City Council - Special Meeting

Hammer and roll.

You're done. All All right, I've got 7:00. I now call this special council meeting of the city of Santa Fe, March 19th, 2026 to order. Natalie, roll call, please.

Mayor Brandon Oto here. Mayor Proton Marks here. Council member Shreder here. Council member Mckame here. Council member Janette here. And Council Member Dickerson here. We have a quorum.

Thank you, Natalie. I'll now invite uh Greg Verm up with Santa Fe uh worship center to do our invocation and then we'll do the pledges together. Heavenly Father, King of the Universe, we come to you in Jesus name. We thank you for our city and the blessings you have set up on Santa Fe. I thank you for our city government leadership and those that volunteer their time for the betterment of Santa Fe. We pray for you to give them wisdom and understanding as they lead our city. We also pray for protection of our law enforcement. Thank you for keeping them safe as they protect our city from evil. We pray for angels to encamp around our schools and we lift our children up to you as they learn and feel secure. Father, we thank you and we love you. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Amen. 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. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you, Greg. Greg's my cousin, by the way. I'm sorry, Greg. Yeah, we all have a cross to bear. Some are heavier than others. Thanks for being here, guys. I didn't Thank you. Notice he wasn't bragging about it. No, he didn't want to admit it, but that's okay.

All right. Um, next, I will um go ahead and present the mayor's spirit award for this month. So, u the mayor spirit award is award that was started by um the the most recent mayor uh Bill Pitman. And the origin of this award is to recognize folks um that really don't want any recognition which makes it really hard to um get the recipients to actually come and accept the award sometimes. But um uh but it's it's always been an honor um to continue that tradition alive um uh that that Bill started and recognizing um folks throughout our community that um that just get up every day and um embody the spirit of Santa Fe, just taking care of their neighbors, doing the right thing, um and doing it because it's the right thing to do, not because it gets them some sort of of special recognition. So um I've got a a very special recipient. Um it's not very often. In fact, I think there's only maybe been one or two um employees here at the city that have ever received this award. Um most of the time it's community members. Uh but uh this is a special exception that I made for this award. Um and so I'm going to tell you a little bit more about her once I get her up here. But uh this month's recipient is Miss Lorie Tolette. She's not going to be very happy ABOUT LORI. Lori has been at the city for quite a while now. How many How long has it been? Feels like about tomorrow years.

Three years.

Three years. And uh you know, we've had um some transition both on council and administratively during that time. Um and Lori just shows up to work and does her job. Um serves the citizens of Santa Fe to the best of her ability. Uh represented the city on the the Chamber of Commerce board for a while. Um and was instrumental in in building that relationship that we have with the chamber. Um but um Lori just does what needs to be done and um doesn't doesn't gripe about it, doesn't complain about it, and um she does it very well. And um you know um the the word tells us that uh whatever we do, do it as if we're doing it under the Lord. And I can tell you, you're a great example of that. Um and so thank you for everything you've done for me, for this city. uh we would not be nearly where we're at, especially with our social media and and announcements and and uh just just everything that you do here at the city. So, thank you so much.

We appreciate you being here.

Duck and weed worth of weight and gold. you didn't want to say a few words.

Then also uh before I turn it over to um the chief um I don't particularly have a long city manager report, I just want to recognize um that today is uh St. Joseph's Day and um St. Joseph is a very important saint here in Santa Fe and um we have a great um Catholic community here, Italian Sicilian Catholic community here um that celebrates St. Joseph's Day and uh Janette uh council member Janette's one of our Knights of Columbus and on the fish fry team, they do a great job feeding our community every Friday during Lent. U but I'm going to tell you just real briefly u a story. Uh so my family's been here for for almost a hundred years now. Whenever my great-grpa bought the place over off of Avenue J, uh he was uh working on building a house and and settling once they came over from Sicily and before they could really do anything, um they had to find water because if there wasn't water there, if there wasn't a well there, then you know that the land really wouldn't be suitable. And so he dug hole after hole after hole and he could not find any water. And he had just about given up on it. And um one night um he had a dream. An angel of the Lord came to him. He was working on on digging a well and it had the stem in there. And an angel of the Lord came to him. St. Joseph came to him and said, "Go out there and hit that that drill stem one more time and water will erupt in the middle of the night." So he gets up, throws his robe on, goes out there, takes that sledgehammer, hits that that uh that stem one time, and water gushes up. And uh I think that's just a an awesome story. Um they obviously um prayed for St. Joseph to help with the the famine in Sicily um many many many years ago. But um anyways, just want to commemorate St. Joseph's Day here in and

out to Texas and thank the KC's um for the the St. Joseph's Altar and the fish fries and everything that they do um here in the community. If you don't mind one second, mayor, we have a a St. Joseph's altar. We had it last Sunday and there's a lot of people to get involved. We have a free spaghetti dinner for anybody that wants to come. Donations are accepted and then the ladies and everybody donates to the altar and then we have an auction after the dinner and everything that we raise for that we turn over to the retired nuns in Houston at the at the nuns house. I forget the total name of it, but it was like $20,000 worth of That's awesome. And it's the nuns that used to teach at the school, right? Correct. Yeah. At our lady. Yeah. That's awesome.

That's right. Yep. Great stuff. Very good. All right. Well, Chief, I will turn it over to you. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, I would like to present to you Miss Janelle Fonka. She is the newest member of the Santa Fe Police Department. She comes to us from Alvin Community College, uh, Ellie Academy. She graduated back in December. Um, and we've already gotten her started on FTO. So, tonight I would like to present her with her badge and and uh do her formal oath of office and all of that. Awesome. Welcome to Santa Fe. Thank you for choosing Santa Fe. All right. We're happy to have you here.

If you would for me to face me, please, and raise your right hand and then repeat after me. Mommy. I, Janelle Fonco. I, Janelle Fonka, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the duties of police officer for the city of Santa Fe police officer for the city of Santa Fe and of the state of Texas and of the state of Texas and will do the best of my ability and will do the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God. So help me God. CONGRATULATIONS.

Captain Chief,

thank you. Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. Officer Fona, we look forward to having you here in Santa Fe. You bet. Thank you. All right. Um, city manager, did you have anything now or? Yeah, I just will just um a quick win event that we've got coming up on March 28th. I just want to remind everybody about the Easter egg hunt that we've got going on and we hope that you'll make it out uh and join us for that festivity. Uh, but that's all that I have before we jump into the report.

Awesome. Thank you. And, um, for maybe Officer Francesca's family, y'all are more than welcome to stay. Please don't feel like you have to or that you're going to be rude if you get up and leave. That's totally fine. You're you're not going to hurt our feelings, but you're more than welcome to stay as well. All right. Presentation and approval of minutes from the February 12th regular meeting and the February 26 regular meeting. Council, those minutes were included in your agenda packet. Hopefully, you had the time to review those. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes as presented. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, Natalie, roll call, please. Council member Shrader, yes. Council member Mckame, yes. Council member Janette, yes. Council member Dickerson, yes.

And council member Marks, yes. Motion passes. Thank you, council. We'll now have presentation of departmental staff reports. Mr. Collins.

