City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah. All right. We're we're getting ready to get started. Please silence your devices so we can have a good meeting. All right. So, at 6:00, I call this meeting of the Sacramento City Council to order. Please rise for the pledges. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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

Thank you. Please be seated. Next item on the agenda is the invocation. I do not see a reverend here. Do I have anyone that is feeling so moved to do the invocation? Could be council, could be staff, could be audience, anybody. Don't all rush at once. All right, I can do it then. Please bow your heads. Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us here today. Thank you for this fantastic weather in uh our home of Sagon that we love so much. Please help us to do the best we can for our city and the future of our city and our children. Uh everything we we do is in your name and bless us all. Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you sir.

All right. All participation if you wish to speak on any item that is on the agenda please fill out a brief form over there by the police chief and you can speak on any item that is on the published agenda. Two is the consent agenda. A is action regarding minutes from March 3rd. B is actually regarding advanced funding agreement for the green ribbon funding on system landscape maintenance through text dot. Questions, comments on the consent agenda. If not, I'll entertain a motion. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda as presented. You Valerie Brack second.

Please cast your vote. Motion passes. Let the record reflect. We do have a core full house. Thanks for coming, folks. 3A is recognition presentations. Gabe, what do we have? Uh, mayor and council have a special guest this evening and will be with us the next few weeks. Like to recognize Miss Leah Lakpa. She is participating in a um exchange program. She hails from Zambboaga City, Philippines. She's a civil engineer by background. She will present uh to the city council at our next council meeting. So, so she'll uh get a chance to interact with all uh departments and um we look forward to seeing her her presentation at our next meeting. Welcome. Thank you.

Thanks for being here, Leah. Welcome. I'd also like to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day for those who do observe. Uh it is a fun day and beautiful weather. 3B is a presentation alliance for children services offered in partnership with SAG. We have folks from uh Alliance here. Y'all please introduce yourself. We're happy to have y'all here.

Hello everybody. I'm Selena. I'm the MDT coordinator from Alliance for Children. And I'm Lindsay Hughes. Nice to meet you. I've met you, Mr. Club, a few times in chief. Good to see you. I'm the senior accumulation supervisor at Alliance for Children. So, thank you for having us. We wanted to just have a few minutes of your time as we go into April, which is child abuse prevention month. Um, so please wear blue as much as you can in April. Um, and we are going to just talk to you a little bit about what we do at Alliance for Children. Typically, we come up here, we kind of do our little proclamation thing, and then we leave. But we wanted to do a bit more of an educational piece today. So Selena is gonna start us off.

Yeah. Um, and then we have a clicker. Okay. So our mission at Alliance for Children or AFC is to protect uh Tarant County children from child abuse. Um and we do this through teamed investigations, healing services, and community education.

Okay. Um we do have three centers. Um so we have a center in Arlington, Texas. Um that one has two campuses. So one of the buildings is for investigate investigation. So investigators uh like law enforcement and CPS and then the other building in Arlington is going to be our clinical center where our children receive therapy. And

that's those two top buildings right up there. So actually the one with the um the one on the right side when you're looking at it is our oldest building. That's where we started. It was it did start out as an investigative center and we outgrew it really really quickly and then um we started kind of building more um buildings throughout the county and so Selena can talk about those.

Yeah. Um we also have a center on the bottom left on the screen that's our northeast center. That one is located in Hurst, Texas. And then we have our Fort Center which is um I want to say our largest one. Um and the reason we have those three centers is to ensure that uh the family has easy access to us. So wherever the family, whichever center the family lives closest to, that's where they will be receiving services or they'll come in for an interview or um receive any therapy. A lot of times if um law enforcement is housed at one center, they will have to travel to the center where the family is receiving services. Uh so we just want to help out the family and ensure that uh the center is the one closest to them. Uh we also assist with lifts. If the family is unable to attend an interview or a therapy session, we are able to provide a lift um or gas cars just just to kind of um level out the stress and you know help out as much as we can. The vision of our say forefathers, it was for mother Nancy Hagen was to serve our clients where they are and Tarant County is a really big county. So we always want to make sure that we're not creating another hardship for our families and that they can come to us, they can access us, they can access our services, including counseling, which is usually weekly, without creating more barriers to them getting to us. So with Sagena, we're kind of in the middle of the Fort Worth Center and Northeast Center. Typically, we give them a choice of if they want to try to beat the 820 traffic and and all that roof snow uh craziness over there or if they want to head down to the traffic circle, the Benberg traffic circle, which is where the Fort Worth Center is located. Next slide. Okay, so these teamed investigations. So

of course we work with our law enforcement across Tarant County and we love working with Sageno. They're very respond uh responsive. Um we also work with uh the Alliance for Children multidisip disciplinary staff. So we are we are coordinators. We work with our forensic interviewers. We work with our therapists and our family advocates um in order to make sure that a child receives the care that they need or a medical service that they need. We also work with Cooks Med Cooks Children's Medical Center, JPS Health Network and Texas Health Resources. And then we also work with Tarant County Criminal District Attorney's Office and then the Juvenile Services Office for those um juvenile suspects for our cases. Uh, of course we work with the Department of Family and Protective Services. And then our community, our kids, um, also named Oco workers. Those are the workers that, uh, those are foster care, uh, workers that take care of the kiddo while the CPS investigator is investigating the case. Um, and the reason why we work as a team, um, and why we have a teamed investigation is to minimize the trauma for the victims and families, uh, so they can have a better outcome and they have, uh, more justice and safety, but overall to uh, avoid them making disclosures over and over again. Um, and then ensure that they heal from whatever they went through. So that's why we do the team dove investigations,

right? So the first the very first um child advocacy center started in Huntsville, Alabama. And it was actually a prosecutor at that time many years ago that noticed that this child was having to recount their their statement over and over and over to law enforcement, to CPS, to medical staff, to the prosecutor to do court prep. I I believe the average amount of times that a child was having to repeat their disclosure was between nine and 12 times. And you can imagine talking about the worst thing that has ever happened to you that many times would be incredibly re retraumatizing. So it's our goal to only to have them come to our center and be the place where they feel safe. And we are a child-friendly building. We've got a big boat that they can play in and a big helicopter in one center. And then what's in the other one?

Um a train.

A big train that they like life-size train that they can play in. So we always want to make sure that we are very um very child focused, very child-friendly. We are all trained in TBRI, which is trustbased relational intervention. So we're um making sure that they are not overstimulated, that they have food, they have snacks, they're not hungry when they're trying to make a disclosure. So, we're just a really safe hub for them to come to in order to make their statement hopefully one time, maybe two sometimes when they have to go to medical. Um, because medical will ask just a few more different questions than what our forensic interviewers will ask. But it's really important to us that these kids are not having to repeat what has happened to them over and over and over. Um, and we'll talk a little bit about forensic interviews in a second.

Next slide. So, some of the cases that we investigate are um cases that involve severe physical abuse, uh child fatalities, uh children who have witnessed the v violent crime, whether it's from uh domestic violence or where a gun is involved, um any sexual abuse or child sex and labor trafficking. Each of our coordinators is assigned to a specific um workload. Um and then overall any cases that um fall into any of these categories or where law enforcement is involved, we we coordinate on those. Next slide. So kind of what Lindsay was saying earlier. uh these forensic interviewer forensic interview. Um the top picture that is where the interview is being done and in that room will be the interviewer and the child only and then the bottom picture is where our law enforcement and CPS is observing the interview while it's happening in real time. Um and so these interviews are basically where a child uh makes a disclosure or if there's concern of abuse. And these forensic interviews are conducted in a supportive and non-leading manner by a trained professional. Our interviewers are experts and they know how to talk to kids. Um and like I mentioned before, they're observed by law enforcement and CPS. We do have a interviewer who is Spanish speaking. So if a child um prefers to speak Spanish and they want to do the interview in Spanish, we're able to uh conduct the interview in Spanish. And in that case, the inter the interpreter will be in the monitoring room uh interpreting in real time as the child is speaking and the forensic interviewer is speaking. Um if our

Spanish interviewer is not available, um the interpreter will be in the room with the child uh interviewing all the questions that the interviewer is asking.

Yes, we have a um a really robust Spanish speaking program to help um be culturally competent and best serve our clients as we do have a lot of Spanish speaking families that we serve. Selena is one of our our wonderful interpreters. She will sit in a forensic interview with the kids and with the forensic interviewer or like she was saying, she can sit in the um in the monitoring room and interpret for law enforcement and CPS so that they can understand what's what's being said within the interview room. She'll also meet with families at times to help interpret if if the caregivers are Spanish speaking. And it's just a really nice service that we can um bring to our families to make them feel as comfortable as possible. Um so our healing services um and these include the our family advocate program and clinical services program. Um the family advocate programs has a lot of different um programs where they can assist with emergency needs for the family. Um or like I said any lift or gas cars that the caregiver may need in order to bring the kiddo in. Um and then our clinical services program uh provides different modalities that the children can receive. Um so one of our therapists specializes in play therapy. Um we also have EMD EMDR therapy and we have um TFCBT which is trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy. So depending on uh how severe the child has experienced their trauma, they'll accommodate and uh determine which modality they will use.

Right. And sorry. Oh, you're good.

Um the most wonderful thing is that this is all at no cost to our families. They don't have to have Medicaid. They don't have to have insurance. We don't even care. We don't ask. It is completely free. Every service that we provide is free for our families. So, our family advocates are assessing emergent needs of the family. While the child is in their forensic interview, the um family advocate will be meeting with the caregiver and going through a checklist of needs and how can we support you? Do you need hygiene bags? Do you need assistance with um the electric bill because possibly the breadwinner is having to leave the home and we want to make sure we're not setting them up for a situation where they're going to have to let the caregiver or the suspect back in the home. So, we're trying to set them up for success in order to make sure that this child is supported, believed, and recantation is at a minimum. And then, um, they're also assessing for kind of what is the best clinical therapy modality that's going to be the best for this family. And again, at no cost. And that is a huge thing that I'm proud of that we can give these families these services for free. It's and it's honestly because of cities like y'all that are part of ourus. sign on to us and um put in that financial investment into us as well as the donors and um grants and some government funding as well from victim of crime act. So, in 2025, um 4,592 children were confirmed victims of child abuse and um our agency was luckily able to serve 2,291 clients as part of a child abuse investigation.

I'm sorry, is that in Tarant County? Yes, sir. Okay. Um and I want to say we review about 30,000 CPS reports come in. Um I think that was just for 2025. Um so all of those reports that come in um we have a team that uh reads each intake and they determine which one we which one meets our protocol, which don't. Um so this is something that we're really proud of um that we're able to do,

right? And our protocol is kind of what Selena was talking about before, the worst of the worst, right? So the sexual abuse cases, the homicide, the child fatalities, the severe physical abuse, those are the ones that we're working. Those are those numbers up there. So you're right. We are very proud that we're able to serve those children and families. And it kind of breaks in your packets that I handed up. It breaks down the Sagon numbers as well.

Okay. So um another thing that we are able to do is provide education. Um and this education is to help our community prevent child abuse. Um these education trainings are provided to children to professionals to parents and caregivers. Um so for children those type of trainings include um like body safety um internet safety just kind of finding ways u to prevent any child abuse. And then for parents and caregivers um these trainings help them recognize any signs or symptoms um of a child being abused. So and they also educate them on how to report if they do suspect a child is being abused.

Right. and how to respond if a child makes a disclosure to you because the natural uh kind of response is like oh my god right but we don't really want to respond like that if a child discloses to us we want to be very calm and and understanding and say I believe you we'll get you help um so these trainings are really important for our community we do go out into the communities we go into schools we go to churches and we do train adults quotes as well on how to handle disclosures. And that is it. There's a few other items in y'all's packets. If you have any questions, feel free to um reach out to Vicki to get a hold of me. Um but we really are appreciative of y'all's partnership. Your wonderful partners, your law enforcement are truly one of our favorites. Um, so and they have been historically since back in the day that I worked with Crippen back in my CPS days. So, it's been a long time, but we do appreciate y'all. We appreciate your support and please reach out if you ever need anything.

Well, I was going to ask you before you move on quickly about how that interaction works and maybe Chief Rexdale could just give a quick how we get how that would get involved and how that that works. So on a monthly basis on the stats that I put out, you see the CPS referrals on there. So those are cases that actually start with CPS then run through Alliance for Children. They say they read all those cases. They forward cases to us that have merit to it that need to be investigated and our folks work with them uh very closely. So when we have a child victim, you conduct the interviews, our folks are their presence. Uh been working for a number of years. We've had them out on scenes with us on occasion. It's not real often we do that, but you they do show up on scenes when we need them there and just seems to work pretty well.

Great. So, we'll get uh an intake or um for example, Detective uh Raven Satella, she has a case with us that we're working with her on right now. Um she's coming on Thursday so we can do case review with the DA's office. So, we're going to all sit down together and we're going to review what's all been done. Um, what needs to be done, make sure all our eyes are dotted, tees are crossed so she can file that the way with the charges she wants to file it. Um, from the jump, we will we receive statewide intake cases that are um sagen jurisdiction and like Selena was saying, we read them for our protocols. So, we read them for the ones that match what we help with. So again, the criminal element, the worst of the worst ones. And um the sergeant will reach out to us or a detective will reach out to us and say, "Hey, do you know who CPS is on this case?" So we'll find out for them. And then we'll set up the forensic interview for them. Um refer for the medical. So we're kind of trying to take the administrative stuff off their plate so they have the bandwidth to like meet with the family and do what they need to do and make we're making sure the family has the services they need. Um, and we are the place that they come to make sure all this is happening and then they're coming back to meet with the DA and make sure that they everything is done that needs to be done to file it in the best way possible.

So, are all of your clients referred to you by either the court system or CPS? In other words, could just an individual ha family that know they needed help on an individual basis. Could they come to you or would they have to be referred through the courts or CPS?

Good question. So, to have a forensic interview, there has to be an investigation. Now, if somebody was just curious about like, hey, do y'all have some services you could recommend? We have a list of services we can always provide. But to come on site, there has to be an active investigation. Um, and then we can I say active investigation, that doesn't mean an open investigation. We follow these kids for years sometimes because we also do we accompany them to court once their um their court or their case is going to trial. We go with them. Um, a lot of cases everybody in the kid's family is on the witness list, right? So they invoke the rule and then none of them can be in the courtroom while they're testifying. So their side of the courtroom looks really lonely. So we'll try to load up their side of the courtroom with us with supportive people that can, you know, nod when the kid is testifying because those children, as much as we would love a forensic interview to take the place of their testimony, it doesn't because the US Constitution says everybody has a right to face their accuser. So these children do have to still testify, unfortunately. Any other questions?

Well, thank you. And the reason this is important for just for council and for folks reference, part of our budget goes to Alliance for Children every financially support them. So that's this is important to see where our money goes, where our taxpayers dollars go and we we thank you for your fantastic work and and your partnership with our police department. We really value that. Thank you. Thank you'all. Thank you.

All right. Next, we're on to 3C, which is work plan update. City manager Gabra. Welcome, Gab. Mayor and council, you adopted the 2026 work plan back in February. So, this is our first update. If you recall, we agreed to uh touch base monthly so we can all be aware of what's going on. So, I'm going to run through these slides pretty quickly. Um we've had some good progress on some projects and of course some projects will be concluded toward the end of the calendar year. Happy to answer any questions you might have and uh our staff here will will help out as well. Our employee personnel manual update. uh we have identified a um a vendor to uh use um a system. All of the directors reviewed this system. It's um kind of a um all-encompassing set of policies. So, we'll um pick through and find what's correct for us at some point in the future. um take the policies that we want to bring forward to you and send that to Brin's office for legal review. So um we're we're moving forward with the vendor. I think what was the name?

It's called Air Mason. Uh AirMason. Uh and we have funds available to um uh get that started. Um like I say, all the department heads sat in in a meeting. We're very impressed. And the next uh point uh once we get the policies would be we have an internal review, send it to Brin's office and then bring it to the council to review and approve. So um we're already moving on that one and um making good progress. Any questions?

That's right. So they have a set of policies that uh it's cloud-based. So we basically come on as kind of a subscriber and it was advantageous because in the future should we you know when we go through this we can um electronically have employees uh acknowledge the policies and then each department can have carveouts for policies that may be specific to them. So the the biggest exceptions are notable exceptions are police and fire. They have their own internal procedures. So yeah we're very uh impressed. They are serving a number of Texas cities um with with positive reviews. Yeah. Uh bond communicationformational awareness. We are um in that process right now. I want to remind everybody our first town hall for Proposition A, which is the street uh Proposition that will go to voters, will be this Thursday at 6 PM. Um, we'll provide information. We have some graphics and be able to answer any questions that people might have. Um,

those meetings are posted so all council members can attend, right? That's how that works. Yep. And we're recording them so we'll have a video uh to put on the website so that people who are unable to attend can can view. Um, so water bill inserts are going out right about now, within the next couple weeks. Water bill insert started going out the beginning of March and will continue to go out till the first cycle in May.

Okay. Um we have our bond website which is live. We are working on kind of a bulk mail newsletter which we've done every bond election even before I came in the past. That's in the process of going out. We're also sending postcard reminder cards for to to notify folks that we have a bond election. Um, what else am I missing? Uh, the videos. Yes, videos. Y'all have seen our our first uh video. I want to mention that all of these documents, all of our um materials that are produced are reviewed by attorneys to make sure that they comply. So, um, the firstformational video went out, was it last week or the week before? Believe it was last week.

Yeah. And do you remember how many thousand views we had? I'm trying to look it up now. Yeah. So, it'sformational only. uh produced by staff. Um information about the projects. Um we'll come back. We may do a follow-up video based on FAQs or responses to, you know, common questions that folks have. Um we're at 12,000 views.

12 12,000 views. So, it's really circulated. If you haven't had a chance to view it, it's about five minutes. It's pretty easy to digest and and brief and at the park opening we were just at. One of the uh citizens stopped me and said she loved that video and she was fantastic and very informational. So, it's a good it's getting out there. Yeah. No, it's good to hear. And again, uh staff's role is to proide provide information, not to advocate, take a position, voters can do as they feel led. Uh and that's why everything we create is reviewed by bond council before it's distributed. So,

is there any any plans to have a table or something pass these out at the farmers market that we have coming up? And then also, we have the hazardous waste drop off which usually generates a lot of traffic if we can hand flyers out at that as well. Yeah, those are good ideas. I don't see a reason why.

Yeah, we actually do have uh I reached out to Community Link. We have a table at all farmers markets uh leading up to May and uh that's a good suggestion on the hazardous waste. out of the one we had. Have we been reviewing the responses back? What's the view responses? Excuse me one second. Let me

Yeah, I I can address some of what I've seen. One was um a comment that the we use the average taxable assessed value for our projections which is and based on last year because we don't have this year's number that was about $253,000 $100,000 less for someone with a senior exemption. So I've seen comments like well my home is valued higher or you know neighbor down the street just sold for 350,000. we can only use our assessed value, which is not the same as what the market value. That's not where you're going to be taxed on. So, I think that's an easy sort of uh misconception to address. The other one I've seen is why um and I think some council members have mentioned this because y'all have heard it is why uh some of our industrial users can't pay uh to um or won't pay for the cost of replacement of the street. So the reality is um they as property taxpayers they pay uh for all public improvements. So a good example you know let's say the flower mills when voters approved the library and senior center uh in 2021 did they get a direct benefit for a you know library and senior center? Well I don't know but through their property tax rate they're paying for it. So, um um another project further on down, you'll recall we've talked about doing a street maintenance fee. So, this is a way potentially in the future where we could look at special, you know, kind of use base fees. So, these are all good questions and I think what's important is the more questions we see, the more we know that that's more information we provide uh or or answer. So, and I I have mentioned this to you before. If y'all hear something common, let us know. I think our next video we want to hit the same. I think that five minutes is probably like a good, you know, nobody's going to watch a 30 minute

video more than likely. Um, we did do a um what do you call it? So, Lee, yeah, go ahead. Well, uh, so one of the goals this year was to launch a Sagenov podcast. Our first episode is about the bond. Uh, we were going to try to release it today, but we had the park opening, so we're going to try to shoot for it tomorrow. That is unfortunately 30 minutes. Oh, okay. Oh, so I Well, that's a podcast, so that's not like a video, but could we put a table together maybe out there in some of this marketing that is in like $25,000 increments for home values on what it would be to so people they can they can go to TAD and look up what their assessed value is and then see from there what it's going to affect it. Yeah, I I think that's pretty reasonable.

You put the link for TAD on there for them. So, so it'd be nice to maybe like you said, you know, put together a video of most frequently asked questions. Does anybody from the city actually watching these and you know the ones that need should have a response actually find in those comments?

Yes, to the extent that the comments are not opinion based, we provide fact. But yeah, the common another one that's com that's come up is uh a cost breakdown for the animal shelter. So y'all know the 15 million proposition. That's not construction value. That's site preparation, that's civil design, you know, dirt work, uh access, you know, somebody asked, you know, what is the uh the actual construction component. These are all easy things. And like I say, the more of these common um questions you hear, let us know in that FAQ, we'll be sure to address it. Um, this project is uh kind of a carryover from last year. I spoke with Maria who's the project manager. We don't have any significant progress to report although I believe they've had some uh discussions with the parks board. So, we're moving forward. Um, and um yeah, probably within the next few months we'll have some kind of reportable actions. Uh, another project that since our, you know, three weeks ago or whenever we adopted the work plan, really nothing significant, but it's something on the list and we're going to keep at it. Uh, believe um our next next meeting we're going to talk about this. So Susie will provide kind of a workshop, no decisions about uh signage um citywide that would include um not just like monument gateway welcome to Sagenol signs but internal signs. Um I was out on the weekend at our parks. So some of the part uh signs at our parks are probably 30 plus years old and they have the oldish logo. So these are things we need to look at when we talk about signage globally. That next meeting we've got it. Um, it'll be the most delightful uh

three hours of your life. No, I'm just kidding. No, we need to have some discussions, hear your feedback. Uh, the goal, I might remind you of that, is to have a um some sort of standard form, a template so that you know anywhere in the city, we have a commonality. So, and on signage, not related to this project, but we're still replacing our street signs um citywide. And every time I see like a new pocket, it just they look really good. So, the are we going to replace the green signs that they put up on NLES with the construction project to the new ones? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. You want to handle this one, Pedro? Yeah.

Uh yeah. Uh I think I'm gonna have to compete against the three-hour presentation workshop as well. But we're going to have a workshop as well just to see uh just to go over the 2016 one which was adopted about 10 years ago and see direction on council on which how we're going to proceed with the strategy plan. I think some things that we could probably uh consider is looking at as we approach buildout um what the city council might consider to incentivize. Uh I think our neighbors in North and Hills do a really good job. Um they're probably a little more built out than we are as far as redevelopment is concerned. So they have policy that says, "Okay, when we have a project, here's what we'll consider incentive wise. Here's what we want to attract." They set up a um a redevelopment zone. So in a certain area that projects kind of get a priority and want to want to see things uh uh change and and uh um you know what was built 40 some years ago may not be practical now or maybe vacant that North Hills much bigger but they have some vacancy issues here and there. So, as well as targeted industries kind like use as an example, but y'all know the Dallas Stars are looking if y'all on council say, "Hey, Pedro, we want the Dallas Stars." And I'm like, "Okay, if the council, that's a targeted industry." I'm using that as an example. So, don't get too excited.

Aim high, right? We uh we also want to complete the chicken sweep. I think we're down to maybe two chicken restaurants. So, you know, that we have that as a poster. Might as well get them all. Yeah. No, I I'm kidding. Um, so it might be good to have for at least for me because I'm fairly new to council and I've been involved for years, but there's some stuff I'm not privy to. So it might be good to have like maybe three good examples of incentives that have worked in the past and then maybe three that we might could have done better. Yeah, I can.

Yeah, that would be great. and then also the last adopted version if we could get that sent to us too so that we could review what it's going to look like and kind of just see what ahead of time you know what that's

just off the top of my head I can answer you just in my eight years here so uh previous council incentivized a mill expansion at Millerm milling that was before the most recent expansion so I came and that completed maybe within my first year that was uh 67 million of assessed value and that's in perpetuity that was a big deal. The second one was uh the square. So the city council incentivized a roadway that's now been constructed to connect old Decar uh to Sagenolon Boulevard. And um through an incentive, the city paid for half of that roadway was not required in the master thoroughfare plan, but by making that investment, we maximize the commercial viability plus improved connectivity for uh public safety. So and we're uh on the square. the restaurant portion of that deal, which I believe was executed in 2019, they're building now at the the Square Boulevard and Sageno Boulevard. So, we'll we'll be doing a ribbon cutting here pretty soon. And then the third one, y'all were are aware, but the um redevelopment of the old fire station, we're like this close to kicking off. Uh in fact, believe they're going to do grading next week or soon after. So, those are the three that come to mind. And if you package them all together, our um building improvement grant has been tremendously successful. So I would say, you know, you you do a lot of small things and after a while you say, "Wow, that's quite a difference." So um yeah, keep going. Uh mentioned this briefly before, Fort Worth has had discussions about a street maintenance fee. They hired a consultant, a third party engineering firm to calculate a fee, which if the council wanted to move forward, we would need to do the same thing. The um general idea is you have a a fee based on uh impact to the overall street

system and that the money for that fee is set aside only for maintenance purposes. Um a person might say, well, why don't my taxes pay for street maintenance? Uh they do. The challenge, as you all know, is we're limited with our um tax rate. Um and the reality is our city and any city, it's very difficult to keep up with street maintenance. Uh you know, let's say at some point in the future, the city council reviewed a street maintenance fee and adopted one. We would probably use that money to hire a dedicated streets crew, which is something uh Corey Smith, Randy, they don't have available. and there's really no way we could potentially staff up to take care of these things absent another revenue source. So, uh that's sort of the discussion and again we'll kind of get into it further. Fort Worth has already um I'm not clear they do you know if they adopted the fee? Okay. So, they the their consultant presented to the city council. they're in um same situation we are street maintenance amplified by you know 50 uh because much larger city um yeah so that's sort of the the rationale and something we'll work through uh this could be a way where you know in theory where someone says well why don't we um uh oh this was another common misconception someone said we need to charge roadway impact fees we cannot charge charge roadway impact fees for uh a roadway that's already existing. This is something you do before like before a propertyy's platted. So after the fact, we could say, you know, maybe we have a residential fee and a commercial fee um let's say commercial center to the north um has a much bigger impact on uh the street system than a residence. So of course the fee should be different. So these are all discussions we'll have in the future.

haven't made any progress on this, although this is uh uh in the works. Uh Vicki and Jason have been working on some new classes and program offerings. So, please encourage folks that you know to check out the rec center. Um Melaniey's not here this evening because she was um they were doing interviews for our seasonal positions and I think I heard we've got lifeguards down to five or six. We've got a lot of returners. We've got, I believe, all our um summer camp staff locked down customer service. So, we're uh we're ready for busy season and day camp. Want to handle this one? Yeah. Hotel recruitment. I think this might be my last one. I'm not too sure. Uh so, the hotel market study, that's the feasibility study. All the hotels we have talked to, they keep asking for that. Uh, and that's a study that a third party has to conduct. So, I'm in the process of I have one quote, I need two more and then we'll have a workshop maybe the same time I do the other workshop. Uh, and then yeah, I'm trying to keep up with that timeline. But I would say every single one that we've talked to has said I'm surprised Sagal has not had a good hotel because we have Meum nearby. So, I think we're crossing fingers.

Hey, maybe the time is right. Yeah, it's a good timing. I'm going to pitch this to Lee because I think there was a recent activity on this project, the cyber security. Yes. Uh, it's pretty simple. The cyber security uh risk assessment is complete and uh we'll send that out to the council this week in the uh weekly report. Do we want to have Greg come and present that at some point? Would that be valuable? I'm sure he could do that. At some point, whenever it's convenient. So, so pay it'll be it'll be a document in this coming up weekly. Yes, sir.

Okay. Uh deferred to Chief Spears on on this minimum property standards. Yes. Council was mentioned last time, this is an ongoing effort that's getting a lot of focus. There has been an inspection at all three of the hotel motel properties. Some common items that they found recurring smoke detectors, just general upkeep and housekeeping. Those were all uh documented and there will be return visits to make sure those are kept up. But there wasn't any major violations found during these last inspections. But the focus will will stay on that. All three of them.

Yes, sir. And I think I don't think we've reviewed yet, although we we will in the near future, but um we mentioned this in the past, the there's a statewide nuisance abatement program. So, properties that contribute or can be proven to contribute to criminal activity can be go through the um is it the attorney general's office or uh and you know could close a business. So, we haven't started that yet. one of a couple of our hotels u the last time we reviewed this didn't meet the threshold. I I don't know if you defer to the police chief here.

Yeah, the thresholds fall into serious crimes. So, mostly what we're finding is warrants and stolen vehicles. Those do not trigger nuisance abatement. Uh sexual offenses, you prostitution, things of that nature. drug dealing out of the hotels if we can catch that. That that that falls under nuisance abatement as well. But most of the crimes that we're recording right now do not qualify under the nuisance abatement. So that's what we're reviewing to see if there's anything we can work with there.

I'm thinking that the reason we're not seeing close or they don't easily Yeah, I think code it's been two or three years since this was a a work plan project. Code keeps on them and PD is pretty active. And I mean, I've been pushing this and I know that our code and our police spend a lot of time at those places. I wish they didn't have to, but you're right. I think that's part of the reason they're better because we spend a lot of time. My thought is can we just get rid of the issue so we don't have to spend so much time out there. That's what I'm concerned about and that nuisance thing we don't meet that yet, but that's I'd like us to certainly keep an eye on it.

This may be something to consider. Um, you know, as we talk about redevelopment, the council may consider, you know, offering incentives to to encourage a different use in the future. So, uh, the difficult reality for some of the hotels, um, especially that are older and paid for and sort of a payments in cash is if you think of it, if you're the owner, it's quite profitable. you don't have a whole lot of maintenance in the building and pretty steady cash stream. So, um that's been some of the difficulty um in the past and and way before me that the the owners are you know they've got kind of a good good thing.

Uh strategic plan review um intend to I'm trying to think when you all can tell me but we're going to be talking about the budget here in the next few months. So maybe after that, maybe in the fall, late summer, we can go through the strategic plan. I don't I really think I don't think the major goals uh have probably changed a whole lot, but it's good to revisit. Uh council member St. Clair requested that. So look forward to um reviewing that through a workshop and we've had a lot of progress since the when it was adopted. So excited to review. I think it's good to review. When's the last time update? It's not Yeah. Uh 2019.

I was going to say 1920. Yeah. It's time. Yeah. That's when we started doing the work plan framework was a offshoot of the strategic plan which has been very helpful. So yeah, that's all. Um next month, same time, same place, we'll do an update. We'll probably have some more movement and uh happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Gabe? All right. Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.

Appreciate it. I want to quickly go back to 3A recognitions, presentations. It's actually a question for council. Um, we talked before about the May 5th council meeting. We're having a Cinco de celebration that same day, potentially cancelling that meeting so we can attend that. What do y'all think? Everybody okay with that? Because, and I talked to Vicki earlier today about this, we will have to canvas votes from the election on about the 12th, the next week. So, anything urgent on that fifth meeting, we could bump it to the 12th. We'll already have to meet anyhow and then have the fifth open for us to go to that celebration. Is everybody okay with that?

All right, there we go. Thumbs up. So, thank you'all for for indulging in that. All right. Executive session uh forc pursuant to Texas government code 551-087 discussion of real property. We will adjourn and return to adjourn from the council meeting. So,

Valerie second.

Please cast your votes. Motion passed at 7 o'clock. We're adjourned. Thank y'all. 10 more.