City Council - Regular Meeting

She's feeling like a scare puppy like a kid.

All right.

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Shannondoa City Council meeting for February 11, 2026. Karan, I see that everyone is here. So, we do have a quorum. We're going to stand up and say the pledges of allegiance followed by a short invocation. I pledge algiance 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 alian to the Texas one state under God one and indivisible.

Invocation is going to be given by Mr. Derek Wind.

Thank you, Mayor. Father in heaven, we acknowledge you as our Lord and Savior. We just uh praise you for who you are. Praise you for all that you do. We know Lord God that uh things at the city may be small to you but we have big decisions uh to make and just pray for your uh guidance to council that they uh may be able to think clearly and uh just do what is your will and we just pray for uh just safe travels uh to home after today and pray for just safety for all in Shannidoa. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to item number five, citizens forum. Citizens are invited to speak for three minutes on matters relating to city government that relate to agenda or non-aggenda items. Speakers are asked to approach the podium and give their name and address before sharing their comments. I understand that there are no speakers uh tonight. So, we're going to move on to item number six, introduction of new employee Chief Dun Stephen, can I step up? Steven Oshanesy was born in Abalene, Texas in 1996 where he grew up and attended Abalene High School in 2015. After graduated, he graduated. You graduated in 2015.

He graduated in 2015. After graduation high school, he attended Texas A&M University and graduated in 2020 with a degree in political science. Steven then attended the Teik Central Police Academy where he graduated and served with the College Station Police Department before serving with the Berles County Sheriff's Office. Steven brings three years of service, exceptional communication, integrity, and the desire to help make Shannondola a safe place for its citizens to call home. Okay, raise your right hand. Repeat after me.

I state your name. I, Stephen Shy, do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of police officer of the office of police officer of the state of Texas of the state of Texas. I will never bring dishonor upon my integrity I will never bring dishonor upon my integrity the badge of my office the badge of my office or the Shannondoa Police Department for the Shannondoa Police Department. My character will remain impeccable. My character will remain impeccable. And I will never betray the public trust. And I will never betray the public trust. I will always have the courage I will always have the courage

to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I promise to uphold the Constitution I promise to uphold the Constitution, the laws of the United States of America. the laws of the United States of America and of the state of Texas and of the state of Texas. So help me God.

So help me God. All right. Welcome to a board. And again, how about a hand for our police officers?

Thank you, Chief. I always like those new police officer introductions. Keep them keep them coming. Yes, sir. Absolutely. We have two more.

Great. Can't wait. All right, we're going to move on to item number seven. Discussion of possible action to adopt the following ordinance. An ordinance of the city of Shannidora, Texas, providing for the holding of a general election to be held on May 2nd, 2026 for the purpose of electing a mayor and two city council members positions one and five and providing details relating to the holdings of such elections. Mayor and Council, based on the latest information, we have at least one contested position, so we will need to hold an election. Okay. I have a motion by Councilman Brat. Second.

Seconded by Councilman Robinson. Any discussion? This is just a routine that we do every for every election. Yes. Once we have a an opposed office, right? Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Motion carries. Item number eight, discussion of possible action to approve the following agreements with Montgomery County for the May 2nd city elections. And this is divided into two segments. The first one is the election services agreement. Can I get a motion for that? So move. We have a motion to approve by Councilman Robinson. Second. Seconded by Councilman Pard. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. The second portion joint election agreement. The motion. So move. Second. Motion to approve by Councilman Brad. Seconded by Councilman Summerland. Any discussion? If none, all in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. Item number nine, discussion regarding street parking in residential areas. Mayor and council, this is a item that's being brought uh before the council because due to the request of u council um there there are several policies ordinances in place at this time that can manage some of it. Um I do know that um after speaking to Jackie and having discussions with her regarding this, she said that it usually takes about eight 8 days to resolve uh this when once they're notified of a parking issue like parking on the street uh for extended periods of time that um it usually takes 8 days from notification to completion. Um, I do know that last year they had uh 64 recorded violations of parking violations. Um, I do not know how many of those were from citizen complaints or from observed violations u from uh Rob. So, four of the um entries that were put in by GOG gov for the code enforcement, I mean for for the parking violations. So, um, if y'all have anything else y'all want to discuss about this, um, I really don't have anything else other than I council. I mean, um, staff really doesn't recommend creating another ordinance, but

