City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. It is 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, and conducting tonight's invocation is Pastor P.C. Jacob with Philadelphia Church of God. So, Pastor, we invite you to come forward and lead us in that invocation. I invite everyone else to stand with me.

Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts, acknowledging that every good and perfect gift comes from you. Thank you for the privilege of living in this great nation and for the opportunity to gather today in freedom. We thank you for the city of Rowlett, for its rich diversities, its families, businesses, schools, first respondents, and all those who work each day to make this community a safe and thriving place to live. We acknowledge that true wisdom comes from you, and we ask for your guidance as the City Council conducts the important business before them today. Your word reminds, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Today we humbly ask for your blessing upon this city and its people. We pray for our Mayor, Mr. Jeff Wingate, and every member of the City Council, city officials, employees, and first responders. Grant them wisdom, integrity, courage, and unity as they make decisions that affect the life of our citizens. Bless them with discernment, protect them and their families, and help them serve with compassion and justice. We pray for the families of Rowlett that you would bring peace to our neighborhoods, strength to our schools, protection to our respondents, healing to the sick, comfort to those who are grieving, and hope to those who are in difficult times. as the Council conducts the business before them today. May every discussion be guided by wisdom, every decision be characterized by fairness, and every action contribute to the well-being of all who call Rowlett their home. May your blessing rest upon this city and may we work together to build a community marked by peace, unity and mutual respect. Heavenly Father, may you be the king of our life and help us to seek your guidance in everything that we do. May your holy name be glorified through our lives, our words and every decision we make. Lead us according to your perfect will and let our lives bring glory to you. And we ask everything in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen.

God bless. Thank you, Pastor. 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. And with that, we'll call the meeting to order at 7.03 p.m. Our first order of business tonight is our presentations. Item 2A, update from the City Council on management, financial position, major projects, operational issues, upcoming dates of interest, and items of community interest. And providing tonight's updates will be Councilmember Marvin Gibbs.

Thank you, Mayor. From the city secretary's office, applications are now open for the newly created downtown advisory board. Property owners, business owners, and residents are encouraged to apply and help shape the future of downtown Rowlett. Go to www.rowlett.com for more information. Communications and community engagement. This morning, the city of Rowlett held a blessing and unveiling ceremony at Fire Station Number One for its new Safe Haven Baby Box, becoming the first city in Dallas County and the 22nd community in Texas to offer this safe, legal, and anonymous surrender option for newborns in crisis. The city extends its gratitude to Sarah McDermott, whose leadership and fundraising made this project possible, and to all community partners who contributed, including the Rowlett Firefighters Association, the Rowlett Police Association, Providence Church of Texas, Michael Dermott, Roost by Shiloh, Nathan Dunham, and a generous anonymous donor. The Safe Haven Baby Box is monitored 24 hours a day and alerts emergency personnel immediately when it's accessed. Thank you to everyone who attended the recent community meeting to share input of the city manager search. For those unable to attend, the city is continuing to gather resident feedback on those that, I'm sorry, let me start that over. The city is continuing to gather resident feedback on the qualities you'd like to see in the next city manager and the direction you'd like to take in years ahead. Feedback may be submitted by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29th through survey available on the city website. Resident input is an important part of the search process and the city encourages everyone to participate. The library. Things are coming down to the wire for the library summer reading program, but there's still time to sign up and turn in your reading logs. Every completed reading log earns you entries into the grand prize drawing. For more information and complete list of grand prizes, visit Rowlett.com forward slash summer reading. The Arts and Humanities Commission has two contests in August, the Photography Contest and Rowlett Sings. Photo contest entries will be accepted on August 7th and August 8th. At the library in Rowlett Sings, auditions entries are due on August 8th. Additional details and entry forms for both contests can be found at Rowlett.com forward slash arts. The police. Join the ride of the police department at the Village Coffee by Altaira, located at 4113 Main Street for Brew with the Police. The event will be on Saturday, July 25th, 830 a.m. to 930 a.m. Meet your local officers in question and ask questions, share ideas, help strengthen the connection between our department and the community. We hope to see you there. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Gibbs. And we also have an update from Mr. Fassett.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. All right, you can see we have Ozark here. Introducing Ozark, a handsome Cattle Lua mix with striking eyes and an even bigger heart. This sweet boy is always ready to make a new friend and absolutely loves soaking up all the attention from anyone willing to give him a few pets. Ozark is dog friendly, enjoys spending time with other pups, and has a gentle, affectionate personality that makes him a joy to be around. Whether he's hanging out with canine friends or leaning into you for scratches, he is happiest when he's sharing love. Ozark is looking for a family that can see past his temporary skin issues and recognize the wonderful dog underneath. And our second one there, we also have good news. And I'll just throw a little something in on Ozark. If somebody jumps in and adopts him in the next 48 hours, I'll make a donation to the animal shelter with your name on it. So we'll up the price there for Ozark. Slide two there. Happy trails update. If y'all remember last time we talked, we were pleased to announce that Capone has found his forever family and is happy to call a place home. You too can make a difference even if the adoption isn't an option. Fostering is a powerful way to help shelter dogs their needs.

All right. Thank you, sir. Council, any other updates to share?

I do. Thank you, Mayor. I'm honored to have a couple of guests here in the audience tonight, two of my grandsons, Sam and Caleb Britton. And I'm going to make Caleb real uncomfortable and ask him to stand up real quick. Caleb is going into his final stages of earning Eagle Scout. And one of the merit badges that he has to do involves having to sit in like a council meeting and observe and take notes. So I just wanted to acknowledge him and both of them and appreciate them being here.

All right. Thank you, sir. Council, any other updates? All right, seeing none, we'll move on with our agenda to 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 do have some requests to speak forms, and if you have not filled one out and do wish to speak, they are in the back left corner of the room. Our first speaker this evening is Dave Hull, followed by Dan Hapt. And Dave, if you'll state your name and city of residence when you come to the mic, you will have three minutes.

Dave Hole, Rowlett. Why do we have lifeguards at the wet zone? Why are there no lifeguards at Paddle Point Park where the risks and dangers are greater? The optics are bad. At Paddle Point Park, most of those in the water have brown and black skin and cannot afford the wet zone. I believe the wet zone was authorized by the city as an enterprise-funded asset. The users would pay for it, just like the water department. There was not enough revenue from the wet zone users to pay for its maintenance. Therefore, maybe it never should have been built. The prior city manager decided the wet zone was not an enterprise funded asset, so it was moved to the park department and began using general fund taxpayer dollars. There are still no lifeguards at Paddle Point Park. Was the wet zone ever approved by council and the residents to use the general fund? Maybe we should be passing out free passes to the wet zone to get kids in a safer environment. Thank you.

Thank you, Dave. Our next speaker is Dan Hapt, followed by Denise Aljuhi.

Dan Habt, Rowlett. Good evening, council. I want to point out the monument sign at Merritt and George Bush has had the stone replaced on the base. Thank you very much. The consideration that the council showed last night at the work session was very interesting. am with Councilman Holston. Let's separate the animal shelter from the police and fire building. Please do not complicate this. The animals only need more room and the employees as well need only more space, water, and electricity. This is an easy win. Let's take the W. Don't worry about where it is. We can google the address. As far as the EV parking, Tom Thumb at 66 in Dalrock has pulled their chargers. Many of the OEM producers that build vehicles are discontinuing models. If businesses want EV chargers, they are free to purchase them. Thank you for the consideration on not mandating this parking code. Let business handle business. Please stay out of the way. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Our next speaker is Denise Eljouhi, followed by Hassan Eljouhi.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY. WE HAVE OVER 62,000 RESIDENTS. IN THE JANUARY 28, 2025 PNZ MEETING, CITY STAFF CLAIMED ORDINANCE 1025 WAS A CITYWIDE ISSUE. If this is truly a community matter, I want to ask how many applicants were there for this specific exception across our entire city? How many residents actually asked for this change? Numbers mean something. Commissioner Stanley Pollitt even questioned increasing the allowed size by 60 square feet. Why was the date of December 17th, 2019 taking out of the November 2022 Board of Adjustment package? Since this was used in Ordinance 1025 several years later. And under this ordinance and section, what exactly is required once an accessory structure is attached to the house? Under Section 77805, the rules say change in regulation should improve the general welfare of the city. Does this ordinance do that? The city council meeting on March 4th, 2025 laid out rules for non-compliant structures. Have those standards been applied to this Ordinance 1025, Section 77908, as shown on the proposal slide? At two hours, six minutes, and 33 seconds, the proposal slide demands compliance with all codes other than the side yard setback fire codes. From my understanding, it was stated on the record right here that this included strict firewall. requirements matching the materials of the main house. If a structure doesn't have that firewall, is it illegal if it's not made out of the same structure? If there's not a firewall, is it illegal? This is a clear solution for our neighborhoods. It was stated on the record that this requires a strict firewall if a structure sits too close to the property line. Why hasn't this exaction standard been applied? Why is there a sunset date of December 31st, 2026? What compliance paperwork must be submitted before the December 31st, 2026 sunset date to satisfy section 77908? What is required in that file? Zoning laws exist to protect all residents equally. Does this ordinance do that? Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Hassan El-Jouhi, followed by Beth Crockett.

