City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome to our council meeting for Tuesday, January the 20th. Miss Hilbert, will you please call roll? Yes, sir. Councilman Deagarza, I am present. Councilman Kder here. Councilwoman Butler, present. Councilwoman Scott, here. Mayor Pro Tim Young, here. Councilman Laugh, 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 republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Honor the flag. I aliance to the Texas one state and indivisible.

Thank you. Please be seated. All right, welcome everyone. Good to see lots of folks in the house, including our members of the school board. Welcome to each of you. Uh we will get to a proclamation from them here shortly, but before we do that, let's uh start with B1 announcements and reminders. Mr. Garza, good evening. Good evening, mayor and council. I do have just a couple of announcements this evening, so it's been a while since there's only been two, so this should go fairly quick. But on behalf of our library and our friends of the library, we want to remind the public that their uh book sale is going on currently for 2026. It's happening this week. The sale is open for everyone to shop January 19th through the 23rd during regular library hours and Saturday, January 24th from 10:00 a.m. to noon. On behalf of our convention visitors bureau and and our main street program, we want to remind the public and invite them to apply to fulfill two terms within our board of directors for our main street program. These two terms expire in September of 2026. The board meeting, I'm sorry, the board manages the nonprofit Victoria Main Street program and supports beautifification, fundraising, event coordination, and other volunteer initiatives downtown. Residents who live, work, or own businesses downtown are encouraged to apply by February 13th. And for more information and to apply, you can visit growing victorix.com. And that's all I have for this evening.

That was quick. It was. Yeah. All right. Well, we're slacking. We got to step our game up. All right, let's move on then to B2 public and employee recognitions. We'll start off with 2A, which is uh schoolboard recogni recognition month proclamation. Miss Hilbert.

Yes, sir. Whereas the mission of Victoria Independent School District is achieving excellence for all, ensuring that every student is supported, challenged, and prepared for future success. And whereas the mission of public schools is to meet the educational needs of all children and to empower them to become competent, productive contributors to a democratic society in an everchanging world. And whereas the local school board members are elected by their community to do what is best for students. And whereas local school board members work closely with parents, educational professionals, and community partners to create the educational vision we want for our students. And whereas local schoolboard members are responsible for ensuring the structure that provides a strong foundation for our school system. And whereas local schoolboard members are strong advocates for public education and play a vital role in communicating the needs of the school district to the public and the public's expectations to the district. Now therefore, I, Dwayne Crocker, mayor of the city of Victoria, Texas, proclaim January 2026 as schoolboard recognition month in Victoria, Texas, and urge all citizens to join me in recognizing the dedication and hard work of local schoolboard members and the work with them to support an education that meets the needs of both today's and tomorrow's children. Thank you all for the recognition and thank you for being community partners with us and we'd like to recognize y'all as well. So, thank you for all y'all's work. Thank y'all.

Thank you. Thank you. Again, thanks to the school board for all that you guys do for our community. We know it's never an easy task and so thank you so much. Much appreciated. All right, let's move on then. Um, our next one is item B2B, recognition of outgoing board or commission member. I believe we have one this evening, Miss Hilbert.

Yes, sir. Staff and council would like to recognize Councilman Mark Lorren for his service on the Victoria Sales Tax Development Corporation board of directors. Mr. Lorren has served on the board since 2020. And the city appreciates your willingness to serve your community, sir, and appreciates and presents this plaque in appreciation of your time and service. speech.

I do want to I do want to say thank you. It's been an honor to serve. Um this is a wonderful thing. It uh I appreciate all the people that that I've served with. Three mayors, uh many people all dedicated to economic growth in Victoria. And uh I'm very proud to have served. There's one person I could name a whole lot of people, but I'd like to single out Danielle Williams for her. Every time I needed something, she would get it for me. And she keeps the sales tax corporation going, and I thank her for her work and hard work. I will miss it actually. Thank you. Well done,

Mark. You've done a great job on that commission. Thank you so much. And and you will be missed on that commission, but we have a capable fill in our replacement new guy coming in. So, we're excited about keeping this uh development corporation moving forward, but thank you for your service. Thank you. All right, then. Mr. Garza, do you have any other public and employee recognitions tonight?

I do have two. I'd like to recognize two of our uh wonderful employees who recently were promoted. I want to announce um publicly that Emma Tucker has been promoted to assistant city engineer. And so Emma, if you wouldn't mind standing. Uh she we'll give a round of applause since she's Yeah. Um but Emma became our assistant city engineer on January 12th. Emma has been a valued member of the city's engineering team and has made significant contributions to the planning, design, and maintenance of public utilities and roadway infrastructure that supports safety, mobility, and the growth of our community. She's a licensed professional engineer with extensive experience managing complex engineering projects from concept through construction. Her strong technical foundation, attention to detail, and collaborative approach have earned the trust of colleagues and partners across our organization. Emma holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Texas&M University and her depth of knowledge, professionalism, and commitment to public service makes her exceptionally well suited for this leadership role. Well said. So, congratulations, Ellen. Um, in addition, recently, uh, Detective Emily Ericson, I believe she's here, she was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant on January 16th. She has served many roles within the police department, including patrol, traffic safety unit, drone unit, and the crisis negotiation team. Um, if if you've been around the police department, you surely have seen Emily. Um, she has been a tremendous asset to our police department. And I personally have have have witnessed her growth in our department just in the last six and a half years that I've been here. And so, I was very excited when I saw that she was getting promoted to to sergeant. And so, Emily, congratulations. That's all for this evening, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Mr. Garza. Uh, we'll move on then to items from council. Anything anyone has this evening?

All right. Seeing none, then we'll jump down to citizens communication. I have a few cards. And just as a reminder, if you would please uh keep your comments to three minutes out of respect for time for others giving comments and all involved. So, I will start with Bridget Short is the first card I have. I'm sorry. Good evening. Welcome.