well, if we it doesn't make sense to make to create another ordinance. If we already have them in the books, we should be enforcing them. uh if you know once you know once they're they're discovered or reported uh the process you described that 8 days is for a what for a warning or uh I I thought my experience has been that you see a violation you issue you issue it right there I mean if it's a parking ticket then

right when when it comes to the code enforcement aspect of it trying to find out one the owners trying to find out uh make sure that um it's it's something that can be enforced or whatever how long the vehicle's been uh set there. Trying to get gather that that information it's on average takes eight days to from from notification to completion. And who is issuing these these notifications that Rob from code code enforcement code enforcement is? Yes, sir. Uh is that something that the police department can do as well?

We we typically don't when it comes to um vehicles um being parked in the street. Um, as long as the vehicle is legally parked in the street, we usually don't don't um don't monitor that because that's a that's a heavy task to for officers to to monitor that because that's a that's a that would be a full-time job just to monitor the cars that are parked in the in the street. I understand. But uh an issue was brought up to me by a couple of people about vehicles parked uh the opposite direction.

Correct. So when those those situations um that's less of a code enforcement and more of a a police issue and so those we try to address those and I know that several citations been have been issued for for those types of violations. So, okay. The um the citizen who leaves their vehicle out on the street for several days without moving it. Uh is that what you're responding to when you receive a complaint? Your code enforcement is responding to that.

The the Yes, there it's it's multiple that. So the the 64 violations that are referred to that's that covers all all parking violations that are in the city. Um but they get various different types whether it's parking facing the wrong way or parking for extended period of time but you have to check.

Can you uh refresh us or or educate us a little bit on what is considered an extended period of time here in our city? There's really no defined time for that. So, it depends on on what what the vehicle is. So, if you have a vehicle that is unregistered and not running, that's a junk motor vehicle. Uh or a vehicle that is abandoned. So, if you have a vehicle that is sitting in front of your house that doesn't belong to you and it's been st sitting there for several days, um, if it's abandoned, sitting in front of your house for several days, then you have 48 hours to to have that move. But if it's if it's somebody that lived there at that residence, then there's there's no time frame. Yeah, I I kind of suspected that some, you know, some cities, at least some that I've been involved with, and I think perhaps some of you all as well, will have an ordinance that actually has a time limit. But typically, uh, it's a citizen complaint that that triggers a reaction from law enforcement. And when I mentioned this at the last council meeting, it was a couple of citizens complaining that I'd heard personally and then I read some in social media, thought it might be a good idea just to have a discussion on it and and learn more about what uh is actually taking place. I know the chief and I talked and I gave him some ideas on how uh I used we used to do it when I was a chief years ago. Um, but the short of it being that it it's more of a be a be a good neighbor kind of scenario that you try to encourage and educate your citizens about not leaving a vehicle on a street overnight for extended period of time especially uh narrow streets because you know that it

creates problems for fire department response and emergency response and such. However, uh doesn't appear that we have an ordinance that really deals with it gives them a set time. What about an education program though? You you did a really cool uh media blitz not too long ago about the parking on the wrong side of the street. Correct. And I'm wondering about something that's educational to our citizens that says, "Hey, be a good neighbor and and be respectful of your neighbors. Don't encourage them not to store their their vehicles on the street because that's basically what they're doing. Yeah.

And isn't it state uh state ordinance in here? I think I even read it that even if the vehicle is uh uh you know up to date, if it's got a correct license and also it's uh like I said up to date. if it's over 48 hours, that's actually uh you know a violation by the state. So So that that's it's going to depend on where where it's located. So if it's located in front of a resident's house,

um that's that's not considered abandoned because that's that owner's vehicle. um that it more pertains to vehicles that are left and on I45 uh or you know on research forest um but in the residential areas if it's parked in front of somebody's house. Now if it's a vehicle again that it doesn't belong to that house and nobody knows whose vehicle that is then yes then that starts that 48 hour uh time frame because that would be considered an abandoned vehicle. When when I asked Jackie uh about it, she she said that when when we get a complaint, not one ticketed like facing the wrong way, that uh of those 64, very few, but we have them that are parked three or four days. And uh our code enforcement officer has been 100% successful in getting resolution. Once or twice they find out that the people are on a cruise and they're out of town 5 days. Yeah. I mean uh things like that. But other than other than that, the few that we've had uh when the code enforcement officer has gone out and said, you know, you need to to keep the vehicle in the driveway off the street that we have gotten uh com voluntary compliance. Uh but yes, there are people that there's always someone there was an inconsistency in here too where

our ordinance says 35 years for an antique and state law is 25. So do we need to update that?

Correct. And then I was concerned that some residents won't want to be known as opening a gov to report their neighbor. Right. So I was thinking that it's it's something that's better done by staff than allowing neighbors to become the police force. You know, oh I can just write this up. Okay. Well, some people aren't going to want to do that. So then the issue might go unresolved. Well, again, I I would suggest that uh educating our citizens have a very good beginning on an issue like this, appealing to them to be a good neighborh.

I think it takes communication. Yeah. Consist all informed. I mean, we used to have citizens come in the police department. Mhm. talk with them at night and stuff like that on that thing. I thought they were very successful. Where where I grew up communic where I grew up communication was you got a ticket on your car. That's that's what the communication was. That's what I'm used to. Just listening to all this. I think it myself think it's problematic that we have to wait for the citizen to complain. Yeah.

When we've got so much activity and I just don't think it it puts a good light on the police department. Well, and and there's a there's a separation, okay? We're talking about two different things. We're talking about an abandoned vehicle or a vehicle that's parked in front of somebody's house. Actually, three issues. A vehicle that's parked in front of somebody's house for several days, which is not a violation. And then how a vehicle that is JM those are three different three different issues. I totally So, or a vehicle that's parked the wrong way. vehicles parked the wrong way. Now, that's that's something that is a law enforcement thing and we can cite those people. But when it comes to parking for extended periods of time in the roadway, that's that's something that law enforcement, we're not going to be able to enforce that because there's there's no law there for that. So that that would fall under the uh just code enforcement because under the 72-hour and my question would be at that have we ever or do we ever put uh for code enforcement um put like a they do on the freeway you know a red sticker on your window or whatever so that we're noticing how long this is and that it's been reported. I

I don't know the answer. My understanding is that when we get a report of a cars been parked, you know, 4 days or 3 days in front of a house, uh, that code enforcement goes over, knocks on the door in front of the house and as I said, sometimes finds out the family's on a cruise for 5 days and

there's an extra car there and sometimes uh they're just leaving it in the street or more often across the street. The they're actually leaving it across the street and that uh the code enforcement officer says, you know, uh could we get you to park your vehicle in the driveway? Uh and

so far, I mean, generally we've had cooperation. What I what I think is the chief would have to answer this is we hate to go along and give tickets and find out that the family was on a cruise uh or there was a death in the family and they were at a funeral and the car was there 3 days. You know, you go inquire and and find out there was a pretty good excuse. And so how do you balance that? Uh that's the that's the difficult thing is how to balance it.

How vigilant has the code enforcement officer been in enforcing these things when they get he only he only enforces when he's notified when we get a gov or somebody and it won't be on a weekend notifies us. Yeah, that's true.

Well, I I agree, Chief. I don't think we need another ordinance to cover this. We we got plenty on paper already. I think I like like Councilman Robinson stated, I think that education and communication is probably the best way to handle it. Education by way of maybe a a uh on our website or social media or or again reinforce the video that was that you mentioned earlier. Kind of replay those things and uh Yeah, that's a vehicle. Yeah, it's just keep them informed.