Hassan Roulette. I was going to ask you guys about the structure that's been affecting our property for five years. We've been coming here every time telling you about the water damage. There is no access for a fire department to get if there's any fire. We didn't have an alley. We only have like not even three feet to access the back of the house. And what I was wondering about the section 010-2577-908, we've been asking everybody about the permits, about the inspection in the building, the electric inspection, the plumbing inspection, the concrete inspection. The material they wanted to use is made out of vinyl. It's really dangerous. Our life in danger. We'll probably get up one night and the whole thing catch on fire. They were saying the brick wall is my fire wall. What about the one over the head, the roof overhead and the bottoms like two feet or three feet? It's all wood. So if there's a fire catching there, all my attics will be on fire. It's just my house is really getting a lot of damage, foundation problem, flooding. I showed you all the videos, everything you have seen it. We asked for all the open record for permits for the inspection. We didn't get the inspection, not a single inspection we have seen. You know, and last time said this is what we have, have a good day. And it's not right. We have to be treated everybody in the same scale, same rules. Because today is me, tomorrow is somebody else in roulette. It's going to happen to them. You cannot allow somebody from legal, illegal building, he built to make it legal and doesn't concern us. The damage is going to happen to us. We're having a hard time. Every time it rains, it's bad. You know, sleeping at night, maybe there's a catch on fire. That thing is made out of plastic. There is no firewall. It has to be some rules and codes to be followed. It can't just, now if there is anything happen, that building, it doesn't go under any rules, any codes, because it doesn't pass the codes. Can you go there and give him a ticket for notice for vinyl fencing? Can you go there, hey, you have illegal plumbing? Can you go there and give him a citation for illegal electric? No. You just let some illegal building there with no following the rules and the codes of roulette, and you just left it there and, like, deal with it. Like, it doesn't apply to him, but apply to everybody resident in roulette, but not that structure. Mr.

Thank you, sir. All right, our next speaker is Beth Crockett, followed by Veronica Meyerowitz. Did I get that right? I hope. Thank you.

Beth Crockett, Rowlett. Good evening, mayor and city council members. CO bonds, unfortunately, have become the council's form of a blank check. Tonight, the council is voting once again to sell more CO bonds in the amount of $5.15 million, this time to do street and park improvements plus two fire trucks. Unfortunately for the taxpayers, this has given council the ability to bypass the citizens' rights to vote on capital improvement projects. Just because it's legal does not make it right. We as citizens do not have a blank check to pay our taxes. When you raise our taxes, we have two choices, pay the taxes or sell our house and move out of Rowlett. Rowlett has the highest tax rate and the lowest homestead exemption in Dallas County. To me, a $5,000 homestead exemption is a joke. Our tax base relies heavily on homeowners because we are a bedroom community. So far in three years, the council has sold, including the bonds tonight, $57,650,000 in CO bonds. This now exceeds the amount planned to be spent on the public safety facility, animal shelter, and Hereford Park bonds voted on by the citizens three years ago. When do we put the bad practices of David Hall's tenure behind us and live within our means? The budget process has begun, and we as citizens need to pay attention. Having attended one of these meetings myself, I caught a reference to selling more CO bonds in fiscal year 2027, which indicates to me the Council's intent to continue this practice. CR bonds are not free money, nor should they be a blank check. On a totally separate subject, I wanted to let the council know that I attempted to watch the budget sessions on July 15th and 17th today. Unfortunately, both are available by audio only. Even more unfortunate, the July 15th session is not available. There is only one minute of audio on this budget session. This is a rather important session since it covers salary structure, particularly for police and fire. Rowlett City employees are the majority of the budget, with police and fire making up the bulk of employee compensation. It's very important that this session be available to citizens. I understand this was a seven-hour session and it is not available. Could we get this budget session on the website?

Thank you, ma'am. All right, our next speaker is Veronica Meyerowitz, followed by Michelle Neuvel.

Good evening. I'm Veronica, and I've lived in Rowlett my whole life. Recently, I discovered there are 20-plus cameras, flock cameras, around Rowlett, and we have plans to install 32 more this year. This is supposed to make citizens feel safe, but instead, all I feel is an invasion of my privacy. These flock cameras are ALPCs, automatic license plate cameras. These cameras sound good in theory, but flock lacks the transparency and accountability and is extremely worrisome to me. The Institute for Justice has found 24 cases since 2024 of flock cameras misuse across the country, including an officer searching his ex-girlfriend and her partner over 200 times in just two months in Milwaukee. Sorry, nervous. Other found misuses include going after immigrants without a warrant and tracking women pursuing reproductive health care, such as abortions. FLOC has made it very difficult for police agencies to monitor search activity since 2025 when they removed data such as officer names, license plates, and filters from their network audit logs. I'm very concerned by their actions and how much control Rowlett is allowing them. Who has access to this data? How long is this data stored? Are we monitoring the use of this data in our department? Are we planning to install flocks? Condor cameras that have tools such as people detection alerts that allow searches for terms such as male with tattoos. or a male wearing white shirt and black pants, despite Flock saying they don't track anything tied to individuals. Flock also advertises their Freeform tool that has the ability to track things such as bumper stickers, dents, roof racks, and even if you have a dog bed in your car. Were RELIT citizens properly educated upon installing Phlox cameras? Would that mean their privacy before, oh, so sorry. Were they aware of this privacy, before City Council decided to implement them. Will we be notified on any change of expansion on this partnership? I suspect if we were informed, then we would see anti-flock groups similar to the deflock groups that already exist in College Station, Temple, Austin, and Carrollton. There is a reason that 30 municipalities have ended their partnership with Flock since 2025. My hope is that Rowlett will reconsider this partnership and everyone can now truly understand the implications of installing Flock cameras in our town. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Michelle Nouvelle, and that's the last speaker card I have. Again, if there's anyone who wishes to speak, there are speaker cards in the back left corner of the room. Ms. Nouvelle.

Hi, I'm Michelle from Rowlett, and I'm here to talk pickleball. I'm not here to recommend what we should do with the Dart Pavilion. Rather, I'm speaking against it being a pickleball pavilion. No doubt pickleball is a very popular recreational amenity, but does additional pickleball courts represent the highest and best use of valuable downtown property? Approximately 7% of Americans played pickleball during 2025. Applying that rate to Rowlett gives us a rough estimate of 4,800 possible pickleball players. But that includes casual participants who may have played only a few times during the entire year. It does not establish that thousands of Rowlett residents need or would regularly use additional courts. Rowlett already provides four pickleball courts at Hereford Park, three indoor courts at the community center, and a multipurpose court at Twin Star Park. Before committing downtown property, shouldn't we at least determine whether those facilities are constantly operating at capacity? Even if additional courts are justified, downtown Rowlett is not the right location. Downtown land is limited and strategically important. It can support businesses, restaurants, entertainment, public gathering spaces, pedestrian activity, and actual development that generates sales and property tax. tax revenue. A pickleball pavilion will require land, parking, lighting, security, maintenance, and eventual resurfacing. It may also create noise concerns for nearby residents and business. Will it become a homeless encampment? A large professionally operated pickleball destination with numerous courts, tournaments, food service, programming, and visitors from outside Rowlett might generate a measurable economic return. A few additional downtown municipal courts are unlikely to do that. Before this project moves forward, Council should know the answers to how heavily are Rowlett's existing courts being used? How many residents have requested additional courts? How many people would this pavilion serve each day? Is this a year-round activity? What development opportunities and future tax revenue would Rowlett forego? Do we know what DART is willing to fund? What construction, parking, lighting, security, maintenance, and resurfacing expenses would Rowlett taxpayers ultimately bear? Does this project advance the long-term division for downtown roulette? I'm also perplexed that this proposal is moving forward before the downtown advisory committee has even been selected and given the opportunity to evaluate. I never get everything right. Must mean I go on and on.

