City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the Rowlett City Council. Today's Tuesday, July 7th, 2026 at 7 p.m. And the city council has a quorum present in the council chambers. Prior to the beginning of each meeting, we do open with an invocation. So I invite you to stand with me as Reverend Melissa Nelms from First Rowlett United Methodist Church leads us in a moment of prayer.

Will you join your hearts in prayer with me? Loving God, as we gather this evening to serve the people of Rowlett, we pause with gratitude for this community, for the opportunity to work together, and for the freedoms that allow us to govern with openness and integrity. Grant wisdom to our mayor, city council, staff, and everyone participating in tonight's meeting. Help each decision be guided by discernment, fairness, and a genuine desire to serve the common good. May every discussion be marked by respect, humility, and a willingness to listen, even when perspectives differ. We give thanks for those we recognize tonight. For Mrs. Marjorie Montgomery as she receives the remarkable milestone of 100 years. For Chief Hospital Corpsman Carl Van Leeuwen for his faithful service to our nation. And the many parks and recreation professionals, volunteers, and community partners who help make Rowlett a place where families can thrive and neighbors can connect. We are also grateful for the progress our city continues to make and ask for continued guidance as we plan for its future. Bless the citizens of Rowlett. our first responders, military members, veterans, educators, businesses, and families. Keep them safe, strengthen our sense of community, and help us remain faithful stewards of the resources and the responsibilities you have entrusted to us. May all that is accomplished here tonight contribute to the continued flourishing of Rowlett as a place to live, to work, and to play. It is with humble hearts we pray, amen.

Amen. Thank you, Reverend. Now please join me in the pledges of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. And now the Texas Pledge.

Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Thank you. Please be seated. Call tonight's meeting to order at 7.02 p.m. And our first order of business this evening is item 2A, presentation of Rowlatt Centurion recognition and proclamation for Mrs. Marjorie Montgomery. Making that presentation is Mayor Pro Tem Mike Britton. And we would invite Ms. Montgomery and her family up to the front.

Yeah, Mrs. Montgomery, you and your family and friends, if you'd like to come up front. I'd also like to invite members of our senior advisory board to come up. Yeah, you've got a few friends. You've had a life well lived to have this many friends and family.

Where's Ms. Bella? There you are.

Okay. First of all, I just want to thank Pam Bell. She's the chairperson, chairwoman for our senior advisory board. She's the one that really spearheaded this effort to recognize those in our community that have reached the century mark. So I thank her. I thank the senior advisory board for supporting this great program that we have. All right, just a little bit of information here. In collaboration with the Senior Advisory Board, the City of Rowlett has initiated an effort to identify and honor centenarians, I always get that wrong, I wanna call you a centurion, but you're not a Roman, within the community. This remarkable milestone signifies a life well lived and serves to unite the community in celebrating those who have reached this achievement. The third honoree tonight is Mrs. Marjorie Montgomery, who is a native Texan and who reached the age of 100 years on June the 15th of this year. With this proclamation, the City of Rowlett comes together to honor, to recognize, and to celebrate Ms. Montgomery for reaching this remarkable milestone in her life. Now, if you will, I will read the proclamation. Whereas Marjorie, also known as Margie Montgomery, was born on June 15, 1926 to Lottie and Harry Crockett and has lived a remarkable life marked by faith, family service, and enduring zest for life. And whereas Ms. Montgomery is a proud native Texan who grew up in Oak Cliff and graduated from Sunset High School in 1943, before embarking upon a distinguished career as an executive secretary serving several departments of the federal government for more than 40 years. A great milestone there. And whereas Ms. Montgomery and her beloved husband, Dr. Don Montgomery, shared 67 years of marriage until his passing on December 17, 2014, building a legacy founded upon love, devotion, and commitment to family, And whereas together they have raised three children, David Montgomery, Cherry Montgomery Tugud, and Mark Montgomery. And today she is blessed with six grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren who continue to enrich her life and carry forward her values and traditions. And whereas after moving to Rowlett in 1994, Ms. Montgomery became an active member of the community and has remained involved with the Shriners and the Daughters of the Nile for more than 60 years, continuing the legacy of service she shared with her husband, who was an active Mason and Shriner. And whereas Ms. Montgomery is a devoted member of the Highland Park United Methodist Church, and enjoys fellowship with the women of Rotary, monthly luncheons, and bunco gatherings with her daughter's group. And whereas known for her joyful spirit and willingness to embrace every adventure, Ms. Montgomery is always ready when someone says, let's go. And she continues to enjoy dancing, shopping, and working crossword puzzles to keep her mind sharp. And whereas Ms. Montgomery attributes her longevity to her steadfast Christian faith, gratitude for good health, a positive attitude, the loving care and concern of her family, daily crossword puzzles, enjoying just about any food, plenty of black coffee, a woman after my own heart, and the occasional glass of wine or margarita with friends and family, and making sure she goes somewhere every day. Now, therefore, I, on behalf of Jeff Winget, Mayor of City Rowlett, and on behalf of the City Council, do by here urge all citizens to join in recognizing and honoring Mrs. Marjorie Montgomery for her extraordinary contribution to her community and family. I jokingly asked her if she had a speech to give, and she's got paper here, so I'm going to invite her up.

Yes, I do.

Can you come back?

Well, here I am. And I would like to thank the City Council and the Senior Advisory Committee for this wonderful honor. I never dreamed I'd make it to 100, and I think a lot of other people didn't think so either. I have depended on my faith in the Lord, my family, and my friends, and until the Lord moves me from Rowlett to Heaven so that I'll be with Don and all of my family, I will continue shopping, but not online. I have no computer. I have no Wi-Fi. I have nothing. And enjoying my family and friends, working crossword puzzles, and as he said, an occasional glass of wine or maybe a desperado's margarita. the meantime thank you all so very very much for this honor okay Thank you.

You keep that. All right.

Thank you very much. You're a true inspiration. Thank you so much.

All right, and while we're in transition, I'll go ahead and announce the next agenda item. It's item 2B, Presentation of REL App Veterans Recognition Program Certificate to Veteran Chief Hospital Corpsman Carl Van Leeuwen of the United States Navy. And Mr. Van Leeuwen, we'd like to invite you and your family up to be recognized. I'd also like to invite up Alexis Culpepper, who's here on behalf of the Veterans Resource and Outreach Center. All right, well, good evening. That one's gonna be tough to top, but we're gonna give it our best shot. So we're here tonight to recognize one of our veterans in the community who has done extraordinary things. And so we're excited to represent and respect that sacrifice. So the city instituted this program in 2017 in order to show appreciation to those members of our community who have dedicated their time in service to our nation. Assisting with the selection and recognition of the honorees is the Veterans Resource and Outreach Center, which is the VROC. And the Veterans Recognition Program also helps to bring awareness to veterans' issues in our community, what is being done and what is still needed. I'm honored to continue formally recognizing veterans of all ages and branches of service at City Council meetings and our 49th veteran to be recognized as veteran Carl Van Leeuwen, who served our country in the United States Navy. Thank you, sir. With that, I'm gonna read your certificate, and then I'm gonna invite Alexis with the Veterans Resource and Outreach Center up to read a brief biography, and I think we have another special presentation for you this evening. Of course, we'll give you an opportunity to share any words that you wanna share about your love of margaritas or anything else. So the certificate reads, the freedom and security that the citizens of the United States enjoy today are direct results of the bloodshed and continued vigilance given by the United States Armed Forces over the history of our great nation, defending the Constitution, protecting the blessings of liberty, and paying the price of freedom for us all. We are all eternally grateful for those who have seen the horrors of war and the worst in society, yet continue to serve and show the best of what humanity can be. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Alexis Culpepper, and I'm going to be reading Mr. Lewin's biography. Before I get started, can I have all the vets stand up so we can recognize them? Alrighty. Chief Hospital Corpsman Carl Van Leeuwen is a native of Mount Rainier, Maryland. He enlisted in the Navy in 1972 while attending Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Upon graduation, he reported to the Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes. Upon completion of boot camp in Basic Hospital Corps School, he spent the rest of his enlistment at National Naval Medical Center. Bethesda. Bethesda. Okay. It's a new word for me. Maryland, leaving active duty in August 1976. After selection for the Training and Administration of Reserves program in May 1980, Chief Van Leeuwen reported to the Naval Air Facility of Washington, D.C., where he served as a general duty corpsman. In February 1984, he reported to Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, Pensacola, Florida, for 10 weeks of intensive training as an aerospace medical technician. After graduation, he was assigned to VA 203 Blue Dolphins for operational duty, making numerous deployments throughout CONUS and the Caribbean to include Fallon, Nevada, Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona, El Centro, California, Puerto Rico, as well as deployments onboard the USS Enterprise and USS Forrestal. He was selected for advancement to chief and was initiated by the Chiefs Community of Jacksonville, Florida in 1988. He reported to the Naval Reserve Personnel Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and assumed the duties of rating assignment specialist in February 1989, where he was responsible for duty assignments of mess specialists, journalists, and hospital courtmen in February 1989. Excuse me. And subsequent assignment was with the commander at Marine Forces Reserve as the assistant inspector instructor for the 4th Supply Battalion, 4th Service Support Group, 4th Medical Logistics Company, Newport News, Virginia, responsible for supply of all medical supplies and equipment to units of the 4th Marine Division. During this assignment, he trained and received certification as a field medical service technician. HMC Van Leeuwen reported back to Naval Reserve Person Center, New Orleans, in May 1995, where he was assigned as medical technical advisor, as well as the Director Records Management Support Office, overseeing the transition of service and medical records to optical imaging, retiring from active duty in August 1999. Personal awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, two awards, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation Battle Efficiency Award, and Five Good Conduct Awards. In September 2000, Carl Van Leeuwen was hired as the Associate Naval Science Instructor at Pearl River High School, where he was responsible for instruction of a of NJROTC, cadets in all aspects of naval service as well as guidance for cadets honoring following graduation. He is very proud of all of his students who went on to serve in all five military services as well as those whose continued their education resulting in commissioning as officers in the U.S. Military Services. He remained in this position for the next 20 years, retiring June 30, 2020. Upon retiring, Carl and his wife, Tracy, continued to reside in Slidell, Louisiana. Their son, Eric, relocated to Dallas, Texas, following Hurricane Katrina and went on to earn a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. Tracy and Carl joined Eric in the Dallas area in February 2024. Can everyone please stand and help us recognize our Rowlett veteran?