All right, let's jump right on in. Okay, we're going to start off with municipal court. Uh so for the month of February, um the number of cases filed went up significantly. Went to 288 cases. Um our warrants issued went down for the month of February down to 130. Um but we are uh proud to say that our revenue collected went up significantly in the month of February uh right over $46,000. Uh so the court is definitely um helping us out big time bringing in that that that funding. All right, next let's move to community services. There were 189 permits issued uh for the month of February. 13 of those being new residential permits. So, that is definitely up uh from the from the past few months. We took in right over $66,000 uh in fees and we completed over 140 inspections. All right. Next. So, as far as rentals go, we had four rentals at Runi at the Runi Community Center. We had one um at the pavilion um and at Runi and then we had one at the Weber and zero at Tambrella Park. And we brought in $880. All right. Next, um, for a little bit of unfortunate news for us, um, from from the finance department is our sales tax revenue is down again this month. Um, so we're roughly down 5% below what we were last year. And if you remember, we um, usually budget uh, right at about 9% of an increase um, every year. So we are 5% below what we took in in 2025. Um, I just think that's, you know, part of the economy and, um, just the, uh, uh, inflation is definitely cooling off. Um, so I think that that's got a lot to do with that. Um, unfortunately, we weren't able to get the report, uh, from HDL. It was not updated, our sales tax, uh, snapshot um, until right this afternoon. But we had no change in our top 10 taxpayers. But I I just want to read that list just so that our

community is aware. Our number one uh, sales taxpayer is Sloan Building Supply. Um and then uh number two and three is Amazon. Uh one is the marketplace uh so Amazon itself and then um uh and then the other is for Amazon wholesalers for people who sell off of Amazon. Uh number four is HB. Number five Tractor Supply. Uh number six is um Reliant Energy um off of their uh bills. Number seven is Dollar General. Number eight is McDonald's. Number nine is Big Horn. And 10 is O'Reilly um auto here in Santa Fe. So glad that um our businesses are um u bringing in in customers and u bringing in sales tax for us. So McKini is big one.

Uh McKini is McDonald's. McDonald. Yeah. Okay.

All right. All right. Um and moving on to police. I have provided you um for what Councilman Janette requested at the last meeting um an update of every stop that we make in the city of Santa Fe. So that is um provided to you uh right there. So you can look through that. Um, and if you have any questions after, we can um talk with the chief about that. Uh, but as far as calls for service, we had 3,300 calls for roughly 3,300 calls for service this month. Um, we had um 61 arrest, 561 traffic stops, and 218 traffic uh citations were given. Um, in CB, they have 72 active cases. They cleared 21, and then they have 27 new cases for the month of February. Um all six Motorola and 70 handhills programs are in service right now. Um uh all the tobacco grant um uh citations that were six of them that we were allotted have already been given out. Um both of the new Durango were put into service. Um and then um all of our full-time sworn staff have completed their u mandatory training through TCO.

So Seth you said the new Durango. So, all four of them are in service now. No, those were the 2020. The first two we got. Okay, we're still waiting on upfitting on the other two. They're at the outfitter right now. Okay. All right. To move on to public works, we had 70 segments of road that were patched. Um we excavated um uh Avenue S from 4 and a half to the west side, 1,850 linear feet. Um we did 950 at 15th Street from Avenue K to Highway 6. Um and then 550 on Avenue L from 11th to 12th. Um and then Ponderosa on the north side of town from uh F FM f FM 646 north to the end to the south side. So 1175 ft there.

There was um quite a bit there on um Avenue I between 13th and 14th too, right? Bet on district. That's on for the month of March. Yeah, we're month behind. How many how many driveways do we do, Billy? One of these, 1800 ft driveways. 20 linear feet. They're released about it's on the next I believe next page. Yes.

Coming up right here. So we did 144 uh linear feet of new coverts that were set. U we had 20 ler feet of coverts that were reset to correct drainage. Um we they washed out the coverts along the ditches uh that were excavated. Um they cleaned out the covert entrances throughout the city as needed. Um for our library update uh for February 2026 uh this was the second highest uh month of the uh fiscal year uh that we've had. So we had 1912 uh circulations. We have 72 uh active accounts. Um we had uh uh a door count of right under 2500 and then our per capita ratio is 16.34%. So our uh taxpayers saved uh $18,300 roughly at the library. Um and then uh for the fire marshall um he did five burn pile inspections um 47 burn permit renewals, 185 uh total active burn permits. Um he had four fire calls in the city limits. He did two fire plan reviews, 14 fire safety inspections, and then as far as code enforcement goes, he has 12 uh new cases. He closed four cases and then we have 14 cases open currently within the city. that Chief Rent the the four fire calls. Is that just four of them that you were called out on or is that total for the month? There were four fire calls in the city limits.

Two two that I actually went to. I'm sorry. For the month in the city limits, two that I actually went to, but every fire call that comes in, I'm either either they call me out or I call and inquire. Gotcha. Okay. So, that was total. Yes. Okay. Gotcha. In the city limits, they hearing several more, but I have to

True. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. All right, I'm g open this up because I can't see it from here. All right. Um, and then move on to the Santa Fe Resiliency Center. Um, their uh counseling hours increase from January to February by roughly 7 and a half% which is a 10% increase from February of 2025. So, they are definitely growing in uh in the number of people in hours that they're serving. Um, next is um the continuation of counseling clients total. um their continued clients increased from January to February by roughly 10%. Um which is also about a 9.66% increase from February of 2025. Um so really glad that they are uh serving our residents and I think that more people are hearing about them and they're uh definitely um serving our our our residents and uh it's great that we were able to work with them on getting that BOK grant. Uh they got a uh 10% increase uh this year from the federal government. So really excited for the Santa Fe Residency Center to continue to be in operation for us uh and to continue to serve us. All right. Is there any questions?

Council, any questions for Mr. Collins? All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Item number five, citizen comments. Any person with city related business not on this agenda may speak to the council. Time is limited to three minutes in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. The city council may not deliberate on the comments. Personal attacks will not be allowed and personnel matters should be addressed to the city manager during normal business hours. Do we have any citizens that would like to address council? No. All right. Well, then we'll move right along into business. A old business one consideration and possible action. Second and final reading of an ordinance of the city council of the city of Santa Fe, Texas, repealing and replacing ordinance number 3-96 regarding regular city council meetings to conform to section 3.12 meeting of council of the city charter. Mr. Collins,

this is just a continuation um from our last meeting of moving uh from two meetings a month to one regularly scheduled uh council meeting a month. This is the second hearing for that. Um and so um as long as this is still um in route with with what city council would like to do, it's definitely staff's recommendation to move forward with having the one meeting a month. Council, any discussion?

Move to approve the second and final reading of an ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance number 3-96, regular city council meetings, as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the second and final reading of an ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance number 3-96 regular city council meeting meetings as presented. Any citizen comments? Hearing none. Natalie roll call, please. Council member Dickerson, yes. Council member Marks, yes. Council member Schrader, yes. Council member Mckame, yes. And council member Janette, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you, Natalie. Uh B, new business one, consideration and possible action approving the calculation and distribution of the annual reimbursement payment pursuant to the chapter 380 economic development agreement for Malberry Farms. Mr. Zapeda. Good evening, Mayor Council. So this agenda item authorizes the first annual reimbursement payment to the developer under the economic development 380 agreement which has been in place since 2021. So under the agreement, payments to the developer begin once the total appraised value uh of Malberry Farm PD exceeds 25 million. That threshold is now that threshold has now been met and uh it's valued at 37,793,171. So um quick math, it's based off of all the properties. So and it's what's collected. So let's just say 600,000 which is close was collected uh for up to this point and as you remember in our prior budget discussions the city's portion of that collection is 10%. So 10% of that is $60,000 and of the agreement half of that goes back to the developer $30,000 go back to the developer in the calculation. And that's close to what we're looking at here after the calculation which was done by P3 Works. It uh the first annual payment is $31,218.3 representing that 50% of the tax receipts collected by March 1st. So the city budgeted already $46,040 for this payment this fiscal year. So we're actually to the positive about $14,800. Um, after the payment, we'll have $768,721.97

left on the $800,000 which was promised to the developer in 2021.