Thanks, Michelle. All right, do we have anyone else from the public who wish to speak this evening? All right, seeing none, we will move on with our agenda to our consent agenda, item four. The following items may be acted upon in one motion. A city council member or a citizen may request items be removed from the consent agenda for individual consideration. We did have a request to pull three of the items during last night's meeting. So we're going to pull items 4C, 4D, and 4E for individual consideration. And that just leaves three additional items on the consent agenda. So council or members of the public, are there any requests to pull any of those remaining items? All right, seeing none, city secretary, will you please read those remaining items into the record?

For A, consider action to approve in the minutes. For B, consider action to designate the city official newspaper. And 4F, consider action to authorize the use of eminent domain on two properties for the acquisition of right-of-way and easements for the Chesa Road widening from Dowbrock Road to Miller Road project.

All right, Council, those are our consent agenda items for the evening. I see a motion by Mr. Britton.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I move that these are approved as read.

I see a second by Mr. Gibbs.

I second.

We have a motion and a second to approve those items as read. Any discussion? All right, let's call the vote please. And those items carry unanimously. Next we'll move to item 4C. Consider action to adopt a resolution authorizing the purchase of nine Chevrolet 1500 pickups and one Chevrolet Equinox to replace enterprise vehicles from Lake Country Chevrolet through a TIPS cooperative purchasing contract for a total price not to exceed $445,155.77, authorizing the interim city manager or his designee to execute all necessary documents to effectuate said purchase and providing an effective date. Here to make a presentation on this item is our fleet manager, Mike Lasby.

This item is requesting the purchase of nine Chevrolet 1500 pickups and one Equinox to replace Enterprise vehicles and authorizing the city manager to execute the necessary documents. This is a strategic purchase using a tips cooperative to replace ENTERPRISE VEHICLES. IN FEBRUARY OF 2021, THE CITY APPROVED AN AGREEMENT WITH ENTERPRISE FLEET MANAGEMENT TO LEASE A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE CITY'S FLEET. THIS STRATEGIC DIRECTION HAS RECENTLY BEEN EVALUATED AND A DECISION HAS BEEN MADE TO RETURN TO CITY VEHICLES AND THIS PURCHASE SUPPORTS THAT DECISION BY REPLACING TEN OF THE ENTERPRISE VEHICLES. The ability of the city departments heavily relies on reliable transportation. This is in line with the strategic direction and the fiduciary responsibility to do it in the most cost-effective way possible. And the Equinox will support the police department operations. The nine trucks will be split. Three will be for utility operations, three will support park maintenance, and three will be street maintenance operations. This is the breakdown of where the proposed spending, the accounts that they would be charged to. And the recommendation is to move to adopt the resolution authorizing the purchase of these 10 vehicles.

All right. Council, questions? I'm not sure who had asked for this item to be pulled, so...

Mayor, I pulled it. So I do have a few questions. Mike, thank you so much for coming up and presenting. And being a new council member, I have just a few questions maybe you can clear up. And you mentioned fiduciary responsibility, and I certainly appreciate that lens because we share that lens as well, that we have a fiduciary responsibility here. I know nine vehicles in a city of 70,000 may not seem that big of a deal, but a purchase of a half a million dollars funded by debt is something we want to look at. Sure. First question, do we have a purchasing policy here in Rowlett that we fall under when we buy a vehicle?

Yes, sir.

Okay. And then do we have a policy of how long we keep that? I know we're switching from a lease model to a purchase model.

Is there such a most of the vehicles within the city are on a 10 year replacement plan?

I'm sorry.

Most of the cities, most of the vehicles within the city are on a 10-year replacement plan. Okay. And so some of the enterprise vehicles are approaching that right now. Well, actually, they're six years old, some of them. But the decision to change from enterprise to city-owned is a better financial arrangement for the city. ENTERPRISE USES OUR GOVERNMENT PURCHASING ABILITY TO PURCHASE THE VEHICLES AND THEN WHEN THEY SELL THEM, WE GET A PORTION OF THOSE PROCEEDS BUT THAT'S WHERE THEY GET A LOT OF THE MONEY OUT OF THAT. WE DO PAY THE LEASE FEES, MANAGEMENT FEES AND MAINTENANCE FEES TO ENTERPRISE AND IT'S MORE COST EFFECTIVE TO DO THAT IN THE HOUSE.

Well, Mike, if I had a six-year-old car, I'd think it was a baby.

Some of ours are. Some are not.

Okay. So how do you justify the purchases? If I'm an employee, do I have to fill out some form? How do you go about justifying the need for a new vehicle?

Well, these vehicles are being replaced so that we can get away from the Enterprise Lease Program. We have 72 vehicles. that are currently in that program. We have already replaced 14 of them or are in the process of replacing 14. This would bring the total to 24. For FY26, the plan is to replace 26 of them, so we do have a couple left. But I think we're trying to get a little ahead of that curve because the availability of the vehicles is we're able to get them right now, and the price will only increase. So if we can do it sooner than later, we're going to be able to replace the 72. The plan is to replace them over the next four years, but I think we're going to try to compress that a little bit.

Okay, and are they at end of lease? Is that how you're going about it?

We are replacing them at end of lease vehicles as they come up. So the ones in 26, some of them, the way the agreement is written, if the lease on the vehicle, many of these were written between 24 and 48-month leases. So if we do not turn the vehicle back in, the lease renews for another year so we can keep the vehicle and continue to use it and continue to make the lease payments on it. So we are taking the ones that are expired or about to expire and doing those first. And we've categorized that into the next four years and planned to replace them as those leases expire.

And is there an option at the end of the lease? Is it an FMV or are they just renewed? I'm sorry? Is it an FMV at the end of the lease or do they just renew fair market value?

It would just renew.

Okay. And obviously the citizens would like to know, is nine the right number?

Nine is the right number right now. Nine for the trucks, one for the Equinox, as we are replacing all 72. And so the capacity, we can't do all 72 all at once. From either a purchasing standpoint or from a fleet perspective, that's a lot of vehicles to take in and also strip and remove and return to enterprise. So we're trying to take smaller bites, approximately 10 to 15 at a time. We are in the process of working the first 14. Those will be hitting the roads very shortly. Some of them already have, and we will be returning the 14 Enterprise vehicles to Enterprise within the next 30 days.

Are these take-home vehicles, or do they stay in a lot somewhere?

I can't speak to that. The departments, they're assigned to the departments, and I don't know how most of them are used.

Mr. Manager, you have a question.

We very rarely have take-home vehicles. So there are a few in our fleet. The vast majority of our fleet are not take-home vehicles.

And what would necessitate a take-home vehicle?

take-home vehicle usually only when someone's on call and we need them to when there's a benefit to the city for them to be able to respond more effectively then we consider a take-home vehicle.

Okay thank you that makes sense. Then one final question when you look at these vehicles do you consider like for like or do you ever consider maybe we could use a smaller vehicle if this is you know just.

Process of doing that right now. Okay. So there are several that we all are using more economical vehicles, taking, for example, 2,500 diesel pickups and going with 1,500 gas or stepping down from large SUVs to a smaller SUV or from a pickup to an SUV in some cases. So we're trying to standardize and have standard issue vehicles for certain tasks and economize where we can.

Right. Those are the questions we're going to get asked. So thank you for standing up and answering those questions. Appreciate it.

Any other? Also, any other questions? Mr. Gibb.

Hello, Mr. Lasky. So when the city does a fleet, do they try to get vehicles basically the same make so they can buy the same tires, get better prices on parts and stuff, or do we just buy a Dodge, a Chevy, a

In most cases, we try to get something that we do try to standardize them for just that reason. We can economize on parts, single source the parts. But in some cases, that's not always good. Parts do become difficult to get. And I'll use brake pads on the Chevy Tahoe's, for example, the police fleet. So diversifying does have some benefits, but we do try to stick to single make and single models if we can.

I know it was in the packet, but I can't recall it. Hopefully you can. How many more do we have of the Enterprise lease vehicles out there?

We have a total of 72, and we've replaced 14. With this 10, that would bring us to 24. We'd have 48 left to dispose of.

Do you remember what the number was when we started?

I do not.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Council, other questions? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor.

Yes, ma'am.

If I could ask Mr. Lassby to switch back to the last slide, not this one, but the one before it, so that council can see. The motion will need to have the correct figure, which is 448-155-77. There was an error on the agenda item. The agenda item said 445.

That was my mistake. I hit the 5 instead of the 8. and then copied it through the document. I apologize.

The packet's been corrected, but the agenda itself hasn't, so we need a motion to correct it.

So I will entertain a motion. Mr. Gibbs.

Okay I make motion to adopt resolution authorizing the purchase of nine Chevrolet 1500 pickup trucks and one Chevrolet Equinox to replace Enterprise vehicles from Lake Country Chevrolet through a TIPS cooperative purchasing contract for the total price not to exceed $448,155.77. Is that correct? And authorize the interim city manager or his designee to execute all necessary documents to effectuate said purchase and provide an effective date.

All right, we have a motion by Mr. Gibbs, second by Mr. Bowers.

I second.

We have a motion to approve an amended resolution with just the amount changing and a second. Any discussion? All right, let's call the vote, please. And that carries unanimously. All right, next we'll move on to item 4D. Consider action to adopt a resolution authorizing the award of a contract for bid number 2026-43-B, Country or Estates Phase II Reconstruction to DDM Construction Corporation for an amount not to exceed $2,779,067.50, which is $2,526,425 plus a 10% contingency of $252,642.50, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the contract and all necessary documents to effectuate said purchase and providing an effective date. Presenting this item is Brian Manderscheid with Engineering.

uh yeah so this is basically oh sorry we this item was just for questions I think is that correct so uh who asked for this item Mr. Britton and I didn't we didn't need a presentation or anything like that I mainly wanted to pull it off because of the amount you know the two million plus Plus, it's an infrastructure project. And I know our citizens are always interested in what are we doing to address our infrastructure needs in our city. And I know country or states people would especially wanted to hear that. And so I didn't want it to be embedded in a consent agenda where we just pass it. And really, no one really understands what we're doing. So that's just the basis for me pulling it off so that we can highlight what we're doing. If I understand right, there's a number of streets, Salzburg and Swiss Way, I believe, are some of the streets.

A portion of Acapulco, Swiss Way.

If you would just give an overview of kind of at a high level what that project is.

So this was a project that was presented from the Community Investment Advisory Board way back in kind of 2021 time. This was a phased project where we hired Walter P. Moore to do the design work for it for both phase one and phase two. Once phase one was complete, we made some changes to the phase two design just to kind of accommodate the things that were encountered during construction. And then this is where we're kind of at now. Basically the project itself is about LET ME GET THE QUANTITIES. IT IS 7800 SQUARE YARDS OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT ALONG THOSE STREETS THAT I MENTIONED EARLIER. 500 LINEAR FEET OF DRAINAGE PIPE. 2500 LINEAR FEET OF WATER PIPE. 2300 LINEAR FEET OF WASTE WATER PIPE AND THEN 2300 LINEAR FEET OF ILLUMINATED CONDUIT TO HELP PROVIDE SOME STREET LIGHTS ALONG THOSE AREAS.

Thank you, Brian. Council, any other questions? Mr. Gibbs.

Thank you. So for Salzburg, I've got a few emails over that the water getting pretty high. But do you think that this construction or new construction with the drainage and so will help alleviate all that?

YES, IT SHOULD. BASICALLY, I BELIEVE, IF I RECALL, THE GRADES ON THE STREET WILL LOWER DOWN, SO THEREFORE MORE OF THE WATER WILL BE CONTAINED WITHIN THE STREETS ITSELF, NOT NECESSARILY GOING ONTO PEOPLE'S PROPERTIES AS MUCH, AND WITH THE ADDITIONAL STORM INLETS THAT WILL BE PROVIDED, THAT SHOULD HELP ALLEVIATE SOME OF THE DRAINAGE ISSUES WITHIN THAT AREA.

THANK YOU. THAT'S GOOD NEWS.

Yeah. And if you're driving up cheese, uh, you'll actually see the first phase of that was just Salzburg drive to the west of kind of where this other project is the phase one. And it, I watched it go up cause my kids go to school there nearby. Um, but it was massive project. Very impressive council. Any other questions? All right.

Seeing none, Mr. Olson mayor, I just, uh, would ask what's the term. How long do you anticipate this project taking start and finish?

I believe the term is 270 days. I do not remember off the top of my head, but I believe it's 270.

All right. Any last questions? Okay. I'll entertain a motion. I see a motion by Mr. Britton. Yes.

Since I asked for it, I'll make the motion.

All right. I move that we adopt a resolution authorizing the award of a contract for bid number 2026-43B, Country Air Estates Phase II Reconstruction to DDM Construction Corporation for an amount not to exceed $2,779,067.50, $2,526,425 plus a 10% contingency of $252,642.50. Authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the contract.

All right. We have a motion to approve the item as read. And a second by Mr. Gibbs?

Yes, I second.

All right. We have a motion and a second to approve. Any discussion? All right. Let's call the vote, please. And that carries unanimously. All right. Subsequent to that item is a second item, which is a change order for this particular project. The item 4E, consider action to adopt a resolution authorizing change order number one to the construction contract with DDM Construction Corporation related to bid number 2026-43-B, country or estates phase two reconstruction in an amount not to exceed $165,000, which is $150,000 plus a 10% contingency of $15,000, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the change order and all necessary documents to effectuate said purchase and providing an effective date. Were there any questions on this item? Okay, we're ready to make a motion, then I'll entertain a motion. And feel free to say, I move to approve the item as read. You're welcome to do that. Mr. Gibbs.

I move to make a motion as read in the record.

All right.

And a second by Mr. Britton. I second. I have a motion to approve the item as read and a second. This is again on item 4E. Any discussion? All right, let's call the vote, please. And that item carries unanimously. Next, we'll move to item 5A. Consider action to adopt parameter ordinances authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds, certificates of obligation, tax notes, and water and sewer revenue bonds with the final terms to be approved by the city's pricing officers on any date until expiration of the delegated authority. Making this presentation is Mike Kuhn. Good evening, counsel.

So here tonight we're gonna talk a little bit about the city's upcoming debt issuances. So this is for a parameter ordinance, which would authorize the approval, assuming the sale met certain criteria, which we'll discuss later in the presentation. So right here we have the financing timeline. Back in May, council approved a notice of intent, which allowed us to publish a newspaper notice, which is required pursuant to state law in order to issue certificates of obligation. We're here tonight to request authorization for general obligation bonds, certificates of obligation, tax notes, and water sewer bonds for projects for fiscal 27, which we'll see in further detail on future slides. If approved in August, we will look to price and sell those bonds and have delivery before the budget is adopted on September 16th. And we'll have the funds in hand for the upcoming fiscal year. So the first tranche of bonds are the general obligation bonds. So the parameter ordinances for up to 14.6 million, which includes the project fund deposit along with cost of issuance. These are for voter-approved projects for street and road construction, as well as parks projects. The second tranche of debt is for certificates of obligation. The amount is up for up to $5.2 million, which was stipulated in the notice of intent. The newspaper notice was published on May 23rd and May 30th in Dallas Morning News after the notice was approved, or we... COUNCIL APPROVED THE ABILITY FOR US TO POST THE NOTICE OF INTENT, AND THIS MONEY WILL BE SPENT ON ROAD CONSTRUCTION AS WELL AS SOME VARIOUS PARKS PROJECTS. OUR THIRD CHARGE OF DEBT IS FOR TAX NOTES. THE AMOUNT IS FOR UP TO 5.6 MILLION, LIKE WITH THE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, THIS COVERS THE PROJECT FUND DEPOSIT AS WELL AS COST OF ISSUANCE. ITEMS THAT ARE GOING TO BE FUNDED WITH TAX NOTES ARE include two ambulances, a number of police cars and police equipment, some IT equipment, the enterprise vehicle replacements that were discussed during the prior item by Mr. Lassby, as well as facility improvements and some CIP software previously approved by council. And last but not least, we have water sewer bonds. So these are to fund the water and sewer infrastructure that we have. We issue $7 million annually to smooth out the cost of improving the system. Like with the GO and the tax notes, the issuance amount is for up to 7.4 million. This includes the project fund deposit, a reserve that we have as required under the bond docs, given their revenue bonds, and then cost of issuance. Okay, so we get to the parameter portion. So outlined here on the slide, we have the framework by which if the bond sale falls within these stipulations, the pricing officers being the city manager and finance director would be able to sign the bond purchase agreement to approve the sale once completed. So the interest rate is five and a half percent for each issuance. And then the max principal amount ties to the proceeds required as well as cost of issuance. The final maturity is 20 years for all series with the exception of tax notes, which is seven years, the maximum allowed under state law. And then the expiration date also ties to stipulations under state law. TO RECAP THE FINANCING TIMELINE IF APPROVED TODAY WE WOULD WE'RE GOING TO HAVE RATING HTC CALLS THIS WEEK TO DISCUSS THE SALE AND WE'LL MOVE FORWARD TO GET THE PRELIMINARY OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE STREET AND PRICE THE DEBT AND RECEIVE THE FUNDS IN ADVANCE OF FISCAL YEAR END AND THEN WE HAVE RECOMMENDED LANGUAGE BY BOND COUNCIL ON THE FOLLOWING FOUR SLIDES With that, I'm open to any questions you all may have about the upcoming sale.

Thanks, Mike. Counsel, questions? No questions? All right. Then I will enter. Sorry? Mr. Kassar? I appreciate that.

So the question I kind of have is that, could you go back like two or three slides? Keep going, keep going, keep going. Right there, stop, go back. This was obviously done right when the new members came on board, right after we hit. I'm sure there's some levels of unknown there. This full list of all these things, where do we find exactly what you're inclusive of that, or how do we know what that included of? Again, I don't remember that part, but just because it's pretty extensive on that list.

This is an attachment. There's a more detailed attachment, the project funding overview. It's attachment two to the staff report. It does outline some specific vehicles like the ambulances, the patrol cars, various police equipment, and calls those out by name. The only two open items are the enterprise vehicle replacement, the 72 vehicles that Mr. Lassby alluded to in the prior item. That is not broken out. Then the facility improvements, that's to fund things like HVAC citywide for our existing buildings. It would be spent as needed as the needs arise. Did I answer your question?

If I said yes and no at the same time, they'd both probably be a little bit correct. Just the unknown about, again, The short term we've been on council has not really provided us a lot of depth here. So I'm just trying to understand. It's almost like here's this check, you know, and as you need stuff, then just go buy it. So we're saying or I don't know.

No, no, no. So this is part of a planning effort that was done several years ago with the prior council and prior city manager. We back in 24, I believe. We looked at in the budget things that we were paying for with capital leases, another form of debt that is funded out of the city's maintenance and operation rate, and using our INS rate to pay them under a more cost-effective debt instrument. Those leases are debt as well. And so there was a planning effort with council at that point in time Where we identified a number of items to move over to fund out of tax notes that were previously funded Within the city's maintenance and operating maintenance and operating budget All right Maybe I can just do some more research on that but I Appreciate your feeling a little bit more into that deal.

But so, thanks. I

Yeah, so specifically on the tax notes, page 321 in your packet council is where those items are listed. And there were back in fiscal year 25, which would have been issued August of 24. There was about six point almost 6.2 million in tax notes that were issued in August of 25 for fiscal year 26. It was about 3 million. And this year, we're contemplating about 5.5. And this year, it includes two ambulances, five new patrol cars, one police motorcycle, a line for tasers of $500,000, the IT equipment, which is the Dell VX rail for 600, just over $600,000, about 2.4 million, just less than that for the enterprise vehicle replacement program enhancements and $200,000 that Mike mentioned for the facility improvements with respect to HVAC.

So the items that the mayor just read out was also screenshotted on the CIP meeting. I believe that was July 9th in those slides. The individual items were also listed in that PowerPoint presentation.

Mr. Gibbs, do you have a question? No, you do. Oh, got it.

I HAD SOME DISCUSSION COMMENTS. BUT MIKE, NO. I REMEMBER IN MAY WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT THE ISSUANCE, I REMEMBER ASKING YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE DIDN'T DO THAT AND YOU QUIETLY AND KINDLY SAID PROJECTS WOULDN'T GET DONE. SO I APPRECIATE YOU AND THE FINANCE TEAM BEING ABLE TO PUT THIS PRESENTATION TOGETHER AND ALSO THOSE NOTES ABOUT WHAT SPECIFICALLY WE'RE LOOKING AT BUYING FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC. SO JUST THANK YOU.

MR. KUH, ROUGHLY WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE IN INTEREST BETWEEN A CO BOND AND THE LEASE RATE THAT WE'RE PAYING?

We've not bid out a lease rate since moving over to this. So that's going to fluctuate with market conditions. I can't answer that at this time. What I would say is that we're consolidating this within a larger issuance with our items instead of bidding out things individually for $400,000. bundling it together with our GO tax notes and COs and utilizing an underwriter to help anchor the purchase. So we're kind of benefiting from also selling the GO and the CO bonds simultaneously.

Yeah, and roughly stated, a lease is three to five years, depending on what you choose to do. We're not financing these vehicles for 40 years, are we?

No. So tax notes under state law are actually limited to seven years. So that's the AG. The AG has to sign off on this. Additionally, in actuality, so seven-year debt is going to have an average life of, call it, three and a half years. These tax notes will actually be slightly front-loaded based on our debt capacity, so we'll be paying it down more quickly than that.

But clearly, previous management would have seen an advantage to financing this. I was saying regarding the interest rate for a lease versus financing this way, obviously the previous man.

Are you leaning on your mouse over there? Are you hitting the button? I don't know.

There you go. Sorry, Carter. Just to be clear, the previous management must have made a decision that financing this way, there was an advantage to that versus a lease rate, which in my opinion might be about 13%, 15%. So the advantage to doing this is a savings to the taxpayers on a bond versus a lease. Is that correct?

think it'd be hard to quantify but there is it is going to be a more efficient method and one easy way to think about it is the credit structure so a lease is not backed by the city's tax rate so if i'm going to lend you money having that geo obligation is necessarily going to reduce the cost versus a lease where we can choose to not appropriate monies for it so generally that's

Well, 10, 15 basis points for appropriation.

It's about 10 or 15 basis points. So if you were to structure this as public markets debt is where you would see the differential. But the leases in the bank market, I'm getting way too in the weeds, I'm sorry.

Yeah, you are just a little bit. Yes, sir. That's exactly what happened. We took out the lease, and the impeded interest rate in the leases was significantly higher than we could get through this method. This is a lower-cost option. It also moves the funding from this from the M&O to the INS, which has freed up resources for us to hire police and firemen.

I'm going to turn my mic off now.

I would say too, there's some operational efficiencies. We're collapsing everything into our semi-annual debt payments versus having a multitude of different payments, having to track with leases with various different financing institutions. So from like an operational perspective, this is an easier structure to manage for the finance department.

Council, any other questions? All right, then I will entertain a motion again. There are four separate motions that will need to be made for this item. Page 183 in your packet if you're looking for them or maybe they're up on the screen again. Yeah, that's the first motion up on the screen. Motion by Mr. Britton.

All right. I move to adopt an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of City of Rowlett, Texas General Obligation Bond Series 2026 and approving all other matters related thereto.

I have a motion to approve by Mr. Britton, a second by Mr. Fassett.

Second.

I have a motion to approve and a second on the first motion, which is related to the general obligation bonds. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, let's call the vote, please. Mr. Britton, not seeing a vote for you. There we go. And that carries unanimously. All right, second motion. Should be ready to go. I think it's cleared. So waiting on a motion for the second item. No motion on the second item. Mike, I'm sorry. Can you advance this? Did you advance the slide? Okay.

It's okay.

We can see it. Yeah. Yes. It's the one that's on the screen. See motion by Mr. Facet.

I see if I can do this right. I make a motion to consider all matters instance in Related to the bottom one. See, that's why we tried. I move to adopt an ordinance authorizing the issuance in the sale of City of Rowlett, Texas, combination tax and limited surplus revenue certificates of obligation series 2026 in approving all and other matters related thereto.

I have a motion by Mr. Fassett, second by Mr. Gibbs. I second. All right. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, let's call the vote, please. And that item carries unanimously. All right, next we're on to the third motion. I do not see a motion yet. And that is also up on the screen. Motion by Mr. Holston.

I move to adopt an ordinance authorizing the issuance of sale of City of Rowlett, Texas tax notes series 2026 and approving all other matters related thereto.

A motion by Mr. Holston to approve the item. Second by Mr. Bowers.

Second.

A motion to approve and a second. Any discussion? Let's call the vote please. And that item carries unanimously as well. And then there is one last motion for this item. Mr. Fassett.

I move to adopt an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of the city of Rowlett, Texas, waterworks and sewer systems revenue bonds in one or more series and approving all other matters related thereto.

I have a motion to approve by Mr. Fassett, second by Mr. Bowers.

Second.

I have a motion to approve and a second. Any discussion? Let's call the vote, please. and that item carries unanimously as well. All right, that wraps up all of the motions and approvals for item 5A. Staff, are we good on that item? Okay, perfect. Thank you. Next we'll move to item 5B. Consider action to adopt a resolution approving a development agreement between the City of Rowlett and Trail Creek Partners Limited regarding an approximately 14.87 acres of land located at 13805 Troy Road, situated in the Madison Price Survey, abstract number 257, Rockwall County, Texas. Making this presentation is Manal Maladad.

Good evening, counsel. Mayor, as you mentioned, the item is to consider a development agreement. It's approximately 15 acres. If you will indulge me, there are multiple slides, but they all serve a purpose. The slide in front of you depicts the property. You can see the box. RIGHT HERE IN YELLOW, WHICH IDENTIFIES THE PROJECT, THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AREA, THE 15 ACRES, 14.87. IN THE RED BALL THAT YOU SEE ALONG HERE ARE THE CITY LIMITS. AND ADJACENT TO THIS DEVELOPMENT IS AN EXISTING DEVELOPMENT CALLED SINGLE FAMILY DEVELOPMENT TRAILS AT COTTONWOOD CREEK. The existing development, and I'm giving you some historical perspective associated with this, is a planned development district and it is encompassed in a PID, a public improvement district. The proposed development agreement that we are discussing tonight is not contained within a PID, it is just adjacent to and will mimic the design and development patterns of the adjacent development. That being said, council, the agreement follows the Texas local government code. It is providing rights and establishes development standards prior to annexation. One element that I want to bring to your attention too is that this property right here, the subject property is contained within the city's ETJ, which is the extraterritorial jurisdiction, and the property owner and the developer are looking to voluntarily annex this property into the city of Revlett. I will dive into that in a little more detail as we progress forward. I mentioned to you the existing development or the adjacency and the perspective of that adjacent to this. Basically, it'll mirror the same zoning guidelines and development standards. If I were to depict that in an illustration form, the green here are the proposed jurisdiction of the development agreement. This here is a five-phase development of the trails at Cottonwood Creek. Phase E is the adjacent development. It would share access, ingress and egress to this property, to Troy Road along here as well. As I mentioned earlier, there are approximately 70 single-family lots, minimum lot size of 4,400 square feet and a minimum lot width of 40 feet. The reason I bring that to your attention is because as I mentioned it is adjacent to phase E of the trails at Cottonwood Creek which have the same development pattern. The applicant is present today, and if you have any questions related to that, he is here to answer those. The purpose of the development agreement will develop rights under current regulations. It also provides certainty regarding development standards prior to annexation, creates a framework plan for us as we continue to move forward, and it also is ensuring consistency between the steps that we will be seeing down the road. One of the components of the development agreement is for the request of the wastewater impact fee credits. The applicant currently has a facilities agreement associated with their trails at Cottonwood Creek development where they're seeking and have been approved for wastewater impact fee credits. The applicant is requesting that this development too also contain the same privilege as the original development agreement for the trails at cottonwood creek the current impact fee amount right now is 1189 dollars per lot and those would be credited should the council choose to accept and act upon this and recommend act favorably would receive the the developers or the homeowner home builders would receive credit against these which would have a cap of that Should the impact fees go up, then of course that number would change, and should they go down, then that number would change through impact fee updates. The infrastructure has already been constructed as it relates to streets, water, and wastewater, and therefore the property can be served. The concept plan associated with this development agreement, and you will be seeing that in the future as we come forward with the planned development district post-annexation, shows access to the site off of Troy Road along here. This is phase E of the trails of Cottonwood Creek, or phase five, and you can see that they share common access between both subdivisions. I'm trying to make my pointer work, I apologize. This right here is a detention facility, and the purpose is to collect water from this site and ensure that the drainage system is not impacted so that these homes can enjoy their common area along here, which would be in the form, if I'm not mistaken, live vegetation and masonry screen wall. But those will be identified in more detail in the planned development district.

There are some county road considerations associated with this development.

If you recall, I just showed on the map Troy Road. Troy Road is in the county currently, and that road, should the voluntary annexation be accepted by the city council, Troy Road would have to be annexed with that annexation and would become the responsibility of the city. It's approximately, if I'm not mistaken, 700 feet along Troy Road. And this is a better depiction of what we see. I'm sorry, Council, I apologize. The pointer is a little difficult. This is the detention facility I talked about. This is the adjacency to Troy Road along here. They will design the site to ensure water flows into a contained system, so to speak, so that it does not impact adjacencies. Water service is not the City of Rowlett. It is East Fork Special Utility District for this site as well. and they are the retail water provider. As I mentioned, the other utilities such as wastewater are city served and a portion of now Troy Road should the annexation move forward. I do want to talk a little bit about the voluntary annexation process because it will guide the schedule for the future components associated with this, and they're in your staff report as well. Ultimately, this development agreement would be acted upon, considered by yourselves, and then a voluntary annexation petition would be submitted post that. the applicant would be required to submit a zoning application to rezone the property, which is why I discussed the development, some of the development criteria associated with that. From a tentative schedule, a work session is suggested on August 17th. Again, this is a tentative schedule with a hearing on August 18th for annexation. And following that would be zoning Council, I just wanted to provide a little more of an illustration showing how this subdivision integrates with the adjacent development. I discussed the key considerations already. And with that, staff recommends approval of the proposed development agreement. It appears to be a logical extension of the existing land use pattern. And staff is also recommending approval of the sanitary sewer impact fee credit associated with the request. And with that, I will try and answer your questions. The applicant is also present.

All right. Thank you, Minal. I just kind of want to bring this down to the ground level and say kind of what we're doing here. The intent of this is to engage in a development agreement with the developer of the Trails of Cottonwood to annex a piece of property that's adjacent to the Trails of Cottonwood that's currently in the city's ETJ or extraterritorial jurisdiction. And with that, there'd be an additional 70 homes that would be added to the overall scope of the development.

Correct.

Correct. And the city would just have to undergo the zoning process, the annexation and zoning process associated with that land. So this is the first step in that process, right?

Correct.

Okay. And the only thing that the city is forgoing in this process are the sewer impact fees that you mentioned on the slide.

Correct.

And it's a per home amount with a cap on the total amount overall.

Correct.

Okay. I just want to be sure we're all on the same page because this is the first step in the process. And so at some point we will arrive at annexation, as you mentioned, according to that calendar, but then zoning. And so there will be a plan development proposed for an additional 70 homes up in the northeastern part of the city.

Yes. And the only reason I bring up those two other components, I know that they're mutually inclusive. However, we are currently dealing with the extraterritorial jurisdiction, and that's why once the planned development district is approved and should the citizens have any questions related to that, that's why these three steps would be required.

Absolutely. Council, questions? Any questions for the developer?

Mayor, a couple questions. First of all, is the total project in Cottonwood Creek all the water provided by this SUD?

Correct. There's a 12-inch water line that wraps the perimeter of the property, comes all the way down to Stonewall, and then wraps around Troy Road, comes back up across the north, and then comes back down. There's a new million-gallon water tank that East Fork constructed in 2018 that is located on Vinson Road. Okay.

Thank you. And this will complete the development, is that correct?

It's a great question. We have enjoyed working in Rowlett, and if the opportunity presented itself, we would look to continue to expand. This has been a really good market, and the home buyers that are moving into Rowlett have really enjoyed the city and the amenities that it offers, the proximity to schools and to business, to transit. Just for context, this is adjacent to phase five or phase E of the project, which of course is going out of order and is the next phase that is being delivered. It's complete and will likely go to P&Z next week. I was out there this evening. It looks great. All of the park equipment is installed. The trees are added. It looks fantastic. But this 15 acres specifically i'm getting your questions specifically added an additional access point for the development on troy road which was a big public safety component for us in working with the city and fire and safety it provided another point of access on the opposite side of the development which was really important it also was an opportunity to control our back door and so we we saw 15 acres that was adjacent to the site, that was adjacent to the existing neighborhood. And when we have the opportunity to expand the neighborhood, rather than have an alternative manufacturing facility be constructed in the ETJ, we wanted to take that opportunity to try and expand the development there. The phase E that is complete and ready to come to P&Z is all 40-foot lots. The development itself is a blend of 30-foot attached product, 40-foot detached rear entry, 50-foot detached rear entry, and then 60- and 70-foot front entry. This specific product that we're asking to add in here, based on the last PID disclosure, is selling at about $524,000 per finished unit. Did I answer your question, Councilmember?

Yes, it did. And when do you anticipate construction on this?

Soon. We'll start right away. We have to walk through the development agreement process and then zoning and annexation, but we have already mostly engineered the site, and so we'll be able to move into this pretty quickly.

Well, I'll close by saying thank you for choosing Rowlett. We're happy to have you and continued success. That's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you.

Council, any other questions for either staff or the developer? All right, seeing none, I will entertain a motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I see a motion by Mr. Holson.

Mayor, I'll consider action to adopt a resolution approving a development agreement as stated below.

I have a motion by Mr. Holston, a second by Mr. Bowers.

I second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. One moment. I have a motion and a second to approve the item as presented. Any discussion? All right, let's call the vote, please. And that item carries unanimously. Thank you. All right, our next item on the agenda is Item 5C, consider action to adopt a resolution appointing a board member to the Rowlett Housing Finance Corporation for an unexpired term. Counsel, you'll recall we discussed this item yesterday and interviewed two applicants. I do want to mention the third applicant did email me later in the evening and was very apologetic for missing the meeting. It was an unfortunate circumstance that she had a death in the family and so that was what led to her missing yesterday's meeting. Did assure her that Given her background and everything we'd be interested in talking to her again when it comes to boards and commissions appointments But the urgency to a point for this position is somewhat pressing considering when we have four current members. So With that in mind we did interview two applicants and I believe last night we settled on Valencia Akonji as our Proposed applicant. So unless there's any questions or discussion, I will entertain a motion. I

And Mayor, the motion should include the name of Valencia Congee.

Motion by Mr. Holston.

I'll make a motion that we accept the new board member, Valencia Congee, as a new member of the Rowlett Housing Finance Corporation.

We have a motion to approve Ms. Valencia Akanji as a member. Second by Mr. Gibbs.

I second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. Let's call the vote, please. And that carries unanimously. And our city secretary will be reaching out to let her know of that appointment. And can I get my two staff liaisons to the HFC to kind of help her get acquainted with the HFC and everything else? One or both of you.

The President.

There we go. All right. We'll move on now to Item 5D. Consider action to adopt a resolution establishing the RELAT 75th Anniversary Task Force as an ad hoc committee, providing for its purpose, membership, duties, organization, meetings, staff support, reporting, and sunset, and providing an effective date. Who is presenting this item? Are you presenting this item, Mr. Bowers?

I can speak on it a little bit. I mean, no presentation was built. I know that we talked about this at our last work session at the beginning of July. I will say I've already gotten some calls about when is the application process opening, so there are some people that are excited about it. But as we know, September 4th, 2027 is 75 years. I'm looking forward to getting this task force created so all of our residents can take time and efforts in celebrating our city together.

That's great, and I will just, in the interest of kind of transparency and taglining on what you said, there is a timeline as far as when you can expect applications to be open and when you can expect to be able to apply. We are looking to have the application window open for roughly a month, at which point we will conduct interviews and review the applicants and then make some appointments around mid-September and then get the task force to work. That gives them approximately a year to make that project happen, and so we're really excited for that. I think that's... a tremendous opportunity for those in our community who have an interest not only in its history, but an interest in serving to really step up and lead. So I'm looking forward to engaging with that group. Any other questions on this item? All right, then I will entertain a motion. Motion by Mr. Britton.

Thank you, Mayor. So I got to find my place here. I move that we adopt a resolution establishing the rally at 75th anniversary task force as an odd hack committee.

All right. We have a motion to approve the item as presented in a second by Mr. Bowers. I second. Motion to approve with a second. Any discussion? All right. Let's call the vote, please. And that item carries unanimously. Our next item is item 5E. And Debbie, correct me if I'm wrong, but we have that application pretty much ready to go on the city's website. Just about, yes. Just about ready to go. So that'll be launching probably by the end of the week, would you say? Okay, probably by the end of the week, we'll have that application live and we'll work with community engagement on getting that published and marketed. So if you're watching from home, be ready, it's coming. All right, our next item is item 5E. Consider action to adopt a resolution authorizing the purchase of pavement rehabilitation and resurfacing services for Chesa Road from the Texas Materials Group Inc. DBA Texas BIT through an Ellis County cooperative contract for a price not to exceed $647,868.12, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the construction agreement and all necessary documents to effectuate said purchase and providing an effective date. We have Gary Enna, Interim Director of Public Works.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I have Brett Heslop with me tonight, our street expert, and he will address any questions I might not be able to answer, but I believe I'll provide a good information for you. So the purpose of this item tonight is to consider action to approve the resurfacing and rehabilitation of Chesa Road not to exceed $647,868.12. A little background on this Teaser Road project. It is a major thoroughfare. It serves as a major north-south arterial. It serves the city as the fifth busiest street in Rowlett. The average daily traffic, 7,684 vehicles. And as you can see, the peak AM time is 715 vehicles per hour and peak PM, 738 vehicles per hour. PROJECT LIMITS AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE MAP. IT'S END OF PAYMENT, STATE HIGHWAY 66 TO END OF PAYMENT ON MILLER ROAD. LITTLE HISTORY OF TEXAS MATERIALS. THEY PAVED LIBERTY GROVE, CHEESER ROAD, CHIAHA AND DEXEM THROUGH AN INTERLOCAL WITH ALLIS COUNTY. AND THIS ITEM TONIGHT IS THROUGH AN INTERLOCAL WITH ALLIS COUNTY. So the project scope I mentioned right here is just general information, and two slides will get more in depth of the construction process. So the project is 1.2 miles of asphalt, as I mentioned, from Miller Road to State Highway 66. The process will include removing excess material, stabilized base, and a two inch HMAC overlay, and we anticipate 25 working days to complete the project. The project is funded through ST 2167, asphalt improvements. So in this discussion item, the item as presented is option A, but I did provide an ulterior option for council consideration. So we'll start with option A and please stop me at any point with questions or this could be a lot of information. So if option A is approved, I'll need to call the contractor tonight to lock in the August start date. So the reef paving process will start with lowering the road. Cheesa is a 24 foot wide road, and we are milling five inches total to get down to the subgrade. The contractor will mill six foot wide strip, 2.5 inches deep per pass, so the process will take eight passes. And the reason we do it in steps, you can't do one side of the road all the way through, so you'll have a five inch gap. And it's a safety hazard with cars crossing the middle lane. So the work zone will move with the milling machine. They will use flaggers to direct traffic. through the work process. So as they mill, it all moves and it's just sort of blocking the whole road off end to end. It's a moving work zone. It's more efficient and disrupts.

So Gary, give me an idea about how long is a work zone when you say there's a moving work zone. Is it a block? Is it a couple, you know? It's going to be about 200 feet. Okay, so fairly small. Very small. And so while that team is working on one side of the road, there's flaggers that are doing traffic control, so they're stopping like the southbound lane and allowing the northbound lane to pass, and then they're stopping the northbound lane and allowing the southbound. Correct.

Okay. Thank you for that. So during the base preparations, the work zone will be in one lane with flaggers. It's a different concept and do not do means and methods and it's more efficient for them to do longer stretches of that. So doing the subgrade and you want a more monolithic surface. So doing it all in one piece is better for the process of structural integrity. So the hot mix will be the same. It's be a two inch mat and it'll be the same work zone, full length. There are constraints on that. It's the amount of trucks provided to the project and our plant that we get hot mix from is in Terrell. And once you fill the trucks up, you make another leap, you have to get in line with all the other contractors in the area. So I can't really give you a defined work zone at this one. It'll be approximately 500 feet So that's option A. I'm here to answer any questions on that one before we move to the alternative option.

So when they go from the pour to it being rolled out, how long until it's ready to drive on?

It's instantly.

Instantly ready to drive on.

So roll it out and once it cools down, it's ready to drive on.

So once they move on to the next section and they continue pouring, that first section is ready to go aside from striping at that point. Okay. Mr. Gibbs. Mr. Britton. Sorry.

Thanks, Gary. So the option A includes smoothing out your entry points, your side street entry points. Right now it's kind of a drop off on like Shrady and Woodside and those areas. So that smooths that out completely.

Correct. So this road was... What's paved last year as a more viable detour while the Miller Road construction was going on. So the road was capped, and I define capped as you have existing asphalt. You just put a two-inch cap over it, and it's ready to drive on.

We just received a lot of love notes on that.

I think most of the concerns I get is just lack of striping.

Does option A include restriping?

Yes, but to answer your question, the transitions, when you put a cap on, you're just raising the road up, and the transitions get even higher. So that is the reason why we have little steep transitions.

So, Gary, you mentioned the amount of milling that they would have to do to get it back down. Are we going all the way back to kind of the quote-unquote ground level?

Correct.

That's the subgrade level, yes. Subgrade level.

Subgrade, and we'll set it up with cement-treated base, give it nice structural integrity, then put a two-inch mat on top of that.

And so you said they added a two inch cap on it. What was the original road surface thickness?

I think it was four inches.

So it's got six inches on it now, roughly in total. Yes. And that's why they have to mill it so many times to get all those layers cut down, like you said. And that that's why they can't just do one lane or one side of the road all at one time, because then the other side is literally a curb heights higher than the other side. Yeah, it's a safety hazard. Council, any other questions on option A at this point? All right, Gary.

Thank you. So option B for your consideration tonight, the design funds will not be available until October 2027. It's one year and two months from now. The design will take one year to complete right away. Acquisition is an unknown with a rough estimate of one and a half to two years. So construction will take approximately one and one and a half years. So my conservative estimation is to start construction in four to four and a half years if we choose that option to go to concrete. So the restriping of the road Brett and I analyze the road. We believe it has structural integrity that lasts until the concrete construction starts. As I mentioned earlier, there are concerns about the steep transitions and lack of striping and the rideability. The road was paved in the wintertime. In the wintertime, it's not ideal time to... CONSTRAINTS GIVEN, IT WAS PAVED IN A LITTLE COOLER TEMPERATURES AND IT SETS UP TOO FAST AND DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE ABILITY TO CREATE THE REALLY SMOOTH SURFACE THAT WE ALL DESIRE AND EXPECT. SO I AM DEFINITELY OPEN FOR QUESTIONS ON THIS PROCESS.

SO GARY, WITH OPTION A, WE MILL IT AND REPAVE IT, GIVEN THE TRAFFIC LOAD ON THIS ROAD, Can you give me any idea of an estimated lifespan of doing that type of work?

Yeah, Brett and I spoke about this, and we anticipate five years, if you want to add some.

Yeah. And is that consistent with what we've seen? Let's say, like, Liberty Grove, for instance, got done three years ago, roughly, parts of it, kind of where it crosses the creek west of Cheeson and Homestead. We had a contractor come in and do that. I know there's already a little bit of cracking in the road, but it's certainly in a lot better shape than a little bit further to the west. So you said about five years lifespan.

Typically it's seven to eight years on a road that's all the way down to the subgrade. This road had some deficiencies underneath it. It was just capped and the deficiencies were not addressed. Right. So that's why we expect it to be less.

Yeah, not only that, I mean, the intersections are where there's a real challenge as well, right? And Mr. Britton kind of mentioned that where there's a tremendous drop off when you go into some of these neighborhoods. Yeah, it's not great. So about five years life, which in theory should get us to the point where we're ready to do a reconstruction and widening of this road. All things go well. And I know nobody has a crystal ball here, but if everything goes well, that's what we're anticipating.

With regular maintenance, we anticipate the last five years. Yeah.

Council, questions? All right. If there's no questions, thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate the both of you. I will entertain a motion. So that motion will, if it's for option A, would just be as presented, I believe. If it was for option B, then it would need to be amended to of identify that. In fact, we might just need to provide some direction to staff at that point because the cost is so much lower. So if we approve this item, we're essentially approving option A. If we don't consider this item, we're essentially going with option B. Did you have something you want to add, Mr. Interim City Manager?

Thank you. There's been confusion about sort of what unfunded is. I just wanted to clarify this. This one, there is no funding identified for the full widening of Cheesa yet. So that $20 million would certainly have to be something that would be included in a future funding strategy, debt strategy, in order to complete the full widening of the street.

And mayor if if you go with option B, it would be just for restriping at a maximum amount not to exceed 35,000 we couldn't act on anything else at this point at this time got it and I

I mean essentially that doesn't even require council authorization because the city manager has that purchase approved.

That's true.

That's kind of why I mentioned that. Either way, either way it would work. I do see a motion by Mr. Bowers, so I'm going to defer to him.

Yeah, perfect. I move to approve this item as presented.

All right, we have a motion to approve the item as presented. I see a second by Mr. Britton.

I second.

We have a motion to approve along with a second. Any discussion? Is everyone clear on the motion? All right, let's call the vote please. that item carries unanimously all right with that we have reached the end of our agenda items for the day members of the city council may now request items to be placed on an agenda for a subsequent meeting any deliberation or decision shall be limited to a proposal to place a topic on the agenda for a subsequent meeting are there any agenda item requests council i'm going to state this one out loud so that everyone knows that i'm moving forward this with this for our next meeting but it will be an item that i am presenting i'm going to have an item on the agenda to form up a charter review commission. We are required to do one every five years, and we are at year four since the last charter review commission was formed up. So I will be bringing that to our next work session and hopefully an appointment on the following regular meeting. So that would be August 4th and 5th, if I'm not mistaken. So that will be something coming your way very soon. All right. If there's no other business for the evening, then we are adjourned at 836 p.m. Thanks, everybody. Have a good night.