City Council - Regular Meeting

one one. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our council meeting for Tuesday, February 3rd. I do want to give a uh particular special welcome to some boy scouts I think we have tonight from troop 364 uh with OLV. So, welcome guys. Glad you all are here. Miss Hilbert, will you please call role? Yes, sir. Councilman Deagarza, I am present. Councilman KD here. [snorts] 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 which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I aliance to the Texas one state under God. One and indivisible. Thank you. Please be seated. All right. Again, welcome everyone. Uh we will begin our meeting uh with announcements and reminders. Mr. Garzu, do you have anything for us this evening?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I do have a few uh announcements for you tonight. We'd like to remind the public that all non-emergency offices will be closed on Monday, February 16th, in observance of President's Day. Offices will reopen at 8 am on Tuesday, February 17th. Garbage, yard waste, and recycling will be collected as normal. The Victoria Public Library will close at 5 PM on February 16th and reopen at 9:00 a.m. on February 17th. In addition, on behalf of Municipal Court, we want to remind uh the public that they will be hosting additional court dockets during the month of February for people to resolve their past due citations and active warrants as part of warrant resolution month. Please visit victoriax.gov/cortpay. GV/cortpay to search for active warrants or past due citations as community service or reduced fines may be available. For more information, contact the municipal court at 361-4853050. And lastly, on behalf of of environmental services and keep Victoria Beautiful, we want to uh invite the public as we are seeking volunteers for a cleanup in the Blue Ridge neighborhood on Saturday, March 7th. Volunteer Volunteers will meet at Billy Tikatan Recovery Outreach at 802 East Crestwood at 9:00 am. Working in teams, volunteers will go doortodoor helping residents move bulky trash and tree limbs to their curbs for pickup. For more information on the cleanup or how you can help, visit keep victoria beautiful.org or contact environmental services at 361-4853230. That's all I have for this evening.

All right, thank you very much. We'll move on then. uh public and employee recognitions. We'll begin with item 2 B2A which is our keep Victoria beautiful beautifification award for February. Miss Bird, welcome.

Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, so I'd like to um se remind everybody that we celebrate businesses that um not ne that don't necessarily have a ton of green space but still do a great job of putting their best foot forward and helping to keep Victoria beautiful. And tonight's winner is a great example of that. Um, our February beautifification award winner is Laasienda Mexican Grill on Navo in front of the mall. And, um, they don't have a lot of green space. Basically, you know, their most of their property is taken up by the the parking lot in the building itself, but they do have this very cool rock garden out front that's got some a metal cactus sculpture and this cool old um wagon and some palm seo palms and stuff. and they really do a great job of um you know keeping everything neat and clean and of course you know we're just coming off of days and days and days of freezes. Um but their uh their property still really looks excellent and um when you're thinking about um your uh nominations that you can send in at any time for this beautifification award as you're driving around town. It doesn't have to be um a property that has a ton of trees or a ton of green space in general. And uh Laosienda certainly deserves this uh beautifification award. And so I'd like to introduce Benny Sanchez and congratulate him with this award. [applause] [applause]

[clears throat] Hello, Victoria. My name is Benny Sanchez. I am the owner, son of Laasienda. It's an honor to receive this award after all the changes we've done and will continue to do this year. That being said, we are in the works of updating the patio and bringing a new bar menu to continue to serve our beautiful city. I would like to thank the city council members and the people of Victoria because without them, we would not be able to do this for over 23 years. I will continue to make my father's dream a reality and again it is a huge honor to receive this award from the community. I hope to see each and every face here at Laasienda. Thank you to the city of Victoria and have a good night. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Congratulations. [cheering]

All right. Uh Mr. Garza, do you have any other uh public or employee recognitions this evening?

I do have a a couple of employee recognitions. Um you you may recall that a couple of months ago we um honored some parks and recreation employees for um for winning a truck and trailer event and they are now um heading to um the state competition and so uh crew leader Colton Harp is here um and so Colton if you wouldn't mind standing and maintenance worker John Lopez he couldn't be with us this evening uh but they will be attending the trap state conference next week where they will compete in the state finals of the maintenance rodeo after winning that truck and trailer event at the regional on November 6th. And so this was the first time that our parks and recreation department um participated in it. And so we're very confident that Colton and John are going to bring back the gold medal uh to Victoria. And so Colton, best of luck to you and John. [applause]

In addition, uh the Victoria Fire Department submitted this uh recognition and I think it's I think it's worthwhile. But our fire department would like to recognize James Foot, our IT director. Yeah. [laughter] And our uh radio communications technician, Wendo Geel, for their work on the fire department's radio systems, allowing us to communicate with other agencies. Uh, of course, James was up here recently discussing the interoperability improvements that he's been spearheading for quite some time. Um, on Sunday, February 3rd, the Victoria Fire Department had to request aid from the Jackson County Emergency Services District and the Port Lovaka Fire Department to respond to two simultaneous structure fires, which doesn't happen often, but when it does, as you can imagine, can create quite a bit of chaos. Thanks to it's work behind the scenes, we were able to communicate seamlessly on the ground with the other agencies, which greatly improved our capacity to work together to protect lives and property. The Victoria Fire Department would also like to thank the Quail Creek Volunteer Fire Department who responded into the city and staff they stationed during the incidents as well as all the volunteer fire departments that remained on standby to handle any additional emergencies. Um, and so James and and Wendo and our entire fire department um kudos for uh adequate response and for your leadership, James. Thank you. [applause]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Garza. So then we will move down to items from council. [clears throat] Um I have a couple this evening. I just will get out of and then if anybody has some we can jump into that. But on a somber note uh many of you may have heard of uh the passing of Parley Fisk. Um last week uh Mr. Fisk was obviously very involved in our community out of Hartford Victoria. Uh served on the uh library advisory board was instrumental and a big part of Friends of the Library. always u at council reminding us about book sales. Um and then he also served on the parks and recreation commission. So obviously um leaves a hole and uh we give our condolences to his family. So um second item on a more upbeat note um I want to recognize [clears throat] one of our own Mr. Dela Garza who just celebrated 50 years of career in public service both with the fire department and uh continuing that as an instructor life-saving techniques and so just want to say congratulations and say thank you.

Thank you mayor. Quite a milestone. So please join me in congratulating Rick. [applause] Thank you very much. Did you start when you were five? What's that said? Did you start when you were five? [laughter]

I was eight. youngest firefighter ever in Victoria. So, all right. Any other items from council? No. Okay. Well, then we will jump into citizens communications. I have a few cards here. And just as a reminder to those giving comments, if you would please uh limit your uh comments to three minutes um out of respect for other people that want to give comments and attendees at the meeting. So, we'll start with Miss Bridget Short. Miss Short, welcome back. Good to see you.

Hi. Um it's nice to be welcomed back. Um I spoke the last time that we we met and um I spoke about how we have neighbors in uh downtown Victoria, which is a beautiful neighborhood and I love living there. Um but we have people who love cats. I love cats, but I don't like cats being fed on everybody else's uh curb in front of their homes, which um brings buzzards, which brings skunks and all kind of critters that really don't belong in the city. Um and um it's been a hazard. has been a health hazard because we have these buzzards that live on people's homes waiting for the these people to feed these cats. And literally the buzzards have become pets. [laughter] Um and they just hop right up to this lady um who's very kind in feeding the cats. But and again, feed the cats. Feed the cats in front of your house, not in front of the whole neighborhood of downtown Victoria. So, I am in strong favor of this ordinance if we could just somehow quell this um feeding of animals. So, that's all I have to say.

All right. Thank you for your comments. Appreciate You're welcome. [clears throat] The next card I have is from Leo Bell. Mr. Bell, welcome.

