City Council - Packet - briefing

Good morning. I'll call the 7-3 packet meeting to order. And please call the roll.

Mayor Morgan.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery. Here. Council Member Lee.

Here.

Council Member Flores. Here. Council Member Fleming. Here. Council Member Ortega.

Here.

Council Member Stephens. Here.

All right. Citizen communication. Anybody wishing to speak? Seeing none. Staff briefings D1. Consider staff briefings and council member discussion. Enter questions regarding items on the agenda for the September 10th, 2026 City Council meeting. Anybody have anything on the consent? We have a proclamation for Amistad, Fiesta Amistad, then a presentation by Parks and Rec. Anything on the consent?

I have one. Council Member Stephens? I can't pull it up. It's, I think, for fire on the replacement of the air tanks. It was on the city manager's authorization. I just can't get it open right now. Is that full replacement of the air tanks?

Trying to see which one it is.

It'll be on the authorized purchases list. Yes.

I think it was on the third page. I just can't get it to pull up right now.

I don't have it in front of me, so.

Here it comes, Kevin.

Oh, here it is. Oh, this is just for the parts for repair and maintenance of our current air packs.

Okay. Not new ones. No, ma'am. Just repair and maintenance. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions? All right. Resolutions. Consider a resolution authorized by Marietta Security and Area Local Agreement with ESD-9. Chief.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Good morning.

Up until recently, the... Round Rock Fire has only been able to receive funding for property tax through ESD-9. In May of 2025, they had an election to collect up to 2% in sales tax as well in ESD-9, and they won the election. This ILA changes. It remains the same for property tax, where we'll receive up to a minimum of 90% of property tax collected. It also now adds that we'll receive up to a minimum of 90% of sales tax collected in ESD-9. In this fiscal year we have projected four point eight million to be collected in property tax And we're looking at an additional three million in sales tax This this agreement will renew automatically every year.

I'd be happy to answer any questions questions customer floors Chief just curious. What were the numbers before the 90% of?

We've been collecting up to 90% for the last three years is when they amended the contract. Before then, they would give us a straight 90%. So talking with the ESD board, it looks like we're actually going to receive up to about 94% on both sides this year. So probably... Estimating around $5.5 million in property tax, and then again around $3, maybe a little bit more than $3 million in sales tax. So it's going to fluctuate. And again, we haven't collected any sales tax up to this point around the ESD. Okay, thank you.

And actually, we've been covering that shortfall until the ESD passed that?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Yes, sir. Any other questions? And that money all goes back to? The department, right? Contrary to some people.

Goes into the general fund, which is used to fund general funded operations. This money would not cover even a fifth of the fire department.

Okay. All right. Any other questions? Thank you. All right. Thank you, Chief. F2, consider a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a contract with Ratliff Hardscape LTD.

Michael. Good morning, Mayor and Council. Morning. This is some new sidewalks. We will be installing on Parkside Circle, the area in blue. This area is located north. Here's Gattasco Road. Green lawn comes in right here. So it's right here. We had received $300,000 from our CDBG HUD entitlement grant. We had eight bidders on this project. The low bidder was $203,000. So we'll go ahead and install the sidewalks here. That additional money between $203,000 and $300,000, Joe Breen's group will do a home repair program. We have to spend that money in this year, so that's some extra money he can utilize for that. So a lot of bidders on this for new sidewalks on Parkside Circle. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Questions? Council Member Tuggy? What's the time frame for completion? Can you give me an estimate on that?

Yes, sir. This is not a huge project, so probably about six months. All right. Thank you. Council Member Flores?

Michael. When y'all see that the bid comes in so significantly lower, I know y'all vetted it, but in general, what happens if they're spending 250? Do they eat that cost personally, or do they come back to us for a change order?

How does that work? When we go out, we design a set of plans, put them out on the street, contractors look at them. Within those bid, it'll be the scope of work. They're going to put sidewalks in for this amount of footage. It's 1,135 feet of sidewalk. We will say you have this many days to do the job. Everybody bids it equally. We have a bid opening at, say, 2 o'clock on Thursday. Everybody must turn in their bids at that time. We read all the bids aloud. So this engineering estimate was around $250,000. That's what we thought it would come in at. We do look at all the bids and see if there's any anomalies in there, if they made a mistake. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes their calculations are off or whatever. We have thrown out bids before. When we have low bidders, we also check references to make sure they're a qualified contractor. So that's that. Now you get into the job, and let's say it cost them $250,000 and not $203,000. If the scope has not changed and the quantities have not changed, then they have to do the project for $203,000. We only bring before you guys quantity adjustments if we add more footage for the sidewalks. Or if there is a scope change, that would be a change order. So if nothing changes, that's on them.