So, hi there. My name is Teresa Jones and I am a representative of the Quilts of Valor organization here in Rowlett. We're called A Heart for Patriots. And we work under the auspices of the National Quilts of Valor group. I'm here today as a volunteer from Quilts of Valor to join the community in honoring one of our distinguished veterans. I also want to take a moment and tell you about the Quilts of Valor. Quilts of Valor is an international organization whose mission is to provide quilts of comfort and healing to those who have been touched by war. The organization was started in 2003 by Blue Star mom, Catherine Roberts, and has awarded over 440,000 quilts as of this month. The idea for Quilts of Valor came to Ms. Roberts literally in a dream. At that time, her son Nat was deployed in Iraq and in a dream she saw a young soldier sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night all hunched over. She sensed that war demons were clustered around him dragging him down into an emotional gutter. Then as if viewing a movie, She saw him in the next scene wrapped in a quilt. His whole demeanor changed, and one of despair to one of hope and well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change. The message of the dream to her was quilts equal healing. Ms. Roberts developed a model where volunteers would donate their time and materials to make a quilt. Perhaps one person in a group would piece the top, the others would quilt it, and then others would prevent it, or all the steps would be done by the same person in the group. She saw the name of this special quilt as a quilt of valor. A quilt of valor would say unequivocally, thank you for your service, sacrifice, and valor in serving our nation. The first quilt of valor was awarded in November of 2003. at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to a young soldier from Minnesota who had lost a leg in Iraq. Since 2003, the Quilts of Valor movement has spread across the nation and beyond. Today, in conjunction with our local veterans recognition program and through the efforts of the newly formed group Quilts of Valor called A Heart for Patriots, we're honored to be awarding Carl E. Van Leeuwen, with a quilt today. Through this quilt, you may become part of our family. If we may, we'd like to wrap this around you. Let's show the good side.

There we go. It's a big quilt. It's a big quilt.

It is. It's a big quilt. Okay. On behalf of Quilts of Valor Foundation, in recognition for your service and sacrifice for the nation, it's a privilege to serve, honor, and comfort you through this award as a Quilt of Valor. Though we may never know the depth of your sacrifice to protect and defend the United States of America, as a gesture of gratitude from a grateful nation, we award you this quilt. Each quilt of valor is formed by loving hands joining bits of fabric together one piece at a time. We believe that we construct these quilts with love, caring, and gratitude flows from our hearts through our hands and into the quilt. We all, as volunteers, want you to know that through our quilts, you will forever be in our hearts. The quilt was pieced together by our volunteer, Willie Hall. I believe she also bound the quilt. And a group of volunteers are the ones that quilted it. They are personalized with the label.

And he's going to have to apologize that we have luin. That's quite all right. We can put van right in front of it, OK?

And we just, with our deepest appreciation, we thank you for your service to the country. And with this quilt of valor, we welcome you home. We have a certificate for him also. It is awarded to Carl E. Van Leeuwen. which we got that right. U.S. Navy, 1972 to 1999, E7 Chief Petty Officer. The Quilter Valor Foundation wishes to recognize you for your service to the nation. We consider it our privilege to do so. Though we may never know the extent of your sacrifice to protect and defend the United States of America, we award you this Quilter Valor as an expression of gratitude from a grateful nation.

It is July after all.

I'm often told by people that when I turn around and I tell them, I entered the Navy in 1972. I had a four year tour in Maryland, as you heard in my bio. I then left active duty, but I was never really satisfied with whatever I was doing after I left. My wife has often told me that she remembers the two days of my life, the happiest day of my life and the lousiest day of my life. And I'll ask her, I say, what were they? She said, well, your worst day was the day you left active duty. And I said, okay. I said, what about the happiest? I said, was it Eric? I said, was it our son being born? She goes, no. She goes, it wasn't him. I said, okay, was it our wedding day? She goes, no, it wasn't that either. So it was like, well, then what was it? She says, it was when you went back on active duty. And I did. I went back on active duty so that I could continue to serve the country, serve the military members around me. as a hospital corpsman you get that opportunity because you know we're not only responsible for the health and well-being of Navy personnel but we're also responsible for the health and well-being of the US Marine Corps you know and speaking of that you know it mentioned in my bio that I went through field medical service school training when I went to the Marines in Virginia okay That school, ladies and gentlemen, is designed and made for 19 year old boys. Not 40 year old men. But through perseverance, I went through and I made it. I recently read an article by a Medal of Honor winner that pointed out that there's 200,000 members that go through the military every year that exit the military every year most of those people go on to serve in some kind of capacity to the community and to the country i did it through my teaching in high school you know somebody told me they said you know when i was on active duty you need to teach rotc when you retire and i looked at him i said you're out of your mind I said, me teaching in a high school? They said, yeah. Well, year after I retired, I got the call and I went and interviewed and I got the job. The next 20 years was fantastic. And then I retired from there. I sit down and I look at it and I tell people, 45 and a half years in a military uniform. because as a JROTC instructor, I have to stand in front of the classroom or had to stand in front of the classroom in uniform every day. My students were fantastic. There was a big difference between the ones I taught in 2000 and the ones I taught in 2020, huge difference. The thing is though, is I've had the support of my wife and my son well as my daughter-in-law who isn't able to be here tonight and everything and everything that we that i've done i would like to thank them i would also like to thank mr mayor city council v-rock organization chris kazar pam bell thank you all very much and may god bless you

you're good you're good you're good we're gonna get everyone situated

Thank you very much. All right, I'll go ahead and read the next item into the record. It's item 2C, presentation of proclamation recognizing July as National Parks and Recreation Month. Making that presentation is Councilmember Marvin Gibbs.

All right, if I can get all the Parks and Recreation and the Parks Advisory Board, if you're here, to come on up. Let's get this party going.

All right.

All right. So National Park and Recreation Month is a nationwide celebration that's held every July to highlight the vital role of our local parks, our green spaces and recreation programs. Each year, the National Recreation and Park Association designates a theme for the month of July. The theme of 2026 is the power of. Since 1985, America has celebrated the month of July as the nation's official park and recreation month. Each July, the National Recreation Park Association encourages recreation facilities and parks across the country to kick off the summer programs to promote outdoor physical education, pull together volunteers, promote building strong, vibrant, and resilient communities through the power of parks and professionals, along with hundreds of thousands of part-time seasonal workers and volunteers that maintain our country's local, state, and community parks, making their outdoor space the thriving center of community activity. This year's theme again is the power of, it highlights the power of parks and recreation and the people who make it all possible. Park and recreation brings us together, strengthens our health, our wellbeing, and builds more resilient, connected communities. Throughout the month, we're celebrating the many ways parks and recreation reveals the power of what connects us. The power of connection. Parks and recreation is where relationships grow, cultures meet, and communities bond. The power of play. From playgrounds to programs to youth sports, play fuels creativity, joy, and lifelong learning. The power of community. Public spaces offer room for everyone to gather, celebrate, and heal. The power of nature. Nature restores and inspires us, and parks ensures everyone can access its benefits. The power of belonging, welcoming parks and programs make every person feel valued and the power of well being parks and recreation advances health, resilience and shared community benefits. Now for the proclamation. Whereas, since 1985, July has been nationally recognized as National Parks and Recreation Month, celebrating the vital role local parks and recreation systems play in promoting health, wellness, conservation, and community vitality. And whereas, the City of Rowlett's Parks and Recreation Department annually welcomes roughly 500,000 visitors, enhancing social, environmental, economic, and health outcomes for residents, And whereas, Rowlett parks, trails, recreation centers, sports fields, and special events provide crucial opportunities for physical activity, educational program, environmental stewardship and meaningful community gatherings. And whereas parks and recreations contribute to mental well-being, combat depression and other mental health challenges, support youth development and active aging and strengthen civic bonds. And whereas the dedicated parks and recreation staff at Rowlett contribute daily to the safety, beauty and ongoing success of these public resources. And now, therefore, I'm Marvin Gibbs, council member of Rowlett City Council. Jeff Winget, mayor of the city of Rowlett, on behalf of the entire Rowlett City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as National Parks and Recreation Month in the city of Rowlett, Texas, and encourage all residents, civic groups, and visitors to celebrate by visiting parks, engaging in recreational programs, exploring trails, participating in community events, and promoting stewardship of our natural and recreational assets. Thank you.

I'll make this brief. A bunch of us are going to go have margaritas with Ms. Margie in a minute. Mayor Widgett and City Council, on behalf of the entire Parks and Recreation team, many of whom are standing here beside me, thank you for this proclamation. I especially want to take this moment to directly thank our incredible team from our parks maintenance crews working in the intense Texas heat to keep our parks beautiful and safe, our team members managing the Rowlett Community Center, running youth camps and a multitude of programs, those that keep our swimmers safe at the wet zone, and everyone who assisted with community events like our recent fireworks on Maine celebration. Thank you. Your tireless dedication, passion, and hard work behind the scenes do not go unnoticed. You are the heartbeat of this department, and I am incredibly proud to serve with all of you. This proclamation isn't just a celebration of a calendar month, it's a testament to everything this team does to make Rowlett a wonderful place to live. Our parks, trails, and recreation programs are truly where our community grows, connects, and thrives because of your efforts. We're incredibly grateful for the council's continued support, leadership, and shared vision for a vibrant, healthy, and active Rowlett. We invite everyone to come out and celebrate Parks and Rec Month at one of our parks or facilities. Thank you again for this honor.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Gibbs. Item 2D is our presentation of the State of the City video. And, Council, I would invite you guys to take a seat in the audience just so you can see it on the big screen as opposed to our monitors. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, Rowlett. I want to speak with you directly, not through a press release or a mail order, just as your mayor. This is our state of the city, and I want to start by being honest with you about something. I truly wanted to do this at the beginning of the year, but I didn't, because 2025 ended in a difficult place for our community, and 2026 did not start much easier. There were challenges in our organization, challenges in our infrastructure, challenges in the trust between this government and the people it serves. I'm not here to gloss over any of that. But I am here to tell you that something has fundamentally changed. Not simply because we say it has, but because the evidence says it has. And I want to show you that evidence. Rowlett, we heard you. We made difficult decisions. We changed course where change was needed. And today, Rowlett is moving in a new direction. This State of the City Address is to talk to you about what that looks like. Before I get into the substance of this address, I want to acknowledge the people I serve alongside. This May, RALA welcomed three new members to the City Council. Chris Kazar has called this city home for 35 years and has served with community organizations for over a decade. Byron Fassett spent 37 years with the Dallas Police Department building nationally recognized programs in child protection. And Carter Holston brings corporate leadership and civic commitment that runs deep in this community. Welcome to all three of you. I am glad that you're here. To our returning members, Marvin Gibbs, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Britton, and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem John P. Bowers III, thank you for your steady service and your continued commitment to getting this city right. And to Jonathan Reeves, Alisa Bowers, and Michael Shoup, who recently completed their service to Rowlett, thank you. This city carries the legacy of your work and we are grateful. This council is united and we are ready. The new faces on council reflects something that is happening across the entire organization. Rolla is rebuilding. Let me tell you what that looks like. Over the past year and a half, this city went through a period of significant turnover. Positions sat vacant. Leadership changed. The people responsible for delivering your services were stretched thin, and in some cases, they were learning their jobs while doing them. That affected you, and I know it. And so here's what we did about that. We began rebuilding. Across the city, we're working to fill positions that have long sat vacant. We have new faces throughout our offices and out in the community, and some returning ones as well. Through our new Department of Communications and Community Engagement, we made a commitment to improving how we communicate with residents and how we involve the public in decisions that affect their lives. Because you should never be left wondering what your city government is doing or why. But rebuilding is more than just words. It shows up in places that we can measure. In 2025, it took the city up to 120 days to fill an open position. Today, that number is just 83 days. A dedicated recruiter joined this spring, and in just two months, she helped fill nearly a third of our open positions. That's not a small thing. Every day a position is vacant is a day a resident does not get the service they deserve. Our police department is at 97% staffing, with 23 new officers onboarded in this period and zero detention vacancies. Because of that investment in people, motor vehicle theft is down 41% compared to our five-year average. Officers are arriving to calls 14% to 17% faster than they were a year ago. And when we asked residents to rate the Rowlett Police Department, they gave it a 4.55 out of 5. Strong staffing, faster response, less crime. That is what a well-run organization looks like, and we're not finished building yet. Thankfully, the foundation is solid, and the people who serve the city every day deserve to have that said out loud. Now let me talk to you about what you can see out your window, because one of the most important things a city can do is follow through. Not announce or promise with words, but actually follow through. Let's start with Miller Road. This is a project that has been a long time coming. On June 25th, we held a ribbon cutting, and I'm incredibly grateful for all the work that went into both expediting this project and doing it right. To everyone who waited and wondered if we would get it done, we did. While we're still a few years away from making the four-lane expansion a reality, this was a huge first step to ensure Miller Road remains a safe and efficient thoroughfare. In addition, Fire Station Number 5 at Sapphire Bay is now open and responding to calls. That means when an emergency happens in one of the fastest-growing parts of our city, help is closer. That matters in ways that are hard to put a number on. Last year, we installed 284 solar streetlights along State Highway 66, Dow Rock Road, and Rowlett Road. This was a voter-approved bond project, and we committed to get it done quickly. We even set a Guinness World Record. But more importantly, it made streets safer for the people who drive on them every night. For residents who have lived with odor problems in parts of the city, I want you to hear this directly. We acted. In January, we launched a comprehensive abatement program, improved 15 lift stations throughout Rowlett, and implemented treatment programs at eight of them. If you have noticed a difference in your neighborhood, that is because your city is following through on something you told us needed to change. We are also making real progress on flooding issues. Priority areas have already been identified. Smaller scale mitigation projects are already underway, and we are scoping a long-term drainage master plan so that we address this comprehensively, not just piece by piece. We also have several important projects underway. A major initiative over the past two years has been upgrading our traffic signals. I'm happy to report that our traffic signal replacements are ahead of schedule, and there's already been a noticeable improvement in traffic flows resulting from enhanced signal timing. The Merritt Road Interconnector, a huge roadway project that first started in 2016, is now in final engineering. And because we recognize the importance of maintaining as well as building, we also have concrete panel replacement crews across the city to ensure that we're making the most of your tax dollars. Every one of these projects is a commitment kept. Projects planned for, bond dollars voted for, and work you expect. We're committed to getting it done. Rowlett is also growing as a place to do business. The Lakeview Business District has completed leasing on phase one of what will become a master-planned advanced manufacturing and business park. This development has the potential to support thousands of jobs in this community over time. And construction permits have been issued for New Courtyard Residence Inn by Marriott at sunset, bringing approximately 200 hotel rooms to Rowlett. That's not just economic growth, that's confidence in our city's future. And we are not building this city alone. Our relationship with DART has turned a real corner. We have reached an agreement that allows the city to use DART's downtown lot for parking, opening more access for residents and visitors coming to Main Street. We are also finalizing two significant grant programs together that will bring meaningful investment into our community. The partnership between Rowlett and DART is more productive today than it has ever been. We're also growing our economic development department to enhance our ability to attract new businesses and retain those that already call RELA home. And we continue to strengthen our relationship with the RELA Area Chamber because partnerships like those serve all of us well. We're committed to ensuring RELA is a great place to do business and it starts with building the right environment for businesses to succeed. This community also showed up this past year in a big way. More than 121,000 of you attended City events in 2025. That is 32% more than the year before. You came out to Main Street with your families, you filled our parks, you supported our downtown, and the businesses on Main Street felt it. They reported sales increases of 30 to 300% during our event programming. That is not city government doing that. That is you. U.S. News & World Report ranked Rowlett number 83 in the nation and number 26 in Texas for best places to live. I am proud of that ranking, but I want to be clear about what it reflects. It reflects neighbors who look out for each other. It reflects volunteers who show up. And it reflects families who choose to put down roots here and stay. And I want to mention something that does not always make the headlines. This year, our animal services team took in 300 animals. They found homes for 186 of them and transferred 55 more to rescue partners. That live outcome rate reflects a community that cares about every living thing in it. Thank you to everyone who adopted, fostered, or volunteered. Everything I've shared is evidence of one thing. This city can do the work. When we are organized, When we are honest, and when we are listening, Rowlett delivers. So let me tell you what's coming next, because the most important work is still ahead. Earlier this year, we conducted the first citywide community survey in over 15 years. 754 Rowlett residents responded. That level of participation tells me something important. This community wants to be a part of what comes next. The results are in, and I'm gonna be straight with you about what they say. Residents give this city low marks on how well we communicate, low marks on how meaningfully we involve you in decisions, low marks on the condition of our streets and the appearance of our community. Those are not minor critiques. Those are residents telling their city government that it has not been showing up the way that it should. We are not going to dispute that. We're not going to explain it away. We are going to share every result publicly, hold community conversations about what it means and let what you told us drive what we do next we will share more details on how you can get involved in the weeks ahead on the municipal complex i want to speak directly that project became a symbol of what happens when a city moves without its community a decision was being made that would affect people's lives and residents were not meaningfully part of making it the community pushed back and we listened We stopped. We reset. And we are starting this process over the right way, with your input at the center from the very beginning. So I'm asking you, please come to the meetings. Tell us what you think. This decision belongs to this community, and we mean that. We are also launching a new strategic plan, the first since 2018. It starts with the survey results. It runs through community input, and it sets a clear course for where Rowlett is headed over the next decade. Every resident who participates helps shape that plan. And I want to plant a flag on something that we should all start looking forward to. On September 4th, 2027, the city of Rowlett turns 75. Our Diamond Jubilee. 75 years. From a small community on the edge of the lake to one of the most desirable cities in Texas. That is something we're celebrating. And we are going to celebrate it in a way that does justice to everyone who built this place. Start watching for it. This address started with the promise that something has fundamentally changed in the city. What has changed is not just the projects we completed or the positions we filled. What has changed is the relationship between this government and the people it serves. We are listening, we are following through, and we are asking you stay in this with us. Show up to the community forums, weigh in on the strategic plan, come to the municipal complex meetings, attend the events, Support the businesses on Main Street and throughout our city. Check in on your neighbors. Because city government alone does not make Rowlatt what it is. The people of Rowlatt do. 75 years ago, people built a community here because they believed in what Rowlatt could become. Our responsibility is to leave it stronger than we found it. Not only with better roads, safer neighborhoods, and stronger city services, but with greater That work belongs to all of us. I'm honored to serve this community, and I believe the best chapter of our city's story is still ahead. Let's write it together, Rabbi. Well, thank you. I certainly appreciate the applause, but it's really owed to my colleagues here that are next to me. These are the folks who are doing the work, as well as our city staff. And I do want to make sure I acknowledge the team that helped put together the State of the City video, which is our community engagement team. We have our director, Malcolm, who I think is still back there in the back. Yeah, he's back there in the back waving. He did a phenomenal job. Phenomenal job helping to coordinate the state of the city, and I really do appreciate that. I also had Caitlin and Antonio who were there in the studio when we were putting it together, and I really, really appreciate their input and value their perspective on the video, as well as the work that they're doing in enhancing our communications. When we talked about the folks who are working on driving that communications effort, it starts with that team. So I'm grateful for them and for all of our city staff who work so hard every day. All right, next we'll move to item 2E, update from the city council on management, financial position, major projects, operational issues, upcoming dates of interest, and items of community interest. Making that presentation is Mr. Carter Holston.