Hi. Thank you. Um, I just had a concern about the safety of the kids leaving the uh, sports complex on the back side of the sports complex. There's a ditch that fills with water often and there's no there's a barely a two-lane uh, street where cars either have to go into the other car's lane or, you know, possibly run the kids in the the ditch. I would like maybe they put a sidewalk back there for the kids when they come from the park or something like that. Okay, thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. [clears throat] Um, I have a next card is from Thomas Gush.

Guy looks vaguely familiar. [laughter] Welcome, Thomas. Good to see you.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council. Miss Hilri, good to see you all again. I'm here tonight because I was told to be here. I'm actually here to talk about uh the Bonire subdivision project you guys are awarding uh later tonight. I am actually working with the subcontractor for the low bidder on this project. And when that uh was put in the agenda packet for you guys, we were a little bit surprised uh that it was awarded not to the low bidder, but we were a little more surprised at the lack of information explaining that decision. there is no explanation in your packet uh explaining why staff is going to recommend to you that you spend $100,000 more than you need to on that project. Um and so I knowing that of course there can be other factors in the decision-making process, I reached out to the city and asked for a copy of the bid tab to see if I could find out what the reason was that they were being passed over. I actually asked twice plus submitted a public information act request and I was told if I want that information I should come to this meeting. So here I am now certainly I know that you can award based on you know lots of criteria. You can give preference to local businesses but porta isn't local. You can give preference to businesses you've worked with before or that you have a good relationship with. But my guy says his contacts, his references haven't even been checked yet. And so I'm struggling to see the reason why the decision was made the way that it was. And I'm hoping that you're going to ask those questions tonight when you make your decision about who you're awarding that bid to. I'm still a resident in this city and I think that anytime that the city is awarding a project and spending $100,000 more than they have to on something, they should explain it to their

residents why they're spending more money than they have to. And I think that if the city is going to pass over the low bidder without even checking references, I think the city should explain to that contractor why their bid wasn't good enough. And so I'm just here tonight to ask questions and I hope that you guys will consider those questions when you're evaluating that. And as a resident, I hope you'll save us all $100,000. Thanks.

Thank you for your comments. More to come on that, I'm sure. Um, my next card is from Monica Pretty. P R I D Y. Did I pronounce that correctly? Good evening. Welcome.

Gotta lower this. I'm a little short. Um, yes. I was just coming before you to speak about the animal ordinance that is going to be spoken about tonight. Um, I live in downtown and I am in favor of this ordinance. Um, I am an animal rescuer and an advocate. I also used to work for the city years ago. I am a city planner and I'm currently employed by urban engineering. Um, as someone who is an animal rescuer, there are several things that, you know, should concern people. Um, but one of the most important things in looking at this as a downtowner, um, is on a personal level, my neighbor who has moved and relocated used to feed feral cats, which was fine, but they've relocated. So, these kitties came over into my yard. Um, I have had my dog, I have three of them, all rescues, um, that has been sick since before Christmas, and we've been trying to get her well. Um, and this is because there are feral cats that come into our yard, and Dr. Char has been doing a good job trying to take care of her. Um, and she's been to the vet numerous times and you know, we're going to spend and do what we have to do to get her well and that will go all get taken care of. I'm sure she's a little bit older and you know, but these cats do carry diseases and they come into your yard and they'll get your personal pets sick and when you have a senior dog, this can happen. Um but um as a rescuer I did a lot of work um when I left the city and I ran around and did all sorts of stuff and um I went and I met with a lady in Corpus Christi

named Cheryl Martinez and Cheryl started this fantastic organization called uh PAC which is uh people advocating for animal control or something of the sort. I'm not exactly sure what all the letters stand for, but um what they do is they do lowcost spay and neuters. And um Cheryl taught me how to do all these great things. And one of the things you can do is you can run intact animal calculators and find out how many spays and neuters you have to run given the data that's out there using Census Bureau's information, using information that is available on veterinary websites and all sorts of stuff to find out what are the problems and what do you need to do to get to a zero growth population for feral animals, for animals that are also So dealing with people um that are in the under the poverty population and stuff like that. And basically given that data um we've got a total of looking at the entire county 58,890 total pets. And of those 15,951 are in our target population that would need to get spayed and neutered within one year and then it'll go down from there. Um I work a lot with my time is expired. I work a lot with staff. Um staff does a really great job on all ends and everybody that I touch base with on a regular basis. And I really hope that y'all lean into the experts and just listen to the information that they give y'all on this. And I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments. And [snorts] then the final card I have is from Michael Vandere.

Good evening, Mr. Vander.

Good evening, ladies and g gentlemen. I'm Michael Vandro. I live at 21107 North B Jordan. uh animal care services that represents the county. They're ultimately responsible for um chasing uh stray dogs and adoptions. It's not the police officers. You're not going to see a police officer with a pole and animal care services uh truck, you know, chasing uh animals. uh they could be used, you know, in some limited cases for protection, you know, for violent dogs and stuff like that, you know, because animal care services don't have uh weapons. And all my life in Victoria, I've only seen a police officer give one ticket for um a loose dog. And that's cuz the Rottweiler tried to uh tear off the fender off the police car. I warned him that he hates police cars and stuff. And the officer was so scared he did like this and he just wrote him a ticket and stuff, you know. But uh anyway, I don't know if you've heard about the Grove Apartments. They've been having lots of problems with management and the owner not taking care of problems and they went to Kavu25 and she had to be or he had to be disguised because, you know, if they find out who's complaining, they're probably going to get evicted from leaky uh water. Uh no hot water in the winter like now and stuff like that. Uh um there's water in the roofs leaking, rodents, mices and stuff and you know a couple years ago there was three shootings and you know he got 35 years he shot two three people and killed one and uh stuff like that. and the new owner has improved it, but there's just so many complaints about it. Used to be the autumn apartments, but now it's the Grove apartments. And I just don't believe all that's mysteriously fixed in one day. And I don't know if code enforcement or

environmental or the health department needs to get out there. And someone in Facebook said, uh, Candace Matthews needs to get involved. and she's a lady with a PhD, a black lady, and she goes around with a a bullhorn calling out slum lords. You know, I'm not calling them slumlords. They might be doing the best they can. And on Victoria Oaks Trailer Park, there's some brushes that go all the way to the um sidewalk and it's it's not fixed and you can't even ride on the sidewalk. And I understand when you only have a hundred million dollars in investment, you know, it it's tough. you know, he was at 80, but he's up to at least a hundred million because he's went from 10 trailer parks to seven. But I wish he would take care of it because uh Dan Fowler, the general manager, and uh the personal injury lawyer. Overall, they done a poor job and they only got it done because of Rick Madrid, and I appreciate Rick Madrid for chasing all these people that don't do their job. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bondo. All right, that will conclude citizens communication and we will jump into items with public hearings and we'll begin with item C1. Item C1 is an ordinance authorizing the issuance, sale, and delivery of certificates of obligation series 2026 in a maximum principal amount not to exceed 12 million approving and authorizing all other instruments and procedures related thereto and providing an immediate effective date. Good evening, Miss Yiannis.

