it's good to see you again. Um, I was before you guys in December, uh, expressing my interest in this committee and I'm glad to be back. Um, to remind you of my background, um, I grew up in Flugerville from 7 to 18 before I moved away from college when I did my bachelor's in finance and my masters in product development. Um, I've spent my career as a consultant and then most recently helping a small law firm out in Caldwell startup. Um, so I have a little bit of experience in Excel, you could say. And, um, I would love to apply that, uh, to Flugerville and help out as part of this committee. Um, you know, one of the things that I've heard expressed, I think, uh, by everyone here is that transparency and, um, helping citizens understand the budget is a really high priority. That's something that I noticed as well when I was, um, you know, helping with the the the runoff campaign for for Doug. Um when I was speaking with people who were um more were leaning towards Pat McChord, one of the things one of the things that really resonated with his campaign was the fact that he touched on budget uh transparency and on some of the auditing. Um so I think that's a really important piece of this committee um that it sounds like all of us would be on board with and um that's something that I you know I've talked with Melody about a little bit. I'd love to um see how we can make the budget just more accessible to people and uh because of my background in not just finance and technology, I think I'm positioned to do that. So, thank you.

Thank you. I'm curious, Jonathan, um because one of the things we often talk about is that um frankly, if anybody wants to access the budget, they have access to we have it online. We have available to that. But to you, it appears that it may be more opaque than we think. What are ideas that you have in mind where we can make it so either more relative because you know data has never been the issue right like people have data but actionable data and be able to do that has always been something that's your main so how do we make it more relatable for people to better ascertain and understand what's going on.

That's a great question. Um I think really it's it's more than just having the data like you said. It's about being able to tell a story with the data and having avenues for the public to be able to access that and understand not just the numbers on the screen because the reality is most people won't be be able to understand the numbers like just by themselves. It's making sure they understand, you know, if we can provide them with the reasoning behind maybe why we made a certain decision. Um the story that went in into that maybe as much as we can highlight those things for people, I think that would help them understand and be more connected to the city of Flugerville. Um and I think that's something that we can do. Any other questions for Jonathan? Thank you. Thank you for being here. Uh, did uh Ronald make it in?

I guess not.

All right, council members, we have up to three positions to appoint. Uh, I do want to clarify, Jonathan. I think our last uh time uh there were concerns about uh your voter registration uh still being in Colin County. Uh and I understand you have submitted to ensure that your voter registration was transferred to Travis County. Um so if uh if he were selected, we would need to ensure that it is effective upon confirmation of uh the check transfer. Yes, he he is eligible. Okay, he is eligible. Very good. Okay. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Glad to hear it. Travis County is better than we Jonathan.

Uh with that council, as I was saying, uh up to three vacancies on this board, one uh we need at least one in order for them to make quorum so that they can hold meetings, which I think is uh is the goal of this item. I'm going to ask for your top one, two, or three. Uh, I'm gonna actually go uh yeah, let's see. Jonathan, your top one, two, or three. Sure. Uh, I'd say Jonathan Reich and AK Brewer at the top of the line. Okay. Uh, Caesar, I had AK and Jonathan. All right, Kim. Kimberly, I had AK and Jonathan. All right, Rudy.

What are being a parrot now? AK Jonathan. All right. Um, Melody, AK Scott and Carol. Carla, sorry. I'm sorry. That was AK Scott and Carla. Carla. All right. And, uh, David. Uh, at the risk of, uh, being parrot, uh, I'm just going to echo Melody's three, AK, Carla, and Scott.

Yes. Uh, and then mine would be uh AK uh Jonathan and Ronald. Uh, I believe that gives us AK7, Ronald 1, Carla 2, Scott 2, Jonathan five. Based on that, I would recommend that we appoint AK and Jonathan. Uh, and it seems like that is the the threshold. All right. I've got a motion from Caesar, a second from Rudy. I don't know why I deduces.

Oh, hold on. That's That's PDF. I'm going get back to my screen. Uh, motion passes unanimously. Uh, thank you for that. I'm going to So, I did have a question because in the past you guys have expressed that if someone wasn't here that they couldn't have a vote um or that we or at least that was my impression of

the operation. So, if we have another vacancy and that's not the rule, then I I would I think it's good to fill the entire committee if we can. Would you like to make another motion? Got time. Um I I will I will say I don't believe the absence is a disqualifier. Uh I will say when I was first appointed to PCDC in 2009 that uh someone who was not present was also appointed. Um but uh okay it seemed like there was a something was said about it in the the last time. We just we just tend not to we like

we like for people to to present themselves. Um but it is it is not a requirement especially if uh council members are uh familiar with the individual. If uh for example if there's someone who you um had recruited who wasn't able to make it you're welcome to speak on their behalf. uh but uh is this uh council's prerogative on who we appoint to boards and commissions. Yeah. Okay. If the emergency happens, we can definitely do it. We can bring that up.

We could well I'd like to make a motion to given um this new information to uh recommend Ronald as the the final position for the finance and budget. I have a motion from Melody. Second. I have a second from David.

I'm sorry. Did I say that right? So, would you uh in in interest of further discussion? Uh Melody, you seem to know Ronald. You mentioned that he was uh not here. Would you uh convey um his qualifications for us? Well, he had applied before, so I had just reached out to him and said, "Hey, we're going to be having another thing. So, do you want to reapply?" And um here he is. Ronald, that's a question for you now. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Will you Will you come to the podium? I'm Ronald. Yeah.

Thank you for showing up. Uh we were we were just discussing the uh the appointments. We've made two of the the three appointments. Um the the other was going to remain vacant, but we would love to uh be introduced to you if you would uh tell us who you are. You unfortunately don't have the benefit of uh hearing the questions that were asked before you, but one of those would be why this board and not something else. Uh and take it away. Okay. A little background on uh myself. I've done some work. I've uh my entire career has been uh with the public sector. Uh, so I helped Travis County build the internal audit department. Um, I also work for Travis County at the auditor's office. Um, I have a few certifications like certified u internal auditors.

You said help build it on expand on that. Um, they needed some internal auditors and a lot of really we uh were able to catch some stuff actually, but um they didn't have internal auditors. So it's uh it's me and one other person. Okay.

Yes. and um he still works there and I'm um it's grown to three but I've since left that was like eight years ago. Um we built it from the ground up though reading uh the books and we um put the charters together and everything. Um so we built it from the ground up and it was it was good. Lots of data analysis and stuff like that. So I mean I've always cared about the government. I lived here. I've raised a family here. We've been raising a family here. Love it. I want to and I want to contribute this way because I mean I you know understand accounting. I have a master's degree in accounting. Um and um so that's why FAB when it came up I saw that it was vacant. I I figured why not you know this is a good way to volunteer. I had once uh sat on the um I always want to say ethics miss the equity um uh board. I did that about six years ago as well. Um that was a good experience. Uh I do apologize for being late. Um that's you you want showed up just you have you have

someone you need to thank. Yeah. I mean I just happened to check my email. So I I I mean my question would be for this is that so you I don't want to put words in your mouth but from what I heard you say is that you had an experience as being an auditor. you helped create the internal audit department for county now build it up with somebody because of your skill sets and um prior experience and built it from the ground floor.

What do you see here that you think that you can either um improve on or delta points or you know or frankly um that you see is necessary for us to take it to another level when it comes to what we do at finance and auditing gear.

Sure. Um I think um I don't you know I haven't been paying as close attention to what is happening with finance and budget. I do understand um city financial statements uh or annual budgets right um working for consultants as well. I've done that for various little small cities across the US. Um here for instance um I think uh the new city council being brought up next to HB. you know, I remember that being part of a capital improvement program maybe 5 6 years ago and and you know, it is coming up and um I've been watching, you know, parks come up as well. So, I know the city's growing. I just want to, you know, uh see where the money's I mean, that's what it is, right? The taxpayers money is uh right, we're all servants entrusted with the taxpayers money and make sure it gets spent appropriately, right? So, I don't think that, you know, you're going to get anything very unique from me other than my experience in looking at documents, having to interpret them very quickly and, you know, understand what's going on. Um, I I I am a PF 101 graduate, so I did, you know, at one point know a little bit more or paid more closer attention, you know, when my kids were a little younger. Um, but I'd love to serve in whatever capacity I can really. Just FAB, I guess, makes the most sense. Well, I thank you for for bringing your skills forward. I see on your resume you're uh you have a certification in risk management assurance. You're certified government auditing professional, certified information systems auditor, uh and CIA, a different CIA, certified internal auditor.

Yes. Where did you get your master degree at, by the way? Uh oh, I don't know if I can say because I did a lot of I didn't know. How about you you want to be able to get this position, right? We're on the same page here. I mean diversity, right? We want like No, but I didn't know about like school spirit or whatever, but I have gotten heat on many about that. I do live in Austin. I uh got it from Texas and that's where I got my uh master's degree completely. It was online. I didn't hear any. There you go. All right. Any any other questions for uh uh for Mr. Mr. Cron?

No. Thank you for coming. All right, we already have a motion on the table. Uh, so I will start that vote. Yeah, this is why we like people in person. Uh, welcome to finance and budget. The vote is unanimous. I'm so sorry, guys. I went to the old building and then So, I'm so sorry. That's all right. Thank you. You, uh, you were successful. All right. Wonderful. He's like, can I go home now? That's all that's all you need to be here for. No, you should visit with the other people who got appointed to the board. Well, he doesn't know who they are yet.

I'm going to go back and reopen item uh 4 A because I believe we have some uh some individuals uh in the audience with us. Bobby Mack, we have this presentation for you. Do you did you want to say any words? You don't have to.

I can. I love to talk. Well, I will I will just reiterate how important it is uh in Black History Month that we support our our local businesses, especially um those like uh your restaurant, which serves I'm sorry, your junior ters are enough for three three meals. But uh yeah, definitely excited for you to be here. We've got this uh if we can get in front of the flags, we'll get a photo of you accepting this. Remember, you all get a hero. discount.

All right, thank you for that. Very excited. I know uh there must be some some weather delays for showing up late. Got our first one. Uh this brings us to item seven. This is public hearings and ordinances. Item 7A a uh conduct a public hearing and consider approving an ordinance on first reading with caption reading an ordinance of the city of Flutterville, Texas amending the city of Flutterville, Texas code of ordinances chapter 92 adding articles 3 and four regarding the quasi judicial enforcement of health and safety ordinances creating a building and standards commission in accordance with chapter 54 of the local government code subse sub chapter C to meet local conditions and the authority regarding the substandard building per 214 of the local government code providing that this ordinance shall be cumulative, repealing all ordinances to the extent that they are in conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. Uh looks like we have uh Mr. Palano here uh to present.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh Robert Palanco, building official for cityville. U I'm going to be your host for the next four items. Um, before we get into the ordinances specifically themselves, I'd like to give you a general overview of what my intent was for all one's a one's a correction of an oversight from an adoption a couple of years ago, but the other three what my intent was uh upgrading these ordinances to the city with uh clear legally defensible ordinances to address nuisances, unsafe structures, and related violations more effectively. The revisions align local regulations with state statutes, established objective standards, and create consistent procedures for notification, enforcement, and hearings. When I started, look when I was given the privilege of taking over the uh code compliance division in uh August of last year. And when I started delving into the ordinances themselves, um, started finding some things that were not overtly wrong, but a little bit concerning. And some of the statutory construction, uh, was a bit, I wouldn't say lacking, but needed to be spruced up a little bit. Basic statutory construction and the way the thing that I've structured them are basically you have your definitions first that define the terms to be used inside of that ordinance. description of the offenses, the authority to enforce, the allimportant notification procedures, means of appeal, and then penalties.