The uh this agreement is going to grow this this payment is going to grow every year as as the value of the property. My question is this. Is the value of this subdivision the residential

or will it add the commercial when the commercial comes in? Will that be added to this? uh it's everything in that the pit area and if I believe the commercial and the residential are included in the the pit the pit designated zone then yes how much 36 31,000 $31,218 we budgeted4 46. And we budgeted 46. Yes, sir.

I do like that we budgeted. That was my qu when I was first going through this. I was, well, man, I know Rudy budgeted this every year. I know he did. Then I got down to it. I felt good. But that was the only question I had. So P3 Works will be working with me again this year in the budget process and we'll be estimating for next budget year what um what we can expect that payment to be and we'll add that to the next year's budget. So we will not be surprised. How much we've built out right now you know of? I believe there are 200 uh issued CEOs. So I believe that's that's the current uh number of units. Is that correct? Georgia. It's about 200 for the number of CEOs over at Malberry Farms. Yes. We're empty on our commercial though when that goes in. Yeah.

Change the game. I know they were still building houses. I don't know how they got a CEO. I can't I don't know what the exact number of open lots are. So, they're almost to a point of being built out, but when the commercial does go in, we will have the benefit of getting the sales tax revenue back to offset that. So, there is some offset. Get them on the move, Georgia. Come on.

So, Rudy, uh, quick question. The roughly 14 to 15,000 difference. Is there a way that we can capture that now and hold it knowing that next year is going to increase? So, we have those funds available. Well, the funds are available in the fund balance at the end of the year. So, but we can definitely uh look at making sure that whatever whatever the budget is supposed to be, let's say it's uh 31,000, we can add 15,000 to next year's to make sure we cover us.

I guess what I'm getting at is knowing how fluid our budget is and how things come up. I don't want to pull this money away for something else if we don't have to. knowing that we're going to have to spend it next year. Just ear market for Yeah. This well this mixed up with the what? 8,000 difference in sales tax. But Rudy's got this on a uh he's got it calculated in right now. So we're going to know. Yeah. Um I will make sure that there is enough in there. You'll be you'll be above it was like 8,000, you know, have a forecast above more than we have to pay. Yes. This is the same as what's in the that's what's in your Okay.

And that's and that's what the the goal is. Whatever whatever um works or Andrea, she'll come over and she'll talk to us again as she always does just to make sure everybody is is on the same page and say we're expecting 46,000 this year or 50,000. We'll make sure we add that money that we've saved this year towards that. And I can explain to council this is the reason why we're budgeting 15,000 more because we saved that last year. And so will that help us based on interest? Is there any penalty for paying this off early if we get to the point where we can I do we benefit in any way?

You know, I don't know. I'll have to ask P3. That's a good question. Unless they'll take a settlement. Hey, if we will you take 400,000 if we pay you right now? No. I mean, so for example, if next year we've budgeted 55,000 and we have an additional 15 from this year, is there a penalty for paying 60 next year and getting ahead of that in balance? Yeah, because it says um the the payment will reduce the remaining reimbursement balance owed under the $800,000 cap plus applicable interest. And we talked about that last week. What is that applicable interest right? Has it really been clearly defined?

So um yes so this is the first reimbursement which uh means that the interest will be acrewing and will be calculated and paid each year going forward for the outstanding balance. So, the faster we pay it off, which leads me to believe that and and I'll double check with P3 that if we pay it off early, it'll reduce that interest. Yes. Right. All right. We're paying them $800,000 plus interest on their own project.

Wow. All right. Council, any other discussion? I move to approve the calculation and distribution of the annual reimbursement payment pursuant to the chapter 380 agreement with Malbury Farms LLC and authorize the finance director to process payment upon certification by P31. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the calculation and distribution of the annual reimbursement payment pursuant to the chapter 380 agreement with Malberry Farms LLC and authorize the finance director to process payment upon certification by P3 Works. Council, is there any further discussion? Any citizen comments hearing? None. Natalie Ro. Council member Janette. Yes. Council member Dickerson. Yes. Council member Marks.

Yes. Council member Shrader. Yes. And council member Mckame. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you, councel. Item number two, consideration and possible action, first and final reading of an ordinance of the city council of the city of Santa Fe, Texas, amending the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget and adopting revised ERP general ledger account codes. Mr. Zapeda,

mayor, council, so this is a long time coming. Uh, this ordinance, this ordinance accomplishes two things. It's going to make a small number of mid-year adjustments. Um, and it formally converts the same time the city's adopted budget, which you all adopted back September 11th of last year to the new ERP accounting systems chart of accounts, which means that if council approves, uh, starting Monday, all of our accounts will now incorporate the the new accounting structure. Um that's with our new ERP or accounting system that's going to handle our payroll, financial accounting, purchase orders and requisitions, um HR and fixed assets. So the the works and it'll be online so that if something ever goes wrong with our servers or our computers, we can access the financial uh for the city anywhere. So it does uh help us. Uh there is no change to the net total of the budget adjustment. It's still uh zero. The primary driver of the ordinance is of course the uh management system, the new ERP management system and we need to make sure that council approves the the change order to the the new system um for auditing purposes.

All right, council. Any questions for Rudy? Motion to approve of the ordinance amending the fiscal year 2025 2026 annual budget and adopting the revised ERP general ledger account codes. Second, it's been moved and seconded to approve of the ordinance amending the fiscal year 2025 2026 annual budget and adopting the revised ERP general ledger account codes. Council, any further discussion? Any citizen comments? Natalie, roll call, please. Council member Marks, yes. Council member Dickerson, yes. Council member Janette, yes. Council member Mckame, yes. And council member Shrader, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you, council. Thank you, Rudy. Item number three, discussion and direction regarding the sale and discharge of fireworks within the city limits of Santa Fe, Texas. Chief Reta,

council, first I want to mention that this is a portion of the strategic plan that you guys will be adopting in a couple of items. um hopefully. And uh so we're bringing this up tonight to get direction uh from you guys. Um but I'll let Manny lead the way, but I just wanted to remind y'all that this was part of the strategic plan to talk about, you know, what days um maybe that we should amend um uh you know, the days that we allow fireworks on and then potentially um allowing firework sales in the city. Um but we'll leave that up to you guys. Manny, I'll let you go ahead and jump in.

Mayor, councel, good evening. Um so this is a interesting topic you know not only for the citizens um you know those who want to participate in such activity or celebration but also as a community as a safeguarding that we want to do for our community and uh quality of life concerns. So uh currently in Galveston County there is two communities which is uh League City and Dickinson that are actively uh allowing firework consumer grade fireworks to be uh uh utilized during uh uh celebration times for Fourth of July and New Year's. So the dates are regulated um by the state and as long as they're consumer grade fireworks and there are safety parameters involved at the local fire marshals and uh you know code has applied for allowing their citizens to actively utilize the fireworks. So um at your direction you know we can consider factor do an assessment of uh sale and usage or discharge of consumer grade fireworks only. And I and I stress that because uh you know for one at the challenge for um the uh at the consumer level those are the ones that are readily accessible that you know anybody can go purchase as long as they're over 18 versus a pyrochnic type specialized fireworks that would need a regulated licensing and stuff. So I'll be glad to conduct u you know a thorough assessment or research you know at any direction you guys uh would like to go. Chief Renta, you've been a fire marshal for a long time.

Almost about eight years total. You call any old? No, just experienced. Okay. What's your opinion? Well, from a from a a practical enforcement perspective,

as a fire marshal, it is a losing battle trying to enforce the community u on the extinguishing side on the uh active enforcement to tell them not to utilize fireworks. Um as an individual personally, I've got the scars to tell you in my youth that we have to exercise extreme caution. uh you know we do need to have the safeguards in there. I encountered this past New Year's um c celebratory u evening that I was out doing firework patrol. I encountered uh some people kind of maybe lacks a days ago with safety in mind and I saw responsible parents with their children in a responsible manner even though it was in violation of code still exercising you know consumer grade fireworks in a responsible fashion. So I'm not a personal big fan. However, I have teenage children and they seem to enjoy it. So, uh it's it's a toss up. It's a toss up mayor. It can go either way.

What brought this up? This was brought up in the strategic plan to um to discuss um a potential sale within the city of fireworks because they're really right outside uh the city limits. And then also um amending um the days like looking at Fourth of July and then New Year's. Um, and that was the date. We had to do it by the April uh the first meeting in April and so we put it on for this um for this month or it may have been March, I'm sorry, it may have been March for the first meeting in March uh for that um item. So it was just the timeline that was in the strategic plan and just trying to follow it that we put this up. And I think a a big part of it, Bo, was that we have an ordinance that's almost impossible to enforce.

You're not going to ever enforce it. Yeah. So So that's why that's what generated the conversation. Yeah. And when uh part of that's why I'm actually Yeah.

When I first got on council and I don't know maybe maybe you I don't remember exactly when but I was I was fairly new to being on council. Um Chief Dolphin was our fire marshal at the time and we had brought this up to council before and uh I don't remember if it passed on the first reading and then didn't on the second. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but um it was something that we had kind of discussed and started putting into motion and then all of a sudden it changed and it was never to be spoken again. So, I'd like for us to, you know, speak on it and make a decision one way or another. Um, you know, I'm sure our chief of police could, you know, probably um, bring some value into the conversation, too, just knowing the difficulties of his officers trying to enforce it. But uh that's just really my uh that's really the driving force behind me being in favor of opening it up on New Year's and Fourth of July is that we spend a lot of time officer resources running around on calls, you know, and the way the state law is written because the fireworks lobby is so uh powerful in Austin um is that you from what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to catch them lighting it. They can't just be in possession of it.

I can't quote it specifically, but there it there is certain particulars need to be met to whether you're going to seize fire or whether it's open, unopen. I think our current ordinance states you can't even have it in your possession. It's in there. That's correct. State law supersedes it. Yeah.

Yeah. But and and you know, so then you know, then you have some folks that are out there, you know, popping fireworks and it's Fourth of July, you know, then they have a cop come up there and tell them, "Hey, you can't have fireworks." Well, this is America. We're celebrating freedom. I own this. This is my property. And I can't even let my kids have a sparkler out in the driveway on Fourth of July. That's not very American. And I kind of get where they're coming from. So, what actually days can you do fireworks? That's where the holidays I know, but I think they New Year's and Fourth of July is the only the most acceptable. Those are the days that are uh that are there where they're commercially sold, you know, through the vendors.

So, I'm sure there's other religious holidays that we utilize fireworks, you know, other, you know, other types of celebrations. When they open up the booths for sale, is it one week before midnight? It's approximately uh uh two weeks prior. two weeks before two almost two weeks prior to to that time. So it's a very short period window and then they stop the say the 4th and they'll stop the first midnight. So it's a very short window for the sale of these fireworks. But I think we need to have the conversation. If we're going to allow fireworks within the city limits, then should we allow the sale of fireworks in the city limits to capture um the the sales tax revenue? That's the sales.

Well, the problem I see here, the problem I see I see I see the pros and cons on this. Uh it is uninforceable. It's always been uninforceable. It's it's a running joke in this town. every time we have a holiday and we put that out there. It is the biggest joke on Facebook because we never give a ticket. Uh here's my here's They almost take it as a challenge, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just I mean it it really is. It's crazy. I mean, they'll do it right in front of you. Um, if we're going to come up with a deal that says you can pop firecrackers on the 30th and 31st and we put a time limit on it,

how are we going to I mean, if we start selling inside the city limits two weeks early, that would be my problem. Once we start selling inside the city limits, I don't see where we can say, "Okay, you can't pop them until the day before or the two days before and that up to that day because you're going to have what 12 days, 11 days of times where they bought their you think they're going to you think they're not going to I mean it's crazy. I mean,

but the only thing I would see is cuz if we allow them to come in and start selling two weeks early, and and trust the competition's going to start selling two weeks early. They're going to start selling right down the road from my house and they're going to start right down here on Highway 6. Uh so currently u by measuring comparing with the city of Dickinson, you know, they have their operational hours where it's allowed on the 4th, the 31st, and January 1st, and they have a time frame allowed to it, but it seems like those are the only three days where it's allowed. Otherwise, you're the the ordinance that they're not allowed. See, that that would be my problem because I don't think I don't think I don't know if the

they're gonna man, they're already doing it though. I know. I just That would be my only problem is if we're selling them inside the city limits and they were not and as in the county, they're going to be allowed to pop them as soon as they buy. If it's uninforcable, if the if the fireworks ordinance is uninforcable on the 4th and the 31st, what makes it more enforcable on the 30th? The less less people Yeah. But I mean, it'll be less people. It'll be less people. I mean, on the 29th, you're not going to have them like you have on New Year's Eve, but it still doesn't make it any more enforceable unless you fighting it.

Yeah. I mean, it's not enforceable, granny. I mean, we both know it is not enforceable in this town. We do not have the resources to set everywhere. I I would say then we'd be looking like you can't have 50 fires. Big big brother, you know. Yeah, we would have to limit the amount of permits. Yeah. If we can I don't know how we would do that if that's legal or not. We'd have to look into that. So, we can we could do a conditional use permit with it um in the certain number of zones, certain number of areas, kind of like we've looked at doing with the different auction them off like the shrimp like the shrimp permits. Come up to city hall.

Well, kind of like we've looked at doing with the the different types of vape shops, gs, that type of thing that you can only have so many within however many feet. um you can only have however many permits for, you know, however many months, whatever counsel would like to structure it. Um but that would also enact inspections. Manny would go out and do inspections. We would have to do zoning enforcement on it. Be sure that they're not storing things they're not supposed to be storing, make sure that they're within compliance and that everyone has licenses to be able to sell in that area, that type of thing. Because to have certain items, you've got to be able to pass certain checks on things. So there would be regulations imposed with it. We would just have to make sure that we checked all of those boxes correctly.

Yeah. So I think I think we have to be careful u because if we make it if we regulate it too much or make the permit fee too much then they're just going to stay out in the county. They're going to stay. That's exactly what I was saying. And here's my other thought process. Uh, we know where they're at right now because that one on 1764 hadn't moved. Those ones on Highway 6 haven't moved. 646. They move.

They move theirs. I mean, but if we brought them into this town, I'm going to say you're probably your best. One of your places is going to be over that parking lot by Jack in the Box. You know, that corner there. Are we going to bring See, this is where it gets a little sketchy to me. I don't want to see conx building. I don't want to see I don't want to see dropped off. I don't want Exactly. I don't want to see on thing. I don't want to see a fireworks uh like I'm looking at right down the road from me right now sitting there on our prime land in our town, you know, because it gives the point where and and you know what it is? Somebody's going to lease them that piece right there.

Mhm. Well, somebody's going to see that and they're just going to, well, that's not for sale. Or somebody they want to put a firework stand there instead of, you know, that's the only the the optics of it. I get a Well, the permit would be like for only a number of certain days, right? That's what I was going to ask. Can we make the condition? Then they'd have to get it out of there. It would have to be a trailer type to make the ordinance where it would be a trailer type deal. They have so many days to get it out of there by the end of sales. And League City is very stringent on what their requirements are for everything. And we've pulled Lake League City and Dickinson's ordinances to make reference to. So, we'll go through that and then we can put something together and present it to

council. I don't want to see full fulltime firework stands, you know, that only get used for two weeks and then just sit dormant. Mhm. Yeah. I've uh and I've talked to several of the council members both in in League City and Dickinson and since they've passed those ordinances, they don't have any any regrets about it and it's been they think it's been great. So, not saying it'll be great for us, but um

it it be feasible for the for the user, the vendor to store and sell um in a temporary conditional use permit because if they want to do a full occupancy in a full zone, they would have to meet much more stringent requirements in that regard. I just want the temporary old wooden shacks that are after I don't want that or like Brandon is saying a conx. We can determine we can make our stipulations that they meet that particular like the olden days where they came in with the trailer and did their stuff and then the trailer possibly but you got to figure out how you're going to who you going to do it to because you can't send people over

and that's not to say the vendors might particularly want to move in when they already have their agreements and their you know 10ear existence of sales during the seasonal approaches. So but in the event we do have one we'd have to prepare on how we would operate uh allow the operation of such business. So, will the conditional use permits for those have to go before planning and zoning and planning and zoning would have to move them or is that an administrative? If we set it up through planning and zoning, then it would have to go through planning and zoning. If we did it, it would just depend on how we structured it. Gotcha.

So, if city council would like us to structure it in a way that it goes through the zoning ordinance, then we can structure it that way. Um but it's going to have to go through public hearings and several other right hoops to get it there. Yeah. Um but if we structure it in the way that it goes through our code of ordinances rather than the this development code then if may if you would like it or it can be a a city manager approval and or and fire marshall and police or whoever. How how did Lake City do it? We would have to go look. I don't believe they allow the sale within their within their jurisdiction.

Oh, did they do allow the ordinance for to pop? So, you can fire them off, but you can't buy them. Yes, they did repeal the sale. I know with the League City, I did study that one uh more than I did Dickinson and but I did catch that. So on the sale it's still I mean there's I think it's a you can say it's a split component because there's different parameters that need to be met on that side. Sales tax. Anybody have any idea? It's going to be sales tax. Huh? Whatever we get on sales tax. I don't know what the it's cash. They report it. if they're doing cash business,

you know, and they sold $500 of fireworks and we get 2% of that, you know, and we spent $100 on a on a fire marshal to go and inspect it and, you know, then we're losing money on it. We were looking somewhere in the range of $250 to $300 for a permit just at base level. Yeah. Just to cover our staff time. What does the county charge? I couldn't find it on their website. I'm going to have to make a call. Yeah. Okay.

Well, on Fourth of July council, this is what I'm thinking. Not everybody's off on the 5th of July. Some people are, a lot of people aren't. So, I think it would need to end. It would on for Fourth of July. I think it would need to end I would say 10:00. I don't think any later than that. 11 maybe. I know it doesn't get dark till probably close to 9 on 4th of July anyways. Unless it's a week. I'd make it. You could stipulate a week. That way you just start the new day. What's that? I'd make it I'd make both of them midnight. You can't make it midnight on on New Year's Eve. You can make it one. Yeah. You don't start it till midnight. I know. But I mean, you don't need to go past one.

I wouldn't think so. I mean, if you got an hourong fireworks show our fireworks show was 30 minutes. I don't know how. And that was and there's only there's a you know most of those guys though they start the big fireworks shows out here at the county. They they start them early. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think one class shows out here New Year's Day January one after it's dark 9:00. You look and see what League City does. I mean most people Yeah. Most people are done by one. I mean we can get the comparables of what other cities are doing. Then we can reach out further throughout the state and get those comparables and present them. And but they didn't allow the sales in the city. Correct. They don't want the junked up shacks and le that. There you go. They got the they got the money. They're not worried about sales.

Yeah, they got the money to save. They got the money. No, I haven't gone to interview and to ask why. I'd like to see I'd like to know. There's always a reason. Dickson sold them inside the city though, I believe. Huh. Lake City is also fairly built out, so there's not a lot of open. Yeah, they'd have to be going to the county to have other places to put. They'd have to be going by them to St. Leon, I guess. Well, that's the county up, right? About the only thing that's left. Yeah, they're in some Dickinson and all of us back here.

So, we all we really need is direction tonight and I think we can break it into one or we can break it up. So, number one would be are we even interested in in having staff spend the time to look and see what a two or three day exception to the ordinance is? I'm all for it. Okay. So, use perfect sale. So, it seems like there's Yeah. The two-prong component whether we do the sales or whether we do we uh allow the ordinance to open up and let the you know the community participate in that and then of course we would come back with the operational conditions you know what safety requirements that's still consistent with state law. If we're going to open let's sell. Yep. I agree. I mean that's the whole point of this and we can do that assessment as well. I mean, we can pay

y'all's discretion. Maybe pay a little bit with that. I don't know. I don't know how much fire. It just It's got to make sense, right? I think it could cost a little bit more to be in the city limits than in the county because you're closer to the people. I mean, most of the people are going to have to have to pass the one in the city to go to the county. So, you're willing to pay a little bit more so that you can be closer to the to the to the people. You know, be the first fireworks stand that they get to on 646. But, you know, if they're not paying anything at the county and we want them to pay 250 bucks, I don't know that they would be willing to do it. They might be. They've got to be paying something.

Yeah. Well, yeah, I'm sure they are, you know, but I think the the direction that we got is is to move forward with the with the 3-day uh exception of the ordinance and some type of process for permitting the sale of it. Okay. You could also look at the the business competition aspect of that. If we're in the county and like you said the people are in the city competition wise they may want to pay the fee and come to the city where the people are be the first one they get to. Sure. Yeah.

So what I can do going forward looking at both aspects of it. What I can do going forward is getting a comparative within the county, the region, and maybe throughout the state to see what communities allow some similar activity besides our neighboring cities and to see the analysis of how they uh received it, how the community received it and or any potential safety concerns. Yeah. And I I give that assessment to you all to uh move forward or

where they guided. I'm not uh I'm not as familiar with Dickson's as I am with League City and they may be exactly the same, but I would think at least for what League City has on the on the use of them, don't reinvent the wheel. Like if it's working for League City, you know, I agree. Delete League City and put Santa Fe. You know, Mr. Mayor, I'm very well with that process. You copy and paste. Okay, good. Council, anything else? Okay, thank y'all. We appreciate it. So, uh, we'll have that back at the April meeting. Yes. Okay. Perfect. Because if we're going to do it, you know, we want to do it in time for for Fourth of July. Although, we're hoping that nobody will be popping fireworks on Fourth of July and they'll all be at the county fairgrounds with us,

right? Watching our fireworks show. All right. Item number four. Oh, I'm sorry. Are there any citizen comments? Y'all are sitting out here. I just want to make sure I don't miss y'all. If y'all have an item that y'all want to speak about, make sure y'all let me know. Speak about the fireworks. You want to speak about the fireworks? Yeah. Coming here from Sure. You have to come up here and speak u state your name um and speak into the podium. That way the the people online don't get mad at us. You'll say I can't hear anything he's saying.

Uh Jason Gibson. I live here in Santa Fe. Moved here from Fort Bang County. If you look at where we were from, which is Fresno, they allowed fireworks to be sold, but there was no enforcement at all of the fireworks during any time. And it would go on till 1 2 3 in the morning. And even when you called to say, "Hey, they are still setting them off," it was, "We've got other things going on." So consideration for those that have lived through that. If you want to go see what they're like on July 1st through July 7th or any weekend in summer, head to Fresno. They're just like Santa Fe, same size, and you'll see what can happen during just a holiday, just one holiday, and how it actually blows up.

Yeah. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, like we mentioned earlier, it's just the city or the state makes it so hard on us to enforce it. Um, it's just difficult. I wish it was different. I wish the law was if you're caught in possession of it, you know, you'd be ticketed, but that fireworks lobby hard. The more we talk about trying to the more we talk about enforcing it or bringing it up, the worse it gets. I mean, so it's not going to stop. No, no, it's not going to stop. You're right. Best thing that we can do is determine whether it's a good use of tax taxpayer resources to try to enforce an uninforcable law.

Try something. What would not work? All right. Item number four. Oh, was there any other citizen comments on that item? Okay. All right. Item number four, consideration possible action approval of the repairs of the greatall XL 3100 unit 0526. Mr. Krepon. Good. Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Good evening, Billy. I'm in front of y'all again because we have a we have a great all that's broke down and it's it needs a motor. And uh I gave y'all some pictures today and they're claiming Asco and Volvo Pinto are claiming that the motor has gotten dirt sucked up dirt and dust through the intake pipes of the machine that caused the issue. And uh what the pictures show, I see more of the turbo pieces missing out of the turbo, which happened to the first motor. Even that uh on the second set of pictures, I even show y'all the scarring and the cylinders. Dirt does not scar cylinders and tear up the walls and the cylinders and the rings of the motor. Is

that the first pictures, Bill? You've done that, too.

It'll be the be the second set of pictures with the with the with the little red camera dots on the bottom. You can you can see you can see the scarring on the cylinder walls and on the top of the pistons. I even had uh at first they didn't even want to bring in the Volvo Penta people and I made them bring them in and analyze the motor. And I had a oil sample done on the motor to make sure that the oil there wasn't nothing wrong with the oil that it' be contaminated or anything and the sample oil sample come back good on the cylinder on the motor that it uh wasn't a problem with the oil. And we had the same issue with the last round with the It starts out with number two cylinder. And number two cylinder had 14 PSI of compression on it. Number three cylinder had 80 on it. Number four cylinder had 80 on it. And number one cylinder had 100 on it. And number six cylinder had 100 PSI on it.

So you lost the rings out of the cylinder. Yes. It scarred. It scarred and it just carbon a bunch. It just didn't scar the cylinders and the top of the piston. We lost rings and number two and way that the intake with I've been chasing down talking to different mechanics and everything and way it is that how the intake comes in from the turbo number two cylinder catches the first and then it spreads out to two and three and then four and five and six. So number two cylinder catches most of everything that comes through first. And uh that's why I believe we're seeing so much damage on number two cylinder. And uh

that's the first two cylinders on the main. They they are claiming that you see the pictures with the you see the pictures of the turbos. If you look at that picture close, what what I see I see pieces missing off of that turbo. Oh yeah. It's it's been hitting something. We've got that at the Yes. But on our turbo, they're they're claiming they they're claiming these clamps, these clamps on the intake pipe. You can see these band clamps. They're spring loaded. That is a spring that them clamps are spring loaded on each one of them.

And there's they're saying that the you can see the dust. That's just regular wear and tear putting the filter in and out of the housing. By our maintenance records, we have changed the air filter more than normal. We in the amount of hours it has on it. We was only supposed to change air filter one time. It's already been changed twice. And the air filter gets blow blows out every week before they ever fire it up in the mornings. And they're they're even show showing on this one. They're they're they're saying that the dust the dust and the dirt is coming in around the edge of that and they're they're the ones that put the motor in the machine. We put that motor in at 1858 hours. It is exactly 2 years and 2 months. The hours on this motor that went out is 1887. 29 hours difference

that the new engine only has 29 hours on it. No, the new engine has 1887 from the first time the motor went out in it first time to now. Understand? You know, they're they're so close on the hours. They're all They're both almost the same exact hours and same exact failure the first time.

Yeah. And see, they even said something about running the machine, how hard you run the machine and stuff. Mr. Mr. Schroeder knows he's running great also at the county with the admissions. When you let go of the controls, the machine idles down automatically. You don't have a choice to leave that machine running wide open. It does it on its own. Once you let you work in pairs when we're digging ditches, you the excavator's got a excavator operator and a dump truck driver. Gradall's got a dump truck driver and a greatall operator. When you fill a dump truck up, he has to leave and go dump. come back. As soon as you stop the machine, as soon as it's not pivoting or you're not moving your hands, it goes down to idle, 1200 RPMs. So, there's no way. And talking to different mechanics, even in town mechanics and out of town mechanics, and uh they're just shaking their head. One of our entities close to us right now has got a 500 horse tractor. Right now, it don't even have 500 hours on it. The turbos went out on it. and they're not wanting to replace the motor because it's under warranty. But once the turbo goes out and them pieces get down in the motor, like Mr. Schroer said, you done lost the rings and the cylinder walls and everything. There's no way. We can't even plug into this machine. The It's computerized and they they're the only ones that have the software. So, you can't even see what's wrong with it. And then when you do plug into it, it don't tell you anything that's internally wrong with the motor. So you're kind of you're kind of blind. You don't know anything that's going on with this machine till it starts acting up. And uh that's as soon as soon as we knew it was started acting up, we got the machine to them right away. And then they're saying it's it's too late. We're

two months out of warranty. So, Billy, was this a was this a new engine or was this a rebuild of our old one? New engine, new turbo, new turbo. Yes, sir. We checked all that. This one we paid 55,000. Yes, sir. So, what are they saying for local entities? What are they saying about You said they're shaking their head. Yeah, they're saying the mechanics are shaking their head and said dirt then cause them to have different scars in the cylinders. We're not in the I mean I could see if we're on a road, you know, in road construction. We're digging ditches.

Yes. And most most of most of, you know, we have some dusty roads here and there, but most of our roads are asphalt roads. You know, it ain't like we're working in a pit somewhere where we're turning up dust all day long. not just loading Brock and you know and uh you know we have a maintenance sheet my guys have to go through every morning before you fire up the equipment and we blow down the air filters and they check the oil and all the fluids and everything. We go through the whole shooting match and uh what do you think the uh value of that machine is right now?

Nothing. They won't even when you when you buy a new one. This is what that's what those X4 when we got that's what they've gotten to those X4100s is that's it. Yes. When we had our other one that was running great that we got rid of the trade in value was $5,000. That's my problem putting this money into this. Correct. So I mean because if we lose what's the long-term goal, Billy, sir? What's get out of these? Get away from it and do what? Go back to two esavators. When can that start taking place? Well, we can we can do that in the budget, but I do think for right now we've got No, no, no. I'm not saying do it right now. What is what is the outlook for that?

I know we got to get it fixed. We got to get back we got to get something back in service. Correct. And and and and thankfully for us, I think that, you know, we've got $25,000 that you guys have budgeted for the great doll um individually um every year. And so we've got that 25,000. Um, and then public works, we just did the auction that you guys approved last month. Uh, and we came in way over auction than what we were even expecting. So we were thinking probably 20 to$25,000 and we took in $42,000 uh dollar. So $300 above when you put that together the cost of the repair of this greatall. So it will be covered. There'll be no effect to the budget. I think what what who who are we using for filters? Sir, who are we using for filters?

There's only one place. Gradol. Oh, really? We're buying these from Great. Yes, sir. I have You have to They will not really We had We The only reason I do the oil change on the machine, the filters cost me $850 bucks. You know what it cost me if they do the oil change? $2,850. If they ch if they change the oil in the machine. Those air filters are proprietary. Yes, sir. air filter. I mean, uh, they've got it figured out. What I would do, the green and the red machine,

I would get the air filter rep down here and I would ask them straight out, um, do we blow them air filters out every week? Do we I mean, or do we just leave them in that canister until we get to the hour time of where we take them out? Well, because you know that I I've I've lost a warranty once. Well, we went over that. We went over that already and they recommended that we blow them out every week. Really? And they recommended that there was nothing wrong with these filters that are in the machine now. There's not a few We have We have a maintenance book that's with the machine. Yeah.