Good evening, uh, mayor and council. This item is to approve the sale of certificates of obligation which took place this morning to provide the $12 million in funds for the Bonire phase one and two street reconstruction project. With us tonight, we have our bond council, Jay Warz. Uh, he'll be here to answer any questions you may have on the legal side of it. Our financial adviser, Dusty Trail, is out of state this week. Uh so he won't be available but he did provide me some notes on the bond sale that that I will share with you all. Um can you go just to the third page? Yeah. Yeah. So on the handout and what's on the screen is a snapshot of the details of the sale. On the table at the top left you'll see the all-in TIC or true in interest cost at 3.955%. uh the cos received good demand uh from investors which allowed for a lower lowering of the interest rate after the order period. Uh the 3.955% is about a full percentage point below what we had projected which is about 4.8%. Uh so that results in about $70,000 less than in annual debt service payments than what we had estimated which will give us some flexibility going into next year in terms of debt capacity or tax rate. Our bond rating was affirmed by S&P at double at doublea. Um their comments were that the city's strong finances, management and governments contributed to this rating. Uh which in turn helped us uh to get this lower interest rate. Now the cos have a call feature of August 15, 2035, which would be the earliest date that we could refinance or redeem these bonds. Uh the bond transaction will then be go toward to the uh state attorney general for approval and then once approved we expect to receive the funds on March 10th. That's all I have unless there are any questions for me or also for Jay. Anybody have any questions on this? [clears throat]

No. Okay. Thank you for the information. Um, so with that then I will open up the public hearing with respect to item C1. If there's anyone who wishes to address council on this matter, please come forward at this time. [clears throat] Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and I will entertaining any motions with respect to item C1. I move we adopt C1. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second to adopt the ordinance. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the ordinance is adopted. All right. Moving on then to item C2.

Item C2 is a public hearing on establishing a storm water drainage utility and drainage utility fee. This will not have a vote. It's simply a public hearing and presentation. Good evening, Mr. Rain. Good evening, council. I just got a couple of comments uh just to have a refresher and uh Allison is going to give you a communication plan on the previous item. I just got to keep saying I'm I'm amazed how city comes out and outstanding on their bond sales and a whole point that's a lot of savings. So that was the best part of that presentation.

Absolutely. [laughter] And I'm glad finance is doing a hell of a job at good teachers. Anyway, um thank you. Um let's move on. I want to take you down to uh memory lane real quick. Back in November of uh 21st of 2013, council approved a contract or new gen to develop a storm drainage utility fee program along with a 5-year budget. The actual project didn't start to January 24th. Do you have the handouts or can y'all Okay. Because saw Dr. Young look at me like, "Okay, what are we looking at?" Okay. No, I got you. Okay. Thank you.

You're quite welcome. I just love looking at you.

I know you do. It's okay. [snorts] Uh but I stay at the holiday and okay. Um this been two years process. It's not to say that you know why is it taking so long? We're having trouble. That's not the whole point of this conversation. Just to make sure for the public's sake and for council as you wear. We want to take our time, our due diligence to make sure our tees are crossed, eyes are dotted because this is a very important project for us. you know, when you start dealing a new program and a new fee, you want to make sure you have your ducks in a row. We had three partners. We had three groups basically uh new gen the financial side of it. Worbert the engineer for the data and our core staff integrating all their stuff. Now, [clears throat] you probably want know what's a storm drainage utility fee program is. Well, basically a user base fee that provides future program funding for to manage the city drainage maintenances and future infrastructure needs. As you recall, the city had those listed out in various different uh drainage master plans. For example, 1999 master plan that was developed based upon from a development standpoint moderate mitigate flooding. Then we came back in 2007 where we started adding more things to that. We did the outfall long tree and North Cra outfall improvements. Now all those three projects were in millions and we use bond issues to pay for those 20 years ago and that's tax dollars. So what we're doing right now, I'm sorry, let me back up. In 21 we came back and revised it again. From that perspective, we came out to approximately $129 million of maintenance project and some other infrastructure, but mainly maintenance that needs to be done in our system. They have not been addressed currently. Right now, we're just doing

some we're mowing, some drainage. We're doing some more drainage, pipe cleaning. Very limited. If you look at the past 10 years, that budget been flat. Hasn't changed. We did add street maintenance, as you recall, about maybe five, six years ago. But that's it. But you recall that you know when you know this saying you're out of sight, out of mind when is you got a drought, no rain, you have no issues. But when that rain comes down, you get the phone calls. Then you see the issues at hand. So this is a great opportunity when we start need to start thinking how we're going to come up with a funding mechanism to address some of this maintenance. It's just reality. Currently we don't have that in our system budget. So basically why implement a user base fee? Well it'll provide a reliable source of revenue stream which we don't have right now. It's equitable and fairness based upon usage and I'll explain that in a minute. It reduce when implemented and the proper maintenance done it will reduce flood and erosion as well. provides long-term proactive maintenance. Unlike property taxes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a more equity because it's based on actual uh impervious surface usage, rainfall, runoff. Storm water fees are based on the demand that the property puts on the city system. no difference as the water and wastewater system or environmental service garage I mean garbage and stuff like that. Now we do currently have two other utility based Thank you. I thought that was like a

chair for me buddy. We do have two other userbased programs. Your water waste water fund that's one based on usage. The other one's environmental. That's it. This would if it pass if it goes through this would be your third funds be dedicated for the system. So basically what is imperous surf impervious surface or area basically is the area as you can see that little picture it's a light green where water cannot pass through grass open field water can sink down. Pretty straightforward on that. Any questions? Got sus going on so bear with me. So who's exempt? Well, of course, City of Victoria's exempt BISD, higher education, colleges like that. State agencies who will pay in uh residential and commercial. I get that I get into that more in more detail. Excuse me. As I said, house of fees determines b is based upon impervious area. First thing you got to do is figure out what the equivalent residential unit. What the heck is that? ErU. Well, basically it's right there. It's a standard unit of measure of use by municipalities to calculate storm water or utility base fee on an average impremise area of a single family residential property. What does that mean? Well, basically we went into our CAD system in our Victoria appraisal district. We got our 2003 row of it 2004 row and we got all the properties. We went through it and we identified all the residentials and we came out with a mean or an average of 2300 square feet is the average house for Victoria in previs in previs area cover. Okay, we're going to use that number as a standard

of one eru equals 1300 square feet. Okay. As a result of that, we're going to have a level playing field for all residentials. And each residential unit, the household is $5. Okay. When it comes down to commercial, it's different. We still got to figure out your total square footage. You divide that by that one ERU unit, which is 3200. Then you times that by five. So everything is equal. Then you have like in that case you have a $53. In this case, 34,171 equates to about 10.6 units of eru times five. That's your $53. Questions? Right below that is a graph that currently this is about I'll say 10 months 12 months. Oh, other comparing our seat. I don't like to compare but this is it's not bad to have but we're at $5 where other cities are much higher than us right now. [snorts] Now implementation time implementing timeline will be right now it's your first public hearing. God willing we come back on February 17 we have a second and third public hearing on the program and the utility fee during February and March staff internally is going to develop some processes because we still as I mentioned we still got a 2003 tax information. you might have a house that has changed since then. So, we still got to go and do some cleaning. Hopefully by April, we have cleaned that out. But still, this is a continued process because I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's 100% guaranteed everything's correct in a few minutes when actually comes up. One of the suggestion I recommend to a lot of commercial people especially because residential housing is $5 but when it comes to the commercial take a look at the GIS that we're going to show you in a minute to make sure does that

make sense and we can start talking yeah that's wrong that's right or whatever the case might be. So there's a learning curve, a correction curve here we got to do and there's a maintenance program that we're going to implement and all that has to be developed and then we come back in March 3rd have the second and third vote on the utility and if everything goes well if with your blessing hopefully April we start the program questions that's nice there no questions Y'all been through this a lot, too. So, that's excellent. We've seen this a time or two. Yes.

Yeah. Well, that I'm going to pass the baton over to Ashley, which she has a great communication. Yes, I'll be. But if you have any other questions, I'm going to toss it back over to Gil.