Our first one that we're coming to, let's see. So, this is the creation of the substandard or of the correct building and standards commission.

This is the building and standards commission. This previously did not exist and came about in part due to our um dealings with a home that was burned pretty severely that was not able to be restored. Uh it kind of fell into disrepair for a good two a little bit over two years. We didn't have a real good mechanism on how to deal with it. We were sending notifications to the homeowner under various ordinances. Um, none of them really applied really well. We do have the means and the international property maintenance code and the international existing building code, but the venue to hear the the case was not here. We've never had a building and standards commission here before. We initially notified the property owner of the offenses. We thought we could take them through our city municipal court. Our legal said that's not the proper venue. So, we had to go to district court. In district court, it took us seven months to get through district court. We finally got the judgment and we're looking to try to avoid going down that route if possible. District court will always be available in the event of an appeal, but we'd like to handle it at the local level first. So, the building and standards commission will provide a structured impartial venue to hear evidence, make findings of fact, and issue orders related to substandard buildings, reducing the need for immediate escalation to that district court. The commission processes ensures property owners receive proper notice, the opportunity to be heard, and clear timelines for compliance, repairs, or appeals, strengthening fairness and legal defensibility. The commission hearings are typically faster and more efficient hopefully than district court litigation, allowing dangerous

conditions to be addressed in a more timely manner. Handling cases locally minimizes reliance on outside legal proceedings, lowering costs for the city while still preserving the right to uh judicial appeal when necessary. A commission can order repair, securing, vacation, or demolition based on the specific circumstances of the case, allowing solutions that are proportionate and tailored rather than a one-sizefits-all. A formal commission process demonstrates the enforcement actions are evidence-based, deliberate, and reviewed by an independent body, hopefully improving public trust and compliance. You got to make sure you get these right, especially when you're talking about personal property. You don't want to end up in a takings claim. So you want to make sure it goes through the right process. And that is the purpose of creating this article 4 under chapter 92 of our ordinances. Happy to answer any questions on this particular one. This is this one's a little bit of a two-part, but this is the first part of it. Article four.

Yeah, I have uh I have several questions about this. Um uh there are a number of areas where this seems to be um different from some of the other city boards and commissions. And I'm uh uh some of these are better, some of these are are arguably uh but they're they're not uniform in the sense that they are not like other boards and commissions. For instance, uh at the at the beginning when you talk the composition of terms, we got staggered members, we got alternate uh those things are are not uh we don't have alternates on all of the boards and commissions, but we have it on on us on a number of them. Um that seems uh within the realm of the things that we do, but there's a there's a thing at the end of the uh second paragraph 92.16. The city council may remove a member for cause set out in a written charge and as determined by the city council after a public hearing if requested by the member on the charge. I'm not aware of uh any other uh city board or commission that has language like that. Uh are you aware of any other uh Flugerville city boards or commissions that have similar language?

Not sir. Would you recommend that we adopt language like that in the other for our other boards and commission? That's a policy question and I say yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's I mean that's yeah, you know, should we do that? And I'm asking the witness. Do you think that that would be a good policy decision? I think that's above my pay grade. I would agree. All right. um on the uh so then what is the reason to have this language here that if it's not if it like who drafted this up and and was it considered

I'm guessing what somebody drafted this is what best practices are and they haven't gone back and looked at all the other boards and commissions so consequently what you got is what would am I correct that wasn't his well the language I'm sorry I couldn't hear right we didn't go test it to the other we're happy to do so well where did the language come from Charlie um former city attorney. So I I don't know. We didn't add to this other items. Yeah, that's what I Okay. Um that makes sense.

And the the next section uh you've got uh uh a quorum requirement of a minimum of four uh rather than than a than a majority. Again, I'm I'm not aware of any other board or commission in the city that has a a quorum requirement that high. What's going on there? Pretty important. You want to hear you want to have the most people there to hear this thing because you're dealing with private property. This is potentially a takings claim. So, representation is pretty.

We want to avoid a takings claim. But even the board of adjustment, which is the only thing that can overrule the city council, doesn't have an 80% uh quorum requirement. I don't think it has an 80% has close to an 80% vacancy rate. There is sometimes that problem, but there's a quorum requirement that's out of line with with all of our other boards and commissions. So, this does seem like something that would I'm not sure necessitate a higher threshold. I mean, I don't I'm not sure the other boards have the ability to remove private property from an individual either.

Typically, the board of adjustment was just to settle an appeal to a decision made by an official, but not to take something from you. Appar Apparently the quantum requirement is the same as the BOA. Yes. Oh, is it is it I'm told it's statutory 75%. The ZBA board is Yes. I'm not I'm not sure about this one. So, both of our quasi judicial boards have the same structure then, which makes sense. Yeah. There's also a a uh uh

there's a a bit here at this this last section about uh the the uh the proceedings have to reflect the members vote. Okay, that's fine. Failure uh absence. That's fine. Failure to vote on each question, but we don't have a why would somebody fail to vote. Normally uh the the uh failure to vote on boards and commission that's just if you're if you're recused under the city or if you're absent right but if you're if you're there you have to vote unless you've got a a conflict

a conflict of interest a material conflict of interest not just a not typically taking an abstension vote I guess right additionally that wouldn't be allowed Um um that again

not like what we have in the in the other ones and I'm wondering because you know it does have as you point out uh the ability to affect people's property rights. Do we need to um uh limit uh membership on on this? Do we need to say only lawyers can serve on this committee? um you know uh now of course you know a justice of the peace or or even or a municipal judge doesn't have to be a lawyer but all they can do is you know class C misdemeanor they what they can't do is you know affect the title to your property uh or you know potentially you know shut down your property or demolish your property. That's a that's a level of authority uh that we don't customarily grant non-judicial officials. So I'm wondering uh if we need to add an additional limitation there

qualifications of members that's a question to us as opposed to right are to the best of your knowledge is this like fairly standard pretty standard across the state yes sir

so let's let's let's let's recall why this this is even being brought up and this is where I got to give staff a lot of credit because we did not have a mechanism in place before this. um a for several years we have dealt with a dilapidated burntout house that has been a um how do I do you say pariah on the community and you know and it and you know even as council who we we've gone and had this conversation through the years about what to do with that home we had no mechanisms in place so I applaud staff for looking at okay what are you know industry standards what are the best and applicable conditions, um, clauses, everything else that goes with this to make this happen right here. And I think that part of it is that you're asking a great questions about, hey, why this threshold and everything else from there? And we understand that because it's it's what the industry standard comes with that. And additionally, you ask, well, wait a minute, we have some clauses here that we don't have in our other commissions, which makes us go look back at, hey, we should probably have that clause in some other commissions, too, regard some stuff that happened from there. I think this is great. I think it makes sense. I also understand your questions, but I think I mean I don't I and and you asked the one question about putting lawyers on there. I don't think you need to put lawyers on there. I think it's you know it's fine the way it is.

I don't know. I think it's better without lawyers. Well, lawyers who who know the explicit law may may um not consider other compassionate reasons to um rule a certain way. Well, I have to say that the many many justices of the peace that I have dealt with, uh, my two favorites were not lawyers. There you go. Thank you for your agreement. Uh, but also justices of the peace don't have the the power that we're we're we're investing in this commission.

Yeah. David, do you have any any other questions? Um yeah and we uh Rudy uh touched on this and we have we have had this one instance with this one building and it was two years two and a half years maybe three now uh start to finish. Um but is you know uh obviously that was one problem and it was you know for the people immediately around that that was a you know ongoing issue but is this is this something that we run into a lot? Is this a solution in search of a problem or is this a solution to a regularly ongoing problem?

I think that you want to have something you don't need it and need something and don't have it. I would I'd like to hear the answer. What I'm shocked at here in the city of Flugerville is how many houses get struck by lightning and fires. You'd be surprised, especially in the on the eastern part of the town. Black,

it happens a lot. Now, this particular fire was not caused by a lightning strike and that was part of the issue as to why it's remain in the state it's in. there's an ongoing investigation and other things like that. But um yeah, you could have you could run the potential of having more of these. And ironically, this was in a newer section of town. There's older sections of town that have some dilapidated structures that we've dealt with in the past from the code compliance perspective. Luckily with they've come into compliance with a lot of handholding and working with them and time, but it it'll happen. It'll definitely happen.

How often? I mean, is this a once in a decade problem? Is this a once every six months problem?

No, I' i'd say once every 2, three years, I would imagine. Where I came from, my previous municipality of a city of 5,000, I probably had three structures that were taken care of in that 10-year time period. So, when you scale that up to the size of Flutterville, I imagine it's going to happen more. Is your is your expectation that we will staff this with uh board members uh consistently or will this be more like I mean say the the board of adjustment and the personnel appeal board that we appoint about the time that it's necessary?

It's preferable that they're at least on board. They're briefed. They know what they're doing and trained and their limitations. They're trained. But the hope is that you never see them again. Mhm.

And I know uh one of my my big motivations on this I know going through the process I was I think a a lone no vote on on going through a process uh on a particular structure in the past. Uh and my reason was because we did not have the building uh and standards commission. Uh without it uh we bore the citizens bore the expense of going to district court. uh whereas with this in place um that uh that burden uh will be on the uh on the structure and not on the citizens. I think it uh serves a very important purpose for us in in equity.

Well, and if anybody goes to district court, both sides are going to have to bear their own expenses if it gets to that point. But this helps avoid that point and puts expenses I I am under the impression that uh we can reclaim expenses with this in place. In my experience, I think this is a good tool to have because it leads to education and more compliance because people will see this that this is a tool that Mr. Blanco has and it leads again I think it helps another tool in this belt. I have some questions. Melody, you have

Yes. I just wanted to um understand if um you know I know this is doing the commission but there was a lot of um information about the rules and and what's considered you know all the definitions. So are all of these requirements already in our code and we're just putting it under this commission or are these new requirements and new guidelines that don't currently exist? the second part of this ordinance.

Uh yeah, just when when it's talking about, you know, what the standards are, you know, the what's dilapidated, what's you know, you know, occupied, unoccupied, you know, like all the requirements that people would, you know, would have to follow. Um are those already existing somewhere and we're just codifying them here under the the authority of the commission or are these all new requirements that don't exist?