Thank you, sir any other questions Mayor protein Thank you Michael do we have an inventory or a list of all of the sidewalks that are going to be upgraded with this project It's a good question mayor protein as we speak.

We're evaluating We call them sidewalk gaps That's where you have a sidewalk, then there's no sidewalk, and then a sidewalk. Throughout the city, we're looking at sidewalk gaps. And we're kind of categorizing them by if they connect to a trail system or if they're around schools. So we're prioritizing gaps within the city so that we can continue to fill in sidewalk areas like this so we can make our community pedestrian friendly, et cetera.

Do we have any idea of where we are in addressing that list, or are we just getting started?

We, about two or three months ago, internally, we went to our GIS system, and we are compiling it now. Sometime soon, we can bring forward to you guys a prioritization list and look at it, because I know that came up with some areas, I think, at our last retreat in the fall. So we can definitely discuss that. Yes, ma'am.

Any other questions? Questions? All right. F3, consider a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute supplemental contract number three with Plummer Associates.

Supplemental with Plummer for $149,000 at the wastewater treatment plant. This is not for the existing project. This is for the 40MGD project, mostly rehabilitation work. We're looking at the TCQ has come to us. This is Brushy Creek right here. The floodplain does extend into the property, so we're evaluating that to make sure there's no critical structures that are within that 100-year floodplain. That's a TCQ request, so that's part of the scope. Then also looking at when the wastewater comes into the influent lift station, there's a lot of, we call them rags, that are kind of blocking up in that. So they'll be looking at the existing lift station on that. So the total engineering is $149,000. Because it's rehab, Round Rock is about 60% of that, about $90,000. The other remaining costs will be split between the other three partner cities. Happy to answer any questions.

Questions? Questions? All right. F4, consider ratifying the property tax increase reflected in the 27 budget.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Item F4 is ratifying the property tax increase in the 27 budget. This is a requirement under state law. The suggested order for Thursday night is items G2 and then G3 and then F4 because state law requires we ratify that property tax increase after adopting the budget and the property tax rate. Happy to answer any questions.

So G2, G3, and then 4?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Questions on this? Is there any special language I can't remember on F4?

Not for ratifying the tax rate.

OK. Just the G3. Correct. All right. Any questions on F4? No. F5, consider a resolution to determine that patent construction LLC provides the best value for Heritage Trail East. Rick?

Good morning, Mayor and Council. If you'd like, I can talk about F5 and G1 pretty much the same time. They kind of run into each other with the Trail Master Plan update. F5 is going to be a great day in the history of the city of Round Rock. We finally got the authorization from TxDOT to really get this next project going. It's going to be the gap between Mays and Georgetown. We met with the Henna family last week. This is one where Patent Construction that came and saved the day on the other section is the low bidder on this section. It's in the amount of $6.5 million. We got a grant from TxDOT for $6.3 million. So this is a really good deal for us. Patton has, as I've said, previous experience with us, did a really good job. We expect the same thing in this section of the trail. They will be here. I'll also have some maps on Thursday night as well. We're also going to have the presentation, so they may be in there as well. So we're going to have several things that talks to this. Moving into G1. The trail master plan, this is a great time to kind of do them all together. Now that we're going to have our linear section from east to west done, we are updating our trail master plan that is part of our master plan for the department. We did a lot of open houses. We had over 600 people show up for those open houses, over 3,300 comments about really where they want to see the trail system go now that we're going to have this section complete. Some of the stuff that we really focused on is Trot. Trot is that trail-oriented design, really taking the trail system to the next level. There are very few communities our size doing anything like this. Some of the larger cities in the country are doing that, but that is really what we focused on with them, and that's what bubbled to the top as part of that trail master plan. Tim Barganier will be here to present this section. He's with RBI. Tim is a longtime or used to be a longtime resident of Round Rock, now lives down in Austin, but RBI is one of the top organizations consulting firms in the country. He's the vice president of that firm, and this project is special to him, and that's why he's going to be here presenting it for us. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have them.

All right. Any questions? Council Member Flores?

Rick, I know you're excited. I'm excited. Can you bring some pictures Thursday to remind people what the East project is going to look like, what it will look like? Yes, sir.

We'll bring several of those. I don't know if pictures do it justice. If you've ever been on the Henna property, it is just so gorgeous down there. And giving that creek back to the citizens, and I don't want to say giving it back, but Giving them access to that side of the creek and seeing 200-year-old oak trees and pecan trees and those kind of things is just going to be a place that's really, really special for our community. And what's your estimated time for that to come to fruition? Once we start it as an 18-month project, I would like to hope that we can get this thing done or started right before the end of this year. So it's going to be 18 months after that. Thank you.

Any other questions over here? Chancellor Stevens.

Good morning, Rick. I have a couple questions. Will we have a copy of the master plan on Thursday?

Yes, we can get you a copy of the master plan.

Okay. And this, the east section, it still doesn't. jump us over Georgetown Street, correct? I know there's been some concern about crossing over Georgetown.

We are going to connect underneath Georgetown. OK. Same thing with Mays. We're going to have a bridge that goes north to south. Then we're going to go under Mays. That will connect us to the north side of Heritage Trail. We'll do the same thing. Then we're going to go under Georgetown. We'll pop back up. And then that will be the connection that gets those trails together. One of the projects that you're going to see that comes later this year is going to be really about the downtown part. That's going to give us the bridge to go from north to south into downtown. So a lot of exciting projects coming.

And then under Georgetown will come at a later time?

Yes, ma'am.

And then lastly, I know we had talked about this historical signage down by Chisholm Trail and Brushy. I see. Are we moving the signage here or is this going to be additional signage?

This is going to be additional signage. We're going to tell the story and that's always been the plan of Heritage Trail. One of the concessions or one of the, and I won't say concessions, but one of the opportunities that we have is to really tell the story of the Henna family who's graciously given us this land. We're going to tell their story in addition to. So doing it all at one point in time really makes it make sense so that now you start telling that story, putting it all in at the same time. And I think it's going to be really special for our community.

Perfect. And last question. There's still a home there and a property owner. Will there be fencing or something to keep people away from her property?

Yes, absolutely. And that's the first thing that we're going to do is put up the fencing that makes sure that they're safe and also that their cows have access to the creek still. So we're putting in water gap fencing as well. As I said, I'm going to go back. Myself, Brooks, and Chief Banks met with the family last week to make sure that you know, that's one of our main priorities for them.

Perfect. Thank you.

Any other questions? Council Member Flores. Just a follow-up on Council Member Stevens' question. The history telling, that'll happen from Chisholm Trail to May Street as well? Yes. Okay. During this part? Yes, sir. It's going all the way across. Thank you.

All right.

Any other questions? All right. Thanks, Rick. Thank you. All right. G2 and G3, we'll do this first, as mentioned. Kevin, is there anything additional?

Nothing additional. Thursday evening, I plan on walking through the presentation again. But for this morning, nothing additional, Mayor.

OK. Any questions on anything since? All right. Thank you. All right. Everybody got an email with regards to H1. That can't be discussed. It lays out, the email lays out what our options are and what our role is. If you have questions, reach out to Tyler or Stephanie. Okay. All right. Variance I1, consider request from Mark IV, capital for a variance to Chapter 4, Section 4.2, Code of Ordinances. Who's doing this one? Brooks? Brooks?

So just briefly, we'll have a presentation on this for Thursday night. This is just to allow for alcohol sales because of proximity to a school on the project, similar to what we did for Luna Tacos and the restaurant over by the high school. So we'll have a presentation for Thursday night on that.

Questions? Any questions? Yeah.

Council Member Flores. I was curious, where is the school in proximity to the map? Is that?

Across the street. It's at Charter School.

Oh, oh, oh. Ideal. OK. All right. Thank you.

Council Member Lee. So property line to property line is within the 300 feet, but the actual building most likely will be past the 300 feet, correct?

That's correct. Just following the state law for how we do the distance calculations.

Thank you.

And I think some of those businesses rattling there that I already serve alcohol, too. What's the new Mexican food place? Don't they serve alcohol?

Yeah.

All right. Any other questions? All right. And then appointments. I've spoken with Council Member Flores. I'm going to appoint or ask to appoint Council Member Flores as the president. We have spoken to Jessica Mossman for vice president and Michelle Sherwood for secretary. So those will be my recommendations that come before on Thursday night. All right, anything else for the good? All right, we stand adjourned.