He can answer all of them for you. All right. [clears throat] So, the communications plan. This might be um familiar to all of you. As you know, we do have a lot of communication methods and channels that we use every day to inform our residents about varying topics. But for the benefit of the public who might be tuning in for the first time, this is a good refresher. So, if passed, this city will use its standard uh channels of communication to ensure that residents are informed and prepared for this new feat. The city's website, of course, is available to most any resident and will soon be launched. We're going to go de we're going to go over a demo of it here in a minute, but it is not yet live to the public. We're still working through the map that Gilbert just mentioned a second ago, but that will be available and accessible from the city's homepage. The city alert center, which was uh debuted fall of 2024, is our newer method of notification to the public. That actually was a um strategic implementation of getting all of our account holders into that notification system software. So, this will reach all 20,000 plus uh residential households in the city limits. And so, that of course can be reached by phone call, email, and or text message or a combination of the three. Utility billing statements also will have an inclusion letter with some information as well as a standalone mailer that will go to all city households. And then, of course, we'll develop an informative brochure that will be placed in hightra locations. If you imagine maybe some new customers or new residents who will come into the UBO office, our clerks will have that on hand to pass out as well as throughout the community. Of course, standard with any city initiative, we write a news release. And from there, we lean on our local media partners who help use that information that we provide directly to them and to the public via our website and social media to help spread that message. Hopefully, we can get some subsequent interviews on this very topic. We will also produce an educational

video, PSA, that will debut on TV15. And for those who might be learning about that for the first time, you can be a cable subscriber to access our local government channel on channels 15 and 115, but you can also access it free by visiting the website victorix.gov/tv15. And then finally, some additional supplemental methods of communication like our podcast and social media. And now I'm going to show you all a demo of the web page. The great thing about the web page while they work on pulling it up is um we really worked in detail with staff to develop all possible frequently asked questions that might come up from both residents but really those uh commercial property um owners who might have some more detailed questions based on the circumstances of their imperous areas. Um, and so if you scroll down, you'll see a summary first off about what this is. Kind of gives you a synopsis of what Gilbert just went over. If you keep scrolling, we'll come back to that frequently asked questions piece. Um, what will the fee be? And then how to calculate it. Those are kind of the big picture key takeaways we want our residents to have. and then some supplemental information whether it be proposed ordinances, presentations that were given in past council meetings and additional um educational information. Can you scroll back up to FAQs? This of course is the landing page that would answer majority of what we anticipate residents might have. Um what is the fee? Why is it useful? Why is it necessary? How does the city currently manage storm water? And so forth. If you scroll down, Gilbert's very proud of that graph right there that he drew up himself. So, future designer in our midst. Anyway, it does identify the impervious surface area as well that he mentioned. And it's going to be those yellow pieces on this graph

graphic. Okay. And then the last thing I want to show you all is the map. And by the way, I want to give a shout out to Sam for helping develop this entire web page. So, shout out Sam Henkins.

Sam. And then I also want to go over to the map and shout out GIS. Jennifer Reyes was key in this and it's so helpful to the property owners who are going to have questions about, well, how do I calculate my impervious square footage area square footage? And this is only going to show you those commercial property locations, not your residentials, because remember it's a flat rate for those residentials. But this one right here, once you hover over a property that is highlighted in pink, those are commercial properties. You will notice that there is a Thank you for that. Victoria Platinum, for example. Shout out Victoria Platinum. You can see down here their imperous area square footage is 145,774 and so forth. And so you'll divide that by 3,200 the ERU and then multiply it by the five $5 uh fee and you'll get your calculation. So hopefully this is anticipating those questions that people might get. It will be found on the web page and that will go live um soon. So that's all I wanted to share from the perspective of the communications plan. Do you all have any questions on that?

Any questions on communications? Not about communications. Yeah. All right. Back to Gilbert then.

Okay. Yeah. Back to Gilbert. I have a comment too. And actually that I think that FAQ page may be useful if you would pull that back up and scroll up a little bit. I think I saw what can this be used for? Did I see that? Yeah, there we go. So, and and Gilbert, correct me if I'm wrong here, but my understanding is that this fee is not just money that's coming in and we can use it for anything that we want to. This is specific to maintenance of our storm water drainage utility system and these fees can only be used for those improvements which we've identified through studies. We need lots of work and maintenance and improvements. Is that correct?

Yeah, you're correct. Absolutely correct. There's no difference like your water utility system. Those are a sign for that operation especially when you start dealing with bonds. They want that money focused there. Got [clears throat] it. Excuse me. Okay. Thank you. Mr. I have a question about commercial property. I would assume that on some commercial property there's more than one water meter.

How do you determine who pays what fee on that commercial property depends on excuse me let me just give an example like um they might have a strip mall. Okay. They're going to go towards the owner of that strip mall and let the owner decide the allocation how he wants that. Okay. Spread across the tendants. Okay. If we go directly to the meter of that, somebody's not there in that that little square, right?

But you still got the imperous area, right? So my thought the owner who owns that property should be responsible for that charge and he or she will delegate how that charge is allocated to the rentals. That sounds fair. It sounds fair. I'm just curious how you're going to accomplish that. We have gone through our detail uh Wesley and our UBL. We have gone through each parcel and identified we came about [clears throat] I think there was 30 how many 30 40

40 different parcels that would not have did not have a meter and we couldn't identify who's the owner what their case might be. So we have to dig a little further. So we have identified those and we're going to test those by sending out a a letter if hey guess what we're doing is and hopefully that address is good we don't get a return to sender. If it's bad, then we continue digging or go out directly to that to that owner somewhere. But

and I don't think it's it's unusual for say a landlord of or owner of a large commercial building will allocate uh for example uh electricity costs based on square footage of the tenant and things of that nature. So I think I think this is going to be very um this won't be a new thing for landlords in terms of allocation of cost particularly if they you know have experience with multi-tenant buildings. So another I don't see this being that complicated.

Correct. Another example you might have a unit that has four units inside that that rents four apartments. I'm not going to charge the four. I'm going to charge that unit itself. How they charge it out to the individuals is then the owner itself. It's up to that. Their responsibility. So if they don't So you'll charge a separate bill to somebody else who doesn't have a meter maybe because if the if it's the owner, the meters could be in the business's name. I'm just curious how you're going to accomplish all this. It sounds good, but I just want to know how you're going to accomplish it because I think uh the first trial will be about 95% correct and hopefully make go down to 99.9. I never want to say 100%. But it's a trial and error. Yes sir.

Okay. And I [snorts] think we we're in a good spot right now that at least I'm feel very comfortable with these 90 95% of the data is good. Right now there is a five a possible maybe a 10 that we still got to searching hopefully those clean up. And like I said earlier in my presentation this going to take a little work. It's not going to be exactly 100%. So uh I really encourage citizens to come in. Let's talk because this is a new program. Question. um commercial businesses that have a detention bond on their property, how does that affect their rate? Good question. Of course. I know it's a good question. I thought you were going to say something, but it's okay.

Pond, there's a detention and retain it. I mean, there's two different type of Sure. Okay.

Retainage pond. If you can prove to the city that from an engineer perspective that zero drainage come out of that pond and you prepared it accordingly to standards that you have a a line and everything else. You don't have a spillway nothing like that that you can get engineer to certify there's no water getting out of there to your system that won't be charged. detention fund on the other hand it's just a pit eventually that will dissipate when over floods and everything else so two different things can they come in if they have it we'll be happy to sit down and look at it and give directions how we're going to handle that and by the way it's also on the Q&A there's comments about that too in there and obviously this is something as I think you point out in your presentation that this is not a new novel concept for a city this is done. So obviously it can be done and so you know we will we may take some adjustments uh if it's if it's approved and move forward but um I think the implementation of it is is not beyond our grasp. So all right any other questions on that? All right thank you all for the information then I will um open up the public hearing with respect to item C2. Is there anyone who wishes to address the council on this matter? If so, please come forward at this time. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing with respect to item C2 and entertain a motion with respect to this item.