Uh because it there's been a surge in the last 6 months or so of people complaining about this. I mean, it's a it's a recurring thing. Every year we hear the same right the same complaints, you know. So, um I can work with Kirby and we put some stuff out. Yeah. and then um we can start trying to to work on it's been a while since we we've done some um we used to do the citizens education. Some of those five ordinances are quite old as well. They they we could put another eye on it. Yes. In fact, they are I'll ask Jackie to gather me the numbers and I'll Agreed. I'll find them all.

Go ahead. I was curious when we give a ticket out for whatever the offense is, speeding, parking ticket, where does the revenue go? So revenue,

so JP3, precinct 3 collects and does the court on um tickets for um traffic tickets. Violations and citations go through our court. I I rec I recollect historically that at some point in time, nobody seems to know exactly when, we switched it over to the the JB court and um at that point then we we don't get any revenue. So we get a portion of arrest fees um but not the ticket about what what percentage

um I I would have to go back. That's another number of tickets. We don't now I don't know and I was hoping to find out if we could have an agenda item on this that would look into the history of why we did that. Maybe in another day we had a lot more revenue than we thought that you know we didn't need to bother with this but maybe we need to take a look at this from a cost benefit on how much are we giving up versus how much we could be bringing in. Me and Jackie have had those discussions. um we she's gotten some um data so it's just trying to find a time to go through it. So I'd like that's what we're going through. So I'd like to make it an agenda item so that we actually follow up on this.

We do collect on old warrant tickets obviously we'll collect fees. I know we've got some some some some fines that have been assessed and they've been they're far older than 20 years old now because when I first got on council 10 years ago, they were already 10 years old and they're still and they're still on the books. Yeah. And we've asked, you know, our

our uh our judge to take a look at it and it's like or our prosecutor to take a look at it. It's like we really need to take a look at it. So, it's like it's like accounts receivable. We're never going to get those the time when we would have received the revenue for them reregistering their car or being denied registering is long gone. At what point do you just not carry it on the books anyway? We collect um on average about I think 8,000 a year from court old warrants. Um it's mostly, you know, people come back into the area. Um yeah, I would just like which I get because those had Omni on them. I'd just like to see some kind of, you know, study on that to see that we're, you know, are we missing an opportunity for revenue when we need it. Like now,

it has been a discussion with me and Jackie. It's just um trying to get that data from the county and look at it so we can um I'll get with her and then we can get with um Joseph and Bill and Troy and look at it as well and bring it back. Okay. Do you want to bring it back to our in budget or do you want to bring it sooner? I guess that's the question. Is that Yeah. Yeah. It's a while it's a while to wait for. Yeah. Do do a study. When the stud is complete, we can we can re you can read it and put it on on the agenda. Okay. I'm curious about that those figures as well. Uh all right. Any additional comments? No. No. Thank you, Chief.

Yes. Thank you, Chief. Going to move on to item 10. Discussion of possible action to approve the creation of the asset forfeite and grants pass through funds.

Mayor and council agenda pack is the um suggestion to add two funds into our account system. One is the asset forfeite fund. I spoke up briefly on it the last meeting um that it a recommendation from the auditors was to put it into its own fund now. So we will do that. Um and then the second one is a grants and pass through fund. Um we've been really aggressive PD um the police department, public works. I've been helping everyone try to get some smaller grants. Um so to keep transparency on those and keep them out of our you know our main account main funds and keep them into their own fund. This will be that this would accomplish that. Obviously, there will be situations that we do some grants and they require by the grants uh rules that we have to have a separate fund for just that grant, but this will catch all these other smaller ones and keep it in one location so it's easier for us to track

and easier to report back to the Yes. And it's a transparency module coming from Yeah. Chief, are we expecting any uh additional asset forfeite rewards? Not at this time. No, we still have a decent amount in there. We did receive in December, what was it? 32,000. 35 35,000. Okay. So, all right. We're hoping one of our big cases will close and we'll be able to sell some vehicles, but we but there are some in in the uh in line. They just hadn't. We just don't know when it's going to close. They haven't been adjudicated yet.

No, sir. But once that happens, then we can take care of that. It's like the core of engineers. Sooner or later. Mostly sooner. I mean, mostly later. Mostly later. Yeah. Much later. Motion to approve creating two two new fund accounts. Second. Okay. We have a motion to approve the two separate uh accounts by Councilman Rod, seconded by Councilman Ray Maker. Any additional discussion? Would you share with me the numbers you give them? Yeah, I'm restructuring some of our number structures, so I didn't want to put those on yet. Any additional discussion? Nope. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed? Motion carries. Item 11, discussion and possible action to adopt the following ordinance. An ordinance of the city council of Shannidoa, Texas, authorizing participation with other Energy Service area cities in matters concerning Energy Texas Incorporated at the Public Utility Commission of Texas in 2026, authorizing the hiring of lawyers and raid experts, authorizing the city's participation to the full extent permitted by law at the Public Utility Commission of Texas, finding that the meeting complies with the open meetings act and declaring an effective date.

Mayor and council, this is one you've seen before. Uh this is where cities, multiple cities in the Lton law firm, uh combine their efforts to negotiate with Energy. It's been very successful in the past of at least delaying and maybe even decreasing the amount of rate increases. So staff does recommend approval of this ordinance. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Second the ordinance by council Ray Maker. Seconded by Councilman Summerland. Discussion. If none all in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. Item 12. Discussion of possible action to award the project for the David Memorial Tamina intersection improvements.

Mayor and council. Um this is the uh recognition award for the data memorial and T9 intersection improvements. We received a total of four bids as you can see was a very tight race uh for the lowest bidder. Um so the recommendation of award is for Roma Construction LLC in the amount of two $224,494. And I put in there the funding summary that we have here for this project that shows the current funding, the design cost, the lower bidder that we received and the money saved for this project again. So very substantial money that we're saving again on this project

for the benefit of the of the public. What is what is this uh um exactly for the intersection? What what's going to be done? So the intersection, this intersection improvements is basically going to be adding a acceleration lane on David Memorial and Tamina intersection is basically creating an acceleration right turn lane going into Tamina Road heading to towards the freeway. David, so if you're looking at that intersection, um that lane that's right south of Home Depot right now, it does not connect to that intersection. So this project will make that connection to the intersection. So you'll have three lanes traveling travel which

Yeah, that's the east west roadway in Ontario. Okay. It's east west. Okay. Yes, sir. And this is the first step that we're going to have on the improvements on I45 and intersection improvements. We're working with Tesot and the county um to do the final the major project later, but this is the first step on on doing this. This will improve the traffic flow of 45 onto David Memorial and eventually, knock on wood. Yeah. All the way to 242. 100%. Yes.

And as we've discussed in the past with you before, this is why we we wanted to do this now. Uh let's get that intersection improved and finished before we have that connection. Uh because that road is going to be very well used once that connection is made. I think there was a little perhaps a little bit of a typo in the bottom of BL's assessment here. I think what you meant to say was that BL uh engineering has not worked with this contractor before. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. Okay, that is my c can I get a motion? Take a motion to approve.

You have a motion to approve by Councilman Pard. I'll second and seconded by Councilman Robinson. Any additional discussion? Yeah, I think this is the second project that we've had where we we're having savings on the project and I want them to be accounted for for the end of the month MDD meeting so that we can take a look at what we've got in the queue to see if there's anything that we can't bump up. Yes, I I'll mention this on this project. We don't have any cash allowance. So, I mean, if there's a change, we'll have to present it to city council. Okay. Any additional discussion? I

think it's great that we've got so many people that want to do business with us and we got these kind of bids. So, good job to you and Joseph for making that happen. Saves us a lot of money. And of course, all right. If there's no additional discussion, all in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 13, discussion of possible action to ratify the accounts payable for December 2020 five. There's a typo here. Also, December 2025. A motion. So moved. A motion to approve by Councilman Brock.

Second. Second by Councilman Robinson. City administrator updates. I have a question. I'm sorry. Uh on discussion, looking at the details is one item. I I think I know what it is, but I'm not positive. Uh under function um uh 43 community development, we have Montgomery County Fire Marshall's Office, uh $89,950. So that we contract with the McGomery County for fire inspections for projects. It's a pass through. So the the it's passed through through the permit fees that the that the uh permit holder pays for for one month.

Uh yes. So there's probably multiple inspections on there. It's a combined uh bill. Yeah. For a month. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Any additional discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. city administrative updates.

Just a couple. Uh, one I gave this morning to the Woodlands Chamber of Commerce. Let them know that Pluckers is open, opened up at the end of January. Um, and also uh let them know that the uh Woodlofts apartments are under construction because there were some questions about what that big structure was behind Pluckers. Uh so they were excited to hear that there's going to be some some great housing opportunities for young professionals here in maybe not the near future, you know, 2027. It's close enough future. It's been a long time coming though. Yes, it has. I don't really think tell anybody that it's been over a decade.

And a lot of conversations here in this in this room with the developer. Charlie was mayor when we started. We're not that bad. The only other update I have is um March is going to be upon us soon and there's a lot of city events. So, we'll give more updates on those, but we've got Trash Bash, PD Expo. We've just got a lot. March is always a very, very full month for the city. It's exciting time. That's all I have. All right, we're going to move on to council inquiry.

Council Ray Maker. Lisa, is there any word on that investment policy update back from November? You were going to do something investment policy. We talked about the 180day reserve. No, investment pol There's a investment program that we or it was it was regarding the investment policy and a couple changes in it. Um I we approved the policy though. I know. But you said you're going to bring back some changes. Um, I was going to bring back a investment program like a program that goes in coordination with that. Okay. Well, how about it?

Yes. So, I had a good call with GFOA today regarding the 180day reserve conversation as well. Um, they do offer some consultant work so that that we can look and look at our risk. So, that will also fall into the investment program because you have to figure out your liquidity needs, stuff like that. So, that will be starting hopefully by the end of the week we'll start that process. Okay. Um, so they kind of go hand in hand because you have to worry about liquidity when you're doing investments, especially if you're going to start um putting them into um like CDs or treasury bills because there's a time lapse on those compared to just a tax pool or like a deposit. I was doing my followup.

Yes. Sorry, I was confused. I thought you meant to change the policy. I was like, "No, the policy was already approved." I understand now. Sorry. Lisa and I were talking about that. Actually, you're updating that right before the council meeting. We're talking about that. So, Councilman Slow, nothing at this time. Councilman Pollard, a question to the chief. So, you got a new cop tonight? Yes, sir. And you said you got two more on the on the burner. Yes, sir. So, where's that put you?

Um, that will put us full except for the detective position. And then once we fill that detective position, we'll have to fill back fill that. But we're we're basically we're full as far as patrol. Congratulations. I've seen a lot more activity in in the neighborhoods. Uh there seems to be more police officers vis visible than there has been in the past. Is that a a strategy that you've implemented or is that you're just full? We're just we're just fully staffed.

That's just been it. Um being short-handed, we struggle with just take responding to calls. Um, having people out, having people sick, training when you're short-handed on top of those things makes it difficult. So, guys are running just call to call to call, plus they're having to cover other shifts. So, they were getting pretty burnt out. But now that we're full, you're going to see a lot more activity. Great job. Yes, sir. Keep it up, Cel. I'm good. Cel Robinson. I'm fine. All right. I I don't have anything in particular other than remember two dates. February 14. You know what that means,

right? Valentine's Day. Good to you, sweetheart. It'll be good to you. Uh, yes.

And uh and the 17th, Monday, starts early voting. Uh the early voting station for us is at the Brady Community Center and uh and that's going to open on Monday. Other than that, I don't have anything. Uh we're going to move to executive session. Uh according to Texas Open Meetings Act, chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code as follows. Texas Government Code 551.074 personnel matters city administrative vacancy consideration and if determined to take appropriate action resulting from the items listed under the executive session. At this time is 6:42 and we're going to move to uh executive session.