Hi. Um, I'm Bridget Short and uh I live in downtown Victoria. Um, I've lived there six years and I absolutely love my neighborhood. But um we have an issue that has been going an ongoing problem for the as for as long as I've lived there and I don't even like I said I've only lived there six years but it's been a pervasive problem. Um I've called everyone in Victoria. Uh, I've even called Texas Parks and Wildlife because we have uh people who like to feed cats. And I don't have problems with cats. I love cats. I love critters. I love all of God's creatures. However, the these people um like to feed cats on everybody else's curb except their own. Again, feed the kitties. Feed them. However, the problem with feeding the kitties is that we now have buzzards. I'm not talking one or two. I'm talking flocks of buzzards who have become pets in the neighborhood and they're not even scared of people. They will hop up to people expecting to be fed. Um and as a result of feeding the cats, um these buzzards come, they roost on the telephone poles around our home. And needless to say, we have buzzard feces all over our vehicles or wherever. And um I have contacted the police. I

have contacted you, Mr. Crocker. I have contacted uh the uh the people who take care of the animal control.

Yes, thank you. Um, so I've called everybody and everybody kind of like puts a little band-aid on it for a little while, but no one has taken care of the problem. And it is it's a health problem because there's buzzard feces everywhere. And skunks are everywhere. My my house personally has been sprayed three times because the cat food brings other critters, not just the buzzards, but uh like I said, skunks. And uh I went to the gym one morning and came home and there's a skunk on my front part porch. It's like, oh my gosh. I mean, I've lived in the country and I've never had a skunk on my porch. So, um it is my heart's desire that y'all will listen to, um the problem and at least kind of start tweaking the problem and um really truly listening because I'm not it's not just me. Um I know there's other neighbors who are equally concerned, but I seem to be the most vocal and I'm okay with that. and my time has expired.

Thank you, Miss Short. Appreciate your comments. You're welcome. All right. The next card I have is from Matt. I believe it's Paige. Did I get that right? Yes, sir. Okay. Welcome, Mr. Paige.

Thanks. Thanks for uh letting me speak tonight. Matt Paige, I'm a longtime resident of Victoria. I recently purchased a home downtown u probably near where she lives. I'm having a similar issue. It's not just a theoretical or abstract issue, but it's personally affecting me due to every evening at 6:00 p.m. an individual pulls up next to my property and she actually comes on to my property. Maybe it's the easement. I'm not that worried about that part of it. But she's putting out a large amount of cat food, which is talking to some other neighbors, it's created a colony of feral cats. I see them in my yard. uh constantly. You know, sometimes I've seen several dozen cats at these feedings every evening. And once she drives away in her vehicle, then the buzzards, as she mentioned, which are now roosting on my home, in and around my home, on the roof, in the trees, etc., uh they come down, scare the cats off, and then they go back to roost there in the evening. So, and this isn't about disliking cats or animals. It's, you know, these feral cats, they carry diseases. is they're interacting with other people's pets. Then you've got the buzzards which are, you know, natural disposers of, you know, carcasses and now so we're disrupting that, bringing them into the downtown area and just, you know, generally affecting people's enjoyment of their homes. Uh, is there a better way for her to feed the cats? Probably. And I think if some kind of actionable and enforcable ordinance was put into place rather than us having to confront this individual or take our own measures to curb the issue uh is just going to create altercations that I don't think the city wants. So I think an an ordinance enforceable by the city would be uh the most effective measure.

That's all I've got. All right. Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Uh, next card I have is from Steve Moses.

Mr. Moses. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and honorable people of the city council. You have my deepest respect. Uh, I'm still here because half of me is missing. I left. You should each have a packet that the balor should have given out to you hopefully already for today. And the packet is uh when my wife was uh taken to Wymer, Texas, and the daughter, her daughter the next day but made out of bogus medical POA and stuck her in a nursing home in Wymer, one of the worst instead of Texas. And my wife didn't know this was going to happen. And they stuck her in a like a hot box for 10 days. My wife contracted COVID 19 and pneumonia. She was 70 years old. At home, she missed her doctor's appointments and I had to go to each one of them. She didn't have her prescriptions and I didn't have her prescriptions. She she was missing everything. But because of the blatant police misconduct, this helped cause my wife's death. And after 10 days, my wife in that hot box while I was calling adult protective services every night and they're open 24 hours a day, she became unconscious. She went to the hospital in Columbus twice. They came back, she was unconscious. They rushed her home by ambulance on the 14th of September. Now, the next two weeks, she was at Detour and Citizens. I was right by her side. Now, this is in 2021. And they let me put a chair by their side and they gave me the worst news. And Mr. Moses, the chances of your wife surviving are slim and none. I'm putting it in my words. And I told them, "No matter what, I'm going to pray. My wife loves the Lord. I'm going to pray." And I brought in at the end six different pastors that I knew prayed for my wife. She never regained

consciousness. And I was right by her side. And I watched my wife die for nothing when she had just come home from the hospital and I'm medical POA and it shows it in there and I was not they didn't uh go by what I had. I told these two policemen the truth. They did everything wrong besides going into my home without a warrant and Sergeant Swanson committed blatant police misconduct and so did Argenta. So what happened? My wife died and I went in there and I watched her and I had to brush her hair back. I watched my wife die and half of me died with her and until I can get this under control. I want I want for me to be at peace with this and I'm not. I'm not until Sergeant Swanson is terminated. And I also, mayor, you and the city manager knows the new chief of police will not speak to me. So, one of you probably the city manager who I've dealt with before has probably told him not to, and you know about it. One other thing real quickly. I've written you two letters asking you to for the uh to explain what the other people you talked to said they didn't do wrong. I have nothing, but I'll give you to the end of the month respectfully. mayor, if you can provide anything in writing that they did right, those two police officers, because I have a ton of documentation to prove that they were wrong. And I appreciate you very much. God bless you. I hope you have empathy if you go home to know that this is one of your loved ones that happened to how badly you would feel. Thank you very much. I respect every one of you. God bless you.

Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Next card I have is from Michael Vander.

Good evening, sir. Welcome.