There's no there's no No, I'm sorry. I will not do that. I'm just going to move on. We've had the hearing. Thank you. [laughter] All right. With that, then I will jump to the consent agenda. Miss Hilbert. Yes, sir. Item D1 is adoption amendments of regular meeting held on January 20th, 2026. Item D2 is an ordinance amending chapter 9 of the City of Victoria Code of Ordinances to adopt the 2024 International Fire Code with amendments. This item is on second and third reading. Item D3 is a resolution approving Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or TCQ grant for air quality inventorying, emissions, and pollution level modeling in the amount of $281,250. [snorts]

Item D4 is a resolution authorizing the application to public safety programs offered by the office of governor of Texas, including FY2027 Operation Lonear, the FY2027 Juvenile Justice and Youth Diversion Programs, and the FY uh 2027 bodywn camera program, and the FY2027 rifle resistant body armor program. Thank you, Miss Hilbert. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? Motion to approve consent agenda as read. A second. Got a motion and a second. All in [clears throat] favor say I. I. Any opposed? And consent agenda is approved. All right. Action items. We'll move on to item E1.

Item E1 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. This item is on second reading. Good evening, Miss Lacy.

Good evening, mayor and council. Uh we are here on second reading. I did not bring a presentation this evening as I presented this ordinance last time. Uh you asked me to go back and make a few clarifications to the ordinance as written which I did and you have a copy of that in front of you. To point uh to point out what I did uh clarify in the first paragraph a um instead of ending that with including I changed that word to on before you go to the section A1. I think that clarifies that it's only unlawful to feed these animals or to put out food with the intent to feed the animals on property not owned or legally occupied. I also clarify that to be legally occupied. The previous version just said occupied, but there was some concern that um there could be someone spotting on a piece of property that they don't own that they're not allowed to be on and that they're creating this. So legally occupied, for example, would be if you are renting a house and you are legally allowed to be there. And then on the last uh or the second page, I added a uh section C on the request of Council Councilwoman Scott. And that included an affirmative defense that um the person who is feeding the animals or attempting to feed these animals is doing so on their property that they own or that they legally occupy. And I foresee a potential hypothetical situation where somebody is um issued a citation for doing what this ordinance prohibits. For whatever reason, they can't prove that they own the property at that moment or they can't prove that they're legally allowed to be there, but they can come back later and provide that evidence to us as a defense to this uh particular uh ordinance. And we will be back for a third reading at the next meeting. Miss Lacy, am I correct? When [clears throat] the term legally occupied includes someone who's on a piece of property with permission of the owner?

Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Any questions for Miss Lacy on this? Thank you very much. Thank you. Then, uh, are there any motions with respect to item E1? Yes. I'll move to uh adopt item E1. I second it. All right, I've got a motion and a second. Um, is there any discussion? Seeing none. All right, all in favor say I. I. I.

Any opposed? And E1 has passed. Second reading. We'll move on then to item E2. Item E2 is a resolution awarding the Bond air and Morningside subdivision roadway and drainage improvements project to Lester Contracting Incorporated in the amount of 11,623,921.75.

Good evening, Mr. So be before Emma uh goes through the presentation, I want to uh provide a little bit of context because I do take issue with any insinuation that uh suggests that the city's not following the appropriate process. And so I want to remind council that we have not utilized a low bid mechanism in over five years. uh former Raleigh McCoy spearhead an effort shortly after becoming mayor in May in in May of 2019 to change that. In October of 2019, city council approved a resolution authorizing the city manager and myself to pursue a best value approach which follows the local government code 2269. Subsequently, there were some changes made by the state legislature in 21 that ultimately brought back a resolution to council that reaffirmed that position in March of 2023. And so we have again not followed a low bid um uh process in over five years. In addition, the information that is provided in these bid documents very specifically spells out how we're going to evaluate these projects. And so any respondent or anybody that reviews this bid document and read it would see that the way that these projects are evaluated is based off of a combination of cost of work, schedule, past performance of similar projects, available resources, overall qualifications, reputation and past relationships with the city, corporate history and stability and references. And so I want to be very clear that the process that was followed for this is the same process that we have followed for over five years which is not low bid and is the best value approach. And so with that and happy to answer any questions on that by the way before I turn it over to Emma.

No, I think that's a very appropriate um and explanation and certainly appreciate that given the circumstances that arose. Thank you for for clarifying that. Miss Tucker, good evening.

Good evening Mayor and councel. Um this evening I have a presentation for you on our Bon Air and Morningside subdivision roadway and drainage improvements project. Uh specifically I will go through the results of our competitive competitively sealed proposal process and then provide a recommendation for award. So, our project scope includes storm sewer cleaning and inspection, minor storm sewer additions, curb and driveway replacement, and then street reclamation and reconstruction. And the map on the right shows our project area, which is bounded by airline to the north, Ben Jordan to the east, Red River uh to the south, and then Laurent straight to the west. So, the city received proposals and open proposals on January 7th, 2026, and our [snorts] evaluation committee convened on January 9th, 2026, where we reviewed these proposals and then determined the best value for the city. The three qualified proposals that were received were from the following companies. Econ Group LLC in the amount of 11 million527,96520. Lester Contracting Inc. in the amount of 11,623,921.75. And finally, CK Newbury LLC in the amount of 12,336,2450. A fourth proposal was received by the city and that proposal was disqualified due to errors in the bidding documents. Um, this proposal came from J Construction Services LLC and the amount of their proposal was approximately 11.3 million.

And specifically the errors in their bidding documents was was the failure to acknowledge addendum number one and number two and then the failure to utilize the amended proposal sheet in their submission. And that amended proposal sheet was issued in addendum number two. And so tonight we are recommending award to Lester Contracting in the amount of 11 approximately 11.6 million. Uh the construction time frame for this project is 450 days, which is approximately 15 months. And we're looking at a start of early April of this year and a completion of July of next year. And that is all I have and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions on this item? Scott, I would like to ask a question about the um the disqualified bid. What is our procedure when we get a bid that does not uh comply? Do we reach out uh on something like you haven't acknowledged something you should what uh what is our procedure there? No ma'am, we do not. If you don't acknowledge the addendum and use the right forms, it's a disqualification and the the people making the bid get those right forms because of the process that we do use and the bidding is standard. Yes, ma'am. To us and that sort of thing.

Yes. The city uses utilizes a website called bidnet where we post our projects and contractors and and various individuals can get onto that website and access those documents. And as the bidding process goes along, if an addendum is issued, it's uploaded to that same website and then those forms can be retrieved from the website to then be utilized in the submission of their proposal. And and am I correct that a contractor can sign up to receive notification when an addendum's issued and so at that point it's up to them to go in and check it. Correct.

Yes, mayor. So my understanding is that there are two levels to the bidnet um [snorts] website. There's a paid version where you receive those notification and there's a free version. You still in both versions you have access to all the documents. The fee gets you those notifications. Gotcha. Thank you. Any other questions? [snorts] All right. Thank you for the information. Thank you. All right. With that then, um, are there any motions with respect to item E2? I move we adopt item E2.

Second. All right. I've got a motion, a second. Is there any discussion on this item? No. I just want to say thank you to staff and Mr. Garza for a very clear explanation uh of this process. They're not always clean and smooth because there's people involved quite frankly on both sides of the equation and so I think staff has done an excellent job in sorting through the situation that that was presented to them. So thank you'all very much. So with that then uh all in favor of item E2 please indicate by saying I. Any opposed? And E2 is approved. All right, moving on to item E3.

Item E3 uh will discuss and take possible action to approve a resolution authorizing the redemption of a portion of the outstanding city of Victoria, Texas certificates of obligation series 2012 and the outstanding city of Victoria, Texas certificates of obligation series 2014 and the outstanding city of Victoria, Texas general obligation refunding bond series 2015.