Thank you, Mayor. Because of my age, the mayor cut this announcements down to one page. So thank you all for staying for the announcements. I appreciate that. From our Communications and Community Engagement Department, Fireworks on Main once again brought our community together for an unforgettable Independence Day celebration. Thousands of residents and visitors enjoyed the live music family activities, food vendors, and spectacular fireworks display as Rowlett celebrated our nation's birthday together. Thank you to our staff, volunteers, public safety personnel, sponsors, and community partners who helped make this signature event an outstanding success. Next, residents are invited to the upcoming Merritt Road Interconnector public meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8th. This meeting provides an opportunity to review environmental findings, engineering plans, and project details. Ask questions and share feedback as the project moves through the federal review process. A virtual presentation begins at 5, followed by an in-person open house from 6 to 8 at the Relic Community Center. Written comments will be accepted through July 23rd. And from our library, it's not too late to join the library's summer reading challenge. To earn tickets for grand prize drawings like Kindle Fire, a Tony box, whatever that is, a junior paleontologist prize package. To celebrate the nation's 250th birthday, the library has a special weekly prize drawing for American flag along with the scavenger hut of historic Americans. The Arts and Humanities Commission sponsors an annual photography contest featuring photos taken in Rowlett in the past year. Visit Rowlett.com slash photography for the entry form and complete contest rules. Photo submissions will be accepted on July 7th and 8th. And for all of us singers, Rowlett Sings returns on Saturday, August 29th with a chance to win $200. To enter the contest, submit a video of yourself singing before August 8th. What do you think? Visit Rowlett.com, Rowlett Sings for an entry form and complete contest details. Now, from our police department, the Rowlett Police Department The fifth women's safety course begins Tuesday, July 4 p.m., Thursday, July 9. Applications may be requested by contacting Officer Eric Mitchell at emitchell at roulette.com. The course schedule, Tuesday, July 14, 1 to 3, general safety and law knowledge. Thursday, July 16th, crime prevention, scams, and dating safety. Tuesday, July 21st, from 1 to 3, basic self-defense. The date may change to Tuesday, July 28th. Thursday, July 23rd, 1 to 3, CRACE, and eight best handguns for women. Wednesday, July 29th, 8 to 11, is range day. The Riot Light Police Department also invites community to brew with the blue, that's coffee brew with the blue, from 8.30 to 9.30 a.m. Saturday, July 25th at the Village Coffee Altara at 4113 Main Street. Residents are encouraged to stop by, enjoy a cup of coffee, and visit with members of their local police department.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Holston. I believe we also have an update from Mr. Fassett.

Well, while they try to pull that, here we go. I think it's getting ready to come up. There it is. That's Expresso. All right. Expresso is a one-year-old medium-sized female who is waiting for her forever soulmate. Espresso is a bit shy at first, but once you introduce yourself to her, there is no turning back and she will express her unwavering love that you simply cannot turn down. She is looking for a home where her sweet and gentle personality can really shine. And there's a bonus with her. She is an amazing walker. Watch the play on words, it's amazing. She's an amazing walker, so no spilled espresso on your morning walks. If you're looking for someone to kickstart your day off with, consider giving espresso a shot, or a shot of espresso. And I think we got a little update slide there. So somebody's gotta go up there quickly and get espresso. yeah look at this one now this one's an update after over a year now in the way they titled it is happy tails update which i like after over a year in some trials we are pleased to announce that katie has found her forever family and has not stopped smiling as you can see or wagging her tail you too can make a difference even if adoption is not an option for you fostering is a powerful way to help shelter a dog in need

All right, thank you, sir. Council, any other updates to share? All right, seeing none, we'll move on to our item three, citizens input. At this time, comments will be taken from the audience on any topic. No action can be taken by the council during citizens input. I have several requests to speak forums. Our first speaker this evening will be Dave Hull, followed by Josh Hablinski. And Dave, if you'll step up to the mic, state your name and city of residence, you will have three minutes. And if you can just pull the mic back toward you, please.

Rowlett has failed to manage Paddle Point Park in a safe manner. You allow many unsafe activities at Paddle Point Park, and it's up to the Dallas Marine Unit and the game wardens to clean up your messes which originate from Paddle Point Park. Exhibit one shows the Dallas Marine Unit returning rescued SUP victims to Paddle Point Park. Exhibit two shows the game wardens dealing with violators at Paddle Point Park, all occurring immediately before the July 4th, 2026 holiday. The Dallas Rowlett Lake Ray Hubbard ILA requires Rowlett to enforce parts of the Dallas City Code. Please see Exhibit 3, the section highlighted in red. The Rowlett Police Department has refused to acknowledge or comply, so I ask the RPD to have the city attorney review and issue an opinion. Exhibit 3 shows that Rowlett now realizes their responsibility to enforce the Dallas ordinances under this agreement. This has been an unorganized and confusing exercise to obtain the facts. It is possible the city attorney gave incorrect prior advice to the Rowlett Police Department with this matter. I asked this question and was told to submit an open record request for the information. As a result, I submitted an open record request for the information. The city attorney has said this information is covered by attorney-client privilege. Who is the city attorney working for? Obviously not the residents, more likely the Rallup Police, the client, who possibly both have jointly failed to represent the interests of the residents, businesses, and community. related to this matter is exhibit four the letter from the city attorney to the attorney general concerning my open record request i am the requester of information but in this letter an ashley michael is identified as a requester with the wrong date on march 23rd 2026 is this a form letter our city attorney uses and just updates the date and requester if so this is sloppy work How many billable hours were we charged for this legal advice? Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Josh Oblinsky, followed by Les Carroll.

Hello, everybody. I was actually hoping to follow Les, but I'll jump up here. So I'm here tonight to discuss flock cameras, which are always super fun to talk about. I am a cybersecurity engineer. I served my country in the Army as first a cryptologic network warfare specialist and then a cyber operations specialist whenever we stood up the cyber branch in 2015. I've been in the field for about 15 years now. I don't come to talk about the constitutional implications of flock cameras or the privacy aspects because that's not my area of expertise, and people who are equipped to discuss those things I think will do so when the time comes. But I do want to express concern from a cybersecurity perspective for these devices, and I think I'm uniquely positioned to have an opinion about it in this community. so there have been multiple examples of these devices being compromised in really simplistic ways that are concerning i don't think this is the right forum to get into specific examples of when this has happened and and how it's done but mr mayor you and i have had a dialogue before as it relates to retaining walls and i would uh I would invite you to have that dialogue with me again as it relates to cyber security. If you'd like to get into specifics and anybody on the council as well, I'd love to have that conversation. The way that we analyze risk in the cyber security community is in terms of vulnerability and attack surface. Many respected researchers and auditors in the field have found lots of vulnerabilities in these cameras that are not being assessed to the standard that they should be for the sensitivity of the data that they have access to. That's concerning to me. Given the recent highlights in the media of different citizens' concerns with these cameras, the attack surface is huge. There have already been instances of police officers' credentials being leaked on Russian cybersecurity forums and being sold so that people can utilize these in malicious ways. And that's very concerning to me as well. I would also add that it creates the opportunity for additional financial burden on our city. So they're expensive, as it is, but also this public scrutiny brings vandalism and all other sorts of types of damage that can happen to these cameras that will be at the taxpayer's dime to address.

All right, sir, I'm sorry your time is up. Oh, I'm sorry. That's all right.

I should have asked what the time limit was. That's all right.

Thank you very much for your comments. All right. Our next speaker will be Les Carroll, followed by Ron Manns. And Les, there is, I apologize for giving you work to do, but there is a little timer box right there on the table that's, if you could, perfect. Thank you very much. That got moved at some point.

A lot more helpful.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. My name is Les Carroll. I've been a resident of Rowlett for almost nine years now. Proud to call it home. I want to first off thank everybody for expediting the sewer smell issue. That was my reason for coming out here the first time. All right. Rowlett, we are being watched. There is a wolf in sheep's clothing amongst us. Let me quote George Mason, one of the principled architects of the Bill of Rights. He warned in 1776 that general warrants, searches of people not named and offenses not described, are grievous and oppressive and ought not to be granted. Our city is doing exactly that by hiring a private company to create a permanent record of every resident's movements. We should not surrender our constitutional rights simply because the government found a private contractor willing to do the tracking for them. In late 2022, without real public debate, Rowlett quietly installed a network of flock safety cameras that now photograph every vehicle that passes and the people near them. These systems don't just read license plates. They capture images of individuals, track movement patterns, and use AI to flag what their algorithms consider suspicious behavior. That is pre-crime logic. Today, there are at least 20 of these cameras in Rowlett. City leaders have already said they want 32 more. That data is stored for at least 30 days and shared with over 500 other law enforcement agencies. The Supreme Court recently ruled that mass location tracking, even when the government goes through a private company, is a search that requires constitutional limits. Our city is running the digital version of posting an officer at every intersection to record every plate and every person who passes 24 hours a day. And how was this approved? Mostly through consent agendas with almost no discussion. The full contract is still being hidden from us. The exact camera locations have never been released. The police department's own policy 427, the rules they call robust, has not been posted on the city website like every other department policy. So far, we have spent over $218,000 on this program. By the end of this year, the running total will exceed $253,000. Once they expand, we will be paying $130,000 to $150,000 every single year forever. That is your money and civil rights taken with almost no oversight. That is not how a free people govern themselves. This is how surveillance states are built, one quiet consent agenda at a time. So what do we do? We show up. We demand the full contract. We demand the camera locations. We demand policy 427. And we tell our city council, if you cannot justify mass surveillance of your own residents under the Constitution, then turn the cameras off for good. Rowlett is our home. Our privacy is not for sale, and our right to move freely without being logged and tracked by the government is not negotiable. Get a warrant. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Ron Manns, followed by Margie Manns. Ron Manns, you're next. Yes, sir.

Thank you. I'm Ron Manns from Rowlett. I live in the Lake Bend Estates and I'm excited about the wall, but I'm not going to talk about the wall today. I'm actually here today to talk about the fireworks throughout and across Rowlett. So this last Saturday was July 4th and I'm sure everyone had a great time. I was having a great time at home with Margie and my family. And we were, it was about 8.45 and there was an enormous boom that sounded like a cannonball hit my house. And I was like, and we all panicked and we went, oh my God. There's been shootings in our neighborhood. I don't know if you guys know that. So the immediate panic was not just, oh no, big fireworks. This was maybe somebody's trying to kill us. So we have a panic reaction. We go outside and we start looking. And sure enough, a neighbor across the street is launching full scale explosive devices. Up in the air, boom, the size of houses. We contacted neighbors, we talked to people, we were seeing the smoldering embers hit our house, hit our yard, hit other people's houses and yards, and we were talking to neighbors who were reporting the same thing. The fireworks definitely were creating a hazard. So I called the police at 8.52, and we were immediately thanked for our time, and we're going to try. But then we were directed to the non-emergency number, and we then proceeded over the course of the evening to receive four apologies, text apologies for the inability to respond. Because there was so much of this going on in Rowlett, I suppose, I don't know what the responses were going, but no one had time. And if you went outside, you heard fireworks all over the city. When I drove around later, I saw Roman candles and explosions, and it felt like there was just essentially lawless abandon for the fireworks that were going on. For 13 years we lived with a dog that had extreme anxiety. I think this would have killed her. Our dogs that have never, we have three and a half year old dogs, never had any anxiety. They were fearful that night. So my recommendation is that you guys look into this. I'm thinking increased response staff for July 4th and of course for New Year's Eve. get more people to be able to respond quicker and an awareness campaign to remind people that this is illegal and unacceptable in Raleigh. Thank you very much.

Hello. My name is Margie Manns. I live in Rowlett in the Lake Bend Estates. And I'm talking about the Lake Bend Estates ugly wall.

The wall is ugly.

It's still ugly. And I see a lot of new people here. It's been a long time since we've been here.

But I've had some health problems.

I understand that a lot of things go on. It's good to see new people here. And I'm glad and I understand that since new people are here that maybe that's why our wall has not been rebuilt. It's time. It's time to do it. I believe in you. I believe in this new staff. Come on. Let's do it. Today. Okay? Let's do this. We were promised a new wall and it's time. Mayor Widgett said, let's make Rowlett beautiful. You know, let's put us in that percentage of making Rowlett beautiful.

Hello, I know you.

You used to sit over there and now you're sitting there. Yeah, okay, right?

Let's do this, right?

Promises are meant to be kept, okay? And so, oh, God, look at you. Oh, I'm the ugly wall, and Ron is the pretty wall.

See? Yeah?

Okay. That's all I have to say. I believe in you, and I believe in everybody. Let's do it, okay? All right. Thank you all very much.

Thank you.

All right, our next speaker. Build that wall, okay?

Thank you, Margie.

All right, bye.

Bye-bye. All right, our next speaker is Denise Eljouhi, followed by Hassan Eljouhi.

Denise, Rowlett, Texas. The prior administration failed to enforce 6602 Warwick Drive Code violations, while some remain, spending years of taxpayer money, creating Ordinance 1025 as a bypass instead. This selective enforcement treats our safety and property values, depriving us of equal protection under law. We urge this council to assure fair enforcement. The Board of Adjustment formally addressed fire and drainage risk, yet this administration labeled these safety concerns a civil dispute to shield Ordinance 1025, ignoring three active removal orders. This raises a fundamental question of fairness, why any other resident received the same exception. Over 450 residents properly obtained their permits and followed standard city guidelines. In contrast, this property remained an open shell for 18 months. Conflicting with standard abandonment regulations in rollout chapter 77, we asked for a clear determination as to which administrative official authorized the suspension of code enforcement on roof demolition lacking both a permit and engineering report. The structure uses plastic fence panels bolted directly to a house as exterior walls. These are not approved structure building materials for extensions, especially within a zero setback under IRC Section R302.1. Zero-foot setback walls require a one-hour fire rating, which these panels fail to provide. This setup causes water runoff, breeds pests, and prevents maintenance without illegal trespassing. records indicate a claim sent to a city employer stating the fire marshal identified their brick wall as a fire break despite our home also being brick because this appears inaccurate i formally request that the fire marshal provide the specific safety assessment in writing on december 31st 2026 This temporary ordinance, Ordinance 01025, officially expires. That legal shield drops and the building instantly reverts to what it truly is, an unpermitted zoning violation. Residents, investigate the archives yourself. Look at the timeline and demand this council take immediate action ON DECEMBER 31ST TO REMOVE IT RATHER THAN LEAVING THE STRUCTURE, ILLEGAL STRUCTURE ON PROPERTY LINE AND OUR SIDE YARD WITH NO ALLEY. SETBACKS ARE THERE FOR A REASON. THIS IS NOT NORMAL AT THE EXTENT YOU HAVE GONE WHILE DENYING US EQUAL PROTECTIONS UNDER THE LAW. SOMETHING IS NOT ADDING UP. WE ASK RESIDENTS TO LOOK INTO THIS RABBIT HOLE THAT GOES DEEP.

THANK YOU.

I was listening to the mayor about his speech in the video. It's really beautiful. We've been looking in our neighborhood, and what I see, I see an illegal shag that dumping water every time it rains, flooding my property, and causing a lot of problems for me, causing the foundation problems. It's a fire hazard, plastic, and the official have been told that his building breaks. That's his firewall. What I know is the firewall in that shack, the extended building, is supposed to be containing the fire inside that building. So all the three around side should be firewalls, and the ceiling too, which it doesn't have it. That building, it been passed. God knows how. There's a lot of long fingers that made it passed. And I know it. And everything I said, there is no final permits. There is no inspection. We haven't seen anything or been denied to get any, look at any permits. Council voted for zero setback, never having a roulette between a side yard and house. Zero, from five feet to zero setback. They also, they changed the ordinance from 200 square foot to 250, so it will cover 6602, his buildings. It's been tailored and made for March 6602 to make that building pass. This is not fair. The Constitution says it has to be justice. We have rights, exactly like what he has. We're not getting rights, we're being dumped and tell us, deal with it. I'm not gonna deal with it, you start it, you deal with it. For all the council to start fresh and make the city thrive, you have to do the right things. You can't breach, you gotta practice what you breach. This building is not staying there. It's causing us a lot of trouble. We can't take it. It happened to me and my wife. It's going to happen to everybody else. You can't have two set of rules. Code enforcement, they don't even provide anything. He has electric. which is a fire hazard. He has a plastic fencing as a wall. It doesn't match the building. The fire department cannot get in there. We have three feet and we don't have an alley. Our life means something. My kid's life means something. My wife's life means something. He can't throw us in there and say, hey, deal with it. Go do this and do that. Been told this brick wall is the fire wall. This is insane. I know what the firewall is. It's supposed to contain that fire inside the building. This city has to do something good and do the right things if it's going to thrive.

Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Miranda Conji, followed by Laura Khalil.

Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Miranda Conchie. I'm a citizen and the founder and president of Sensory Temp Pals, a Rowlett nonprofit now running the first mobile sensory unit in the DFW Metroplex. Mayor Winter, tonight you spoke about leaving Rowlett stronger than we found it, about building greater trust between our community and the government that serves it, and about the work belonging to all of us. I've been sitting with a statistic that I read about 50% of people with autism live with chronic loneliness. It made me think about where that loneliness starts, the playgrounds that are not built for every child, the sports teams and summer programs that do not have experience, the thought or the budget to support and include children that want to participate, and the community events across DFW Metroplex that families refrain from attending, all because the child has a disability. These children want to take part, their families want to be included and thought of as part of the process, not watched from the internet or be considered an afterthought. REL-IT has the opportunity to close that gap and lead this entire Metroplex in closing it. That's what Cicerine Tempals has been building with the support of the city. On June 27th, the vision became a reality, granted it wasn't a City of REL-IT event, But the Sweet Taste of Pride, we served 25 families. Three EMTs on site toured the MSU and told us how much they loved seeing it there. On July 4th, at the fireworks on Main, we served 17 families. Five of them attending a major event for the first time since their children had been born. Simply because the MSU was there. And because finally an event accommodated their family. As the mother of one of those families, speaking from experience, I want to emphasize what an amazing honor that is for the city of Rowlett to have a family go to their fireworks event as their first major outing with their child with autism. That impression will become core memories for people. Between those two nights, we served 42 families. We walked away with requests for private bookings, other city partnership requests, and family after family asking where we'll be next. I'm asking the city to follow through on the MOU that was approved pending a funding agreement, as there's been no movement since that meeting. The mobile sensory unit has been deployed twice, here in Rowlett, and it's working. What's left is finishing up. the branding and the final pieces. We've had families ask for other city council members from other cities interested in our attendance in the events such as Garland. Once this program is finished, Rowlett becomes the city that makes that possible and the foundation this whole program stands on. We have the opportunity to build something incredible here and Rowlett has the opportunity to be the city that set those wheels in motion. Mayor, you said the best chapter of Rowlett's story is still.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Laura Khalil, followed by Tamara Hess.

Hello. I'm actually, I'm here to address also that chief of police. That's what I'm actually wanted to address. And I was trying to get hold of you in the last two or three weeks.

So I do need you to address the council. I'm sorry, say it again. I need you to address the council.

Sure, but I was here because I know that he's going to be here. So my name is Laura Khalil, and I am here tonight for more than 35 days. I have been trying to have my case fairly reviewed, and I have reached a dead end. I've done something not smart on June 2nd. I laid a large amount of money in my backyard to dry. It got dammed a little bit, and I forgot about it, so I put it outside. in my backyard, I forgot about it, and I went in. There is a brief time of wind came and blew my money from my backyard into the front yard. And it reached my adjacent neighbor lawn and someone's street. So the money was blowing everywhere, but it was kind of almost one direction. What we got, first of all, those neighbors collected the money, and they did not notify me, and they did not call the police. It's a chunk, it's more than $34,000, almost $34,000. And they did not call the police, and they did not notify me. until I looked in the morning and I looked on my videos. If I did not have the videos, I could have known who picked the money. And of course, I was panicking. So anyway, in the morning, I called the police. I reported to them. And later on, I gave them the videos, the audios, photos, and everything to prove that how much I started with and who picked exactly the money. And they were silent about it. And I studied the code, 31.03 penal code. And the four elements of this code, they broke it, and none of them, was done correctly. I mean, none of them came to the police. They were actually splitting it, split it, some half and the other half. So they were having a great time with my money. And the police knows that. And then, unfortunately, what I discovered is that one of those neighbors that they took, they picked up the money.

I'm sorry, ma'am, your time has expired. Yeah, but anyway, I need to talk to the chief. Absolutely. As you mentioned, he's in the back corner of the room. I'm sure he'd be happy to have a conversation with you. Thank you, ma'am. All right, our next speaker is Tamara Hess, followed by Shannon Bandel.

First, I want to apologize for my casual apparel as I am coming straight from physical therapy. Second, well done on the fourth event at Pecan Grove Park. I am quite frustrated that this will be the third time in 10 months I have chosen to speak in public as I have a phobia of it. But here I am doing my best to support my neighbors who continue to show up. Patrick and Shannon Bandel, Allen and Sylvia Hogan have been coming for over 14 months, every meeting voicing for all of Lake Bend Estates. This is ridiculous, we are still here. And disheartening, we actually believe what we were told. We seem to have been fed information that there was a timeline that was on track for the city of Rowlett to finally take care of the crumbling, deteriorating hodgepodge of six colors wall you are and always have been responsible for. June 30th construction was supposed to begin. That has now passed and new excuses have emerged and blame game has begun. If I were to call code enforcement on a fence in my neighborhood that was falling apart with large gaping holes that vehicles have run through, And it was painted six different colors that looked like a five-year-old chose what would happen. Would the owner of the fence not get a notice they had, what, 10 to 30 days maybe to remedy it? And then what? If that owner of the fence did not adhere and properly fix or replace their fence, would he then be threatened with a fine? And then what? Still not fixed? Does the city come in and fix it? Ironic, yes. Our neighbors have been speaking up for 14 months. The wall has been crumbling for over three years. You have done nothing. The multitude of shades painted on the wall by City of Rowlett is pathetic at best, criminal at worst. A 10-year-old could pick out one shade that would have been more appropriate. How does khaki even get into the mix of a red brick? You have and continue to devalue and neglect your responsibility. and decrease our home values at the same time. Who wants to live in a neighborhood that clearly greets you with, we don't care, welcome. We are tired of the delays and the promises and the timelines. Get to work. Stop finding excuses. All four of the properties you seem to now be using as excuses have had repair work done in the past by the city with no permissions given by the homeowners. Should they sue the city for accessing their property now that the city believes they cannot do anything without their consent? Should our neighborhood begin to call code enforcement daily? money allocated specifically for this in the budget for years. Stop making promises and excuses and get your property taken care of. Patience is no longer for Lake Bend residents. I don't want our neighborhood or our city looking like a slum. You shouldn't either.

Thank you. All right. Our next speaker is Shannon Bandel, followed by Patrick Bandel.

SHANNON BANDEL RALLET. DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHY I'M UP HERE? THIS IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS. DECEPTION AT ITS FINEST. AS YOU KNOW, I'M HERE AGAIN REGARDING YOUR LAKE BEND ESTATES WALL. The community was told construction would begin on June 30th. Today, there's still no activity. The day after the scheduled start date, I reached out and I asked what has happened. I received a response from interim city manager Christoph Bauer. He acknowledged that the project had fallen behind schedule and accepted responsibility for missing the timeline that was presented to both the council and the community. We're wondering, when did staff know the schedule would slip? You told us. YOU TOLD US CITIZENS THAT YOU WOULD KEEP US INFORMED AND UP TO DATE. WAS COUNCIL INFORMED IMMEDIATELY OR ONLY AFTER THE DELAY BECAME UNAVOIDABLE? ACCORDING TO THIS EMAIL, APPROXIMATELY 45 DAYS WERE LOST WHILE WAITING FOR AN AGREEMENT WITH ONCOR TO RELOCATE A POWER POLE AND WHILE NEGOTIATING ADDITIONAL WORK TO ACQUIRE EASEMENTS ACROSS FOUR PROPERTIES. Kristof also stated that in his opinion, these tasks could have certainly been pursued at the same time as the design, bidding, and award process instead of delaying the entire project. Utility coordination is one of the earliest activities on infrastructure products. Why wasn't Encore engaged much earlier? When was the relocation request first submitted? Was the design dependent upon this poll? Was anyone tracking utility critical path items? A new schedule now calls for final design on July 9th. We had a final design. Advertisement for bids on July 10th. We had bids. Bid opening on July 29th, council award on August 18th, and pre-construction meeting and notice to proceed on September 1st. Our neighborhood has been hearing revised timelines for quite some time. Every delay pushes this project further away, and after years of waiting, it's difficult not to be disappointed again. I'm asking the council to ensure that this new schedule is treated as a commitment, not simply another estimate. Please hold everyone involved accountable and provide proactive updates and any milestone begins to slip. Residents should not have to repeatedly reach out just to learn that another deadline has been missed. Lake Bend Estates has been patient. We have continued to trust the process and we simply want to see this project finally move from schedules and promise to actual construction. jeff just now safer neighborhoods and stronger city services with a greater trust between a community and the government that serves it jeff come on show us this trust in your commitment I sincerely hope the next update we receive is the sound of equipment on site rather than another revised timeline. Follow through with your promises. Actions speak louder than words.

Thank you, Ms. Bandle. Our next speaker is Patrick Bandle, followed by Martin Malloy.

That was a nice video, Jeff. Patrick Bandel, Rowlett. It is with no small measure of frustration that I share with you that the city and this council continue to fail its residents. For far too long, I've come before this council and petitioned you to do the right thing. Everyone in our neighborhood had so much confidence once Jeff made his presentation on rebuilding the screening walls. but still I continued to come and be persistent. Then everyone said for certain the wall would be built in spring after the council passed the plan and committed to the construction. But something told me not to sit idle, so still we came and made speeches that seemed repetitious. But we wanted you to know that we won't give up. Even during an intermission when the computers weren't working, Jeff and three council members all assured us that the wall will be built. Emails stated that the timeline was set. On June 16th, at the city council meeting, Jeff replied to my speech that staff was reaching out to the contractor and that I would get an update. And Manal had also told me earlier that a contractor was in place. Turns out there was no contractor. We've been bamboozled. From the very first time I met you, Jeff, at National Night Out, before you were mayor, you promised my wife, shook her hand and looked her in the eyes, and said replacing the screening wall was a top priority for your campaign. Now we find out the design and bid documents are not even finalized. A bid opening may be by the end of the month and definitely no construction until at the very earliest, sometime late into September. Or realistically, the way this process moves, I'm guessing more like 2027. I keep getting told that if you don't receive all of the easement approvals, that brings everything to a halt. It is either all or nothing. You're telling me that you're not gonna build as much as you can? Why not remove your wall and make that homeowner have nothing if they want to be so troublesome? At least the thoroughfare will finally look decent with 95% of it rebuilt. All or nothing. It seems like you're using this as a way out of the project altogether. If that were the case, then what? We continue to watch the city structure, watch the structure of our city crumble around us. We pay our taxes timely. I've said it before, some kid is gonna get hurt by the rebar sticking out or they're gonna lean against a bad section of the wall and it's gonna fall on them. Maybe the city getting sued is the only way to see action. This entire process has been disgusting and a complete disappointment. It's no wonder we can't draw new business to this jewel of the Metroplex. Even with our beautiful lakefront, two major highways, and just 20 minutes from downtown Dallas, we can't even get a good steakhouse. What business would want to come here? You can't even build a simple screening ball within three... Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The last speaker that I have a speaker card for is Martin Malloy. If there's anyone else from the public who wishes to speak, there are speaker cards in the back left corner of the room.

Mayor and members of the council, my name is Martin Malloy. I live on New Forest Drive, which is way on the east side of Rowlett. I want to talk about a couple of issues. First, excellent presentation. Thank you. And I know you put a lot of work into that, and I very sincerely appreciate it. Couple of things that have bugged me in my part of the world on the east side of town. I'm a civil engineer. I'm talking about Lakeview Parkway. One, in last year, we expanded the road. We added a third through lane going east that goes east in front of the Whataburger and the Walmart market. It gets all the way to the car wash and stops. People run 50 miles an hour through there, which is the speed limit, and they're hitting that curb. They've been hitting that curb for about a year now. uh about four weeks ago a person had the front tire tore completely off and i thought well i need to talk about this i i wrote to the to the staff back in january uh what it needs is is some arrows in on in the lane two arrows pointing you out and a sign that says lane ends merge left And that would save a lot of people from a lot of car damage in Rowlett. And do it right in front of the new coffee place, whatever that thing is called. Dutch Brothers, I believe. Something like that. That would cost practically nothing. It would help a whole lot, I think. Because it's just, at night, it's blind. People hit it. And I think the car washers scattered out some reflectors, but they're doing a little good, but they just have to replace them every time they get swept off. Second, we recently redid the signal at Scenic Drive, which is the road that goes down to the hospital. Seventeen years ago, the Federal Highway put in flashing yellow arrow for permitted left turn lanes. We give people a green arrow to turn left. Used to be we gave them a green ball after that that you could, if you had a gap, you could turn left. That was changed because it was more dangerous to flashing yellow arrow. It became the standard about 17 years ago. People have done it everywhere. It was not done at Scenic Drive. Scenic Drive operates with flashing yellow arrow at Lakeview Parkway, operates flashing yellow arrow east and west, and has green ball north and south. You have two different operating systems on the same intersection, which is terrible. I wrote back in May to the action center on that, and I've seen nothing on it. But it's an easy fix. It is proven to be safer, and it just needs to be done, particularly while you've got the signal people working right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Malloy. All right, that is all the speaker cards I have. Did anyone else wish to speak this evening? All right, with that, one request I'm going to make to our interim city manager is that we get, the council receives weekly updates on the Lake Bend Estates screening wall to let us know if we're on track, if we're off track on the particular timeline that you provided, because I know you provided that to the city council as well, for all of those milestones that are upcoming. Okay, and then we'll communicate that out to the public. WE HAVE WEEKLY UPDATES GOING FORWARD ON THAT PROJECT. FORWARD ON THAT PROJECT. FORWARD ON THAT PROJECT. WITH THAT WE WILL MOVE ON WITH WITH THAT WE WILL MOVE ON WITH WITH THAT WE WILL MOVE ON WITH OUR AGENDA TO ITEM 13. TO OUR CONSENT AGENDA. ITEM 4, THE FOLLOWING ITEMS MAY BE ACTED UPON IN ONE MOTION. A CITY COUNCIL MEMBER OR CITIZEN MAY REQUEST ITEMS BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION. I DID HAVE A REQUEST YESTERDAY TO PULL ITEM 4B, WHICH IS THE FUNDING AGREEMENT WITH THE RELATE CITIZEN COURT COUNCIL. THAT JUST LEAVES ONE ITEM, WHICH IS THE MINUTES. DID ANYONE WISH TO PULL THE MINUTES FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION? SEEING NONE, DEBBIE, IF YOU CAN READ THAT ITEM INTO THE RECORD AND THEN WE'LL CONSIDER YOUR CONSENT AGENDA.

Consider action approved in the minutes.

All right. Can I get a motion for our consent agenda? Motion by Mr. Britton.

I move that we approve as read.

And a second by Mr. Gibbs. I too. And any discussion? All right. Let's go ahead and call the vote, please. Mr. Holston. There we go. And that carries unanimously. All right. Next, we'll move on to item 4B, individual consideration item. Consider action to adopt a resolution authorizing a funding agreement between the City of Rowlett and the Rowlett Citizen Corps Council, an amount not to exceed $100,000, authorizing the interim city manager or his designee to execute the agreement and all necessary and related documents and providing an effective date. Chief Randles.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Mr. Mayor. Well, while we're doing that, Marjorie asked me to make sure and tell you that she said goodbye. Yes, sir. All right. So here tonight to talk about the Rowlett Citizen Corps Council have several representatives from the group here tonight to help me out. And so next slide, please. Oh, gotcha. I didn't realize I had control.

It's the big button.

Okay.

Or maybe not. That's right. Just tell Debbie when you're ready to go and she'll keep you on track.

Thanks, ma'am. All right, so a little bit of background on the group. They provide a lot of services for the city of Rowlett, and they are extraordinarily dedicated group volunteers that serve the city. Probably the biggest thing that I've seen them do since I've been here is stand by at most of our city events for first aid and just basic care of our citizens, handing out water, making sure everybody's well taken care of, especially in this heat that we've had this summer. They provide support services for our public safety groups, police, fire, EMS, out on scenes, especially the larger scenes. We've seen a couple of our structure fires. I know they've been out at several other events this year prior to my arrival. And so they're very key to our success out on emergency scenes here in town. They provide several growth and learning opportunities for both GISD and RISD students that live here in the city through a couple of their groups that they have, and I'll talk about those here in just a little bit more. They do support our city in particular, but also surrounding cities in times of disaster. And again, they have over 300 volunteers and they provide over 22,000 hours of volunteer service annually. And they do this through six affiliated programs that they operate and manage. Primary is Rowlett CERT, which takes care of those disasters and disaster responses to help us out. Then Fire Corps, which is the one which typically will respond out on those larger events and help out the public safety groups. The Explorer Post and the Boy Scout Troop are the one that provides those growth opportunities and learning opportunities for our high school students in particular uh it's been a while since i've uh had a explorer group but i've if i remember right that's age 13 to 18 14 to 21 14 to 21 okay so a little bit different so uh but uh anyway great opportunity for those kids also it's a great opportunity for us to introduce them to public service and public safety job opportunities that are out there The Rowlett Aries Group, which is our amateur radio group. And then East Texas CERT, which again supports our community and other communities during times of disaster. So in doing all of those things, obviously they need some support from the city. And so just to kind of explain where their funding goes, I'm going to kind of give a broad overview. And then if you've got specific questions, each gentleman here to answer those. But obviously they've got some maintenance and upkeep and utilities on their building that they have, which is our former fire station two that's out at 5100 Dow Rock Road. They have some payments and upkeep on all of the rolling stock and they have several different vehicles, UTVs and trailers for hauling that equipment and keeping that equipment mobile and able to get to the responses that they need to. Purchasing of supplies and operational equipment, first aid equipment, first aid needs, rehab supplies such as tents or awnings, cooling chairs for us. Those cooling towels that are out there, just all types of different rehabilitation items that help out, again, fire and police routinely. Then they provide a tremendous amount of training for their volunteers and also for the community. Again, money well spent and well invested back in the community, not only helping the citizens, but also helping the public safety officials here in town. my presentation for the night. If you've got any questions, we are here and happy to answer them.

All right. Thank you, sir. Counsel, what questions do you have? Mr. Gibbs, I believe you're the one who requested this item to be pulled.

I did, and I appreciate the presentation. It was very informative. I wanted the citizens to really get to know who y'all are and what you do because, you know, when you've been here a while and you're doing everything you do, sometimes you become invisible. And so I want you back out front, and I want the folks to be able to see in what you do. You know, there's things that wasn't mentioned. You know, you show up to every event that we have. You rehab people when they need help, and you help the fire department with that. And there are several other things I'm not thinking of, but... I've personally seen y'all since, what year did y'all start? 2003. 2003. And I can tell you that I have used you as part of being a part of the police force to find lost children. We've used you to find lost elderly. We've used you on so many events that we needed your help and help us with from fireworks on Main to any event we have. Back in the day we used to do three days of fireworks and it was all hands on deck. I appreciate all that you do and I want the citizens to be able to see that this investment is really small. It looks big but it's small for what you do. 22,000 hours. I don't know if that equates to. Somebody could probably tell me it's quick with math. Mayor, you said a lot.

Councilman, it's actually worth about $750,000 in the value of volunteer time.

Thank you. That's a lot. Anyway, that's all I've got, and I appreciate you getting up here and doing the presentation. It was well done. Thank you.

Also, any other questions or comments? Whitney, Eric, I want to offer you guys an opportunity to just talk about your organization because, I mean, to Mr. Gibbs' point, it's a great opportunity for the public to hear what you do. And although Chief Randles gave a great overview, if there's any specifics you'd like to cover, please do.

Sure. One thing I'd like to say is in your presentation, you mentioned a little bit about volunteers and where the volunteers would show up. At 3 o'clock in the morning when it's raining out, no one else wants to get out of bed. We do. And that's really important that we have those 300 and plus volunteers that are able to come out in a disaster. You may remember that we had a big disaster back in 2015 here. And in the first four days that we were in operation, we did over 3,800 service hours during that first week. So that highlights the importance that we have in all of our programs, especially during the youth, because we specialize in youth programs and we are developing the leaders of tomorrow today. And that's really one of our crux of our program is pushing that explore piece and helping them to be great people and a great future for Rowlett.

You covered it pretty well. The only thing I wanted to add was we're a volunteer organization, but we are on call 24 hours a day.

Eric, I'm sorry. Can you just step over the mic? Thank you.

We're a volunteer organization, but we're on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We we get to miss spending a lot of time with our families, especially during the holidays when we're supporting city events and assisting the city. My wife considers herself a cert widow, but, you know, I guess it keeps me out of trouble. I could be doing worse things, right? What's that? Oh, I do want to announce we have a cert class coming up the first two Saturdays of August. Attendance is required at both of them. Council member Facet has offered to help teach that one. So we're going to put them through the course and also we have a couple modules we'd like to run by you. And it's great to get that collaboration and kind of see what we do. There's a few other council members, I think, who haven't been through the CERC course yet either. It used to be kind of a tradition where the whole council had been through it.

I know you said a couple courses. There may be a third course on dancing that you could ask him to teach.

Yeah, I've been seeing those videos. It's good.

Real quick, I was going to ask, and you kind of touched on it, if somebody's interested in being a CERT member, how do they do that, and when do they know, and how will they be alerted to know it's time to become a member?

Yeah, so... They have to attend the first two basic trainings. And that's the first two Saturdays in August. It's 20 hours altogether for both Saturdays. Once they complete that, we have a period of orientation training that's about four hours. And then for the remaining of their first calendar year, they have to contribute 20 hours to the program to maintain their active status. So just taking the class doesn't make you part of the team. It's the first step. And a lot of people just like to take the class because it's great training to have for even preparing your families or your neighborhood for a disaster and what to do when a disaster strikes. After that first year, we require each member to contribute 40 hours per year minimum. TO MAINTAIN THEIR ACTIVE STATUS. SO WE OFFER WHAT WE CALL SPECIALTY TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO ENHANCE OUR SKILLS, DEBRIS REMOVAL, SWIFT WATER AWARENESS, MISSING PERSONS, WIDE AREA SEARCH. SO WE HAVE A VERY HIGHLY CREDENTIALED AND TRAINED TEAM.

Well, gentlemen, thank you both for what you do. Certainly appreciate your service to the community, long-standing, long-serving service to the community. One question I had, because I didn't see it in the agreement here, and it's possible I overlooked it, was the lease agreement for the fire station, the old fire station, I should be clear, that you guys are in. Is that a separate document from this? It is. It is. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that.

Is it going to be separate going forward, or was it rolled into this MOU?

It's separate.

Separate, yeah. And I didn't see it in this document, so I think it's designed to be separate going forward as well. Yep. Okay, perfect. Do you have any questions for us with respect to this agreement?

Thank you for your past support. We've enjoyed 23 years of service to our community here, and we're looking forward to many more.

Well, thank you. We certainly appreciate it. Chief Reynolds, did you have any other comments?

I just wanted to say that, you know, having these gentlemen to support us and back us up is for me as a chief, it's a it's a very good feeling to have them there, knowing that anytime we call them, they are available to come out and add to our forces in those large events. So again, we appreciate them and their service to the community over the years. And, you know, even just this last Saturday, they're a huge part of our event and and our success out there, the public safety success of fireworks on main. So again, appreciate the heck out of them.

Thank you. All right. Counsel, any other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion. See a motion by Mr. Gibbs.

Yes, I make a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the funding agreement between the City of Rowlett and the Rowlett Citizens Court Council and the amount of and not to exceed $100,000 authorized an interim city manager and his does he need to execute the agreement and all necessary related documents providing an effective date.

We have a motion to approve the items presented as a second minister Bowers. I second motion and a second any discussion. And it's called the vote please. All right, that item carries unanimously. Thank you, gentlemen, again. We appreciate you. All right, next we'll move on to... item 5a consider action to adopt an ordinance amending the code of ordinances by amending chapter 2 administration article 2 boards committees commissions by adding a new division 12 downtown advisory board a presentation for this meeting because we had discussed it earlier in work session and essentially what is in the packet provides for the creation of a downtown advisory board made up of five voting members TWO ALTERNATE MEMBERS, TWO EX-OFFICIAL MEMBERS WHO WOULD BE MEMBERS OF BOTH DART OR APPOINTED BY BOTH DART AND THE RALLOT CHAMBER, RALLOT AREA CHAMBER, AND THEN TWO CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS, AND I BELIEVE WE'VE IDENTIFIED THOSE AS MR. BOWERS AND MR. FASSETT, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN. SO THAT'S THE, THAT'S WHAT'S ON THE TABLE.

NO? MR. KAZAR, YEAH.

MR. KAZAR AND MR. FASSETT. OKAY. OKAY. ONE SECOND. LET ME JUST DOUBLE CHECK THAT. I want to be sure that the last page of the next item, which we're not considering yet, has that information correct. It shows Facet and Gibbs. Is that correct? No. FACET. WE'LL NEED TO MAKE SURE WE AMEND THAT WHEN WE GET TO THAT ITEM. OKAY. SO THAT IS THE MAKEUP OF OUR MEMBERSHIP, NONETHELESS. FIVE VOTING MEMBERS FROM THE PUBLIC, TWO ALTERNATE MEMBERS FROM THE PUBLIC, TWO EX OFFICIO MEMBERS, ONE FROM DART, ONE FROM THE ROLLOUT AREA CHAMBER AND TWO CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS. ESSENTIALLY THIS WOULD ESTABLISH THE BOARD AND WE WOULD BEGIN RECRUITING FOR THAT POSITION OR THOSE POSITIONS JUST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. QUESTIONS? No questions. Mr. Gazar?

Only maybe to point out the timelines in which you want to put this out to the public, what that kind of looks like exactly. Is there going to be any stipulations about who applies? Is there going to be any expectations as to who's going to apply? I mean, obviously we talked about that being kind of an open application environment, so maybe we can just further expand how that is intended to look in the timelines of it.

Sure. So the timeline's not necessarily outlined in the ordinance, but the scope of people who are, that we're looking to apply is. So I'll start out with that piece. And under section 2-292, there's composition qualifications, terms, and meetings. So it talks about all those different components. And it says that voting members and alternate members should generally possess one or more of the following qualifications. Note that it doesn't say must require, shall require, anything like that. That's just a general qualification. Item one is own real property in downtown Rowlett. Item two is own an operating business located in downtown Rowlett. Number three is reside in downtown Rowlett. Number four is be an economic development, real estate, or mobility and planning professional. And number five is to have an expertise or strong background in arts and culture. So all of those keep it fairly open for I think what we're looking for. None of those individually or altogether are exclusionary, meaning you don't necessarily have to have any of those. So what we're looking for is folks who genuinely have a passion and interest in furthering not only the downtown district, but the downtown strategic plan and bringing that to fruition. I do want to mention one other recommendation that I had heard only to bring it to the council. It's something I'm not supportive of, but I do want to mention it, and that was potentially having someone from the Economic Development Advisory Board also serve as an ex officio member on the Downtown Advisory Board. Again, I'm not supportive of that idea, but I did want to bring it to you all in case there's interest among the council to add that as another ex officio position. Right now, we have 11 total members, which is already a fairly full meeting when it comes to everybody being heard and having a discussion. I imagine there'll be some pretty passionate folks who apply for this board, so there'll probably be some pretty robust dialogue, which is why I want to keep the membership. I think 11 is a good number. You get up to 15 or more, and suddenly people don't feel heard, or the meetings are running many hours long.

I would like to add in there as a reminder and discussion that the Economic Development Advisory Board had kind of started the ideas of a downtown advisory perspective that's been kind of put on hold a little bit. Obviously, they have an interest to be engaged in this level. I understand what you're saying about the numbers. would only encourage perhaps that since they've got some some interest involved themselves for several months of time i don't know how much time but that somehow if we don't consider them as being an ex-officio at least considered as part of those five to be heavily considered somebody from that department again you're talking about people who have interest in the downtown environment economic development obviously is one that has that perspective in his mind said about the growth of it the growth of downtown and so you know it occurs somehow we include someone of that group that was on there. I just because their own previous actions on there again here what you're saying that the my my suggestion in this that I know.

And nothing would preclude them from applying for the board. However, I believe we have a provision in the board and commissions handbook that you can only serve on one board. So if they wanted to serve on the downtown advisory board, then they would not be serving on the edab. Any other questions or comments? Are we happy with the composition of the board?

Let me also just right quick, if I don't mind. So that would not preclude them from proceeding with their own, which they have been doing, obviously, an internal advisory board made up from the economic development perspective, at least the EDAP perspective. Is that correct? Certainly. Because they can't serve on two, apparently. That's a good comment. But since they've been doing it already, there's no reason that that would preclude them from continuing their own. Is that correct?

Correct. If that board wanted to have a subcommittee that's specifically devoted to downtown initiatives, which they do today, they could certainly continue that. I would think it would be redundant because there's likely to be some staff who are in both of those meetings. They might be able to make that connection and transition some of that information over so that the downtown advisory board could take the work that they've done and continue down that path.

Mayor, also, I don't see anything that would hold them back from doing a presentation coming over and doing a part of their agenda for the new board and giving them a catch up on what they've been talking about and what their vision was. Is that correct?

Definitely. We've had joint meetings ourselves with different boards and commissions, and they could certainly have a joint meeting together to either help transition that information or they could do joint meetings throughout the year if they wanted to advise each other on different items. That's an option as well. They are asked or required in the ordinance to have one meeting per month, but there's nothing that would preclude them from having more meetings than that if they chose to. thank you sir any other questions or comments everybody's awfully quiet tonight so I'm trying to allow time I know yeah it was a late night I know we've already discussed this in a work session so maybe all the questions were answered there so uh if there's no other questions then I will entertain a motion on this item I see a motion by Mr Britton

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. So I move that we adopt an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 2, Administration, Article 2 Boards, Committees, and Commissions by adding a new Division 12 Downtown Advisory Board.

With my name off and Kazar's on. What's that?

With my name off of it and Kazar's on.

Yeah, that's not identified in the ordinance. We'll get to that. Okay. I second then. Okay. So we have a motion by Mr. Britton, second by Mr. Gibbs to approve the item as presented. Any discussion? All right. Let's go ahead and call the vote, please. And that item carries unanimously. As far as the timeline goes, which I totally glossed over your question when you asked that, let me touch on that real quick. My suggestion is that we open the application period basically as soon as is feasible, understanding that we have to get all this information added to the city's website, and then publicize that to get people to apply. I would like us to notify, and this is probably an economic development team task, I would like us to notify all the downtown businesses that are on Main Street and in the downtown district. I think we even have a distribution list where we can communicate with folks. So if we could let them know that this is happening, so coordinate with city secretary's office. JUST TO GET THE INFORMATION OUT THERE. AND THEN COUNCIL, I WOULD PROPOSE THAT WE KEEP THE APPLICATION WINDOW OPEN FOR SIX WEEKS? TWO MONTHS? SUGGESTIONS? Six weeks. All right. I'm hearing a couple of six weeks. So let's go with an applicant.

Yeah.

Okay. I'm hearing an application window of six weeks at which point we'll bring in and interview the membership and then appoint members very soon thereafter. Okay. Any other questions or comments on that item? All right, perfect, thank you everybody. Next we'll move to item 5B, consider action to adopt a resolution amending the city's boards and commissions handbook by adding the downtown advisory board. There are a few other changes in the item, in the boards and commissions handbook that I want to point out, just so everybody's clear on what changes are being contemplated under this item. THERE'S SECTION 2.2. THERE'S AN ELIGIBILITY SECTION WHICH BASICALLY SAYS WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR WHAT. AND MOST OF OUR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS REQUIRE THAT YOU BE A RESIDENT OF THE CITY OF RALLET. IN THIS CASE BECAUSE YOU CAN BE A DOWNTOWN BUSINESS OWNER AND NOT NECESSARILY RESIDE IN THE CITY OF RALLET, WE'RE ADDING THE DOWNTOWN ADVISORY BOARD AS A BOARD WHERE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A RESIDENT. SO THAT'S THE ELIGIBILITY ADJUSTMENT. SECTION 3.6. Basically just cleans up the language and allows the City Council to have multiple liaisons to a board today We generally only have one per board and in this case we're contemplating two. So it changes it from One or it changes it from a liaison to one or more liaisons. That's the cleanup there. I Section 4.2 basically is a cleanup on state law because agenda posting requirements have changed since the boards and commissions handbook was previously revised. And now we have to post three days in advance rather than 72 hours in advance. So substantial difference in the noticing requirements. Of course, our boards and commissions handbook would never preempt state law, but we just want to keep it clean in terms of what it needs to say. Section 4.4 is also a cleanup of language regarding citizen input. There's really nothing material there that I noticed. It's just a brief change in the language. And this was all put together by our city attorney as well. Section 5.4 brings our EDAB membership into alignment with what we're doing today. So we previously passed a change to the EDAB membership with the Baylor Scott and White appointee and a couple other things. This brings the boards and commissions handbook into alignment with what we're currently operating under with the EDAP. And then section 5.15 adds the downtown advisory board and all the paragraphs that basically demonstrate the membership and talk about what the responsibilities are and all of that. At the very end of the document is an application that adds the downtown advisory board. And then there's the boards and commissions liaison table. And that shows all the boards and commissions liaisons from the city council. That's where I was confused by the membership. So that needs to be amended. When we get to the point of making a motion, if you make a motion, you'll just need to amend the appointees to the downtown advisory board to be council members, cause are and facet any questions. All right. If there's no questions, I'll entertain a motion. See a motion by Mr. Bowers.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I WILL MAKE A MOTION WITH AMENDMENTS TO APPOINT COUNCILMEMBER KAZAR AND COUNCILMEMBER FASSETT TO THE DOWNTOWN ADVISORY BOARD. SO WE ALL WANT TO CONSIDER ACTION TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE CITY'S BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS HANDBOOK BY ADDING THE DOWNTOWN ADVISORY BOARD AS PRESENTED WITH AMENDMENTS TO THE APPOINTEES.

I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE AS AMENDED AND I SEE A SECOND BY MR. BRITTON.

I SECOND.

I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE WITH A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? ALL RIGHT. LET'S GO AHEAD AND CALL THE VOTE, PLEASE. All right. And that passes unanimously. So we'll get those amendments made to the boards and commissions handbook in conjunction with Victoria. Get those integrated and published on the city's website. All right. Perfect. Thanks everybody for those two items. Next we'll move to item seven. Members of the city council may request topics be placed on an agenda for a subsequent meeting. Any deliberation or decision shall be limited to a proposal to place a topic on an agenda for a subsequent meeting. Do we have any agenda item requests?

I do have one. It's been a while. It's not too long, but can we get maybe a refresher update on where we're at with the municipal complex site search?

Do we have a second for that agenda item?

I'll second.

All right. Then we'll get that on a future meeting. Any other agenda item requests?

All right, if there's no others, then we are adjourned at 9.09 p.m. Thanks everyone, have a good night.