Good. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Michael Vandro. I uh live at 2207 North Ben, Jordan. Uh just recently someone uh got bit by a pitbull on Jer Street and he uh walked to Christ kitchen and animal uh care services helped him which I appreciate. Um there's a person that lives on 2207 North Jer and he will not secure his uh dogs. You know even though he had 29 and animal care services captured 11 of them. There's a gate. Dogs come in and out. And I seen a pit bull going into his yard from the outside. And animal care services goes and tells uh Joe he's the homeowner. He does volunteer work at Christ Kitchen and he still refuses to take care of his problem with his with the dogs. You know, this went on KAVU 25 News and Animal Care Services been there numerous times. Uh I remember one time I was riding a bike there while animal care services was there and a dog actually tried to attack me and I wish he would secure those dogs. There's no excuse for that. This been going on for a couple of months and he refuses to fix everything properly, specifically the gate. they can go in and out even when the gates close and I would like him to address the situation. I know there's loose dogs other areas too and uh also would like to thank the sheriff's department and the police department. There was a shootout in uh Bloomington and around 2204 East Nor Street around Victoria Oaks. the accident came to a halt and they did shoot and kill him cuz he shot at some police officers and the

Texas Rangers came to investigate the SWAT team and I appreciate everything that did that. It just seems like that 2204 East Norris Street Victoria Oaks is a a crime magnet. I wish they would have put some lights up and, you know, trimmed those branches, you know, so people could ride a bike there safely cuz we've had people that's been riding in roads that's got that's got killed by uh cars. But um I would like uh someone to go by 2207 North Jer Street and talk to Joe and have him secure these uh dogs. That's just crazy having 29 dogs and animal care services having to capture 11 of them. Um, appreciate everything. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Mona. Next card is Rick. Is it Collie or Kohley? Collie. Collie.

Good evening, sir. Thank you. Just like the dog. Collie. Got

it. Last time I was here, I was um appreciate the uh work the city's done at our neighborhood in Tangle Wood and it's still good. It's going to last for hope for 30 or 40 years. So anyway, that's not my reason for being here today. I'm from 305 Beachwood. I'd like to speak about the the library. I don't know what the issue is exactly or where the status, but I just want to give you my opinion about the book situation with the library. my opinion, uh, people who, uh, want to ban books are always on the wrong side of history and, uh, you look a little bit foolish trying to do something. I think that that's kind of a waste of time. That's my personal opinion. Um, kids, your kids know more about things you don't want them to know about than you can imagine, and they don't have to get that that information from the library. Um if uh people what I've said in the paper they complain that their values are being corrupted. I would say if their values not being corrupted they're being challenged and they should be challenged. If some books don't represent your personal values then do your job as a parent and explain to your children why these books do not expl not express your values. It's a teachable moment. There are some books in the know the other point I was made that people in in Victoria are not monolithic. We have diverse opinions and you might be surprised how diverse that really is. There are some items that are in the library that don't represent my values and I trust they don't represent the values of most most people here but they're in our library. They represent some history, some things that have gone on in the past. Uh there's a book there that has things such as witches and sorcerers are real and they must not be allowed to live.

Homosexuality is punishable by death. Stubborn and rebellious children can be stoned to death. If you create an offensive work of art, your ancestors can be cursed for four generations. Not advocate. That's just that's in our library. There are some documents that express that. If a person can handle snakes and drink poison without harming themselves, then they can also heal the sick. You are allowed to own slaves, but you shouldn't mistreat your slaves. Slaves, you should obey your masters. Nature teaches it's a disgrace for a man to have long hair. If a man rapes a woman, he must marry her and her father and must give her father money for that privilege. Now, these things are in our library. I'm not saying that advocating or anything. I'm just saying they exist. These are not myths. They're not metaphors. They were written by very serious people and strictly enforced by even more serious people. They don't represent our values today, but they should not be banned from our library. That's that's my only point. Some ideas need to be challenged, not by banning them, but by replacing them with better ideas. That's what libraries do. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

All right. Then the final card I have, I believe it's Christopher Fields, if I'm reading that correctly. Is that individual here? Well, thank you for that warm welcome. Uh, my name is the Honorable Admiral Fields as commissioned by the 48th Governor of Texas. Uh, this is from the Harris County Attorney's Office. This is from the White House. This is from the Harris County Treasurer. And if you have any question as to my title, oh, and these from Congress, here it is right here. The Honorable Admiral Christopher Fields. Uh, I just want to acknowledge uh the honorable city council and mayor Dwayne Crocker. In case you say you didn't know, uh, my name is the honorable Admiral Fields. I stand before you today not as a resident seeking a favor, but as an individual permanently entered into the Texas House Representatives historical record under HR 1472, signed by the Chief Clerk of the House, the Speaker of the House, and my state representative. I'm a Harvard University credentialed leader, national leader of a and foundation executive of a federally recognized 501c3 uh organization whose scholarships and mentor work has impacted academic outcomes uh broken records across all 50 states. My service has been formally honored by the White House and I'm a recipient of the rare United States Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and Presidential Gold Medal issued by the authority of the President of the United States of America. I've also been honored with nearly a dozen United States special congressional recognitions from both the United States House and the United States Senate issued by both Republican and Democratic Congress members. When I relocated to Victoria, Texas, I followed established civic protocol. I requested a brief 15-minute meeting and a simple welcome letter from the mayor to establish a

partnership providing scholarships and mentorship to Title One students. The mayor declined. This decision creates an unavoidable contradiction. When the White House, the United States Congress, state leadership, and mayors across 700 square miles of Texas recognize value, yet this office does not, the issue is no longer credentials. It becomes a question of judgment, discretion, and motive. When opportunity is consistently recognized at every level except for one, reasonable people must ask why. If subjective impressions, personal discomfort, or unexamined bias are influencing who is welcomed and who is dismissed, this raises legitimate ethical concerns for this body and this city. If the mayor dismisses an opportunity that directly benefits schools and students, he is not dismissing me. He is dismissing the very people of Victoria he claims to serve, especially when the congressman and state senator of this very jurisdiction have already expressed interest in alignment. Leadership is not revealed. Leadership is revealed not only by what by what we support, but by what we reflexively turn away. A mayor who cannot recognize value when it stands directly in front of him, while the rest of the nation already has warrants careful consideration about stewardship and discernment. Victoria deserves leadership capable of seeing opportunity without prejudice and acting without bias. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. All right, let's move on then. We'll close out citizen communication. We'll move on to items with public hearings. And we'll start with item C1. Yes, sir. Item C1 is an ordinance amending chapter 9 of the city of Victoria code of ordinances to adopt the 2024 International Fire Code with amendments. Welcome, Miss Fog.

Good evening, council. Um, today I also have our fire marshal, Annette Pon. We're going to tag team this presentation. Um but we are here to ask for um approval of adoption of the 2024 international fire code um which is companion document of course to all of the other um international co- councsil codes that you heard at the last meeting. So start um presentation is pretty simple. the um nine section 9.3 of chapter 9 where we adopt the fire code um starts of course with that adoption um and then has housekeeping items of um sections of the code that we delete and do not um wish to adopt. And so this section just updates uh what those numbers are on the from the 2021 version to the 2024 version of the IFC. Um and then next we get into so so that section of course adopts the IFC and then we get into um uh the actual amendments the local amendments that are unique to Victoria. Um so just as a background information um this adoption of the 2024 um IFC followed the same um process that the rest of the international codes process adoption process follows. Um we had a meetings with the board of adjustment and appeals um to go through significant changes of the fire code um and then of course go through all of the amendments that are being proposed um and then request um uh a recommendation from that board which they did unanimously give at their December 2nd meeting. Um so the um unified development ordinance or chapter 21 of the code of ordinance actually requires that process to be outlined when we adopt um different codes but chapter 9 does not. The chapter 9 deals with all things fire related and it's where the of course this is adopted. It does not have that process um outlined but we we do it because they it is it's

a partnership of um between the fire marshall's office development services the community and of course these codes um don't really stand alone. they are all intertwined together. So, getting into our local amendments, um the first is we um propose to delete the outdoor assembly event permit. Um and that is because there is a special events permit that the city um uh has adopted outside in different sections of the ordinance that is um administered by the parks and recreation department. Um this does not mean that the fire marshall's office does not perform inspections. They still do inspect um special events, making sure that you know all of the um different um extension cords are safe and tents are are up um correctly. Um but they don't actually do the permitting themselves. The next section is other is existing adoptions or existing existing um amendments with um updated uh reference numbers. And then here's some additional changes. Um in section 307, we've changed the word from open burning to bonfire. And Annette taught me something new that um civil cultural um means the control of uh wildlife and range uh through fire. Um and so it's kind that's open burning. So it's kind of redundant. So the um original code had bonfires back with the with the bonfire um were to be very clear. And hopefully everyone when they run across civil cultural will look it up or have an aette. Um and then uh removing an exception that um permits are not required for open flames if um there is an automatic sprinkler system. Um the exception for the use of candles in instances in house of worship still um remains. But um

otherwise uh permits that do use um or permits for in commercial structures um that require the open flame um would require a permit from the fire marshall's office. This um next section we are as a local amendment um that kind of went above and beyond on alarms um and required um an audible visual device um to be located in the building um when fire alarm systems were going off. Uh so we were deleting that because it we don't need to have it as a local amendment because it has been included in the 2024 IFC. Um so it's it's not anything special to Victoria anymore. Now, anyone who adopts it, unless they delete it, will be um now following that as well. And then, um the next section is commercial hood and duct systems. And I was very happy when we were discussing this amendment because this is kind of a something that we had a lot of complaints uh the development services department receives a lot of complaints about the fires marshall's office because of this um regulation. And it's that um basically if you're a commercial establishment, you have to have a commercial hood and duct systems. And the real the pinch point where we received a lot of complaints are small operations such as daycarees that are really only making fish in uh fish sticks and chicken nuggets would have to install commercial hoods at a a considerable expense. And so um we're keeping the requirement but allowing um basically the fire code official to wave that requirement when needed. So, um, the intent is to be able to wave it in those small type of establishments like daycarees when they're making fish stickicks and, um, chicken nuggets. Um, the next section is security gates. And this was something that um Tom Legler a couple fire marshals ago actually was a proponent of and that is that um fire alarm systems would be connected interior fire alarm systems um that are required of commercial

buildings would be connected to the actual security gates so that if there was an alarm those gates would open and allow access. Um it's really a cost prohibitive um type of regulation and so it was never enforced. Um there is a lot of um development in this um technology-wise and so radio receivers to open gates is is really the way of the future. So we'll be continuing to look at that and and that wants to eventually adopt the radio receiver requirement. Um so but in the meantime we're deleting um this requirement for the security gates to be connected to the fire alarm system. Um and then this um next section um also dealt with um commercial cooking and requires any cooking operation to install um the a type one vent hood. Um so there's a lot of old restaurants in town that don't necessarily have these. Um and it was supposed to be installed within 12 months. Um, we realized we actually intended to have this language that we had said request for mission must be approved by the fire code of official on this section two when we replaced or when we removed the 12-month requirement that of course was long passed um and like I said not enforced. So they're still existing. Um so between the this first reading and second and third reading um we will be um requesting to adopt it with this change that we that this section will remain um but then it can be omitted or um the fire marshall's office can um basically variance that. And what they normally do whenever they're variancing that is it's more of an operational requirement. um if a restaurant is saying, "Hey, we we don't need this hood because we're not, you know, um frying things or whatnot, then there would be operational restrictions placed by the fire marshall's office." And in the future, if they put that hood in, then those operational restrictions then would go

away. So, it does require a little bit more um oversight from the fire marshall's office, but that's the pretty much the standard practice um across a lot of um cities because there are just so many existing restaurants um throughout, you know, cities that don't all have these type one hoods. So, um we are removing the timeline, but would like to add back that this can be um waved by the fire marshall's office. And so that concludes the short list of amendments. Um again with the uh board of adjustment and appeals. The all of the major changes um to the from the 2021 to the 2024 fire code were covered and reviewed at a series of four public meetings and they did ultimately recommend approval of um the ordinance with these amendments and so does development services and the fire marshall's office.

Very good. Any questions from MG? All right. Silva cultural will be the word of the day then. So, thank you. So, with that then I will Thank you very much. We appreciate it. I will open up the public hearing on item C1. If there's anyone wishing 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 this item. Motion to approve item C1. Second. All right, I've got a motion and a second. Are there any discussions? No. Seeing none, all in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? And C1 passes. Thank you for the information. We appreciate it. All right, moving on then to item C2. Item C2 is an ordinance amending chapter 4, Article 1 and Article 3 of the City of Victoria Code of Ordinances and adding section 4-37, feeding animals prohibited. Good evening, Miss Lacy.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, as you might recall, on November the 18th, we invited uh on the request of Councilman Young, the former director of animal services, Mark Slow, to come and give a presentation to city council and the community on feeding community cats. What I'm going to show you tonight is a uh a brief version of the presentation that he gave. I didn't think we needed to walk through the entire thing again, but I did want to hit a few of the highlights for y'all. And what I'll be presenting is an ordinance uh prohibiting feeding of wild animals, stray animals, and feral cats as requested by Councilman Young. Um so just a few of the points that Mr. Slope made in that presentation in November um was why cats should not be fed on public roadways and sidewalks. That feeding cats directly on public roads, sidewalks, and other heavy traffic public areas creates several serious problems for the cats, the community, and the public safety. And while it may be well-intentioned, the location definitely matters. Uh what are the issues that this can create? It can create major traffic hazards. It can lead to unsanitary conditions. It can escalate uh nuisance wildlife and public health concerns. It creates complaints in neighborhood conflicts and it can undermine organized uh animal services such as the TNR which is trap noodle return and other shelters trying to work on the efforts of uh addressing feral and stray cats. So in summary uh feeding cats is not the problem. Where the feeding cats occurs is the issue. Public roads and sidewalks are unsafe, unsanitary and can be disruptive feeding locations. feeding should only occur in safe, controlled, off- streetet locations as part of a structured TNR and C uh colony managed plan. And so this was the information provided to you in November. And I worked before he left, I did work with uh Mr. Slope briefly on some language

for an ordinance to be proposed to city council to address this issue. So in your packet was the proposed ordinance and this isn't the all of the language. I um I paired it down a little bit. You have it you have it in front of you. Um, and it states that it shall be unlawful for any person to feed wild animals, stray animals, or feral community cats, regardless of age, sex, or temperament. And that it shall be unlawful for any person to place food of any kind with the intent to feed wild animals, stray animals, or feral community cats, or to leave, store, or maintain food of any kind in a manner or area accessible to wild animals, stray animals, or feral community cats, including on any vacant or undeveloped property, and on property not owned or occupied by the person feeding or attempting to feed said wild animals, stray animals, uh, or feral community cats, including streets, sidewalks, and other public property. And this the ordinance in front of you does include several exclusions. I did not list them all out, but several of them include um animals uh animal services officers, police officers, zoological parks, schools, or anyone legally authorized or permitted to feed these animals, including the TNR program that we do have locally. And so I will open the floor to any questions. Are there any questions about the I know this is updated um language here and thank you for getting that to us or any questions regarding anything in this proposed ordinance. The clarifying language that I did add uh was the um it's in A2 which is I included the including streets, sidewalks and other public property that is consistent with other language in the uh chap in our chapter 4 and so it flows better and it it kind of gives some clarification to that.

And for further clarification then so does this prohibit someone from activities of this nature on their own property on property they own at their house for example? That is not the intent of this ordinance. I have been told that it might be a little bit confusing as written, but that is not the intent. I don't believe that it does. No, sir. Okay. That that's what I was going to ask. The way I was reading it, it looks like so I could do this on my property. Yes, ma'am. But not the not the public right away at the at the edge of my property. Correct. Not on your neighbor's property. Not on the sidewalk in front of your property. Um not down the street from your house. Yes, ma'am. My front porch would be fine.

Yes, ma'am. I would suggest not to impede not to impede tonight's It's not just me. Not to impede night tonight's vote, but I would like to on future reads see some clarification on private property and what feeding on private property, those parameters look like, but certainly not any changes to tonight's. Yes, ma'am. I can certainly bring that back on the next reading if you'd like me to propose that. And Miss Lacy, just for further clarification, uh, for anybody who may be looking at this, what impact does this have on, you mentioned the TNR program, uh, those activities, what impact would this have on that on that program?

Um, hopefully the impact is that it actually makes that program stronger. Um and that it the hope is that it would encourage citizens who are taking it upon themselves to feed these feral cat communities to actually reach out to the trap neut program. In our code, it defines it has a specific definition of TNR that includes um shots, vaccinations, um things like that, tagging the cats so that they can keep track of them. It's not trapping them and putting them in a place to get adopted. It's simply making sure that they're taken care of. they're not spreading disease. Um, and they can control where they're being fed, the the circumstances under which they're being fed. So, my hope would be that it would encourage citizens who are taking this upon themselves to do it to then instead call either an animal rescue group or one of our local animal shelters to get in touch with the trapneuter return organization and let them know there's a community of cats that needs to be taken care of and let them handle it as the experts in that kind of situation. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

No. But I'd like to make a comment. Yes, sir. The city can pass the ordinances, but the county is the one who has to enforce it. And people always think since we pass some ordinance or people come and talk about stray dogs. Please call the county about the stray dogs. And if we do pass this, call the county about enforcing it. It's the county that enforces the ordinances. I will add a clarification there. It is uh our chapter 4 well yes it is the county which is animal services. Um chapter 4 exclusively gives those uh the powers to of enforcement not only to animal services but also to our police officers

all animal control.

Got it. I I just have a comment just um I mean I'm reading this and I think it's I like the way it's written uh on the the problem with understanding if it's um owner occupied you know you can do it on your property but you know perhaps if the properties were all listed and then there was an exception that might be a way to do it to to list you've got any vacant or undeveloped property and then you would say uh on any property including street sidewalks um and so forth, but it would be an exception or an affirmative defense or maybe going about it that way that the person doing it was on their property. Although again, I like it the way it is. So,

yes, ma'am. I can certainly add another exception going forward um on the next reading that includes an exception for your own private property that you need. That's exactly what I was looking for is that where it defines perhaps not being near a neighboring property, not being near a sidewalk, your own private property, but refraining from doing so on your private property where it is near the street where is a concern there, the sidewalk or a neighboring property. So, like you mentioned, Jan, on your front porch, your front porch is away, you know, a distance away from those areas. something like that where we could greater define it I think would be really beneficial. Thank you for that. Sure.

Sure. Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Any other comments or questions? Thank you, Miss Lacy. And with that, I will open up the public hearing with respect to item C2. I know we've already heard from a couple individuals on this, but if there's anyone else will uh who would wish to address council on this matter, please come forward at this time. Yes, sir. if you would please state your name. Yeah, absolutely. Before you begin your comments.

Sure. My name is uh Colton Kilgore and um you know, I just wanted to uh make my comments pretty brief here. I wanted to express gratitude to the council and the city for um addressing this item and having the foresight to understand the secondary impacts that is intended to address. And so with that being said, thank you all. Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Anyone else wish to address councel on this matter? Seeing no one, then I will close the public hearing on item C2 and entertain any motions with respect to this item. I will make a motion for item C2. I'll second. Shocked that that came from you. Okay.

All right. I've got a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? Yeah. I'd um Miss Lacy, I'd like to thank you uh legal department, animal services, and particularly Mark Slo for his subject matter expertise. Um I appreciate it. Um this has been a long time coming. Um and I think it will uh do wonders to address some some issues and um nuisance problems that we have. So thank you. Thank you. And as a matter of process, I will point out that this is a first reading of this ordinance and there will be u I'm assuming on the next um agenda, next meeting, second, third reading. Is that correct? Uh yes, sir. That's the plan.

Okay. All right. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of item C2 say I. I. Any opposed? And C2 passes. Thank you all. Thank you for your work on this, Miss Lacy. All right, let's move on to section D then the consent agenda. Miss Hilbert, can you help me out here?

Yes, sir. Item D1 is adoption of minutes of the regular meeting held on January 6, 2026. Item D2 is an ordinance amending chapter 21, the unified development ordinance of the city of V the city of Victoria code of ordinances second and third reading. Item D3 is an ordinance approving an amendment to FY2025206 budget in amount of 1,900 yeah 1,973,41645 for the dispatch pay program request for information software additional bond redemption program and future CIP projects. This item is also on second and third reading. Item D4 is a resolution approving a variance to section 21-138B, table 21, minimum lot size and lot width for Hanzel subdivision located at 882 Guadalupe Road. Item D5 is a resolution approving a first amendment to the professional services agreement with Ducet and Associates Incorporated for design services for the Statton Avenue West outfall stream erosion protection project in an amount of 25,000 for a total contract amount of 155,000. And item D6 is a resolution approving amendment number two to the interlocal contract for licensing with South Central Planning and Development Commission's software to add the business licensing module for $1,800 a year for a total yearly cost of $60,660.

Thank you, Miss Hilbert. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? Motion to approve consent agenda as read. I'll second. All right, I've got a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And consent agenda is approved. So we move on to our action items for the evening. And we'll begin with item E1. Item E1 is a resolution reappointing or appointing members to the building and standards commission. Hello, Miss Hilber.

Hello. Good evening, mayor and council. The resolution before you tonight uh appoints or reappoints members to the building and standards commission. So the purpose of that of that commission um is the commission is to hold public hearings as requested by the director of development services to hear and determine cases for substandard and unsafe buildings. If the commission determines that a building is unsafe, it shall proceed to determine whether the building should be vacated, repaired, secured, demol demolished, or andor the occupants relocated. Members of this commission serve two-year terms and the commission consists of seven members that are all appointed at the same time. So current members are Robert Brooks, David Brown, David Doc Peters, John H. Kle, Dean Raburn, Suuala, and Sherry Strickland, and Victor Marshall. So the new terms for this appointment will end on January 1st of 2028. All current board members have expressed an interest in being reappointed. The applications of the current board members were attached to the packet for your review. And we did have two additional applicants um applications that were received from Adam Dory and Laura Staling. They were also attached to the agenda for your review. So we have a total of nine applicants in seven spots. So the asterk on here just denotes that that is someone asking for reappointment. So on your ballots that were on your dis before the meeting which do include your names because you cannot vote by secret ballot um if you will please um circle the name of seven individuals that you would like to appoint or reappoint to this board. The uh ballots will remain in my office for review should anyone wish to review them. And again seven is what you need to choose. And of course they have to get a majority of the vote in order to be added to the resolution.

It works. Anybody watch the game last night?

Sorry for the delay. The fourth down run was good. How about he made that throw and then yet threw that in. That throw is a highlight reel. It'll be forever.

Okay. When you have a large board all appointed at once, it takes a bit. I'm sorry about that delay. Um but the uh members whose names will be added to the resolution are Robert Brooks, David Brown, Doc Peters, John H. Kle, Dean Sala, Sher Strickland, and Victor Marshall. Essentially, the seven that were already currently serving or being reappointed. Okay. So, I guess we need a motion with respect to the inclusion of those names in the prepared resolution. I'd like to make that motion. All right. Well done. Is Is there a second? I second it.

All right. I've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Any opposed? And congratulations to each of them and thank you for your willingness to serve the community. So then we will jump to item E2. Mr. Mayor, I am going to abstain from this item for per a professional conflict.

Very good. Thank you, Miss Scott. Miss Hilbert. Item E2 is a resolution authorizing the use of $570,000 of excess capital improvement program funds to purchase land for the development of a shooting range for our police department and authorize the city manager to execute a land purchase agreement for 17.75 acres known as 490 Adcock Ranch Road for the same for the same in an amount not to exceed 570,000.

All right. Well, very exciting times right now for our police department. I'll speak a little later about the plan for the move to the new public safety headquarter facility, but in line with that, we have been looking at how to enhance um our uh shooting range capabilities for quite some time. And so, just a little bit of history on the existing site. The existing site was also built in the late 1960s. I say also because of course the building that we're in now was also built in the late 1960s. But we wanted to bring to light, you know, some challenges. Challenges that we know have existed, but that played a huge role in our pursuit to finding an alternative site, alternate site. Um, of course, you can see by the map to the right that it is located within the FEMA floodway. Um, it was damaged during Hurricane Harvey, um, and is currently located to late located close to, uh, downtown residential neighborhood. Um, all of those reasons make it very difficult to reinvest into the site. It's difficult to reinvest into the site because of the floodway and all the constraints that come with that. Um it's very difficult to invest in having the facility be able to take more things on because of its proximity to neighbors and the potential impact to quality of life. And so because of those factors, we had been looking at some options for for a few years now and ultimately came across um the proposed site which uh leads to the acquisition that's in front of you today for consideration. Uh this proposed site is roughly 18 acres. Um it includes a manufactured home. It already includes a gun range, a storage facility, and already has a generator installed, which of course is always important for for us. Um here's a few pictures of the site. I forgot to point out in the aerial that even though there is some adjacent property owners, of course, it's not close to a, you know, large residential neighborhood.

Some of the benefits and opportunities with this come with improved reliability, accessibility, and safety. This is important. Um, the reliability, the reliability, of course, because it's not in the floodway. The accessibility is important because currently our current range is under certain restrictions of how often it can be utilized, the time of day because we try and be mindful of the impact to the surrounding neighborhoods. And so uh with this being uh outside of town, it provides greater accessibility to the site. And of course, it's just safer because we're just not around as many individuals and as many properties. And so it's just always safer to be out um where there's not much around, right? Um more importantly, it provides some space to expand training capabilities. And so I mentioned that it's difficult to reinvest into our current site because of its location in the floodway. And so this of course um allows us the ability to explore uh what more could come in the future in the areas of training um for our police department. Uh we do believe that having this access to our personnel could lead to recruitment and retention efforts because we would be in full control of the access and full control of the facility and would be something that obviously would come as a pri the priority user of the facility would be our very own members of our Victoria Police Department. And as I mentioned earlier, we're looking to move into the public safety headquartered facilities this month and I'll speak more to that um later on. But this continues our effort to modernize our facilities and our offerings for our public safety personnel. And so we're very excited and I know that interim chiefs and all of the PD leadership is very excited about this as well. Um I I think it's important to point out that you know this effort wouldn't be possible without the vision and uh the vision of our previous chief Chuck Young. Um he was instrumental in initially bringing this opportunity to us and exploring some of those options. And so I'd like to to appre to thank him publicly for his involvement. Um that has led us to today. Some of the details associated with the contract. It's a $560,000 purchase

price. It is about $30,000 lower than what the property was originally listed at. And so we were able to successfully negotiate that with Dr. Tobin who's the current owner of the site. Um earnest money 5,000 option PE option option fee 500 and an inspection period of 25 days. Um, we anticipate or plan to, I should say, that during that 25day inspection period, we'll we will um have a team go and assess the property. Some of that has already been ongoing, but we'll do that in in in in greater level of detail so that can we can really determine um if there are any needs that need to be invested in on day one. For the most part though, the facility is is turnkey and can be utilized for our purposes in day one. Uh but in addition to confirming that, we want to also begin to explore what future improvements can we make to the facility to just enhance its offerings uh to an even greater degree. And uh you heard Wesley mentioned early, not shouldn't say earlier, Wesley's item earlier on the consent agenda was to finalize that budget amendment. Um part of this 570,000 would come from that budget amendment that was just approved a few minutes ago. And so with that, happy to entertain any questions on this item. questions from anyone.

Thank you for the information. I know a lot of work went into making putting this together and bringing it to us. So much appreciated for all involved there. Um with that then I will entertain any motions with respect to item E2 for the uh purchase of this property or entering the contract for the purchase. Motion to approve approve item E2. Second. Right. Got a motion to second. Any discussion? Exciting uh investment. Absolutely. No, this will be a much much improved facility over uh current situation. So I think this is a great move for for the PD and for the city as a whole. So all right then on item E2, all in favor say I. I. I.

Any opposed? All right. E2 passes and then we will jump to item E3. Welcome back, Jan. Welcome back, Miss Scott.

Thank you. Item E3 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute all documents necessary to transfer the property at 1103 Pine Street being 3.4 4 acres as part of farm lot 2 block one in range three of the east of town original fourle grant to the city of Victoria and formerly and formerly the city of Victoria's water treatment facility to the Victoria Housing Finance Corporation. There it is. Uh this is very similar presentation that was given in September at our council workshop. Um, I want to keep my remarks on this project at a at a very high level, uh, because a lot of the specifics are being handled with the housing finance corporation, which a few of you are are on. Uh, but just briefly, uh, you already you're already aware that this is the old purchasing warehouse, previously used as a water treatment facility. Of course, we own it. Um, and one thing that's important to note is what's around it. There's, of course, a residential neighborhood that's around it. It's within walking distance to Pine Street Neighborhood Park that we just invested um playground equipment replacement in. Um it of course is within walking distance to um a middle school. It's within walking distance to HB. Um it's within easy access to some um essential services that could really benefit uh a resident. And so because of that, when we were having conversations about how to redevelop the site, we landed on residential as being the highest and best use for this site. This is what it looks like. This is just a brief snapshot of some of the old infrastructure that is there now. We've been talking about this project with the Housing Finance Corporation for almost two years, which sounds crazy, but as part of preparing some remarks for this presentation, I didn't realize it had been uh almost two years

that we started this conversation with the Housing Finance Corporation. Um but because of the previous uses of the site, we started the conversation with wanting to just explore uh explore it from an environmental phase standpoint. And there have been a lot of staff that have been involved with this project, which is why I'm providing the overview because we couldn't even figure out like who's the best person to give the overview because there's been a lot of staff that has been involved with it. You know, Katie Connelly, for example, she started this project early on because we thought that the path forward to redevelop the site was through a grant opportunity. And we thought that the path to redevelop it was through a grant opportunity because we thought that there was going to be some significant environmental concerns that could have only been addressed or remediated through the pursuit of a grant. And so Katie took the baton and she ran with it and she got us through the environmental phase one which deemed that sure there's some infrastructure there that needs to be demolished, some things that need to be capped but not did not reveal any major significant environmental concerns. That allowed us to then start thinking about well how do we demolish the site um and what do we do with it? And so Danielle and Julie started to tag team some of that work. Um Julie started to um put together RFPs for the demolition work for the remediation work. Danielle started to work with finance to put some thought together into um you know the ROI that we have shared with you in the past. Uh Ken started to get involved to help with the layout of the site and Julie was instrumental in that as well. So there's been a lot of moving parts and a lot of individuals that have that have helped get us to today. Um and and basically on this list, I won't go through each one, but these are just the different elements of the steps that we have either gone through or that we're still working through in order to successfully convert this site into a productive use, which we believe is for residential purposes. Um on Friday, um Julie will take the

lead in providing a more detailed update to the Housing Finance Corporation. Um, I added a a bullet here that wasn't there in September, but um came up in our conversation with the mayor this morning that we thought was would be a great point to make that our effort to redevelop Pine Street is a different effort than our lot to infill program. Um, there of course there is of course a shared common goal which is how can we improve the affordability of becoming a homeowner. Um there's the overarching common goal of let's focus on older parts of our community because they already have some established infrastructure with access and things of that sort. So there are some common goals that are attached to the lots of home infill program as well as the to the Pine Street redevelopment, but I just want to make clear that those are two completely different programs. Just a little bit more detail on where we are with the process. Um some of the demolition work and the abandonment of the utility lines is ongoing. Um I believe the demolition work was completed or is still ongoing

mostly.