They exist in a couple of different places. They're kind of in the public nuisances section and they're also in the international property maintenance code. So this second section of this ordinance will just codify them and give it a more concise place for them to to reference. And for the code enforcement officer, should they come upon a case like this, they can directly reference this ordinance rather than the international property maintenance code. There is a a section in there that does allow us to use other codes as adopted by the city of Louisville because most of these are dealing with the structure itself, but you're also going to be dealing with the wiring on the premises, mechanical, HVAC, and possibly the plumbing as well. So, that clause is put in there to be able to reference those codes as well for consideration as a dilapidated structure. Um, one of the things I appreciated that I saw in here too is there is seems like a decent amount of flexibility that the commission has in terms of assessing what needs to be done, the timelines. So, I I I like that that they also have an option, right? It's not just a cut and dry thing. Um, in terms of timeline, requesting uh progress reports from the owners, etc. that I think gives it a good amount of rigor and a lot of opportunity for the property owner to um to be actively engaged and participate.

Uh one of the other uh questions I have uh again we're talking about property rights and lawyers and all of that sort of business. Um the there's a commission which is obviously the quasi judiciary uh enforcement uh arm. Um who's going to bring the cases? Would would uh citizens be able to bring the cases? No. Or would the city attorney bring the case or? No. How would that presentation be done? It is done by myself as the building official. As it says in section, the role of the building official 92.20. The building official of the city shall be authority to present all cases before the commission.

It would just be like a prosecutor.

So we get a complaint. house is dilapidated, we go out and do the inspection. We determine I'll determine whether I believe it is. If we do not get compliance, that's when it then we call the commission. We present the evidence. We send the notification. We we there's several other processes notification before it ever gets to the commission where we try to work out with the homeowner, hey, let's let's address this thing. If they fail to comply, they don't meet timelines. If they ignore us, then we call the uh building and standards commission. They get a notification for that hearing, they can choose to show up and show evidence contrary to my claims that it's not a dilapidated or dangerous structure, and the board makes a decision at that point how to move forward with it.

You talked about uh about notice there. I noticed in the in the section about notices of hearing, it talks about uh personal delivery, certified mail, um signature confirmation service. There was nothing in there about electronic uh service, uh email, found that to be standard in state law. It's always going to be mail or posting directly on the property or personal giving it to them personally. I've never seen anything with regards to electronic notifications.

And who would the would that service be done uh by a constable? Would that service be done by a city official? Would the service be done uh by a private process server? How would that be done?

Mail obviously by a male certified mail certified return receipt uh signature requested posting directly on the property by myself or one of the code enforcement officers. Hopefully by that time we've identified and maybe made contact with the uh individual, the homeowner. And it doesn't have to be all three. We we really like it to be. In fact, we always hit at least two. It's always going to be male and we'll always post on the property. If we can make contact with the individual, we'll also give it to them personally. But no, it will not be a constable or sheriff or police officer. It'll be ourselves.

Okay. So if I understand correctly, the initial steps of um notifying a violation through code enforcement will still occur and then this is just that then this instead of going straight to court, this is the intermediary the intermediate step on that. This is last resort. This is like the nuclear option, you know. Okay. Put this on from the moment they receive a uh a notification to the time it goes before this commission. What do you estimate that time frame to be? It varies based on the communication we're having whether they're willing to work with us. There's just a lot of nuance to the the time limitation a month.

The initial the very first the initial notice of violation typically gives 10 to 15 days to make contact with us. Now we obviously know you cannot correct the entire thing in that amount of time. It's just get a hold of us. Let's start working this out. See how we can get it fixed. Now, that's when it becomes nuanced at that point, whether they're working with us, whether they're ignoring us, you know, this is not something you want to Yeah. I'm thinking of the the house that uh um

I was going to say Congressman Councilman Mate uh mentioned. I think you know which one he's talking about. I don't want to say it out here, but um let's say that that particular home you you gave him the notification. We know that that owner gave us a lot of difficulty. How long do you think something like that would have taken before it goes to the commission? We'll do first round notifications. They're just ignoring us. We'll try again. We'll do second round. We'll do another posting on the property. We keep trying to track them down. Maybe 3 or 4 months. Okay. That's more like a 90-day thing instead of a three-year thing. I just want to be able to give uh the or the uh you want to make sure they've got

they plenty of time to even come talk to us and and state their case and everything else. So that that sounds fair to me. Well, one of the other things about notice in here, you've got a a requirement that the notice be published in a newspaper general circulation in the municipality. Um I mean those uh kind that kind of language and statutes, you know, goes back to the 18th century. Uh, and it was, you know, a reasonable thing to do in a time when the only way to get notice to people was public notice was through newspapers. But, um, I'm wondering is is that required by the state statute that you have to have that newspaper notice? You you know, you know the answer to that.

Well, I was I was hoping that the legislature has moved into the 21st century. You you know, you know, our legislators still have not changed that. So, uh, and I'm wondering if it might be also, I mean, more realistic because nobody reads newspapers anymore, uh, to have a requirement to put a notice about this kind of thing that on the city website. Uh, because that, I think, is much more likely for people to to find out what's the city doing. Well, we'll just go to the city website to find out what the city's doing rather than a newspaper. I mean, what's a, you know, kids today, they don't know what a newspaper is, right? Um, that'd be more of a policy decision. I don't know if that's

Well, should that be part of the this uh of this notice section? I mean, that is a policy question. And I would I would ask uh who the intended uh recipient the the intended uh audience of that posting is because I think the purpose of the newspaper posting is is once again you know notice by publication trying to reach the owner of that nuisance

and I don't know that it really makes I don't know that that owner of the nuisance is going to notice it on the website and not the newspaper. No, but the uh nobody's going to see it in the newspaper. And uh you know, maybe one of the the the owners of that nuisance, you know, has a a friend or a relative who down and says might look at the the city website and say, "Hey, I think it's both going to be obscure because where would you put it on the I think we I think we conform to the statuto." Yeah. I was like I mean conform to the statute like and I feel like we've had this conversation. Can we have a debate about the radio versus

like over here? I feel like Yeah. Well, this also does say if personal service cannot be obtained. So, this is only we're already So, Robert, you you feel comfortable in in the in this the language that's being proposed right now. Correct. The general newspaper requirement is that's mandatory regardless of whether services is obtained in another way. And and also to be clear that you went ahead and you looked at what the industry requirements were, what they were looking at, what the you know regarding the applicable conditions here and given enough time deviation because you want to make sure that they do have due process if possible. Correct. Absolutely.

If I recall correctly, you're also isn't there a lensure where you're one of 900 people in the entire world that has a license regarding um is it building expertise or what is it exactly? Uh, master code professional. Okay. Master professional. So 100 entire world. Did you did you recently teach a class on this? I taught a class. No, I was teaching yesterday in Houston on some other code issues. But so you teach about code issues and code enforcement for other people. Correct. I've been a code enforce that's how I got involved in municipal government. I was a code enforcement officer first. I've been that I've been a code enforcement officer for 18 years. Yeah. All right. Mayor, I feel comfortable.

So, to uh to remind the public, this is a uh public hearing on the creation of the building and standards commission. I would ask if there's anyone in the public wishing to make comment on this particular item. Motion to close public comment. Second. I have a motion from Caesar and a second from Kim and Rudy at the same time. Let you choose, Kim. Uh, that closes the public hearing. Motion approve 7A presented. So, I have a question. Um, I have a hold on. I have a motion. Did I have a second? I I did.

All right. I have a motion from Rudy, a second from Jonathan. Further discussion. Um, so back to the item under 92.17, rules of procedure about the failure to vote. Um, are we saying that this commission someone could abstain for a reason other than conflict of interest?

Robert, can you can you clarify for me? So, we've got a uh a four out of five required for quorum. If four of those show up, then three are required in order to pass something. Um and one of them explains because we're talking about 92.17 rules of procedure. Yeah. The the final sentence

the way I read it. It's not that they it's just uh the minutes of the meetings are public records of the building and standards commission's examinations official actions and other proceedings and shall reflect each member's vote, absence or failure to vote on each question. It's not saying you have to. It's just saying that the minutes are going to reflect whatever that member did. It's not saying they have to. Well, but typically our our statutory requirement is that you we don't abstain. But if you happen to step away, we had a couple folks away from the the deis when uh when we took a vote. I would imagine the minutes would reflect that they were not in their seat at the time as opposed to absent. Yeah.

Whether that's the same thing uh our attorney. Well, and I think that's why you have the alternates right here is that you're going to have a lot enough time to figure out who's got a conflict and and if that person's got a conflict, they're not going to show up for the meeting. It's going to be probably one item and you're going to get an alternate in there. Excellent. I feel comfortable with that. All right. Uh motion passes 61.

Thanks, Robert. Thanks, Bob. Well, Robert's not done, though. I don't know if you want to take a seat while I read this. Uh, conduct a public hearing. This is item 7B. Conduct a public hearing and consider approving an ordinance on first reading with caption reading an ordinance of the city of Flugerville, Texas, adopting regulations related to junked vehicles as a public nuisance, providing for the abatement and removal of junked vehicles, providing for the notice, hearing, and enforcement. Providing penalties, repealing conflicting provisions, providing a severability clause, and providing an effective date. Uh, Robert, you're uh you're with us again.

Okay. As stated on the screen, this ordinance has not been updated since 2006. And I think the the thing that triggered or that caught my attention mostly was the fact that the current ordinance does not include unregistered or more properly put, expired, license, or does not display as part of the definition of a junk vehicle. What you have to understand with junk vehicles again it's a takings these are not the abandoned vehicles you see on the side of the road that typically PD will tag tow store and either sell or reuse or give back to the to the owners. When you tow a junk vehicle that vehicle is done it has to be demolished. It can no longer be resold. it it's it's going to be crushed. It's taken off the DMB records. We send in the uh VIN numbers and it's done. So, we wanted to make sure that the uh definition is in accordance with uh state law with regards to that. Uh the notification provisions have also been revised to better align with state statutes, replacing the current truncated description of the process. Hearing request process is separated into proposed section 9306 and includes the defined timeline for submitting a request. Currently no timeline is given. The proposed section 9037 conduct of hearing was added to clarify timelines for hearings and address situations where the vehicle is relocated but remains a nuisance. That's you cited at one address, pops up somewhere else. It's the same vehicle. They're just moving it around. and specify required information to be included in an order for removal. The statement of the current section

9303C requiring a public hearing prior to removal of a vehicle or vehicles part of public nuisance has been removed. So no longer do we need a hearing for that. You can get a before we enter. This is specifically for those on private property. PD deals with the ones that are on the right ofways. We would still need to go get a court order to be able to enter the property in order unless the owner gives us permission and we're taking it as part of a compliance agreement. Provisions in the current code allowing for the sale and lean of a junk vehicle are no good. As I said, once you once you've towed this thing as a junk vehicle, you cannot resell it. Can't file a lean on it. The authority is not found in state statute and has been removed. And authority to enforce provisions in 9310 violation of penalties 9311 have also been added. Again, abandoned vehicles are still able to be um enforced by PD under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 683. Um, one other note, antique vehicles in the current code of ordinances lists them as 35 years. In accordance with state statute, it should be 20 25 years.