Well, good evening, mayor and council. This item will approve the bond redemption uh that we had approved as part of our budget as and then had added to uh last month via budget amendment. Uh so in the original budget we had approved $600,000 uh to be redeemed and funded by a transfer from the city stabilization fund. And then last month we approved the budget amendment to add $700,000 to be funded by excess CIP funds. So overall, $1.3 million uh will be used to uh pay off fiscal 27 maturities uh which is going to allow us to create some debt capacity for future CIP projects uh continue our redemption program andor allow flexibility in setting the INS rate. So bond redemption is is basically just paying off debt early. Uh the $ 1.3 million in decrease in the annual debt service uh for 27 equates to about 2.34 cents on the tax rate. uh based on this year's NTA and that $1.3 million in debt service u is an amount equal to service about $17 million uh in debt uh which would be new bonds that we could be that can be issued for CIP projects. Do you'all have any questions?

Any questions on the redemption? No, this is great. I agree. I love you know [clears throat] we started out 600,000 and then bumped up an additional 700,000. So these redemptions are are really good fiscal management. So I applaud you guys for pouring through and figuring out how we can do that. I think it's very important. So all right, thank you very much. Are there any uh motions with respect to item E3 for the bond redemption? Motion to approve item E3. I second it. Got a motion, a second. Any discussion? [clears throat and cough] All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And E3 is approved. All right. Our last action item then is item E4. Item

item E4 is a resolution hearing an appeal of the building and standards commission order for the demolition of a structure located at 905 North Ben Jordan Street. Good evening, Miss Fulgrim.

Good evening. Um so just a quick background on this property. Um this structure was first taken to the building standards commission in um 2020 and was ordered for repairs. Um as you can see that repairs were not completed and so code initiated a new substandard building case um in February of 2025. Um that case resulted in again being presented to the building standards commission in July of 2025 in which they um ordered the building to be repaired again. Since no repairs were completed, the building standards commission once again considered the safety of the structure at their January 2026 meeting. And at that meeting, the commission deemed the structure to be unsafe and repairs would exceed 50% of its current value, which is approximately 38,000 um per VCAD, and therefore ordered it to be demolished. So again, as I always say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So I have um a series of photos to show you what the property um's condition is. We have both um the July 2025 photos um and then pictures that were taken in January. There has been some a few minor repairs to the roof um that have not been permitted. So again that those roof repairs were not um permitted. So, it is a concrete block structure essentially and you can see that the roof is in a really um poor condition. But what is not evidenced by those pictures that I just showed you is um how unlevel the structure is. Um so I have copied a few sections of code um specifically the international property maintenance code that says foundation systems that are not plum um are shall be a building shall be de deemed

determined unsafe and shall be repaired or replaced. Um and then specifically our local ordinance uh UDO our city code um says that all walls or other vertical structure members list lean or buckle to such an extent that a plum line passing through the center of gravity falls outside the middle third of his base um shall be utilized by the commission in determining whether a property is safe or unsafe. So what does that really mean? Um basically anytime a building is not um plum it should be repaired um according to IPMC. Um, but our local code says it's really unsafe when it's a third out of plum. Um, so a 6inch block wall, that would mean if it's 2 in out of um, plum, then it would definitely not be safe. And that's really the situation with this building. Um, the uh, you can see the level is not flush up against um, the building because if you were to put the level flush against the building, it would no longer be level. Um, I know those are kind of hard to read, but you can see how much um out of plum it is by as much as um couple inches. And I have a picture from actually all four sides. This is just showing two sides and how um plum but we we have investigated and it's it's definitely um unlevel. And so because of that level of unleveling um a structural engineer would need to um certify for the level of foundation the repairs to the building um with it being valued at the 38,000 and that would just be of course the the leveling would be an big expense as well as the roof. Um, so just the envelope, I mean, you're looking at 20 to 25,000 in repairs at a structure that's valued at 38,000, which is what the Building Standards Commission um, deliberated and and that's what led them

to their uh, order to demolish the building.

Um, for a little history, I think I lost a slide in the translation, but I should have printed these larger, but for a little history, There have been um 11 code enforcement cases um on this property since 2007. Um five high weeds and grass, three violations of junk, trash or debris, and then um the substandard cases. There were and back in 2020, there were two additional buildings that the commission ordered demolished um that were demolished in 2020 when this building was ordered to be repaired. Um the property was previously owned by the current property owner's father and he acquired the property um in May of 2021 um and has been aware made aware of all of the the history. So with that um the current property owner is here Mr. Leo Bell and I believe he'd like to address the council but I'd be happy to any answer any questions.

Can I ask one question before Mr. Bell comes up because I definitely want to hear from him. the leveling issue that you showed, did that exist in 24 or is that something that's popped up over the course of the 24, 25, and now? I believe it's always existed, but the um severity continues to get worse. Okay. All right. Thank you. I I also have um a question. It looks like in the um report of the history that there was some initial violations that were issued in 2005. Is that correct? Yes, I went back and looked at our web enforce and I don't know if our web enforce existed back then. So I think that was just a typo from 2007 to 2005.

And then it looks like there were some other incidents in 2021. Is that right? Yes. Yes. So I have the dates on this tiny little print out that I should have um and I I can see it here. I I just I want to ask if you think that you've given the owner of the property sufficient time to cure any defects or notices that he's received. Yes. I mean, this specific case alone has was first initiated in um a year ago in February of 2025. So, be a year. Thank you.

Any other questions for Miss Fulgrim? Mr. Bell, I believe you're here. If you'd like to come forward to address council on this matter, it be most appreciated.

Okay. Um yeah, I I acquired uh acquired the property from my father who uh passed away and I was doing a lot of traveling so I couldn't attend to quite a bit of things that were going on. But um there has been substantial repairs done to the building. Um some of the pictures that you saw are from back uh maybe more than four years ago when the u they had debris or stuff outside the building, but I I've included some pictures that shows you the condition of the building. Now, there's a stack of pictures, and I left out the most important one, which was the completion of the roof, which um that had the hole in it. And so, um

Mr. B, if I could interrupt you, I'm sorry. Just so I'm clear, we we received this packet. Is this this the packet from you you're referring to? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Thank you. Please go for

Okay. And um so, um there were several typos in the the notification that I got to appear today, which I was unprepared because I didn't I didn't have enough time. I just found about it. yesterday. Um the u the structure is not dilapitated. It's not falling out. The the lo the according to their the um they couldn't give me any specific u code regulations. This is a print out that they gave me which also has typos on it. And um the one that I acquired online um doesn't match what this [snorts] the the contents of this letter. Uh there are no bushes or trees against the building that's causing further decay. The building has not deteriorated any further and actually it's uh uh there's there's no uh according to this letter there's nothing that has caused continued deterioration and that plum thing was an add-on that wasn't initially discussed. It was not in the thing. when I u was concerned about the the issues I went and uh and I went to the meetings and I went to se two meetings already the um the leveling came out after which u I don't know if you're familiar with Texas and the soil it's settling so it's not uh it's not unsafe it's not unsound it's not uh wiggly or anything that it's a concrete building the foundation is solid there are no cracks and holes in the foundation that's causing further deterioration there's no water that's leaking inside the building. U there's no mold or anything. There's no electricity going to the building. It's it's a pretty sound concrete building and I'd like to restore it, but I'd like to restore it without having to fix something and see if it's okay or not because I don't want to put a a door in and then, you know, come back and then put a a newer door, a better door later. So, I would like to have the

building restored. uh uh in its original condition. I grew up here in uh Victoria. I was here for uh the whole time I grew up and went to college here at Victoria High School in Victoria College and then u I left for 40 years and came back and that when my parents were were not doing too well and so um it's been taking a little bit of time, but I've got there's a lot of lots and lots of stuff that you have to tend to when your parents are older and and things weren't kept up to standard while while you're away. But I would I [clears throat] I think the building is is sound and safe and I would like to continue to restore it.

Mr. Bell, have you received any kind of estimate in terms of what it would cost to do the restoration that you're thinking of?