Got it. I knew it had been I knew it had done had happened last week. Uh so that's in in progress. Um Julie is about to take the lead and has already taken the lead in developing the RFQ because we want to try and partner with a developer to try and redevelop this site. And as I mentioned earlier, we think residential is the highest and best use for this site. And so with the work of Julian Ken and others in our engineering department, they developed this conceptual layout here that kind of gives you a sense of what it could look like if it's laid out for single family residential, which again matches what is there now across the street with the remainder of the neighborhood. And we also know from for example the verdity study and others that smaller lots um and denser development um of course brings a greater ROI on the financial side long term. And so that those were some of the things that we were focused on when we developed uh the concept for the program. I've already alluded to on a couple occasions the upcoming housing finance corporation meeting that'll take place this Friday. um I believe at 1 or 1:30, I can't remember.

At 1:30 here. Um and so we look forward to having that meeting with you. On that meeting agenda, um they'll consider accepting the the same property that you're that the city is offering to transfer to the Housing Finance Corporation. The Housing Finance Corporation has to legally accept that. So that's on the agenda for Friday. Uh Julie will provide that more in-depth update on the redevelopment and where it sits and what's coming up in the near future. Um we'll also provide an update on the info housing program, which again is a separate program. Um there's also going to be an action item. They're actually awarding some of that work to a developer that already responded to an RFQ that was put out in an effort to find a partner for those infill um house for that infill housing program. and then Danielle will take the lead in providing an update on other tax credit housing project initiatives, uh, ODM, um, the Fish Pound Project, the Victorian, and so all of those updates will be provided in great detail to the housing finance corporation on Friday. Um, and then big picture, all of our focus turns to um, the development of the RFQ. And so with that, happy to answer any questions you might have.

Any questions on the proposed transfer? Of course,

what we saw there was conceptual. You know, obviously uh whatever the developer comes in may have a different idea. Uh but this is just kind of something we're throwing out there is what could be there, but it could end up being looking different than that as we go through that process and final product. Correct. Correct. Yeah, we definitely have a preferred uh you know site plan, a preferred approach which is doing single family residential, but we certainly have discussed um adding some langu language in the RFQ that if that developer has other concepts or ideas that they could certainly um submit those as well, those are the things that Julie I know plans on going into great depth great depth on Friday.

Okay, any other questions? No. All right. Thank you for the information then. So then I will entertain any motions with respect to item E3 for authorizing the transfer of the property to the housing develop or I'm sorry, Victoria Housing Finance Corporation. I move we adopt E3. Second. Got a motion to second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And E3 passes. Very good. We will then jump to city manager reports. You're on a roll. While you're there, I'm just going to stay up here. I commit to a 25 slide, 25 minute presentation.

I don't believe on this topic. Um, very intentionally because the address of our public safety headquarter facilities is 2025 North Main Street. Um, then make sure you speak very slowly.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, but I really don't have a a presentation. I do have uh uh just an invitation that I want to put out um because we are officially tomorrow beginning to move into the facility. It's still not open to the public. Uh we anticipate that that'll occur in February. Um but we will start to move equipment, personnel, um things that aren't necessarily customer service facing um into the facility this week. And so we're very excited about that. Um it's been a long time coming. It was actually February 2024 that we had the groundbreaking for this facility. And so almost to the day uh two years later uh we are moving into the facility and look forward to um what it what it has to offer. Our our our folks that are moving into the facility are very very excited. We had the pleasure of hosting an open house a couple weekends ago um that we had almost 150 individuals of employees and their families come by and see the facility and everybody had nothing but great things to say about it. And so we're very we're just very excited about the move. And so with that excitement of course comes the formality of doing an official ribbon cutting. And so to continue the play on the 25, um that'll take place on Wednesday, February 25th at 10 a.m. And so um we look forward to hosting you. Um this will p mainly be a ceremony honoring um of course the facility. It'll include a ribbon cutting and it'll include a very brief um openhouse and reception. This open house will not have every single aspect of the facility open or accessible to the general public, but we certainly want to have the lobby and some um common areas accessible to um our constituents. This is their facility as much as it is ours. But we obviously want to be mindful of the fact that we will have personnel already working in the facility and that there are some

sensitive areas in the facility that not every member of the public um has access to. But so we look forward to um sharing what we can with with the public on that day in the form of a brief reception after the ribbon cutting again on Wednesday, February 25th at 10 a.m. And so happy to answer um any questions that y'all might have about the project, the move, the ribbon cutting ceremony, or just anything else related to the building. Any questions?

Okay. No, it's exciting. You know, this is a big project obviously and just a milestone for the city uh for our first responders in municipal court. I think this is definitely a facility that our city can be proud of. U and I'm very excited about getting those folks in and uh underway. So that's we very much look forward to the to the ribbon cutting. And don't ask me to move even though I have a truck. I'm not helping move. So do you have scissors? I know where I can get some. We're good. All right. Okay. Anything else under city manager reports, Mr. Garz? No, sir. And we will have an executive session. Brief.

Okay. So, with that, then we will take a 10-minute break and then we will reconvene into executive session. It is 6:16. Miss Hilbert, the city council recess for executive session on the 20th day of January, 2026 at 6:16 p.m. Subject matter is as follows. Texas Government Code 551.087 087 551.072 and 551.071