Okay. So, so this is a cleanup cleanup and better statutory construction. Yeah. I believe we used to refer to them as undrivable vehicles. always considered an undrivable vehicle to be one that can't legally be driven as opposed to one that can't be driven under its own power, but this uh this certainly cleans that up and makes it much more explicit, so there's no need for interpretation. Uh council, do you have questions?

Yeah, I was going to say thank you. I know one of the reasons we looked at this years ago was what happened in historic colored edition. There were so many junk vehicles all over the place over there. It was repugnant to say the least. And for folks who were going to St. Aries and then, you know, dealing with the cemeteries out there. It it was a hard to get that cleaned up and so I'm just glad we got something now where we won't have to have that anywhere in the part of the city again. So, I'm glad we won't have uh junked aircraft either. Of course, all vehicles, not I saw that definition in here. Watercraft and watercraft. I know the spirit of this of this is it's dead on. I mean, I agree with it.

Let's say cuz it happens. Some people turn their old vehicles into art in their yard or they have big properties like the, you know, the Austin had to do something like that. Tractor. Yeah. For a tractor. Oh my god. Tractors in their front yard. It's undrivable. They have plants and everything else all around it and it's a part of the landscaping. Where where does that fall? I mean, is if it's if it's not really hurting anybody, does it fall under common sense, we're not going to mess with them or how does that fall? Well, don't define hurting anybody. Well, I guess

that's that's actually one of the things we took out of the public nuisance ordinance was I'll read it to you guys here in a bit. It was a very subjective clause in there that didn't apply. But to to answer your question, it's going to be a situation by situation. I think in that particular case, I would defer that to court and have a judge make a ruling on it. Okay. Tractors were never licensed. So, it's I I don't think that'd be considered. No, I think of uh there's one

company in Austin that had a drunker that they had plants and everything in and the city did make it was in San Marcus and they had to move it to or one of the two. It was in one city and they had to move it to another. It was wasn't too bad looking. I mean, they decorated it nice, but yeah, I see some of this as I'm driving around Huau and some of these other properties. And so, um, some of these more urban areas, but I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. Thank you. Uh,

so yeah, I thank you for, uh, looking through this and doing a a cleanup and bringing it to compliance with the state laws you've mentioned. Um, I had a a couple of questions. Um, do we have just wondering do is is this a big issue that we have with junked vehicles? Um, let me there was some discussion right now. I mean, so I don't know if that was that is the situation that was addressed, but like ongoing. I I'm just curious cuz I don't I don't really know.

It is ongoing and there are quite a few, but there are still some limitations of what we can do even with this cleanup. You know, you can't it's got to be seen from the right of way. That's the biggest thing with pretty much any code violation or a majority of them. And you can't you've got to use the naked eye. So I if I'm looking for this unregistered plate or uh sticker in the window, I can't use my zoom on my phone to zoom in on it because I wear glasses as it is. I if I can't see it, you know, I I can't artificially, you know, zoom into it and try to identify it as such. So, there's still some limitations. There's things in state law that are silly, but they're in there. Like, they can screen it with a rapidly growing uh shrub. That's everyone's favorite. How long it takes that shrub to grow, who knows? But they they can do it. There's no defined, you know, it doesn't have to be this high. It doesn't have to be fully screening it, but there's ways they can come into compliance. Again, we're just trying, we're not trying to be punitive. Uh we're just trying to get

clean things up. They can move it out of the public view. We can tarp it. That in itself becomes another issue because, you know, those things weather and then they start blowing and they look worse than the vehicle did just by sitting there by itself. So, oh, you can tarp it. You can. Sure. Oh, okay. Screen it from public view. Yeah.

Hm. Okay. Um, I did have one other question because it mentioned the cost of disposal and then there's fines and whatnot. Um, and since this is a vehicle, I was just wondering how are fines and costs of removal um collected or is there like a I don't know if there because the other um item mentioned leans against the property and I just it does it's silent about that. So, I was just wondering what section was that you were looking at? Um 93.13 for the the cost and then 93.11 for penalties. Now, you did mention that you can't place a lean on the vehicle because the vehicle is gone.

Yeah. So, these are administrative fines. There'll be administrative fines imposed by the court. Um and and imposed on the vehicle owner or the property owner. Property owner. Property owner is always responsible for what goes on, whether it's their vehicle or not. Um All right. Did that answer your question, Melody? Yes. And that I appreciate um the detail that you provided about what you changed in in in this ordinance from what exists. So, thank you for that. Council, any other questions?

I I have a couple of questions. I want to uh echo the appreciation for the thoroughess both council and council Ryan have uh expressed. I think that's you know, you've done a really good job in terms of the mechanics of putting this whole thing together. Um, so I have a a uh a hypothetical. Um, and it's not particularly hypothetical. Um, so you have a uh driveway uh that has four cars. The two that are nearest to the the garage and the driveway are clearly undrivable. Flat tires, you know, uh license plate from another state, from another decade. Mhm.

Um but there are two operational cars behind them and those two operational cars, you know, move periodically and and uh uh when they're in the driveway, of course, they're screening the view, but when the two operational cars are gone, you've got these junk vehicles. So, so is your question. Can you temporarily can you screen with a temporary obstacle? Right. And uh also and then the matching question is are these going to be completely complete uh complaint driven or are they going to be uh is this going to be something where we're going to have uh people driving through the

neighborhood? We definitely get both and we've most definitely stepped up the proactive enforcement of our ordinances. All right, summer. So what happens in this hypothetical this not very hypothetical hypothetical? We just continue to monitor it till we can correctly identify it as such. Take the pictures at the time hopefully when the operable vehicles are say removed or out of the way and then we we can identify it at that point. Now in this this particular instance it may be been more than a decade where those vehicles have been there in the driveway not moving.

So this sounds like a complaint driven enforcement. Is this canit I'm not making a complaint. I'm just you know people in the neighborhood who have complaints. Can a citizen take a picture when it's not blocking to submit or do you is that sufficient or do you have to physically see it on um visual I mean a physical inspection?

We have a policy on citizen photographs. We use them to help identify things but we cannot use them in any sort of prosecution. the officer, the code enforcement code compliance officer has to witness the offense because they could be called to testify to those facts and findings. If they didn't take the picture, they can't testify to that. So,

so if you can see it from a certain point of view that there's flat tires and whatnot, I'm just wondering you mentioned earlier it has to be seen from the right of way without any assistance. So you can't be sure if that person was, you know, from their window or on private property or if they used their zoom. So yeah, it would be that such information would be useful in helping to identify and create the complaint but not in the enforcement. If at least it gives us, okay, I'm looking for a red vehicle at this location. Helps us down. some melody. We've had folks who have had even one property off of Kelly Lane that had hundreds hundreds of these vehicles on the property.

Wow. But they could not be seen for Yeah. So it wasn't until someone else bought the property and removed those hundreds of vehicles did we even know that was existed over there. We have another place uh near um Emanuel and Wells. Yeah, that's that's the next one. So, we have a place on Emanuel and Wells Branch where lots of projects. Yes. And and somebody how did how how do I put it? Um I'm not going to say threatened, but stated that if we wouldn't allow for reasonzoning to happen, it would continue to house a lot of junkered vehicles

over there. Okay. Any other questions from council? Uh David, was that that was your two? That was my two. Thank you very much. Excellent job. All right. Uh and to remind the public this is a public hearing. Uh is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on this topic? Looks like I've got someone interested in speaking on the topic. All right. I think she's going to speak against it. Ms. is Dunbar Crespbow. If you would step forward and introduce yourself.

Yes. Good evening and mayor and council, city manager. My name is Ursa Dunar Crespo. I am a Fugville resident and I really have a clarification question more than anything else. In the definitions under paragraph 93.01, it allows a vehicle an additional 24 hours for a vehicle before it's defined as inoperable. And also the number of days changed from 14 days to 30 days. So we do have a problem with inoperable vehicles in the city of Flugville. So I was more wondering why those additional days and hours were allowed. Do you have more time?

That's more in line with state statutes. Ma'am, um I imagine we need to give them an opportunity to fix it so they can get it out of there. Well, it's just the identification of it to make sure it is truly a junk vehicle. Uh, municipalities can be more strict than state, but in some cases, you just want to go with the state standard, and I think this is one of those cases. You don't want to jump the gun on it. Yeah. Yeah.

So, how often do we have vehicles um that are abandoned on public? I mean, public property, not public right away. I'm assuming that this applies to the 72 hours. public property would still be PD. They can tow those within 72 hours, I believe. And that'd be like a park parking lot. Correct. Um, again, this is public hearing. Is there anyone else in the public wishing to make public comment? And did you get your question answered? You want to come up and make more public comment? Not exactly. Can you give me the specific state statute that allows the 72 hours versus the 48? And

I'll have to email that to you. I would appreciate that. I'm a part of a homeowners association and we deal with this all the time. So, it's just going to make it that much more difficult for us if now someone has all those 16 extra days to deal with an inoperable vehicle. And you do see them drive around. you see them in the driveways. So, yeah, if you can give me the reference, I'd appreciate it and we can go from there. After this, I'll get you my contact info. And with most uh as with most ordinances, this will require a second here or a second uh reading. Yeah, pardon me. Move to close public comment. I have a motion to close the public comment. Second. No,

I already I'm sorry. I got a second from Kim. Oh. Oh. Okay. Uh, all right. Uh, public comment is closed. We have a ordinance before us. Move to adopt. Second.

I have a motion from David and second from Jonathan. Motion passes unanimously. All right, Robert, don't go far. I've got uh this one's a little shorter to read. Uh item 7 C, conduct public hearing and consider approving an ordinance on first reading with the caption reading an ordinance of the city of Flugerville, Texas, repealing and replacing chapter 92, health and sanitation of the code of ordinances, providing for procedures, penalties, and remedies, and providing an effective date. It's all you, Robert.

Okay. This is another restructuring of this particular public nuisance ordinance. Uh again, the ordinance has not been updated since 2007. It had a standalone section addressing wells and sistns which were removed and consolidated under the broader definition of a nuisance. Before in the old ordinance, high weeds and grass were part of the public nuisance um delineated articles. it it has now been separated into its own article one providing clear identification of responsible parties and specifying locations where conditions are prohibited. High weeds and grass provisions now reference the standardized notification and enforcement procedures in article 3 section 9213 as well as the penalty provisions in article 3 92414. The subjective language previously used to describe nuisances has been replaced with more objective and specific descriptions and the scope has been ex expanded to include miscellaneous sanitation issues and the storage of discarded materials. Uh consistent with the high weeds and grass provisions, the public nuisance section is now references standardized notification and enforcement procedures. notification, enforcement, and penalty procedures for the nuisances have been separated into distinct sections and expanded to more closely align with the state. Uh, one of those subjective references in chapter 92, public nuisance definition, stated, "A public nuisance is something that greatly offends the public morals and decency." I I can't enforce that, you know. I just I can't.

Um 1963 noxious weeds were referenced in the high in the high weeds. What's a noxious weed? I don't know. Perhaps our arborist could I was going to say is that is that pollen? Because I would love to outlaw pollen. I don't know. Don't outlaw it all together. Just the allergies. Another definition was uh of a public nuisance is that substantially annoy the comfort, health, and repose of the safety of public. So to substantially annoy that seems different than annoying a reasonable person.

Yeah, I can't I can't enforce those types of things. So we've taken those out and more clear, concise, objective language. All right. Um, council questions.

Um, I have a couple of questions. Um, so in the violation section under 92.14, it mentions that the fee ranges from $10 to $2,000 per day, but it doesn't provide or per Okay. Well, regardless, it doesn't provide um guidelines as to which fee is level is going to apply to which offense. Separate offense is committed on each day that the violation exists unabated after the deadline for abatement and removal established by 92131C. Any person violating this provision will be fined not less than $10, no more than 2,000 per fence, unless otherwise limited by applicable laws. That gives the court a range. This this will be done in court. I don't we don't issue citations. I don't have citation power.

Oh, okay. This would go through the normal notification procedures and they're either going to work with us or they're not. They don't. We file it in municipal court. I think this just gives the judge a good range to be able to deal with it based on the conditions that exist. Why is the range so large? I I imagine is that statutory the uh it is $2,000. 2,000 is a limit statute for this type of Could the range be smaller? Could it be $10 to $500? It could be 500 to 2,000. Is that that? That's a policy decision.

You can go to 2,000 but you can go lower than that's the the state limits us to no more than 2,000 but we could for health and safety. We could sell the the limit lower than that. I mean, 10 seems kind of low for something that has gone to court. Yeah. Sorry. I Well, I didn't read this as to apply to court. So, um I'm not sure that it's for the regular person reading this that they would understand that to be related to going to court. I don't know if there can be any clarification on that or or if that's just the regular

part of the notice of violation that we send out on. We've got a standard stock letter that we send. It'll, you know, it identifies as a property owner. It tells you what your offense is. It gives you a time limit to uh comply and it also gives you your right to appeal. And it also states that if you not come into compliance or you don't reach out to us, then then the case will be filed in municipal court. And then the second page of that notice gives the ordinance language of the offense, the appeal procedure, and then the range of penalty. Okay. But

I understand what you're saying. Okay. So upon reading this again, um in response to to your um your point, I believe that so it says a separate offense is committed on each day. So each day is a separate offense. Is that correct? Could be. And so then and then you can't be fined not less than $10, no more than $2,000 per offense. So that could be daily. Yes. So it could be up to $2,000 per day. Yes. So I So that was just my concern because I didn't know about that. So again, that's going to be at the judge's discretion based on um

But okay. what the prosecutor puts forward and judge has the the ability to and this is municipal court, right? It's all this is our court of the judge that we oversee. Correct. Okay. And then another question I had is there a process for a hearing or appeal of the violation or of the fees charged because I didn't notice that in this um document. The appeal is is through municipal court. It's through municipal court.

Okay. Because the other ones were specifically defined. This is your right. This is how you appeal. This one doesn't. So for a regular person who's not, you know, well verssed in this, they would see that there is no um listing of how you can appeal. No, I disagree. Once there's notice given on this, they would specifically tell them as they as notice how what the process is and what their rights are. So that I'm just looking for cons. So why do we have it in one section about a hearing and appeal and then not in in another? Those are I believe are are the others administrative fines or are those also court administered fines in the other section?

There would be court administered fines as well. I mean is yeah I don't know why they one ordinance has it and the others don't. It's you I think I think he's right in the sense that that it's going to be spelled out in the letter and I think you know pre-trial hearings you get your you get notice of how you know the process and you can appeal these to county court. Yeah. You you you literally you literally will be put on you literally will have the steps for appeal given to you over there.

I think so. But that that's information given to a one individual through this process, but it doesn't allow understanding for the general public about whether the appeal or options are. So I do I do think we we should probably add that language to the uh to the ordinance and and we could consider that with an amendment. I think we also as we go through this, we need to consider our audience. I don't think our typical audience is is someone who can't go to sleep, so they're reading our ordinances in the middle of the night. uh but it's someone who has received a letter, received a citation, and is seeking, you know, understanding of how to proceed. That may be spelled out in the letter, but it should also be spelled out in the ordinance,

right? I I understand. Um part of the notification process, too, uh in certain circumstances, you get an advisory card first, which doesn't even put you, you know, it's not a violation yet. It is, but it's it's it's your first warning. It's it's very much a warning. And then next one that comes will be the official notice of violation that comes via certified mail. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of handholding through these processes. There are and that's the only way you gain compliance. Compliance is the goal because just like we've done with our with our police law enforcement here. Um we specifically that's what we want. We want compliance as opposed to

So Mayor, are you asking uh Robert to go back and add the language to it and bring it back another day? Well, I've heard that uh that the language uh you know is in the other ordinances that we're working on tonight. I think it's appropriate that uh were someone to move to approve this with uh the amendment that include the um same language. Mr. Mayor, would you uh I I wouldn't yet because this is a public hearing, but I I would be happy to consider that in a little bit. Uh Robert, what else do you have for us? Uh that's it on on public. Do we have any other questions? Unless you have any other questions. This is a

Oh, no. I just wanted to uh again um I appreciate the thorowness that you've demonstrated here. I um also I'm glad to see that there's a separate section for high weeds because I I also have been involved in a neighborhood HOA and that is a continuous problem. So, I appreciate that you're addressing it with clear guidelines that a normal person can understand that's, you know, objective. So, thank you for that. Yes, ma'am. Uh, this is a public hearing. I would ask if there is anyone uh from the public wishing to speak on this item. Looks like I've got uh got one. If you come forward and state your name.

This is Scott Staferman. Um, I guess one simple part about this is it doesn't same thing about the HOA. If their findings are that they have somebody that they reported, do y'all take into account their timelines and their deliver of notice or delivery of It's got to be. Can you Can you get closer to the microphone? Did y'all hear that question? No, I I don't think we heard it on the microphone. That's fine. I guess the question was if there's nothing specifically mentioned here about the HOA, if the HOA has proceeded with their own um notifications or deliverables, does this take into account their timelines or

So you're asking for if the HOA's notice so this would be a judicial process. Okay. So I don't think we could rely on the HOA to kick off that timeline. Um it would be I would ask that if there is a concern that the HOA uh raise the complaint as well so that the judicial process could be undertaken. Uh Robert would you like to add anything? It's just a municipalities and HOAs are two different. We don't enforce HOA and they're just completely

now what you can do is you can have a court and you have a judge and ask the judge to take judicial notice and the HOA has adjudicated the same you know action. So I mean I think it's redundancy but those are two different process procedures over there as well but this so this would effectively start at like ground zero day one day this would be day one for the judicial process. So, if the HOA has been going on for 9 months and you're finally getting to the city, please come to the city sooner. I I advise that a lot because people sometimes take the city more seriously sometimes. Sometimes sometimes. Well, when you have when you have judicial authority, um yes, remember HOAs can take your home.

Is there anyone else from the public wishing to make comment on this item? They don't want to though. Uh I see none. mayor call. Second. I have a motion from Caesar and a second from was it Jonathan? Yeah. And I'd like to add a friendly Hold on. I'm sorry. You'd like to amend closing public comment? No, no, no, not yet. All right. Sorry, I misunderstood the motion. There we go. Um, and this is an ordinance. David, would you like to make a motion?

I would like to make a motion. I'd like to move that we adopt the uh the ordinance uh with the amendment uh uh that uh have the uh the processes spelled out in the same way that the other ordinance does and also uh that the maximum daily fine be limited to no more than $500. We have a motion second. All right, we do have a second with a reduced maximum fine. Let's say go to comment. Is 500 normal? I mean, are other cities doing five around that or are they doing sticking to 2,000? I think the question is what do you want to give your judge the authority uh to enforce,

right? I mean, I'd rather have the tools in the tool tools in the toolbox. It's a bit bigger stick. Mhm. $500 a day still adds up. $500 Sorry, say it again. $500 a day still adds up. Yeah. I mean, if you're talking about a separate offense is each day that you have something that could be $14,000 a week for high weeds. I mean, I'm I'm sure that it would that that the higher one would be for something more substantial under this thing, but you know, for one month, $500, you know, is uh $15,000 for a month. So, I think I still think that's ahead.

All right. talking all night. I feel you, Caesar. All right, motion passes. Thank you very much. Are we missing our own? Uh, that brings us to 7D. And Robert, I'm not kidding. You might want to sit down for this one. Really?

7D is conduct a public hearing and consider approving an ordinance on first reading with the caption reading. Ordinance of the city of Flugerville, Texas, amending the city of Flugerville, Texas code of ordinances, chapter 150, adding section 150.18 regarding the means of appeal in the International Business Code 2021 edition. The International Residential Code 2021 edition. The International Plumbing Code 2021 edition. International Mechanical Code 2021 edition. International Fuel Gas Code 2021 edition. International Energy Conservation Code 2021 edition. International Fire Code 2021 edition. International Existing Building Code 2021 edition. International Property Maintenance Code 2021 edition. International Swimming Pool and Spa Code 2021 edition with amendments to meet local conditions providing that this ordinance shall be cumulative repealing all ordinances to the extent they are in conflict providing for severability and providing an effective date.

Sorry about that. That's all right.

We got a lot of going um and I've got to enforce them. as currently adopted. when we did the 2022 in back in April, March of 2022 when we adopted the 2021 code of suites that you just read out uh as an oversight on my part. We are currently referencing section 2.3 of the city of Flugerville Unified Development Code Board of Adjustments, but their duties in that section are in terms of zoning and variance requests. their their planning board of adjustments going through. I don't know what I can't remember what tipped me off on this, but I found out, you know, it was wrong. So, what this amendment seeks to do is correctly reference the appeals to the board of adjustments as described in chapter 150. It already exists. It's article 4, section 1540. This section of the code correctly references variances in terms of the city construction code. It's a construction board of adjustment instead of uh planning. Uh they shall govern appeals taken from the actions of an administrative official pursuant to the city construction code. That's their mandate or duty.

So just for clarity, this moves it from planning and zoning to board of adjustment. Correct. to question. There's not really a good name for it, but it's okay. Board of adjustment. I'm I guess I'm I'd like clarification because you said the first time it references to board of adjustments related to zoning and variance requests. So, but this corrects it to to reference construction board of adjustment. Do we have two different board of adjustments? You're going I mean we only you're going to have to create one. You're appoint people to them.

Okay. So it so we have a current the so our current board of adjustments is solely for zoning and variance requests. And so now you're saying that this will correctly reference the the appropriate um location and we are now also going to have to to have a second board of adjustment for construction. Correct. Or I'm sorry, Board of Appeal. It was Oh, board of appeals. Okay. It was asked if this board of adjustment could serve as both, but I think you're looking at two very different disciplines when you're talking about planning to construction and therefore it's been argued that they should be separate.

Are there statutory requirements for the um uh the appointees? No. Uh, in a perfect world, you probably should have people from the various disciplines of construction. Maybe a plumber, electrician, mechanical, a general general contractor, maybe an engineer. But no, some municipalities do stipulate the state law for like let's say the Texas B Texas state board of plumbing code their nine board member does stipulate you know you got to have contractor an electrician a plumber master plumber and things of that they specific disciplines

but this no this this doesn't have those. Okay. Uh, council, any other questions?

This again, just sorry, one last comment. This is one of those boards that we're going to meet hopefully once in in the 18 years I've been doing this. I've never had anyone appeal one of my decisions all the way to a board of adjustments. We've always been able to work things out amicably. There's provisions in the code that allow me to grant modifications to the code provisions as long as the original intent of the code is met and the safety is not diminished by that modification. So again, we'll meet once hopefully and never never meet again. But is there a specific case pending that uh no that's requiring this? No, this is just part of normal code adoption. this

it was there. It was just referencing the problem. Uh any other questions, council? Nope. This is a uh public hearing. Is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item? Move to close the public hearing. Second. Have a motion from David. Second from Caesar. Uh all right. Uh this is an ordinance before us. Anyone wishing to motion to approve 7D? Second.

I have a motion from Kimberly, a second from Caesar. Motion passes unanimously. Robert, you heard a number of folks uh being thankful for for your diligence and your uh uh the work you put into this. I want to personally express my gratitude uh for your initiative. Uh I understood at the beginning you mentioned, you know, you took on some responsibilities and discovered some things that needed to happen and I really appreciate that you uh took the pride of ownership in ensuring that these codes are up to your standards. Um and I hope we all have those high standards. So, thank you very much.

Yes, sir. I think he did that pun on purpose. Uh, that brings us to item 7E, which is to conduct a public hearing and consider uh approving an ordinance on first reading with caption reading an ordinance of the city of Flugerville, Texas, amending the city's master fee schedule related to fees for temporary certificates of occupancy. Uh, we have our director, Ashley Bailey, here to present to us uh this evening. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. for the record to ask the Bailey, planning and development services director. Um, this item before you actually came up in a work session as you may recall. Um, this really just provides the flexibility to reduce some of those temporary uh, certificate of occupancy fees. Uh, you may recall the first is 100 then it goes to 250 500. After that third item, it can double every month. They are for 30 days. So every um, TCO is for a little bit. Typically these resolve within the first two months, 3 months. and we have seen a few go a little bit further. So, what this would do was allow for the city manager to then limit those fees and cap them at that 500 amount if they met the certain provisions of the temporary certificates of occupancy as far as continuing work, working in good faith to clear any of those items up to reach that certificate of occupancy for the final

a maximum of $500. That that's it. It could be a maximum of 500. Yes. if it was determined that they were doing all of the things they need to do. Um, just because it was brought up that So, so I I'm I'm a little concerned with the the language there. I think it's a to the minimum of $500. Oh, okay. That the So, if someone is on their their sixth month, but they're making continuous and demonstrable progress, they could be reduced as low as 500, but the city manager could choose to keep them higher than that.

That's So, I would, you know, and I'll have to I'm not sure if I if there was a difference between the summary and the the ordinance itself. I don't recall, but it says to cap renewal fees at 500 per month. So, to me, that means maximum. That's not going to work. The the actual ordinance in here does not Well, but it it allows the city manager to cap them. Yeah. So, it grants her. Okay. But I but I see. Not less than 500 is what it So the summary just missed. Yeah. So she can't bring it down to 300 or 100, but she could say, "Okay, no more than 500 this month." Per month. Right. Correct.

Yeah. It says the city manager has discretion to reduce the TCO renewal fee to not less than 500. So that's different. the ordinances, but the summary was because the way it's written now, it just automatically goes up and it could get into, you know, the stratosphere and the city manager would be handicapped, unable to keep it under the stratosphere. Is this something that we're proposing for moving forward or are we trying to use this and create this to help someone who may already be in a situation at this time? I really don't have a good answer for that. This is one that came up in a work session um because I believe there was a complaint about TCO fees potentially and they wanted to have this.

This was this was an item that I brought forward. This was uh there was a gentleman who came and spoke in his three minutes uh uh describing this issue. Uh and so yes, there may be a an active case where this would be applicable. Uh but this does give the authority to adjudicate that to city manager. So would that be retroactive to prior months or from now going forward? would be now it wouldn't be grandfather.

And then I just had um just a a gut check here. I didn't have the chance to look it up, but how does this um uh this cap or not cap but the minimum of 500 compared to what our fees were before we changed them? So before they were changed, so when the TCO fees were changed last summer during the budget process, prior to that it was the 100, 250, 500 and then it was continually 500. Um, unfortunately what staff was seeing at that point was that we had a lot of temporary certificates of occupancy just staying on a temporary certificate of occupancy and never reaching completion. So what we were trying to do at that point was to get a little bit more of incentive because typically you do see them they're going to be resolved in the um 60 90 days.

Yeah. 500 with no progress versus allowing them they're making progress. So this this is very it defines the the different levels and the criteria that you have to do. So basically this is giving discretion to go back to that previous fee level if they meet the certain criteria. Yes. But but but the other but the other piece of that is that um they'd ra some people would rather pay out your little $500 and um so so well then it'll keep double but the city manager has discretion to grant or not grant that stop. So this gives her the ability to stop it. Yeah. Much much like uh how about they just fix it.

You know what I mean? They they have to be showing progress to towards fixing it. Gotcha. That's the That's the And we do identify what is substantial. If you want to give us some examples of that just briefly.

Um so right now we do have a few different types of temporary certificates of occupancy. So you have fixtures, furniture, and equipment. So that's really just moving um things. It's not open to the public or staff. Then you get to the next step where if you need you already have those items in, then you would get to be able to have staff in there for training. But you're really looking at that substantial completion. Um, some of the ones that I the main one that I know of that actually stayed on TCO for quite some time was um the HB, but it's because they installed the wrong size water uh wastewater line. Um, so that one the store was able to be open. Um, but they did have a longer TCO time. Smelled a little funny for a while. Yeah.

But certainly it's really once they're at substantial completion, all of their life safety is complete. That's when um Robert and his team typically look at starting to look at did you finish out with the fire marshall needs are we at a substantial completion point where it's safe to be in there. Um certainly if there's going to be something I know of one that we have right now where the roof mounted equipment something was delayed in shipping we went ahead and let them open even though the roof mounted equipment is not yet fully shielded. Um but that should be resolved typically those resolved in 30 to 45 days. So

you could easily see a situation where you know like just like in co there's the supply disruptions and they just can't finish. They can't get the last pieces but they're doing everything they can. We don't want to be charging them 20,000 one month, 40,000 the next month when they really are doing everything that they can to to finish and comply with what we've got. So, the city manager will be able to to look at that with the the building officials and and make those determinations. And I think that it's good to have that that flexibility. Council, any other questions on this item? This is a public hearing. Is there anyone from the public wishing to make comment?

I just have a question. Yeah, if you want to come forward. Miss Brewer, if you'd introduce yourself. AK Brewer, I just have a quick question. How does this impact and affect small businesses when it comes to the fee changing? So, it would allow those small businesses if they were making substantial progress in having to extend their TCO that would not induce the uh the doubling of the TCO fee. I'd say the intent is pretty specifically to help small businesses in particular

and the small businesses are aware that that's written in policy that this particular process or procedure or u this policy those small businesses would uh if they're under construction would currently be receiving the higher fee for their What if it isn't construction? What if it's land? What if it's property? What if it's a small business that is um renting that business on someone else's land? So, what are the responsibilities there? Is that also written out in policy when it comes to temporary certificates of occupancy?

You know, that's a really interesting question, right? If the if the you're you're you're renting and you're trying to do finish out and the the landlord is is the obstacle, who then is responsible for the Yeah. Can a landlord be an obstacle? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely they can. There are certain requirements that the city has for the land owners, right? And I just wanted to know if those were distinctual between the responsibilities of the land owners.

And I would imagine that's part of the city manager's discretion, right? Because I also don't know that it's appropriate for the city to backs stop just because you have a bad landlord. I mean I think it should be clear. That's a that's a question. It is. It is clear in the I think that Yeah, that's a we need to it's applying for I I don't think that that changes whether or not we ordinance but I think that's a question we need to we need to address. I that's not a hypothetical that I had considered before. But so the uh the scenarios I'm sorry the scenarios in which the city manager has discretion are documented in the the ordinance. Correct.

It would be and then for anybody that would end up having a separate property owner. Let's say that it's a full site plan. You've got to finish out of a overall building. You have individual shells. Typically you're not going to be getting to the point where you would be eligible for TCO without the land owner also completing their items. So if you have a sidewalk that's federal, we would be um adhering to our federal rules for ADA. So there would be things like that. If someone needed to open that, then we could present that and say the building itself is safe. This one user would like to be open on TCO. How would we like to proceed with that? So I think it is covered in here. Um just because it would still pertain back to the overall construction of the site,

but then that individual owner would be bound by the TCO. they wouldn't be able to receive a CO until the overall uh building is correct. And then we would have to end up looking at um to the um actual property owner if that were to occur. Um I think we have some other ways that we could um alleviate that during construction. So would that fine acrude to the the overall property owner or would that that fine be stuck on the the individual business? TCO would typ or temporary certificate of occupancy would typically go to the individual user and that's where we would then come in the city manager and say this is the this is the full scenario and this is why and we would have other um ways to motivate the overall property owner to

because I was say it's not atyp it's not atypical for a a tenant to get a fine the applicant to get a fine for something and then go to the owner and say hey this is not within my purview I'm getting fine for this you need either fix this or you need to pay this So that becomes its own issue amongst them themselves as opposed to us with that and typically land owners want rent. Yeah. Yeah. But but it could be that scenario could occur. Let's be clear. It's not like we have not dealt with that scenario before either. Mhm. I'm sorry Melody, what was that? Now I've just forgot. But

well Oh, no. I said so this scenario could occur where there's a something's not substantially complete and it's out of the tenants ability to to do that. In most scenarios the tenant wouldn't be eligible for a TCO in that scenario. Either we would maintain the TCO would not be issued or we would issue it and we would bring that forward as a continuing circumstance that TCO they would rather be open than not and we'd rather have a business. All right. Uh again, this is a public hearing. Any additional public comment? I see no additional public comment. Would anyone like to close public? Close public. Second. Second.

I have uh Caesar and I thought Jonathan. There we go. Yep. Got to be quicker. David.

Oh, you made the motion, man. Come on. It's not online. Let me see. There it goes. There we go. Uh, and this is an ordinance. Uh, I will move to adopt the ordinance.

Second. Motion passes unanimously. Uh Ashley, thank you for your uh your assistance and your uh clarity on that item. Uh this brings us to our regular agenda. Item 88A is to discuss and consider action to approve a resolution appointing a 2026 capital improvement bond committee. Uh this is for council appointments. I think you were all informed. Do you need to bring two people? Uh, I had to find three. Not sure if I did, but uh, does anyone everyone has everyone provided theirs or is this something we need to do at this time?

Okay. I had um um, I just had a comment. What's your comment?

Um, so as we think about the timing for a bond, um, I'm focused on setting ourselves up for success when we go to the voters. We currently have several once in a generation facilities under construction. The recreation center, city hall, and the garage, public works building, and three major utility projects. All scheduled to deliver within the next 12 months. Uh the reported amount of general fund unspent bond funds is 414 million, which is approximately 68% of authorized and issued bond funds. Residents want to see continued visible progress on major road and park projects approved in 2020 and prior. And the ne the next set of needs being discussed are are important, but um they're different in scale and can be sequenced more flexibly. For a timing standpoint, allowing residents to see delivery and progress across these existing commitments puts us in the strongest position. And so I support delaying consideration of a potential bond until next calendar year 2027 when these uh large projects are open to the public or available and and and put forth into use. So that was my comment.

Your position um we we shouldn't get started on design and planning on other projects until we have these other complete. I feel like that leaves us a gap in our ability to deliver. I believe some of the bond funds um through a certificate of occupancy has already included planning for the majority of the roads that are on that are being proposed. Um so I just think that if we want to set ourselves up for the most success that it would be good to have a lot of these big projects uh visibly done and available to to the public. And the number you quoted, uh, 441 million of 414 million from the How much of that is GIO?

That is the GO and the the the, um, utility with the addition. I'm sorry, you said that the 414 I'm sorry, it's general fund. General fund, not go, but is it I'm sorry. 414. I'm trying to understand how much of that is previous uh, bond election dollars.

Um, Yeah, we have um 109 million on one of the GEO issues um that's unspent and then 40 million accord this is according to the uh on the transparency page of the unspent bond funds that's reported. So that's 149 million um from the 2020 GO bond 2020 out of 191. 191. You're saying that more than 75% of that is correct. According to the report on the website that that doesn't sound reasonable.

I I don't have those numbers off the top of my head, but I would just um those are all fair points. Um your bond committee of course could come back and recommend zero bonds. Um, so I think it would be in fairness and transparency to have a bond committee learn all of that information and be able to digest it and make a make a recommendation. Maybe they'll agree and come back with zero.

I think it in fairness, you should have a a committee of citizens make that decision. Well, I I do think that uh we're more likely to get citizens to say yes after they see big projects opening up than we go to the citizens and say we'd like you to approve a bunch of money while we have a bunch of unfinished projects in front of you. um the psychology of the ask. I think we're more likely to get a yes answer uh after the monarch is open and and operational than if we put that out there beforehand.

I think that's a a very good topic for the uh bond committee to consider based on uh I would imagine their research would include timing of uh delivery of projects. Um, this is this is an item for appointments. Um, we should probably take names and then vote on appointing those people. Um, so Jonathan, do you have uh two people? Yes. I'd like to uh nominate Lucas Myers and Chris Wolf.

Uh, Caesar. Uh, Mayor. Mayor, at this time I do not have name. You don't you don't have yours? Uh, I'll provide them by the next week. Um, Kimberly, um, it's you tuned true love. Um, y e t u n d e. Last name true love. She wants to do with me. Mhm. Uh, do you have a do you have a second? No, just the one. Just one from now. All right. Um, Rudy, haven't heard back from my two. You haven't heard back from your two? Uh, Melody, Dennis Spencer and Eric Clingelberger. K L I N G E L B E R G E R. You said Dennis, right? Dennis. And I'm sorry. What was uh Mr. uh

Burgers? Eric. Derek. Eric. Eric with a C or K with a C. Eric with a C. I can send it in writing, too. All right. Um David. Yeah, I emailed mine uh to the city manager earlier today, but uh Mark Chukat uh and don't ask me to spell his last name. Uh, and Kevin Packham.

All right. Uh, I have um Mark Epstein. Uh, I have Melissa Call. And my third I haven't heard back yet, but I'm going to go ahead and put her on the spot. I do believe I heard that uh um there is some overlap allowed on other committees. Um I do have a member who is on finance and budget. That one's okay. Uh can you explain what board is? Uh so certain other committees and boards and commissions cannot also serve on this. Uh but some can based on the ordinance. So finance and budget for example can charter review cannot. Library can

um library can I think parks cannot. I don't remember parks could parks can parks cannot because parks is an ordinance and not a I don't know specific reason. Uh so my third um she'll be surprised by this tomorrow is Chris Bailey. Uh and so what we have here is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. I've got uh 10 members uh mentioned and five pending. Do we want to move forward with the 10 members tonight? Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Uh so motion to approve the slate as presented.

All right. I got a couple of seconds on that. Uh motion approved unanimously. Uh that brings us to item 8B. Discuss and consider action regarding special counsel engagement letter with Denton Navaro Rodriguez, Bernal Santi, and Ze. I believe uh our our new attorney, would you like to chime in on this? I've looked at the the rates and um I think they're market rates. Um you know, I don't intend to for you all to support them for forever. Um, but I think for for this at least for the next month or two, um, they they have some files and they're certainly doing some some good work and helping me out with, uh, getting me up to speed on certain projects and, um, I think it it'd be well worth uh, my time and and your support to uh, enter into this agreement.

I I'll only agree to this if you get a new placard. I already gave Trist a hard time about that. We just need to keep Mayor entertain a motion. I just had a question. Um, so do you have an idea of how long you think this agreement will last? Three years. You were asking for a month or two, three or four, hopefully diminishing over time. Yes. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. As as you take on more responsibility and things transition. Yes. I thought a month or two was a little short month or two. That's why that's why I would say three or four diminishing of

I think that's fair. Fewer hours as we go along. Yes. Motion approved. Got a motion from Rudy and a second from Kimberly. We still can't get it fast enough.

Motion passes unanimously. Uh that takes us uh to the end of our agenda. We will circle back along item 9 to items pulled from the consent agenda. Item number 5B, approving a professional services contract with WSB in the amount of uh $156,136 to provide facilitation and technical advisory services for consideration of a 2026 bond program and authorizing the city manager to execute the same. I guess in all three um the uh this was I believe pulled by um Miss Council Rogers. Yeah.

So I'm uh it it's been a while since we had a bond committee. It it seems like uh the scope of services uh is a little larger and the cost is substantially larger than last time. Maybe I'm remembering that wrong, but I'd like to like to have a presentation about that.

Good evening, mayor and council. For the engagement services with WSB, it is a little it is different than the last time we used a a bond consultant. Last time it was strictly for hosting the bond committee. the scope of services is larger and if the committee and council then recommends going to an election that they would help us through communication and engagement which is a larger part of the scope and not included from last time um to get us to that election um in November

while you ponder that can I ask um what was the amount included in the budget for this um services originally Um we have we had initially an estimated 100,000 um we're utilizing portions because the bulk of it is from transportation um a transportation professional services and the bond count the bond um estimate from other professional services from city manager budget line item. Okay. So 100 from CMO and 50 from transportation.

100 I think it's actually 111 from transportation and the balance from CMO. Um, so can you explain to me what uh what we're talking about when we're talking about uh communication and engagement? Sure. It's important to be sure to be sure that the community knows what's coming before you as you mentioned that that what those projects are is important to be able to convey accurate information. And so being able to have a good communications plan, how how we communicate that and engage with the public um prior to that um election is important. And so they're going to help us with that plan and we're not sure what that looks like and they're going to help us form that.

Has that been a problem in the past? I mean, why do we need outside services on that? It it seems to me that we we need some staff support for this project. We we have we have several positions down at the moment and it it's a heavy lift to carry a potential bond project or bond package that is this large. as I as I imagine uh the uh the the skill set of creating the information related to this and and um ensuring that that is properly communicated because as we know the city cannot advocate in an election, right? Um and we want to make sure that that we have professionals who do this. We haven't done this in six years,

right? U so we want to make sure we do it right. Uh, I I would just ask, you know, can our communication staff, are they properly staffed and trained to perform this type of activity, or is this something that only happens every six or eight years and and we're going to need to bring in outside professionals? Well, we're we're down in our on our comm's team, and I think that this this helps to they'll of course be part of that collaboration as with our transportation, our parks, and our other staff. this this really helps us to fully put this picture together and con properly convey information to the bond committee and then potentially then to the public as it moves forward.

I think that's a really important point that you brought up regarding the current um status of our comm's team. And so consequently, we want to make sure that we put our best foot forward and make sure that we uh uh maybe not eliminate but hopefully any issues or concerns that may happen regarding our um conversations with the public and bond committee at large regarding some of the effective tools and aspects and frankly what we're trying to get done here. So

and and two is it important to have a a consultant that does that has done this for other cities? They have different approaches. We we do this once every five to six years and so bringing on someone who has that lens and experience in it we believe will be very helpful to this process.

Isn't uh I I understand our comms team is down a little bit but even down aren't there don't we have more people in comms now than we did six years ago? I don't I don't compare the numbers. I imagine we might um we have a lot going on um across the city which in which they communicate out really effectively. And so we want to make sure that all those all the things we already have going on continue to remain successful while we add on to everyone's plate. We're expecting to fill those empty spots of comps, right? Absolutely. That does take time. Councilman Rogers, are you suggesting we uh increase the headcount of our internal comms team? I'm sorry.

Are you suggesting that we increase the headcount of our internal comms team? Uh, well, we have un we have unfilled positions, so and they're budgeted already. So, you know, why are we spending the same money twice? It's not it's right. That's a component of this, right? That they're going to bring a whole lot of other experience. That's one element is engagement. They'll they cover understanding engineering, communicating to bond committees, looking at projects, considering the CIP as a whole, and then comms is a component of that as we as we get towards the end and towards an election. So, I have a couple of questions.

Sure. Um, so what we're talking about right now is task three about proposition communications. And that task is only going to be going forward if the council votes to put a a bond proposition. That's right. So if there were a situation where, you know, it wasn't going to move forward, then that part of the scope would Right. This this is a time and materials contract, not a fix.

Right. Okay. Um and then I noticed in the um in that task there was uh the scope was it it appears to be one city council meeting but what if there were more than one city council meeting like if there was the initial one and there was modifications they needed to come back would that be something additional or is that included in the scope

there's one there's a I think an additional for meetings and something we could work with the consultant on Okay. And then um when I was looking about um who were they were going to reach out to and and they mentioned key stakeholders and I was just wondering if the city council members individually are included in that definition so that city council members would meet with them the same way we did individually with on the strategic plan. We haven't we haven't met had a kickoff until we want to make sure that this passes first. That's usually the time in which we define the stakeholders.

Okay. So, would you define the stakeholders including city council members that have meeting individually like the strategic plan? Um I think I think I'd look to WSB to for their recommendation on it. I'm not sure because you all will see it. We've talked to you all about the projects previously. Um strategic plan very different than a bond. Um, I don't know that that time is well spent for you or them on that those individual conversations, but if that's something council would like to happen, we can certainly put that on the stakeholder list.

So, um, if council members were not included as stakeholders, the one time that they would receive information is at the city council presentation. You'll receive information related to the bond commendation at that time, right? you you'll meeting we will but we'll staff will update you through the through the process that that's for when our consultant is here. It won't you won't just hear about tonight and then come May here's the recommendation. We'll update you on how the bond committee meetings are going um as we do through various communications like the weekly.

Okay. And then um in section four there was some items about exclusions. Um and so some of them seemed uh possibly important that would be needed for projects of these this scope. And so I was just wondering do we anticipate that those additional consultants will be needed and is there you know and then do we have budgeted for those estimated costs of services like they mentioned financial analysis debt capacity or projected tax impacts which I believe are are essential for uh you know and and has been included in previous bond committees. So so I'm thinking there's then another contract that's going to be needed possibly. We don't think for that particular one that that'll be necessary if if we needed to, but we have a bond council. We have financial advisors that we're bringing on board. You you've seen them that they're uh Dusty and Richard will will help us through that um component of the bond.

So they'll serve that purpose. They're just saying we don't have we're not bringing this along. They don't have we will be providing.

Yeah. Absolutely. Very very important. And then what about the other because I I mentioned two items in the the information I sent in advance um about the you know facilitation of the ballot language polling coordination voting processes and then also accurate construction cost estimates. So we already have consultants on that we're working with or staff um that could handle those two um services as well. We do so through the very whether it's parks or transportation downtown. We have we've got a lot of estimates and our consultant teams that helping us with those specific projects that I imagine our attorney will help us with bond with our help.

They just called it out specifically. So I just wanted to know who was handling those services. All right. So if we have to any other questions council motion approve 5 B as presented. Second. I have a second from Jonathan or Kim either way. All right, motion passes. That uh brings us to item 5C, approving a resolution. So bad of the uh uh in support of the Travis County sponsored applications for the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Campo,

uh 2028 to 2031 call for projects and authorize the city manager to execute the same. Uh Melody, I believe you pulled this one. Mayor, may I ask that any questions be pertinent to the subject on our vote? Also, will they affect our vote? And if somebody's going to vote no anyway, may you know, I please ask that they not waste everybody's time. That is a great recommendation. Uh Melody, I believe you had questions on this.

Um yes. I was just wondering about the projects that were um included in here. um what was the criteria for eligibility for the the streets that we could submit for this funding or call for projects and then how were these streets selected? For clarification, uh this item is approving a resolution in support of the Travis County sponsor. So, were these items that we submitted or we're supporting Travis County with this item? Great question. Um thank you. The these are all items that Travis County has passed to staff to support. So this is a resolution of support.

Okay. This is a resolution of support for Travis County's so we wouldn't have their justification for or their determination on how they made these. Oh I well I asked these in advance and so I didn't I didn't know that information. Travis County and Williamson County have the two biggest amounts 26. All right. Did that did that answer your questions? Well, I was also curious if I could be pro if there's a map of the segments of the the segments of the roads that were being included. I think we'd need to ask Gravis County for that. No, I do not have that. Okay. So, we don't know the extension of like

I think the only one that was the extension is um for Jesse BS. They had um I think Avalon and then um 973 on the far east side resolution the center portion. Okay. All right. Move to approve. Second. A motion from David and second from Rudy.

Motion passes. That brings us to item 5D, approving a resolution committee type B sales tax funds in support of parks and recreation projects consistent with the 2026 2030 strategic plan and PCDC comprehensive economic development strategy to ensure long-term investment in community quality of life. Uh David, I believe this was uh you. Yeah. I uh I'm uh concerned that this uh is going to kneecap the PCDC and basically outsource the uh the funding of parks and wreck to PCDC. Uh that doesn't seem to me that that's what PCDC is for. But maybe there's something in a presentation that'll convince me to the contrary.

I don't I don't believe we have a presentation for this. I believe it was based on retreat discussion. If I recall correctly, at the retreat discussion, we um discussed about specific dollar amounts at the point of you know like they mentioned 2.1 million and decreasing over the next 5 years. So um I was not expecting a 50%. Um, and then I also did ask a question in advance of what is the what does this mean in terms of actual dollars each year and would the debt service for the recreation center be included in this 50% allocation?

I think that my understanding was that that was part of the intent and part of having a guard rail like this it and also doesn't have to be 50% right. this doesn't preclude the normal budget cycles and approvals that happen anyway I don't think and so I think you know PCDC's also been pretty consistently funding parks projects as well and so I think if we actually do look at that as a single bucket of those efforts that will also uh help us to prioritize those projects and the need um to make sure that we're you know delivering on our quality of life projects

well and that's you like you said that's that's been long time uh piece of PCDC. Uh when I was on PCDC back in the dark ages uh when dinosaurs roamed the earth and uh we had problems with the tarpits on the east side of town. um you know the in the area that we've since paved over and put a toll road on um you know the uh PCDC gave uh generally around $75 to $100,000 a year to parks and wreck um which was you know substantial part of the parks and recck budget back in the day and a substantial part of the PCDC budget back in the day but it was nowhere near 50% or even 15%. Uh, and I think that this uh this resolution uh is just, you know, it it it's if we adhere to this, it's going to make it virtually impossible for the PCDC to fulfill its primary job, which is bringing primary jobs to the city of of Flugerville. David, would you would you like to uh make a motion amending?

Yeah, that's what I was about to ask. What number do you Are you comfortable? We don't have the like I'm concerned because I asked for the number in advance. What is what is the 50%. Um what do you mean? Oh, is that like is it $6 million a year? No, it's of revenues. Yeah. So, what I think the revenue for average revenue? Yeah. 12 million. 12 million.

Okay. So, so we're talking about $6 million up to $6 million. So my concern with such a high number is there's also psychology to it. If we allow if we approve this and then people it will be like well we have up to $6 million and in general people when they think they have up to a certain amount of time they're or amount of money they're going to ask for it. So what number would you suggest? Well, whatever the $2 million that percentage, so one6

I I mean I I like the idea of a percentage especially because if sales tax revenue goes down for example, right, that number would go down and likewise if we had a a great year, we'd have more to to work with. Uh I also think that I've not seen other proposals for PCDC dollars right now. um in terms of things that we could invest in that maybe we would rank higher. And so I think we could always revisit this at a future time if there is an investment opportunity that we would like to pursue. But I think quality of life for our citizens is I mean that's what we all hear about all day every day and I think it's a I think it's a very worthy investment.

So if I'm hearing you correctly, you want the PCDC to make it a problem for us to have to make decisions on. Yeah. Yeah. give us bring it so many deals that we would be worried about spending 20% of the budget on parks, right? Because we're growing our our commercial tax base. Um

I also think there's I appreciate that. Um I I also think there's other infrastructure type projects that um you know I'm I'm just hesitant to limit it only to parks and wreck, especially if it was at a 50% level. Um, I just prefer to like have projects be brought forward each year rather than saying you have up to this amount for what what you choose and then we could choose to it's always harder to take away. So, you know, psychologically if you if you give someone it's always harder to take away than to make that decision each year.

So, so correct me if I'm wrong though like this is really almost guidance to take into the budgeting process. So I I don't I think we would still see those projects come through. This wouldn't stop that. We'd still be approving the individual items as they come through as would PCDC board. Well, the PCDC board would operate under the planning assumption that half of their money is gone before they get started. No, because that's what this that's what this resolution would psychologically and and and businesswise if the how would you amend the resolution? Yeah. What what are you thinking about? Because if you're

well I I I was amanable to our original discussion which was 2 million 2.1 million the first year and then to evaluate it each year as to the success of the operations of the recreation center um and and look at it each year rather than having it just automatically dedicated. I would like to evaluate the need for the recreation center to be funded by PCDC for the sales tax. But then this is just saying you're going to get this pot of money and if you don't use it for the recreation center then we can use it for Would you like to make that in the form of a motion? Yeah. I I I move to approve with the amendment that it be 1%. Okay. Let's Okay, let's

Oh, hold on. Hold on. I've got a motion on this table. Come on. Motion fails for lack of a second. Okay. I would Oh, would you like my motion or Well, what what I This is cuz I want to get to a motion though. If we're if you're having concerns, that's fine. I'm trying to understand that. What I'm trying to figure out is what we can get to to a solution here. So, I'm hearing 50% but it's not really 50% because risky speaking it will be something that we see every year. It's guidance in the budget.

Exactly. with that it is fair to say that if they're being conservative as you know little C working as they should be operate as that yes it can be that 50% so it should be operate from that however you also brought up the fact that you think it's going to stop infrastructure projects which I haven't heard from anybody that possibility

I don't know about stop I'm just saying that the 50 you know if you're taking $6 million and you're allocating it to parks and wreck or everyone has the assumption that it's going to be allocated to parks and wreck then um then that's the assumption and that's what people operate by. And so, you know, I just I'm concerned about allocating that much um and just having it be assumed that that's going to be parks and wreck every year. And I I think naturally that's going to that's how people operate.

Okay. So, I would rather go back to our original plan with dollar amounts that was presented at the retreat, which I don't remember what they are off the top of my head and what wasn't included here. So, I'm seeing the the the 2.1 million uh in the uh in the resolution. Okay. Is that is that the number that we discussed at the retreat?

So, there's multiple numbers. Um, so you of course have the debt service which is um for FY27 would be 3 million plus the 2.1 million. Um, and then typically we'll see um our parks department want to look at a replacement of a park. So maybe I could round to 5.1 and a half something around there. 5.15 is the total. So I feel like the debt service is already but right but I'm kind of but that would still be a part of this pie that's that part of that and it's part of this pie but it's already established does it need to be included trying to give you like the the include that so

because Melody I'd like to hear what you would be what would be acceptable for you and see if it is also acceptable for other members of council. Well, unfortunately, I don't have the numbers for the other few years. So, the only number I know right now is 2.1. So, I'm, you know, I would make a motion that we um allocate 2.1 million from fiscal 2027 budget to the Monarch Recreation Center.

I heard that as a motion. I've got a second. Any further discuss discussion? Where'd it go? All right, that uh that passed. All right.

Uh that brings us to the end of our agenda. Do we have any other uh was there any business I missed? Anything we need to discuss before I raise the gavvel? It is uh 9:35. We are ajourned.