And it it don't even tell you. They said that you need to be checking these clamps every 500 hours. That's what I was about to get at. It don't tell you to check. It doesn't tell you to do any of that. You go. The only thing they want you to check is the little bobber that goes from green green to red. If the filter stopped up, but other than that, you go by your powers. There's nothing in the book that tells you you needed to be checking these uh these intake pipes. I I think that

I'll tell you before I got involved in the in the city on this side, I did an auction for the city one time and I sold a a 1992 or something John Deere tractor at a Billy's yard and they had more documentation and I'm a 1991 model. Okay. They had more documentation on that tractor than my baby book. Yeah. Well, even even in Billy handed it to me. It was like this and it was every filter change, every oil change, every for 30 years. This one's going to be easy cuz it's 2 years. Um, but what I would get that air filter I mean

we've got to get to if they're saying that it's coming through the air filter and that's what they're saying. No, they're saying they're saying they're saying it's coming through them clamps. It's coming through the clamps on the intake pipes. And their new their new quote their new quote on the new motor has new intake pipes and air filter canister and everything on there. How about the last time? No. So, Billy, what what value roughly would you put on this machine once the new motor's in? What he said? 70,000. At least $150,000

because these machine these machines now are $500,000. So, I know we we really need to move forward with this just because hurricane season's around the corner. We need to have that machine ready. But I would like for us to have some serious discussion about when hurricane season's over, this thing goes on the market and we move towards excavators. Yes. Yeah. Like around October. Yeah. I mean, this is we're right in budget season, too. So, I mean, we can we can definitely I sure wouldn't let it run past the 2-year warranty time before we get close to that. No. With the known history and we're going to look for someone that may be interested in one. Is it transferable to warranty? Yes, it should be shouldn't be no problem transferring the warranty.

Make sure I I will I I will ask that question purposes. Yes. Well, I think we're getting hung out to dry on this deal a little bit, but what else can we do? File a lawsuit against ASCO? I mean, you know, there ain't nothing we can do. Either either pay it or don't, you know. unfortunately. Well, I am happy to hear that the auction did so well. Yeah, absolutely. Because I was looking at just trying to be real creative with pulling, you know, funds from everything and and thankfully

I don't have to do that. Um I was shocked at some of the the the values that we got for for our equipment. Um I was actually blown away with how much that we got an auction. We did. We did great. We did great on this one. The next time we held we held back the tractor for the parks department and we still did real well on auction. Well, just let uh my old buddies from the old highway equipment know how much we're enjoying that caterpillar. Yes, sir. All right, council. I move to approve the repairs to the greatall unit 0526 in the amount of $66,94763 as

it's been moved and seconded to approve the repairs to the great all unit 0526 in the amount of 66 94763 cents as presented. Um any citizens comments on this item? Billy, um, you went above and beyond on getting all of this stuff together and I want to thank you for that. You could have came up here and shoved your shoulders and we deal we deal with this day in day out and it really upsets you when you get a piece of equipment that you hadn't had a brand new motor in in two years and then you're looking at two years again at the same problem. Yeah. And they did the work and they won't stand behind them. They did the work just like he's saying and won't stand behind it.

Won't stand behind it. And then when you even call in the manufacturer who put the motor that builds the motors and then they they don't want to stand behind it either. Yeah. You know, well, I appreciate it. You know, I mean, we we always talk about transparency and and being accountable and fiscally conservative with tax dollars and you going above and beyond to do this. It chips in for that, you know, to know that we did our homework, you know, we uh we looked down every rabbit hole and and this is just where we're at. So, yes, sir. Makes it a little easier to swallow. I don't know about that, but it it is. So, what are you looking at? A month to get it back. That's was going to be

That's why we're in hurricane season. He's saying if we don't hurry up and see this other motor was in here during barrel, you know, we use that machine the whole time during barrel loading out for trees and stuff. Do we have to bring this up again or can we approve it on the first and final? No, it's approve it on this. Yeah, approve it on this. Yeah, just one one vote is all it takes. Yeah. All right. Any other discussion hearing? None. Natalie Wil, please. Council member Shrader, yes. Council member Mckame, yes. Council member Janette, yes. Council member Dickerson, yes. And council member Marks, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you, council. Number five, consideration possible action adoption of a resolution of the city council of the city of Santa Fe, Texas, approving drainage improvement projects funded by the Santa Fe Economic Development Corporation. Billy and Rudy tag teaming it.

Yes, mayor and council. Uh these are the eight drainage projects that uh we went to EDC on and we got back the bids the other day and Metro City won the second drainage project, the third drainage project, and the sixth drainage project. And then Wagner Construction won the first project, the fourth project, the fifth project, the seventh project, and the eighth project on the on the jobs on the eight jobs. I believe Metro City totaled up to be 188,729 and Wagner Construction total up to be $398,725, which brought us in around $150,000 cheaper than the 750 that we asked the EDC for.

I like it. on project four. Yeah. The low the low bid is TEK and they are considerably low. Yes. And they when we talked to them going to come in just they didn't want they didn't want to even entertain it. They they asked us to pass it on. Okay. Which of these bids which of the projects are going to take are going to deal with 24th and project over there? Project 8. Mr. Schroeder. Hey.

Yes, sir. That will be relieving um the east and westbell air and off of 24th Street. The water the water bills up and crosses over people's yard. And we've done clean out everything coming down 24th Street down to R to Cloud Bayou and the water bills so much it'll go down Sesame Street and come back around to Avenue T. We're going to enlarge both. Looks like that's the biggest project too, sir.

Well, it looks like that's the biggest project because of the how many driveways got to be done there. We're doubling up the covers to 24in Culberts all the way down to the city limit sign and then the county has done made a commitment with me last year even and I touched base to make sure still good today. And yes, they are going to there's about four driveways past me that need to be doubled up Culberts and they're going to take care of their part. It's awesome. So, we're going to take that south on T. Yes, sir. It goes to shed lane and then shed lane to the east to Cloud Bayou.

And we all know I think y'all went on field trip with the Graange District to see how Cloud Bayou was coming. I we we also looked at the the head of Cloud up there. Yes. The front part where it starts at 24th Street right there. An R This is this road right there where the the pasture is. Yes, sir. Okay.

Right there you can see where the ditch kind of makes it. It starts on an angle right there. That's the beginning of club. And uh like Mr. Schroeder said, the drainage district is even looking at when they get the ditch widened all the way past 28th Street, they're looking at that area, too, trying to purchase some of that property. Billy, do you have any idea um for Wagner on how many of these projects they'll be able to run simultaneously? No, sir. I don't because we we hadn't we hadn't told either contractor that they have the jobs,

right? No, I understand that, but I just I didn't know. Is it going to be one at a time? See, I like splitting it because that way Metro can be working on theirs and Wagner can be working on on theirs, right? So that they'll be going at the same time. I guess what my question is is on Wagner, do we have any idea? I mean, will it just be one project at a time or will they be able to work on project one and project five at the same time? Knowing the capacity probably be working on two probably possibly three projects at once. Gotcha. We kind of got the time limit. I think we got only got 90 days on it on a project on the total. Oh, so they have to be done with their their portion in 90 days. Three months. That's quick. Just trying to get preparation for Yeah. No, I mean I love it. That's great.

What is What is What do we have south of the track? Six, seven, and eight. Yes, sir. You have 18 at Street where at turns to into L right there. We're putting a double set of 24s across that crossover right there because I have a project coming up with DD1. We are clearing that whole tree line and pulling that ditch back 10 ft. Yeah. From 646 all the way to the corner. Yeah.

And then the second the other one over there is Avenue M. It that's Highland called Highland C. And there's two rolls of 36 inch culberts in there now. And we're upgrading and putting three rolls in there because once you get off Avenue M, when you get to the M and a half, then poor people over there, that water won't get off of them. We can't get it off of them fast enough. And that little Yeah, that little they come close to a bunch of those houses come close to That's okay. You're coming back down 24th. Okay. Got Billy, have you ever worked with Metro City before? No, sir. We just we just talked to references. Okay. So, you have checked some references and feel comfortable with them.

We talked to Harris County and the city of Galveston and they were both um very enthusiastic about them as a company and said that they did great jobs, had minimal change orders. The city of Gston actually said the only change order they had was requested by the city Gston uh was not requested uh by the vendor. Yeah, I'm not worried about Wagner. They've been running these roads for a long time. When we do this work, what's the uh I mean, we're going to be talking about pulling up culverts in the road, too, right? Crossovers. Correct, sir. What are what's the uh what are we going back with? Cement two and a half sack cement stabilized with hot mix over top. Okay.

Any of the any of the roads? Are we doing that or is the contractor doing it? Contractor is doing it. That's part of contract. Went back with the two and a half sack stabilized mix so it would not sink down. So when they get ready to reassphalt the road, we don't have to worry about it having a dip in it like fourth street. That would be my that would be my concern on 11. I 11th just I question once the stabilized sand sets overnight it's that's just like concrete 11th we are so tall on that road

what uh none none of the guys are here I guess that are bidding this contract okay you'll be the project manager for all this stuff correct Sir, you don't keep them in line. You make sure that it goes smooth. All right, council. Any further discussion? I move to approve the resolution awarding drainage improvement projects 1 14,57 and 8 to DWagner Construction Company, Inc. and awarding projects 2, three, and six to Metro City LLC is presented.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the resolution awarding drainage improvement projects 1457 and 8 to Dwagner Construction Company Incorporated and awarding projects 23 and six to Metro City LLC as presented. Council, is there any further discussion? Any citizen comments? Natalie, roll call, please. Council member Dickerson, yes. Council member Marks, yes. Council member Schrader, no. Council member Mckame, yes. And council member Janette, yes. Motion passes. Thank you, mayor. Council, thank you, Billy. All right. Item number six, consideration and possible action adoption of a resolution of the city council of the city of Santa Fe, Texas authorizing the approval of the 2026 strategic plan. Mr. Collins.

Yes. Um, thank you, uh, mayor and council. Um, as you remember, early this year, uh, each one of you and all of our, uh, staff participated in our first, uh, uh, strategic planning session. Um, we took, um, 3 days uh, to put the strategic plan together. Um when I got here uh in July, I read through the comprehensive master plan that was done a few years ago and um I think that it's a a great document. It had a lot of great um u input from our citizens um across the city. Um one of the issues that I had with the document is that it had no um clear goals or objectives that I would say that were in reach or were achievable um by our staff. And so, um, in in in trying to put a document together that could give us timelines and, um, a basis to, uh, work from, uh, to almost serve as our Bible, uh, here at the city, we put together the strategic plan. Um, we went through several issues, uh, that the city is facing. Um I you know one of the great things that I I felt that came out of uh that strategic planning session was we had a lot of solutions brought forth um you know to to address some of our challenges that we have here. Um it gives us clear guidelines for staff uh that we can um operate by. It was a you know a great policy manual um and that I just want to thank all of my staff members uh each of your times putting this together. What what some people don't see is that um we would we would get here, you know, our our planning session would be from 8:00 to 5:00 with a 30-minute lunch and and two 15-minute breaks um in between. Um and outside of that, several of our staff stayed back. We stayed up here till 11:00 um each night just trying to input the documentation because we didn't go out for consultant. You know, we were being very um good stewards of the uh of our of our tax dollars. So, we didn't go out and get a um a consultant which could,

you know, cost 10020,000 like we have in the past. So, um we we put this together and um I wanted to know if you had any questions on it or if any changes if it needed to be amended, but uh it is with my full recommendation that we um adopt the 2026 strategic plan. So, uh I only have one issue uh with this document and um that is that uh I take exception to the Longhorn um that's on the cover. So, I would ask that either the Longhorn be removed or the horns of the Longhorn be sawed offshore.

Okay. I I request that we can't talk about any more Italian. Hey, there might be forks and pitchforks and torches up here. Hey, I'm going to a birthday party for you, sir. I'm good. Can I make a comment? Yeah. Well, we thought that the uh the police maroon aggie bonnets instead of the blue. Come on, man. Hey, we that's the most Texas deal. We've got the Texas Tech horse on there and I've got the TU Longhorn. What are we going to put a big thumb in there? Not a Longhorn. We We could at least have maroon blue maroon ages purple.

Yeah, they got some maroon in the sky. Come on, man. Notice notice the sunset sunrise. Water towers burn orange. Just saying. No, I can't win with this crap. Just saying. I guarantee it. Go. All joking aside, um Seth, I appreciate your leadership in putting this together and I appreciate staff um coming together and uh putting together this document. I'm very excited about this document in the direction that it's going to take us in as a council and u yeah just appreciate all the hard work from all the boards council.

Yeah. And I did forget to mention we will be adopting um each board strategic plan uh with them in in in a joint meeting. So, I know that we've got a meeting scheduled on April the 6 with the EDC. Um, and I I definitely don't want to um pass them by for each of our the planning and zoning commission, the parks and recreation board, and then the economic development corporation, all of uh their board members um uh and and and commissioners came in and uh spent a lot of time helping us craft this document. But for this one, this is just the departments. So, just for us, and we'll adopt the strategic plans with each board uh as we get to them uh within the next uh couple months.

I really I think this is one of the uh it was one of the best tools since I've been on council that we've used. I I appreciated all the guys, you know, the department heads and and the boards and being able to talk to them in a setting, you know, that we could just kind of talk and uh not where we're up here and, you know, it it was it it I learned a lot and I think a lot of them learned a lot about us. I thought it was very good. Absolutely. I move to approve the resolution approving the 2026 strategic strategic plan as presented. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the resolution approving the 2026 strategic plan as presented. Any citizen comments? Council. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Natalie, roll call, please. Council member Schrader, yes. Council member McCain, yes. Council member Janette, yes. Council member Dickerson, yes. And council member Marks, yes. Motion passes. Thank you, council. All right, announcements.

Pick Fence has a has their third Saturday market um Saturday and it is well attended. We have a lot of they'll have a couple of food trucks out there. I don't know exactly which ones are coming, but it is has been well attended. A lot of local people, crafts, stuff like that. So if you're out and about Saturday from 9 to 2, it's worth a stop by there and see the people there at picket fence on Highway 6 there next to Hometown Reynolds right before Cemetery Road.

And may we did want to thank our citizens for coming to the touch a truck event that we had. Um we had several entities that participated. I want to thank uh our staff and then the uh parks board uh for for helping us with that endeavor. Um I I took my own children out there and they enjoyed it immensely. Uh so uh that's definitely a great event that we do for our citizens and look forward to doing that every year and again just want to remind everybody on March 28th that we'll have our annual Easter egg hunt. So hope to hope to see you all out there.

Absolutely. April 2nd is going to be the uh Santa Fe Texas Education Foundation um winning for education gayla. Tickets and tables are available. It's going to be down at the San Louis or the Galveston Convention Center on April 2nd. So, we'd love to have you down there to support our um exceptional school district uh that we have here in Santa Fe. Any other announcements? All right. Uh we are going to be retiring into executive session um for um chapter 551.072 072 which is the uh regarding the purchase exchange lease or value of real property and then also pursuant to chapter 551.087 which is uh regarding economic development negotiations. Um I did want to make sure that that I uh give y'all an opportunity to speak if you needed to address council about anything. No good. Okay.

We do need to address something but not council. Okay. So we'll do that. Okay. All right. Um, so we are going to retire into executive session. Staff, please don't feel obligated to wait on us. You're wait.

All right, it is uh 10:05. I call this uh regular meeting back to order. Council, is there any action from executive session? Nope. Make a motion to second. Moved and seconded. Thank you, gentlemen. Have a good evening. Oh.