Uh the only thing that that u has not been uh specifically addressed is whether that building should be leveled. It's settled and I agree the h my house and everything settles and sometimes you have a problem with the doors and stuff but to the extent where the foundation needs to be leveled I I uh I haven't gotten any an engineer out to say hey do we need to fix that door frame or do we need to because the level's up against the door frame in the roof it's not it's not that bad but um as far as costing more than uh 25,000 to level whatever the building or the portion of the building I don't think it's going to cost that much and I'm I'm pretty sure it's not going to cost that much.

So, beyond the leveling, what what are the other costs involved with restoration? Because obviously there were some other issues past leveling. Um well, there's the bushes and trees around the building was an issue. U the doors and windows um they they could use cocking and stuff or replace, but I'd rather just instead of cocking and paint, I'd rather replace the the whole uh window instead of uh amending it, you know. So, that's where that's where I'm at. Good question. [clears throat] How old is that foundation? What's the age of that foundation?

Oh gosh. Um, I'm not sure. When I was a kid and we rode bicycles around I think it used to be an old Shamrock gas station. I I believe that's what I think it was at the time. I think it was an old gas station. And currently there are no cracks in that foundation. No, sir. At all? No. And what's your long-term plan? Um, I'd say maybe within a year, year and a half, I should have it completely restored to to where it's, you know,

I'm I guess I have a question. I'm concerned. Miss Fulham a couple of times said that the uh roof repairs were not permitted. Um, and so it it makes me nervous about what your real intentions are in terms of renovating or, you know, repairing this. Okay.

Yeah. The the roof was not permitted, but there's a licensed contractor who's licensed with the city of Victoria who's a friend of mine that assisted me and my son when we were working on it and he's very uh very knowledgeable and very sound construction and I wouldn't [clears throat] want to put up a roof that I'll have to take down again later. So, Initially, I wanted to put a whole the entire roof over the whole thing, but u he in fact the contractor he says, "Well, you don't know what they're going to decide, so don't don't put a whole new roof over the whole thing. We'll fix this part and then and then later we'll fix the whole roof." So, but it's it's sound. It's not uh we can walk on it, jump on it. It's not going to

The [clears throat] walls look cinder block. Are there any cracks in those blocks? No, sir. So, the foundation's good with exception being leveled. There's no cracks in the walls because it was a commercial building.

So, just for some clarification here. So, I'm I'm reading in the AIM and I went back and and that's the the little summary that we get ahead of the meeting. I went back and took a look at it and I think you've been provided with that as well. So Miss Fulgrimmer or or so in the aim it indicates that the foundation of the structure has failed and is sinking on one end. Can you explain uh what was behind or the reason behind the statement that the foundation of the structure has failed because I'm hearing Mr. Bill say that there's no crack. So I'm just trying to figure out what what the true facts are, what's really going on.

Yeah, I know. Um it it that's comes from um our former building official Rick Madrid did an inspection. He's here and might be able to elaborate. Um but upon their inspection, but with the whole building I think the whole building tilting up is the definition of a failing. Okay. Mr. Mad, can you help us out here?

Yes. Thank you. Um he's we're correct. There's no cracks apparent in the in the slab itself or or cracking of the block. The foundation itself was built I I suppose uh solid maybe real thick and it's just tilting to one kind of corner. So yeah, it's leaning about well the level showed two inches in some areas and so that's pretty consistent. He's put the level on the floor. That was the top picture. It had about two inches showing how it tilted like two inches out. So yeah, in order to repair that, they might be able to go under under it and provide some peers uh and lift it back to level, but they may not. It may crack. Just not sure how that can be repaired. That's why we need a an engineer [clears throat] for it.

Would you He made the comment uh you know, maybe they just need to uh fix the door frame to address it. Could you comment on whether or not you could take a building that's got a slope like that and and just cosmetically repair it? Yeah. No, it that's not possible. No, everything else would be out out of level. Not not a contractor. And and obviously, you know, the the impression I got from reading was that there was a safety concern. Could you just kind of explain that a little bit further in terms of what this what the safety concern is with this particular structure?

I I think the safety uh concern is that it's uh that it's gradually getting worse and worse. It's furthering and eventually it will get to an unsafe condition to where yeah, the loads will start wanting to shift out and so forth. especially with the roof um having the water leakage and the the repair. You know, water is evil to all buildings and so you continue with the substandard roof that's going to continue to potentially [clears throat and cough] infiltrate and cause additional problems. There's also no systems in the building whatsoever. No um plumbing or electrical systems that are up to code.

Yeah. And I think the unsafe uh def uh interpretation or or order by the board was the entire building include the all inclusive not the totality of the situation of the damage entirely. Mr. Bill, did you have anything you need wanted to add? I I want to make sure that you've conveyed to us everything that you'd like to. Well, yeah, I would. And I don't want to go back and forth, but

yeah. No, I get it. I get it and I appreciate that. Thank you. But um like I said, there's no clear guidelines on on whether you could have a building settle in or not. And it's definitely not going to settle to the point where it's going to crack in the middle or crack outside or anything like that. There it's it's not to that extent. So I don't know why that would be an issue if we did have. And also on this this document here that they they gave me, it says that it needed to be 2.6. It was greater than 2.6 was a third which I have no idea what this is but um they mentioned itself that it's it's not more than two inches. So 2.6 according to whatever they wrote here is is out of tolerance with with that

and I I could address each one of these things things on here. So, I I don't know if it's u if it's personal or or what's going on, but I sat through two meetings and I've seen I saw some buildings that were dilapitated. They were falling apart. They were not safe to walk in. I didn't even walk in and and a couple of them they they were the buildings were deemed safe and I was like, you know, I'm happy for those people, but then my building deemed unsafe and I'm like, how'd that happen? So, I'm just a little concerned with with that. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mill. I appreciate it. All right. Any other questions on this issue then?

Julie, do you know how long that building's been up? It's been up since I was a kid. The appraisal district, and I can't tell you the exact year, but it was 1960s. I want to say ' 68, but my memory is from four hours ago. It was built as a gas station. So, it's a commercial built slab with a lot of rebar in it. And there's still no cracking after all this time. It's just leaning. It's a pretty small building. It's 368 square feet. I do remember that.

So, what's the plan? Well, well, if if there's other questions or the plan for the timeline for for Mr. Bill. Oh, for Mr. Bill, Mr. Bill, do we have a timeline? A year and a half. I mean, a year and a half is way I can probably get done a year. I was just giving myself some time, but um and it may even be quicker than that. I just want to make sure that I can do it the right way instead of patching up stuff.

But at this point, you haven't you don't have an estimate on on cost or retain a contractor to to look at leveling doing any of that at this point? Yeah, I have with the contractor I use, he could level the building for me and it's it's not a problem and I know he's not going to charge me $20,000 to do that. Um, you know, if that's what needs to be done, but I'd like to make sure that that building needs to be leveled because it's settled, not cracked or uh compromised in the foundation or structure. So, if it's not compromised and it's not delayed today, it's not, you know, you can't shake, it's not moving. So, to go and do something that doesn't really need to be done is where you know my concern and that's uh that's my biggest concern. You know, if it needs to be leveled to um keep it from deteriorating, okay, that's great. But if it doesn't need to be leveled and it's just settled, then why pick at this building?

Any other questions? I I would like to ask Julie a couple more questions. Um because I'm I'm noticing in the history that it looks like in 2021 this was presented previously and that the owner it looks like he was given 90 days to to take some kind of action. It looks like from what I'm reading that no action was taken. Am I reading that correctly? Yes. There would have been two previous orders for repairs and the second order was then July of 2025. Yes, sir. And again the same situation where some kind of course of uh conduct remedial action was was offered to the owner and that was not taken advantage of either. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? [clears throat] Okay. I I I have a question or concern. I mean, can we give them 30 days to come up with a timeline so we can vote with the yay or nay against this? I would I would say let's um let's get a motion on the let's get a motion uh on the dis with the second and then we'll discuss what options may be from there. That's probably the best way to proceed. So do do I have a motion on I'm sorry item E4. If that's a motion to deny the appeal I'll make that motion.

Okay. So, I've got a motion to deny the appeal from the building and standards commission who has ordered demolition of the structure. Seconded.

All right. I've got a motion, a second. Now, discussion. Mr. Deligars, [clears throat and cough] I'd like to hear give him time to come up with a plan and a cost in order to make a a good decision. hate to see a whole building demolished just because there's I mean not a plan. He wasn't here at the time. It was his parents that owned it at the time, but now he owns it. I mean, I'd like to see give him time to to come up with a plan to to to remodel the building and what his cost is going to be. I mean, this is going to be just saying, "Well, give me a year to to decide. That's not good enough. I'd like to at least give the owner an opportunity to present the plan to us and say, "Hey, this is the plan. This is the timeline. This is the cost." We can make a decision there. I'm not sure we're making a a good decision. I'm I'm concerned about the um it being out of plum and um the owner says, you know, if it doesn't need to be fixed, well, I would want a structural engineer to tell us that it didn't need to be fixed because I'm I'm just um thinking about new construction that we see and they always make sure that all the 2x4s are absolutely, you know, straight up and down and and it has to do. I'm not a structural engineer, but it has to do with supporting the weight. Uh, and so just to say, well, there are no cracks, so it's fine, makes me really nervous about it. Uh, and so, um, I'm not sure that that's really the direction that the owner's wanting to go, but it would be something I would want to require if we were to do something like give an extension.

Clarify something for me. The last time this was presented to us, I don't remember it the doors being out of plum like they are now or or did I miss that part? I'm not sure this was presented to build to the city council. Um it was to the building standards commission that it went um in we've seen this before. Have we? Yes, we have. I wouldn't. And he was given time he was given time to fix it,

but I don't I don't remember it being my concern is it needs to be leveled. He can think it doesn't need to be leveled, but it needs to be leveled. The problem is if it's leveled, it could cause a lot of structural damage when it's leveled. He's gambling with it. And he could lose a lot of money because he could he could level it and then it it's beyond repair. It would cost him so much to repair it be cheaper to tear it down. Um, I understand you want to fix a building and I wish you could, but it's when it's that far, when it's leaning that far, it needs to be leveled. That's the only way you're going to fix the building and you take the chance of causing more damage. Um,

I thought he mentioned that he he was going to get it leveled. I heard I thought he mentioned that he was going to give it get it leveled. Well, he act like it. He wanted to find out if it needed to be leveled. But if it needs to be leveled and it gets leveled and it's beyond repair, then is he going to tear it down or do we have to tear it down?

If it's more than 2.6 in out of foam and that requires it to be leveled, then fine leveled. But if that's not a correct number, Then we should find out what exactly is the correct number so that you know the structure the structures sound it doesn't this number you know is contradictory to what

as I mentioned that's just a third of an eighth and I don't know the thickness of the building when I gave you that number it was just an example it says middle third so it would have to be a third and that's just unsafe the IPMC actually does require any out of plum to be checked What two numbers are y'all ref referring to? The the city code and uh and then his uh the original uh measurement.

Yes. So I gave um Mr. Bell a copy of this and I did some simple math for him. Um and so those are the numbers he's referring to. The 8 inch block. Those are just examples because I don't know the exact thickness of um those walls. But as you can see on IPMC, any foundation system that's not plum, even if it's free from open cracks and breaks, is deter deemed unsafe and shall be repaired or replaced. And then our local ordinance clarifies that a little bit about saying outside of middle third. So IPMC is much stricter and we have adopted the IPMC code. It's much stricter and says whether there's cracks or not, if it's not plum, it should be determined as unsafe and shall be repaired or replaced to comply with the International Building Code.

Did that answer your question? More or less. Yes. [clears throat] Sounds like we need a structural engineer report. Yes. And to issue a permit, we've stated we would require a structural engineer in order to issue any permit to repair. It clearly states that the 6 in block would be 2 in outside of its base, which I don't believe that any of those blocks are outside of its base. They're they're probably not. Uh but they're close.

They're that's when it's determined unsafe. The way it's sitting today does not meet the building code. It's not plum. It's not uh level. It doesn't meet code. And so it's very much on its way to becoming unsafe. Once it hits that limit, it becomes unsafe and there's no question about it. But it's definitely on its way to be unsafe. It's not allowed to be in level by building or Can you speak into the mic? Rick, I'm sorry. And if we allow it to be repaired, um, it's going to be occupied, which, you know, right now it's it would just fall down, but continue because I couldn't hear you.

I apologize. Yeah, [clears throat] I was kind of done. Uh but uh the um that um ratio there that we're given is just determines when it's considered unsafe. At that point it's unsafe. Okay. Right now it's just on its way to being that unsafe. So it's not like you say it's not meeting that ratio yet, but it doesn't meet code. It does it is not level. It's not plum. It doesn't meet code. And we don't build structures that way. So, and that's that's where there's some leeway with our building standards commission because if you read the IPMC, it's clearly unsafe. You read what our building standards commission should be determining off of is that's where they get into that middle third of the base. And so, um, our bu that's all those factors is what our building standards commission took into consideration, especially whenever they factor in the value. um if a property is over 50% of its value, it's automatic demolition if it's determined unsafe. Um [clears throat] and you of course you have several contractors on our building standards commission. So that's how they came to their order that they issued of it being unsafe building with automatic demolition.

So and and just to be clear, I know we talked a lot about the le leveling part of this. As I understand it from what I'm seeing, that's not the only issue with the building that would create a safety issue. Yeah, correct. The roof structure is failing in certain sections. Um there's again no uh plumbing or wiring or electrical systems or HVA systems. Um so you add that all into total totality and that's why the board made the order that it was unsafe and ordered for demolition.

Any further comments? You know, I I I think that, you know, there's a lot going on here. Obviously, um that at least in my mind that I'm looking at it includes, you know, that this has been an ongoing process for several years that there's been notifications, there's been promises of repair that haven't happened. Um and Mr. Bell, you know, explained circumstances behind that. Um you know, I had hoped, uh that through this process that as um Dr. Young pointed out, you know, we could get some more, you know, structural engineer type information or, you know, professional information. I mean, certainly I'm not I'm not in a position to be a structural engineer and do that. However, um, you know, the buildings and standards commissions, we put people on there who are in this trade and this is what they do. And so from that standpoint, you know, um I, you know, I'm torn with what this looks like or personally torn torn with a path forward. Um but I think, you know, safety has to come in and the fact that we're back again after three years concerns me. Um you know, I'm not sure that the safety issue is going to go away in a year while we're waiting on something else to happen. and even if it is leveled, I think we I think Mr. Lafa is correct um that we may see some other issues. And so that's my that's my discussion on the matter, my comment. So

I'd like to add to that discussion as well because my what I look at in these situations is was the landowner or the owner given a chance to address this situation? And I'm seeing a couple of situations where he was given that opportunity, particularly in 2025. It looks like he was given 180 days to uh repair this property and it wasn't done. So I'm with all due respect, I'm not in favor of granting another month or another six months or another year. So any other comments?

Okay. So given that then um the motion that we have before us has been seconded is to deny the appeal and uphold the building standards commission order for demolition. So I will call the vote on that motion. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? I. All right. Then item E4, [snorts] the appeal is denied. All right. I believe that is the last of our uh action items for the evening. Um we will have an executive session and so it is 6:35. We will take a 10-minute break and reconvene back in executive session.

The city council recess for executive session on the 3rd day of February, 2026 at 6:35 p.m. Uh deliberation is as follows. