City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome to our first meeting of the new year. Uh our regularly scheduled meeting for Tuesday, January 6. Miss Hilbert, will you please call role? Yes sir. Councilman Deagarza, I am present. Councilman KD here. Councilwoman Butler, present. Councilwoman Scott, here. Mayor Pro Tim Young here. And Mayor Crocker,

here. If you would please rise, join me for the pledges followed by a moment of silence. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for alliance to the Texas one indivisible. Thank you. Please be seated. [clears throat] All right. Again, welcome everyone. Happy new year to all. We will jump right into our task for the evenings and we'll start with announcements and reminders. Mr. Garza, do you have anything for us this evening?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I do have a couple of announcements for you this evening. Uh first, we want to remind the public that all non-emergency city offices will be closed on Monday, January 19th, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Offices will reopen at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, January 20th. On behalf of the parks department, Victoria residents will have a chance to see the state's top amateur athletes compete during the first weekend of the 2026 Texas Amateur Athletic Federations Winter Games of Texas. Disc golf, cornhole golf, and swimming will take place at various locations around the city on January 17th and 18th. The second weekend of the Taft Winter Games will be held on February 14th and 15th and will include esports, adaptive basketball, flag football, softball, and tennis. Registration is open for athletes to compete during both weekends and Victoria residents are welcome to participate. Information about individual competitions, including registration information, is available at victoriax.gov/tournaments. The city is also seeking volunteers to help with the event setup, athlete support, and game operations during both weekends. Food will be provided, and every volunteer will receive a free t-shirt. Can't say no to a free t-shirt. To sign up, contact Sparks and Recreation at 361-485-3200 or they can be reached via email at parksvic victorix.gov. And finally, on behalf of environmental services, we want to remind the public that the deadline to RSVP for the keep Victoria Beautiful 4th annual volunteer appreciation event is this Friday, January 9th. Anyone who volunteered with KVB throughout 2025 can RSVP at 361-485-3230 or via email to keep Victoria beautiful at victoriax.gov. And those are all the announcements I have for this evening, Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh we'll move on then to public and employee recognitions. I know we have one that we may need to push for a moment. Mr. Garza, do you have any public and employee recognition?

Um I do have several employee recognitions. Um, several of these individuals are not here and so I will begin with the individual that I know for sure is here. Um, and that is Haley Palmary. Uh, she's with our uh 911 dispatch center and so if you wouldn't mind standing so everybody can see you. [clears throat] Um, but Haley graduated from our telecommunications operator training program on December 17th and will be assigned to the second platoon at the 911 center. This training program can can take some employees up to 12 months to complete, but Haley completed hers in nine months. Um, and so we're very appreciative of Haley of her hard work and dedication. And as we've been talking in recent meetings, our uh telecommunication operators, our dispatchers are truly first responders. And so we're very grateful for her service. And so Haley, congratulations and we're excited to have you on board. [applause] Um, in addition, uh, for the fire department, we want to recognize that our training battalion chief, Dana Woodward, recently completed the fire service chief executive officer program. This program is delivered by professors from the Texas A&M Maze Business School. It is designed to provide advanced professional development to sharpen leadership skills within the fire service. I don't believe he is here, right? Um, but let's give him a round of applause anyway. [applause] Furthermore, for the fire department, uh they recently conducted several promotions and so we want to recognize Angelo Stafford, Brent Dunovont, Kevin Mayor, and John Rudd to the rank of fire engineer. And we also promoted Tyler Lakua to the rank of EMS lieutenant. And so congratulations to them all. [applause] And that's all I have for this evening. All right. Thank you. I think we have one on the agenda, but I don't know that Russ is here yet. We will circle back to it when we need to. How about that?

And and I actually forgot oh one that was kind of impromptu and was in my notes, but I can't read apparently. Um but I wanted to also take a moment to just acknowledge all of the personnel that were involved with our New Year's Eve blastoff event. Um Joe Novasad with with our CVB was instrumental in that event. So kudos to him and his staff. Um, I had a chance to go with my son and and it was a an amazing event. You may recall that we held the first one just a couple of years ago and so it's slowly but surely becoming, you know, an expectation now that we have this event on New Year's Eve. And so just kudos to all the staff involved. Again, it was a successful event and so we can just give everybody involved a round of applause. That'd be really great. [applause]

Yes. Well done. Well done, everyone. Did that give Russ time to show up? No, almost. No, we will we will hit the pause button on I didn't see you go like this. You know, [laughter] take your time. Fair enough. We'll hit the pause button on recognitions and we will jump into items from council. Does anybody have anything this evening? Seeing none then. Okay, let's go on to citizens communication [clears throat] then. Uh Michael Vander.

Good evening, Mr. Vander.

Uh good afternoon. Uh sir, um I'm Michael Vandro. I live at 21107 North Bin, Jordan. I still think uh the commissioners should pay for that roof and they're probably spending all that money on the hospital. So I I do have a suggestion. They could work it off uh through sweat equity. Um, we could give them like five Rain King uniforms and they could get on that roof and, you know, have a roofer u supervise them and, you know, make them earn their money, you know, cuz they make about 20 times more than the people on the city council. And, uh, I would like to have a law passed, you know, where people can legally uh, ride a bicycle on a sidewalk. you know, the the person that got killed recently, he was following all the laws by riding it uh on the road like he was supposed to, but if he would have been illegally riding his bicycle like I do on the sidewalk, he'd probably still be alive. I I wish someone could put stencils on the sidewalk with some paint and say, you know, bike bicycling on the sidewalk is encouraged and have a law to make it uh legal, you know, cuz people can get off the sidewalk riding bikes, you know, if there's um pedestrians or what have you. And uh it's just too many people are getting killed on bicycles in Victoria and we don't really need any more surveys and stuff. We already know it's dangerous, you know, and uh I wish someone could uh do something and I wish the city council could put it on the agenda and make a motion to vote on it to where it's legal to uh ride uh on a sidewalk. You know, most people do ride on the sidewalk, but legally a police officer can give you a ticket for riding on the sidewalk. And I I just don't think that law's necessary.

And I do appreciate the police department for not enforcing it because sometimes you just have to ride a bike, your car is getting fixed or something, and you just need a safe place. And that place where he was killed is not a safe place to be riding, you know, on the road. It was on 2700 uh um uh South LA rent and you know that's a manslaughter case. So you know they have to solve it in two or three uh years because you know there's a a statute of limitations on manslaughter and stuff you know. So I do hope the police department can solve it and they find out who did it. I heard it was a a a flatbed tow truck that hit it and uh it was real foggy that day and I got a video but it's not that good. Well, anyway, happy new year. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Vonda. [clears throat] So, the next card I have then is from Jenny Stafford. [clears throat]

Good evening, Miss Stafford. Welcome. Always good to see you.

Good to be here. Thank you for letting me take a little bit of your time. Um, I'm Jenny Stafford with Mid Coast Family Services. Um, not the CEO anymore. I'm now the community engagement um, forgot what I've named myself, coordinator. Brett Jones is the new CEO. He's my boss, which I'm loving. But I'm here to talk to you tonight about homeless services, uh, the US Department of Housing. And before I finish this, I have more than three minutes worth of words to say. So, I handed you a handout so you would have some bullet points that you could look at later. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD as we know it has recently released a notice of funding opportunity or a NOFO that will realign how homeless services are delivered nationwide. Change at the federal level naturally raises concerns and questions throughout the country including here. We currently operate two HUDf funded housing programs. The first we call next step is a permanent supportive housing program with 56 rental units for individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness. And chronic homelessness just means they've had long periods of being unhoused along with the disability that prevents them from being employed and therefore housed. And our second program we call Pathways is a transitional housing project to serve victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking who've become homeless because of their uh direct result of their victimization. Together, these projects operate on an annual budget of about $1.3 million, which requires us a match of $133,280 every single year. We meet that match through United Way, through our thrift stores, and through our annual uh fundraiser. When you look at the cost per household, we provide housing and services for about $20,000 per household per year. I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty good bargain. It covers rent, utilities, insurance, intensive case management, transportation, and we fill

in the gaps when there's medical needs or food uh costs that aren't being met. We feel like that's a bargain compared to hospital stays, repeated emergency room visits, incarceration, or other interactions with the uh community. We are a member of the Texas Homeless Network and submit quarterly performance scorecards to measure our outcomes. We are also monitored by HUD San Antonio Field Office through regular audits. And I got to tell you, those are some of the toughest audits I've ever been through. We also complete a single audit, an annual single audit by a local CPA firm, and I'm happy to report we have not had a fan finding in decades. All of those things together are all used to determine whether or not we get funded year after year. However, under the pending HUD NOFO, both of these programs will be terminated, as will most permanent housing projects across the country. In my 26 years of working in nonprofit leadership, I've learned that we've got to be flexible and we've got to be accountable. We are prepared to do that, but we are also very worried about what's going to be left behind. I believe with my whole heart a statement that was made by Hubert Humphrey back in the 1970s. The moral test of government is how government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children, those in the twilight of life, our elderly, and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped. Stable housing for people who cannot care for themselves is not the problem, but is rather the solution. Thank you, and I apologize for going over on my time.

No, thank you for the information. Appreciate it. I'll keep you posted. They're supposed to reissue uh on I think on Thursday and we'll know for sure then what's going to happen. But we we know we're going to lose our permanent supported housing. Ple please keep us informed. Yes. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. The final card I have then is Richard uh Deiosis. Did I get that right? You did. Very good. Welcome, sir.

Good to see you again. U Mr. Mayor, council members. Um I apologize. I I'll uh you I want to start off by saying happy new year and you'll have to forgive me if I don't stay for our entire meeting. It is my better half's birthday and if I don't make our dinner reservation, I will be the next obituary. You reading the advocate. That being said, if you're watching, happy birthday, honey. I love you. Um, but I felt um the need to bring up something that I heard in our last meeting and I it it spoke to me and I felt the needed to address it and it it regards this new push on attempting to um alter or or get rid of books in our our public library. And it struck to me uh something that that I really felt that I needed to um address. And so I you have to forgive me. I jotted down some notes on my phone. So if I'm looking down, that's what I'm reading. Uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I come before you because I believe strongly that banning books is harmful to our community, our students, and the democratic values we say for which we stand. Bookbans are not just about removing pages from shelves. They're about limiting voices, ideas, and perspectives. History has shown us that when society begins restricting access to information, it is not protecting its people. It is weakening them. A strong community is built on open discussion, critical thinking, and the freedom to learn, not on fear and censorship. Our libraries and schools serve people of every background. No one single group should decide what everyone else is allowed to read. Parents already have the right to guide what their own children read. as we recently reaffirmed in our state constitution. But banning books takes away the right of all parents and all families. It assumes that adults and young people cannot handle difficult topics when in fact reading about those topics is often

how we learn, grow, and empathize. Books give students a chance to see themselves represented and to understand people who are different from them. Removing these stories tells some kids that their lives don't belong on a shelf. It sends a message that certain identities, histories, or experiences are either inappropriate or unworthy of understanding. That is not a message a healthy community should send. If we truly want our young people to be informed, thoughtful citizens, as we all should hope, we must trust them with knowledge, not shield them from it. Education is not about avoiding challenging ideas. It is about equipping people to navigate them responsibly. So I urge this council to reject any attempt to ban books in our public institutions. Instead, let us focus on supporting parents, strengthening literacy, giving our communities the full range of tools that it needs to learn and to thrive. After all, freedom of thought is a core American principle. Protecting the access to books protects that freedom. Thank you. Thank you for your comments and happy birthday to Mrs. Deos's. [laughter] All right, that is all that I had for uh citizens communication. We will move back up then to uh public and employee recognitions and I think we do have an outgoing board or commission member recognition this evening. Miss Hillberg.

Yes, sir. Council and staff would like to recognize Russell Dempsey. Mr. Dempsey served on the Victoria Sales Tax Development Corporation board of directors from 2020 to 2025. The city does appreciate your willingness to serve your community, sir, and presents you with this plaque in appreciation of your time and service. [applause]

You want me to say a few words if you like? No pressure. [clears throat] Uh sorry I didn't have anything prepared. You have three minutes though. Okay. [laughter] Keep it under.

Um I I want to say thank you to the board uh for entrusting me uh with this position on the sales tax development corporation. Um I think in the last five years we've made a lot of progress. Um just looking through the projects uh as I pass through them every day uh really gives me a lot of pride. Um when I was new to town about seven years ago, uh I I was really impressed. It It was so funny. I would people were like, "There's nothing to do here at times." Would be the accusation. I was like, "What are you talking about? This city has one of everything at least." And it has the most incredible bones when it comes to economic development. the infrastructure here from ports to rails to major highways, it it does not happen and occur in many places. And so I I've been thrilled to take part of the planning of that and implementation of plans. Really appreciate all our uh committee members. I've really enjoyed getting to know all you guys and I just hope that it's been uh been able to have a lot of uh impact on my new community. So, I appreciate you guys and thank you for the opportunity. [applause]

No, thank thank you for your time on on the uh sales tax board. You did a great job and we will miss you. So, uh thank you. We appreciate it. All right, with that then we will move into section C, items of public hearings. And we'll begin with item C1. Item C1 is an ordinance amending chapter 21, the unified development ordinance of the city of Victoria code of ordinances. And this item is on first reading. Good evening, Miss Fulgrim.

Good evening. Um, so I apologize this is going to be a bit dry. As you know, most ordinance amendments are um the majority of the ordinance amendments are uh a lot of cleanup um a lot of clarifying language, but I do have a short 24 slide presentation to go through. So, um just for um transparency, these um amendments have been posted since uh early December on our website and and our um entire UDO uh can be accessed there if anybody wants to take time to go read through those later. So, I'll just jump right into um the modifications or the proposed amendments and go through one by one. Uh the first is in our non-conforming section. So, we did with the UDO created a site modification permit which allows um a property to do a kind of a lesser site plan whenever they're only proposing 30% or less changes to the site. Um but of course, I always have folks that want to push the limits. Um and so we've had some folks try and do a 30% um big amendment and then come in just a few months later and request another 30% which then of course amounts to 60% changes to the overall site which really is not the intent of the site modification permit. It's it's to do these um you know smaller modifications with um easing the burden because of the scale. So when you're doing a large scale um renovation or change then it needs to be a full site plan. So we've limited that. We're proposing to limit those to once every two years. Um the second part of of this section is um a a variation that I'm allowed to um grant as director of development services. Throughout the um ordinance we have always limited that to 15 or 10% but for whatever reason in the non-conforming section it was written as um 15% um and that's just kind of a conflict. So reducing that down to 10%.

um is kind of along the same vein. Billboards is um another area where we're continually um seeing applicants try and kind of push the limits and the intent of the limit and the intent of non-conforming billboards is eventually non-conforming billboards um be removed and go away. um especially with a lot of the um digital billboards, the cost to um revamp them basically means new billboards are being erected and so then you have a whole new lifespan of a billboard. Um and so we had some applicants trying to phase out billboard um replacements or repairs that really were not phases because they were dependent upon each other. Uh phase one wouldn't be complete until phase two was completed and that's not really a phase project. phases should be wholly independent of each other. So, we um are adding in a five-year period where all alterations over a five-year period that exceed 50% of the current value um means that a billboard shall be removed as it's the end of its useful life. What really prompted all of this cleanup and all of these ordinance changes is the adoption of the new ICC codes. Um currently we're on the 2021 version. Um, so we will be adopting the 2024 version of the international building code, the international mechanical code, the plumbing code, fuel gas code, and energy conservation code. Um, and I did not include every single red line um, in this division because they're very highly technical and I couldn't explain them. Um, but if anybody did read through and does have any questions, we do have, of course, our newly minted building official, Eli Braniel, here, and he'd be happy to delve into any of those charts and, um, that technical language. And if you are wondering, um, if you feel like there's some missing on

these divisions, um, there are. We are not making changes or adopting the 2024 International Residential Code um, or existing building code um, or property maintenance code. that will be coming at a later date because quite frankly there's a lot of changes to the international residential code that we really want our board of adjustment um and appeals to get a good handle on before we propose any amendments to y'all. Um and the board of adjustment and appeals did hold at least a minimum of two workshops for each of these um books or each of these codes. um and then of course held a meeting where they recommended unanimously to adopt all of the changes that are in this division. The next is a small change to our land use table um regarding inhome child care. So, the state has um made a tweaks to their inhome child care license rules. Um and so because of their their permit changes, we are explicitly stating that um child inhome child care centers should comply with inhome business regulations um which have a limitations that you can't use accessory structures. You know, there's you can only have one small sign. you need to keep a a home business where the primary use is the home and it looks like a home. And so we um are adding that caveat that child care facilities must comply within the inh home business rules um as well. So this is straight cleanup. If you remember, we had um a lot of different development regulations throughout the city code. [clears throat] Um, and one of those is an entire chapter on manufactured homes that we rolled in to chapter 21, the unified development ordinance, but we did not clean up um the references. And so, chapter 12 no longer exists. It's now division 17. And then, if you

have been following uh the state law changes, there was some state law changes regarding food truck inspections. And so, um, the next section, um, just really makes us comply with state law and as far as the health inspection and fire department permits that are no longer required. Now, um, the last one, 14, should be very self-explanatory of intent, but we um, always get a lot of push back. Um, it does of course say that food truck sites shall only operate on concrete and asphalt. And then of course in our rideway section it requires the driveways be paved but the period the portion of land between the ride ofway and the food truck we're also saying ingress and eress that portion that what we would call a drive aisle or a full driveway that also should be paved. This is to make [sighs] um original Townsite historic district development a little easier and to reduce um variances or um what's perceived as variances. So in our shop, we have a planned shopping center regulation that allows us to recommend to planning commission a reduced um setback or other bulk standards uh to to fit within um a specific type of development. And so we're uh basically just copied that language over for the original town historic district knowing that there are different blocks that need different treatments. So for example um in the very [sighs] dense area that is our fire district, you know, no setbacks really make sense. Um but when you extend out to the edges of the um original town sign district that are more residential um and let's say you have an established building line of 20 feet or so then that setback would make more sense in that area. And so this allows staff to make that recommendation directly to planning commission of what those step setbacks should be based off of the character of

the area within the original town site um without having to have a one established 20 foot setback which is what it currently for the most part is and then variances we can reduce those based off of character with planning commission approval. Um, so this next section really saved us. Uh, after Hurricane Harvey, um, when all the fuel canopy pumps, uh, all the, uh, fuel canopies fell down, um, we were able to just, um, issue permits to let them stand back up because we have this reduction where they can be located within the 12 ft of the property line. Um, but there's a lot more than just the canopies that come up. Um, a lot of order boards and pay stations. So we expanded that language to be very clear that we mean all of those incidental sort of um structures. So we also have created the established building line for residential neighborhoods um which basically in areas that long didn't have setbacks um establish and have an established building line. You cannot build a new structure that deviates greatly from that established building line. Um, so this is just clarifying that language. So that um, our permit text struggled a lot with the language. So we're hoping it means the same thing and we just cleaned it up and word smith it so that they um, felt like it was something that they understood. On-site visibility, the intent has always been curb line, not property line because in some instances you can have a really large undeveloped rideway. So your property line can be set back 10 or 15 feet. And site v visibility is intended so that cars coming up to intersections can see in all directions. And so that should have been curb line when we wrote the ordinance.

This um has been deleted for access management. It's driveway separation uh because it's duplicated in a different section of the ordinance. So we didn't need it in two places. Um on landscaping, uh we have run into a few instances where property owners are choosing to completely remove all of their landscaping um and without finding old site plans and sometime it's just been very difficult to um tell people and you really can't do that um when they're original site plan is from the 80s or the 90s and it wasn't very explicit that you could not do that. We're making it very clear that removal or major revisions um of 30% or more of your landscaping, you have to resubmit a new site plan. Um you can't just tear out all of your uh landscaping. And then um the other part is the zeroscape principles. Um so we realized that we had a practice in our office that was never actually codified um but has been inherited from past directors over and over and that is um when a skip ahead um when a applicant is requesting zercape. We have always said you need to hire a landscape architect to prepare a zeroscape plan. And so we are codifying that. And then we're also being clear that in the streetard um you [clears throat] can only limit your nonlive vegetative materials to 25%. Because um famous example would be the Walgreens at Navaro and airline of their entire landscaping is rock. I believe at one point there might have been plants um spaced in there but um that's not the intent. the intent of landscaping is um to you know beautify our street corridors and so limiting

that that non-live vegetative material to 25% just in the streetard um and then actually codifying our practice of requiring a registered landscape architect where Searscape plans are for these two sections um fences and screening of course it's in the screening [clears throat] fences section of the title so we just um clarified that this is about screening um because there's section in the overall uh ordinance that says titles don't actually mean um aren't part of the code. So again, just a lot of this is very nitty-gritty cleanup things because of of push back in the past. Um again on fences and screening uh the intent is opaque fences shall not um be higher than three feet. Um as you can know we do have a lot of rot iron fences around town um and fences that you can see through that are placed within the front building setback and it's more about visibility. Um and so making it clear that opaque fences is the intent for that regulation. And then um this fences are constructed of plywood, metal panels, corrugated steel sheets are prohibited. That ordinance was first created in the 80s and mesh was not something that was used then, but we are seeing a lot of requests for mesh and it really fits in that same um it's not a permanent type of fencing material. So we're adding that to the prohibition. The intent of the UDO on this next section is that no new dumpsters shall be set without outside of dumpster enclosures. Um, and so that's when we had, you know, no provider account. Um, but if you had an account and you were just requesting a new service, then

waste management was arguing, well, it's a new service, it's not a new account, and they would set the dumpsters without a dumpster enclosure. The intent is new dumpsters shall not be set without an enclosure to prevent windblown trash from you know dirtying up Victoria as well as the aesthetics of dumpsters. Um shielding and cutoff standards for lighting the LED lights are very bright. Um and we have been getting a lot of complaints when people customers are upgrading their lights that they've had forever but just because of how much brighter LED is. Um, we made a added sentence to be that lights should be directed away from residential uses because it's always the residential neighbors calling code enforcement to complain about the commercial neighbors nearby. Um, this is um also a consistency um with again the site modification permit is a 30% trigger. Um, and so you would have to plaid if you were adding 25%, but you don't have to do a site modification unless you're doing 30%. So we changed that to up that to 30% to just make it real consistent. Those 10% numbers, 30% numbers make it consistent throughout and it's much easier administration for our staff. And so we've long required six sets of approved site plans. Currently, one of the departments that receives um an approved site plan does not no longer wants their copy. So, we decided to make this um more flexible in the ordinance that we can do up we will can require up to six sets and the number of um [laughter] site plans required at any given time is determined at the time of approval. So right now we're only requesting five sets, but if administration changes and all departments want their six sets again and it's still the ordinance. [clears throat]

Um, one of maybe the biggest oops we did when we created the ordinance or or redid the unified development ordinance is not being explicitly clear about the board of adjustments and appeals role. So it didn't go away. It's in chapter two of the ordinance which establishes all boards and commissions for the city. Um so their role and the planning commission's role is very clearly outlined in chapter 2. Um but under the relief procedures of the UDO um we just copied over the old language from chapter 21 our old chapter 21 that all variances go to the planning commission but the planning commission has never considered variances to building codes. That's always been the role of the board of adjustment and appeals. And so this clarifies that and says that anything in division three, which is the whole purview, everything that used to be in chapter 5, our building chapter, um continues to go will go to the board of adjustment and appeals. And the rest of the UDO goes to the planning commission for variance request and relief. And of course ultimately everything comes to city council. Um, so this is just a continuation of where we explicitly state that um [sighs] the again this this part and we're nearing the end and the definitions. Um this uh chapter 14 article 3 references to the new laws with food truck parks. Um commercial amusement outdoor um it seems like it's self-explanatory that an outdoor music venue would be commercial amusement. Um but again we had push back on that. So we're being very clear. Um outdoor music venues uh is fits into the category of commercial amusement outdoor definition. And then Jesus also asked me to kind of cover what um some of the UDO changes um

and how they relate to the verdenity study. I apologize for missing the um workshop meeting. It was at a busy time. But um

before before we get to that though, Julie, I mean any questions on any of all of any of those proposed changes? I have I have a real picky question or okay comment and I apologize that I didn't catch it and bring it up before but in 21148 which is the was some dealing with the properties downtown there there's just there's a problem with the grammar and so if you could just look at that later specifically the word such doesn't fit and um we don't really need to discuss it if you could just make a note of that and I can change it to these requirements. performance may be reduced.

Yeah, I think something like that. It it just it's it bothered me when I saw it and I couldn't get past it. We probably need to go back and change it in the um plan shopping center, too, because I think I just copied and pasted it. So, I'll look at both of those. We'll change this between second and third. Any other questions? Know some of these are very technical revisions and I apologize. No, no, very exciting stuff. [laughter] We knew we were going to have to do this when we adopted the the the newer new code originally. So now we've had some time with them and kind of figure out, okay, where are the where are the hiccups in there? And so

for a long time, we didn't really bring these types of changes, but it is so much easier for the staff member that is administering the ordinance to be like very clear like, no, this is what we mean. Um, instead of having kind of the constant back and forth with some applicants. I have one question. Sure. on on a lot of these changes like the child care facilities and things like that. Is there a time period allotted for say there's a child care facility that maybe falls within a residential that's not being used in that residential capacity? [snorts] Not be because of the previous licensing laws. Okay. So with any of these are there timelines

if they were currently operating um in an accessory structure and then they would unless they open in the last like month or two they would be illegal. Okay. And then so like is part of your question also asking you about grandfathering. Yeah. Not really grandfathering. I'm not really asking about grandfathering. I'm just asking what sort of time aotment. So you gave the example of Walgreens. if we make these changes to the landscaping and and they're notified that these changes have been made. So, what's the process for that?

If they were originally approved um with that type of zeroscaping um until they make a change that triggers some other subsequent permit, that's their their grandfathered what we call legally non-conforming. So, they actually wouldn't have to. It's really whenever um permits and applications and things change happens to trigger something and then they have to come into compliance. Thanks. And so with the lighting for example, you know, if somebody already installed, you know, lighting, we can't necessarily go back and have them change the light. Yeah. There's no retro application. Yeah.

Yeah. And then some of those we also have like in the lighting we there's some double dipping. We actually do have some rules in the building code um in the actual national electrical IRC or the actual building code. Um but the building code is not very easily um found for just the general population or understood or understood. [laughter] So some of the changes um that we are putting in some of our rules in the UDO are duplications to because it's easier for the public to understand and see and read. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. Any other questions, comments? Okay. And then I think you had a few more things to share with us

on um the vendity study and um you know basically the the fiscal cost the future fiscal cost of development. Um so um one thing that we have I think really done helped with the UDO I mean there was a lot of variety that was allowed under old ordinance but with UDR land use chart um really expanded or made it very clear all the different types of housing units that were are allowed in Victoria um especially the allowance of our accessory dwelling units and how um robust or how relaxed those rules are in compared to a lot of cities that have a traditional zoning ordinance. Um we we basically allow them by right anywhere as long as there's some performance standards that are met. Uh and so that's of course um very helpful in increasing the density that helps with the overall cost. Um one comment I have on here the 50 minute 50 foot lot with minimum. We continue to hear from developers um a request for a 40 foot lot with minimum um and I continue to have heartburn over recommending that reduction mainly because a 40 foot lot can can really overwhelm a neighborhood. Um, think of a neighborhood like Tangerine or something where there's really not enough parking provided on site and so when you have um double cars every night clogging up the street um you know it's safety just general um you know ambiance of the neighborhood and that really starts to change. So if we were to really look at a 40 foot lot, we would want to have some tradeoffs such as a deeper lot that also allow and requirement of more parking. And then it's was it really um that are you really getting the trade-off because the reason the request for the 40 foot lot continues is the

cost of a street and the cost of development. And so you start adding um a deeper lot or additional off- streetet parking, you're adding those costs back. Um, so that's something to think about because there continues to be a huge push nationally for the skinnier lots. Um, the other, um, I guess benefit to Victoria, and this is something that we didn't change with our UDO, it's just always been there, is that we do not have any floor area ratio regulations. And what those regulations are is, let's say you have um, a 5,000 foot lot. A lot of single family residential zoning districts in other cities will say that you can only develop 40 to 50% of that loss. So you have a 5,000 um square foot lot, but you can only have 2500 square feet of structure and that includes driveways, patios, home, pools, all development is usually capped at 40 or 50% in single family residential neighborhoods. kind of a national standard on floor area ratio rules and like I said we've never had that. Um now that comes into play with drainage. Uh but in the redundity study if you look at some of our neighborhoods that you would think aren't performing like um he would suggest that they should perform like Lake Forest is a good example of large lots but there's large lots with large improvements, large homes, large paving areas, large pools, large accessory buildings. Um, and of course that all gets taxed and so some of those large lot neighborhoods actually perform a little better here. And the big reason is we do not have Florida area ratio regulations. Now, of course, a big reason cities adopt Florida area ratio regulations is kind of a lazy way to enforce drainage um requirements because if you can't develop half the lot with

impervious coverage, you don't have to worry so much about drainage. So, it really comes into play when we're talking about um you know the the drainage fee um and not having floor area uh ratio regulations. You know, it's because we're having to take account all of that um drainage. And then the last kind of comment I had about the verdundity study um and pushing growth um and thinking about the the cost of development over time is uh the third for master plan and infrastructure and all infrastructure that is really probably the biggest dictator of where growth happens. Um because developers of course are always looking at where will the city participate uh to you know drive these development costs down. And so if we want to um you know really [clears throat] look at incentivizing or you know growing a certain area or infield development or whatnot then it's always you know infrastructure can play a really big role in kind of pushing development to a certain direction right area. So those are some thoughts I had on the redundity study and I'd be happy to answer any questions. I apologize for missing the workshop where it was all covered.

No worries. Any questions?

Just a a comment that uh the floor area ratio explanation that you gave is is interesting. It occurs to me as we look at uh drainage and the uh what are they called the residential equivalent units. uh you wouldn't use a a business uh for a comparison if you're basically trying to get at that a residence usually has a lot of uh grass and and plants and things that absorb the water. Uh and so that is an interesting concept as we deal with our drainage uh concerns. U I kind of like that that concept and understand it. Uh because if we allow smaller lots and then have residences cover the majority of the lot, now we have imperous cover, which is what we're trying to uh trying to compensate for. Does that make sense? and our our drainage study um and all of the drainage plans and wish Ken was here because he can explain it so much better but a lot of those have assumptions for residential um and and actually assume that 40% but of course um you know we look at the whole aggregate and we don't actually regulate that on a building permit by building permit by building permit. Um, and so there are definitely a lot of outliers and especially with how um, generous we are on our accessory dwelling unit regulations. Um, and if those continue to be more popular, then we will see more coverage than the 40% that's assumed in all of our drainage master plans and whatnot.

All right. Thank you very much. With that then, um, [clears throat] I will open up the public hearing on item C1, which is on first reading. If there's anyone who wishes address uh wishes to address council on this matter, please come forward at this time. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and entertain any motions with respect to item C1. I move we adopt C1. Second. All right. I've got a motion, a second. Is there any discussion on this matter? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. C1 is approved. on first reading. So we'll move [snorts] on then to item C2.

Item C2 is an ordinance approving an amendment to the fiscal year 202526 budget in the amount of 1,973,41645 for the dispatch pay program request for information software additional bond redemption program and future CIP projects.

Good evening mayor and council. Uh tonight's item uh will incorporate um some projects we had presented to y'all in in December. Um first off, in our general fund, we have the dispatch pay program, uh which will incorporate a new step pay structure and department structure. Um uh implementing that for the remainder of this fiscal year comes at a cost of $157,000. Um and then going into next year's budget, it'll be a total annual cost of $29,371. In addition, we have um an amount for a new RFI software uh totaling $16,388 for fiscal 26. And I'll let April uh discuss that.

Good evening. So uh the RFI software we have currently um is not very efficient for us to use. So implementing new software would enable the city to efficiently manage um and provide more consistent responses to all our public information requests fulfilling the requirements of the actual public information act. So, um, the new software would have things like, uh, redaction abilities within the software built in, um, workflow automations, better tracking and reporting, um, automated responses and updates to the requesters, um, so it's more efficient on their side as well. Um, automated reminders. Currently, um I spend part of my day every day going through all the public information requests to see which ones are outstanding, which ones are coming closed, rem sending reminders, um you know, making sure the departments, uh are closing their information requests out in the current software we have just because it does not have those capabilities. So, it'll be more efficient time-wise for my department, for myself and Sandra. Um there's also message templates so that we again would have consistent messaging across the board for all information requests rather than each department kind of um sending the request. Also will house all the information that's sent. So if we send it through the system then if somebody else requests that same exact information it's right there again. We don't have to go digging for it or if somebody says hey I didn't get that um email. Maybe it got caught in their filters or something. We we can go right there and grab it and not have to go look for it again and dig it out. or or maybe the person who emailed it to them isn't here that week because they're on vacation. It's just right there in the system. We can find it consistently and easily. And there's also a way for us to have a separate workflow for the police department's requests. The majority of the requests we get are for police records every day. So, currently those all come to my office and we have to turn around and assign them to the police department. But with this software, it can actually create a separate workflow and form. So somebody specifically requesting information from the police department only, they could go to that would go straight to them and be assigned to them without no one from

my office having to go in behind it and and figure out who it's going to assign it to them. So that that that would the majority of the requests would go straight to them. It's more efficient for them as well as for us and the requesters.

And I'll add to that council. Um the software we currently use for request for for for information responses is the same software you software we use for our agenda package creation. That software is actually intended for agendas uh creation not for RFIs. We've manipulated it to make it work well enough for us. But we feel like with this new software that's specifically designed for this process, we'll be a lot more efficient like April said um and a lot more responsive to the community and to the public with the requests that are made to us. One of the things that I think is important for historical context and I mentioned to the mayor yesterday I for sometimes whenever we talk uh but part of it there's been an evolution just in the last six years of how we treat requests for information. Um, part of one of the changes that, um, I implemented shortly after arriving was shifting the request for information process away from the city attorney's office and to the city secretary's office to have more of a centralized uh, process. It's more common to have these processes under the city secretar's office. And obviously, she was always involved to some extent, but now over the last few years, it's been more of a primary role. Yes. um on her part. And so having this software um is is helping and continue helping to continue move in the direction of further centralizing um this process for consistency sake across our entire organization.

Questions about that anyone? No, I think you know obviously from my standpoint we need to do that timely. We need to do that efficiently and we we need to be uniform you know so that different responses for same information get the same information and are you know put out the same way. So I I I view it as a step in the right direction. Definitely. Yeah.

Thank you. Um, so I just note that that both of these items uh do represent recurring items that would have to be included in future budgets. Uh, so for fiscal 27, that would be about $224,000 of an ongoing commitment to continue funding these two items. And the last item is in our construction fund. We had talked about our redemption program and utilizing some excess funds on some projects that had closed out uh the beginning of this fiscal year. Uh we had proposed uh using an additional $700,000 uh to add to our um bond redemption program, bringing that total to 1.3 million and then also using the remainder of those excess funds um just allocating them towards future CIP projects that will be uh determined as the year goes on. So do you have any questions?

All right. Any questions? No. All right. Thank you for the information. So then with that, I will open up the public hearing on item C2, which are these budget amendments. There's anyone wishing to speak to council on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion with respect to this item. Motion to approve item C2. Second. We've got a motion, a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And C2 passes. [clears throat] All right. That moves us on then to our consent agenda. Miss Hilbert.

Yes, sir. Item D1 is the adoption of minutes of special work session held on December 12th, 2025 and the regular meeting held on December 16th, 2025. Item D2 is a resolution approving an agreement to lease 20 Club Car Tempo2 lithium golf carts through G through Club Car LLC with a service plan through Club Car and Visage FT plus screenless flat screenless fleet management tracking for Riverside Golf Course in Mount to exceed $130,564.80. Item D3 is a resolution approving the amendment to the services agreement with Datavox Incorporated for equipment and services at the public safety headquarters and an additional amount of $10,46844 a total amount not to exceed $418,640.91.

Thank you, Miss Hilbert. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? Let's move move to approve the consent agenda as read. Second. Got a motion and second. All in favor say I. I. All right. Consent agenda passes. So we move to action items and we'll begin with item E1. Item E1 is consideration and possible action on the confirmation of the city manager appointments to the firefighter civil service commission and the respective staggered terms.

All right. So good afternoon or good evening mayor and council. Just a brief update for you uh this evening on on the process to establish a civil service commission. And obviously I have uh my appoint my appointees that I'm presenting to you for confirmation. Uh just really briefly just to recap, these are the same slides that I showed in November, but I just think it's appropriate since it's a new thing to just re recap it um as often as possible. And so as a refresher, um the civil service uh proposition, as you know, passed in November and that'll require us to follow consistent set of rules for hiring, promotions, pay, and disciplinary matters within our fire department. Um I underlined pay because we did also have the proposition on collective bargaining pass. And so the collective bargaining process is probably and not probably will be more um involved in the pay element of it. But certainly the civil service commission will continue to focus on the hiring, promotion and disciplinary aspect of it. Um the civil service law requires us to establish a three member three member civil service commission uh to oversee these rules. One of the biggest changes that comes with this is that it shifts the authority over personnel matters from management and the chief to the commission. We already for example have promotional processes that take place. We already have requirements for hiring. We already have processes for disciplinary action and appeals process. Um but up until this point, you know, those rules and those processes have been um designed and uh put into place by the fire chief. And so that now takes that away from the fire chief and puts it solely on the civil service commission um to adhere to the chapter 143 rules. And as we discussed, per HB2713, it is impossible to repeal civil service in a community of our size. So next steps um after we canvas the um election results in mid November, we had 60 days to establish the civil service commission. And so that puts us at mid January. Uh which brings us to tonight. Um again, civil service and the commission will develop policies and the rules. Uh we plan to do that in

coordination with legal with our outside legal counsel, Frank Garza, which you met um a few months ago. Um, and all in all, these new civil service rules need to be in place within 30 days of the new fiscal year, um, which is the end of October. But the way that I'm choosing to view it is beginning by October 1st so that it aligns with our fiscal year. Some of the duties of the Civil Service Commission on the technical side of it, they'll have to elect the chairman and vice chairman. they'll have to appoint a civil service director which uh is usually the HR director. This individual is the person that would basically professionally staff the board, ensure that you know the meetings are taking place, but more importantly ensure that all of the rules that are adopted by the civil service commission are implemented u accordingly. Um, some of those rules will will detail causes for removal or suspension of firefighters, set physical and mental requirements, call for exams for applicants and promotions, um, and approve hiring and promotional list, as well as consider disciplinary appeals. Um, one of the things that I want to um, re-emphasize as part of this slide is that in the process of interviewing individuals interested for the Civil Service Commission, um, I I it became more obvious to me where the where the elements of confusion um, are as it relates to the role of the board. And so I want to uh pause for a moment to clarify that you know after we get the initi after we get through the initial establishment of the rules uh which we think will take four to six months and I'll get to that a little bit later. The ongoing business of the civil service commission will really focus more on the last two bullet points on this slide. Um the recurring business of the of the civil service commission will solely focus on approving those hiring and promotional list. So the frequency of of of their meetings will depend on how often we have new lists to approve. Um

and the purpose of them approving them is for them to um serve as that checks and balance of accountability to help all of us ensure that those lists were developed in accordance with the rules that they established. And then on the consideration of disciplinary appeals, those of course come every so often. Um, in the six and a half years that I've been here, I think I've only had three or four appeals um from the fire department come to my office. Just to give you a sense of how frequent um these appeals might come up. And nobody knows, you know, if the establishment of civil service will lead to less or more um disciplinary appeals. Um but that will become um sort of some of the ongoing um responsibilities of the board. And because of that, I was very intentional a few months ago in providing you a little bit of preferred qualifications um because I do think that in this particular instance because we are talking about establishing the rules for the first time. I do think it necessitated individuals with specific ideally with experience in policym implementation um legal or labor relations or HR or just executive management experience. And I was very clear about these preferred qualifications in November and that certainly was top of mind um throughout the process. In November um I shared that uh we had opened a application period um that originally was um intended to be closed in mid December but quite frankly I just did not get enough applicants um and so we extended that through [clears throat] the end of the year um and extended it through December 31st. In that time period, we received 12 eligible applicants. Um, I shared with you all via email that we actually received 18. Four were ineligible because of state rules that require individuals to live inside city limits. So, four individuals do not live inside city limits. And then

I personally um um had to um chose to make two individuals ineligible because of their close relationship with an active firefighter um which I feel is is a huge conflict of interest. Um and of course here this evening um we're here to make my recommendations on um my appointees. And so they're all here this evening. Um they're not ready to give speeches, but I do want to acknowledge their presence um in the room. Um but first I want to start with Mr. Lee Keeling. Um he's the the individual that I have appointed to and seek confirmation for the three-year term. Uh many of you know Lee. He ha he's an attorney with Walker Keeling and Hatley. How do I say that?

Hatley. Yes, got it right. U has over 35 years practicing law. Um some of which focuses mostly on business and commercial law. But as part of that, he actually does delve into advising employers on employment matters. And one of the things that stood out to me in my conversation with him was his role on the grievance committee with the state bar. And so he has some very uh relatable experience as it relates to just hearing uh you know cases come or or or appeals coming to a board and things of that sort. Um and so that really stood out. But more importantly, one of the things that stood out once I assessed the entire applicant pool was um how important I ended up realizing previous experience as an appointee um just how important that that could be in this process. Um, and so he has served with the Victoria Selfstack Development Corporation as a city appointee from 2015 to 2020 and he served on the parks commission from 2017 to 2023. Some of you may remember that he was actually involved with with revamping the parks commission um, and re-establishing the bylaws and all of the and just everything involved with the parks commission. So when I mention having experience in policy development, he certainly fits that fits that mold not only in his professional career but in his um previous um you got a message on teams uh [laughter] but in his previous experience as an an appointee as well. Um second uh I'd like to appoint and and seek for your confirmation for Mr. Decator Joseph, who I am um wanting to place in the two-year term slot. Uh many of you know him as well. Um he's a chartered financial consultant with over 30 years serving our community. Um as part of his financial consulting um career, he uh manages benefits including group health, life and retirement plans and also

manages retirement plans and insurance plans. Um and I just felt that his professional experience would be very instrumental to the work of the civil service commission. He also has extensive experience having served as a city appointee. Um he served on the on the uh sales tax development corporation from 2014 to 2020 and more recently served on the charter review committee in 2021 which um uh for those that aren't familiar the charter review committee process is a very meticulous uh detail ccentric um process. And so, um, if we wanted somebody with a proven track record of being meticulous and very detailed in their review of complicated subject matters, uh, Mr. Decater Joseph certainly fits fits the mold. And then lastly, um, I'm seeking the confirmation of Mr. Casey Cullen for the one-year time slot. He's an attorney with Cullen and Home um, and has over 15 years practicing law. While he mainly focuses on civil law, he also represents cities, counties, and other government entities on employment matters. And so he actually has very relevant experience as it relates to just dealing with government employee employment matters and specifically first responders actually. Um, and so very very uh uh practical and and and appropriate experience. He also has experience serving as an appointee of the city, currently serving on the Victoria Sales Sax Development Corporation since 2021. And so lastly, assuming you confirm uh the three appointees, um our next order of business would be to schedule the bimonthly meetings, which we mean meeting twice a month. Um and as I alluded to earlier, uh formally they'd have to elect the chairman, designate a civil service director, which would be our HR director, and then the intent is just get right to work immediately. Um, and again, our outside legal counsel, uh, Frank Garza suggests it might take four to six months to set it all up. Uh,

and then finally, I want to end my presentation with a reminder, uh, that the Civil Service Commission does not play a role in collective bargaining. And through my conversations with um applicants, I learned that that was another confusing element um that a lot of people some people believe that the Civil Service Commission was actually going to be doing some of the collective bargaining for us. And so I just want to be very clear that the Civil Service Commission has nothing to do with collective bargaining and that is a whole other process that we intend to hopefully start at some point in March or April of this year. And so with that, I'm happy to answer any questions or address any concerns you might have about the three appointees that I'm seeking confirmation on.

So I assume since we're all here, they're willing to be appointed. We're not [clears throat] just throwing them in there. Uh [laughter] yes. Okay. Okay. We at least have have that commitment. Yes. I have a couple of questions. Uh yes, sir. Who all was involved in the selection process? um the application just you also the meetings that this commission has does do they have to be in person or they can they be via Zoom or Teams and are they um evaluated or uh viewed or do they have an audience in any shape form or fashion?

Sure. So the that's a good question. So, the Civil Service Commission meetings are public meetings. And so, they will be treated like every other border commission with an agenda that's posted, you know, um I forget how to describe the rules now around how in advance to post it, but um I'm so used to just saying 72 hours in advance, but now I think it's three b three business days in advance. Um and those meetings are open to the public. Um I would not even open the door to try and create ways to have those meetings virtually. Um, our intent would be to have those meetings in person.

Yeah. Well, and we I don't I don't believe that we could hold them virtually just the same as we can't hold city council meetings virtually. We can um invite people to speak to the council virtually, but we have to have council members present. That um exception was during COVID when nobody could be together and that has since been pulled back and so they have to be there in person. Any other questions? Okay. Um, do I I think April, did you have a question?

You mentioned that there were 12 other candidates. How many of those 12 outside of the three selected met the criteria that you had established? I think the best way I can answer that question is that the three appointees that I'm recommending for confirmation were the only appointees that had the combination of professional experience that I was looking for as well as the track record of having previous experience as a [clears throat] city appointee. Um, as well as being a very involved citizen in our community, having served on multiple nonprofit boards. I don't have a question, but I do have a comment. Um, I am incredibly u thankful and impressed by the applicants that you brought forth and appreciate that their their willingness to serve if they we so vote that way. But I do appreciate that.

Very strong. I' I'd like to echo uh what Dr. Young said. I couldn't quite get the words figured out, but I agree. Um uh I'm pleased with the process that you have uh initiated. Um I'm pleased with the criteria that you uh deemed were the important ones and I'm uh very um pre pleased and appreciative of uh everyone that applied but certainly the the ones that you have brought to us. It's certainly a strong and qualified group. No doubt. And this gentlemen, this will not be a fun job. [laughter]

Uh there will be a lot of twists and turns to it I'm sure but thank you much appreciated uh not only from from us but from the community. So thank you very much. Um with that then are there any motions with respect to item E1 of the slate of city manager appointees. I move that we confirm the city manager appointees to the firefighters civil service commission. Second. [clears throat] All right, I've got a motion, a second. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I.

Any opposed, and those three gentlemen are confirmed. So again, thank you very much. Much appreciated. Um and um we'll uh look forward to uh seeing what you guys can put together. Thank you. Great. Um we do have a short executive session. Okay. So, no city manager reports, correct? Correct. All right. So then we will take a quick 10-minute break and at that point uh reconvene into executive session. The city council will recess for executive session on the 6th day of January 2026 at 6:12 p.m. Subject matter is as follows. Texas Government Code 551.087,551.072 and 551.071.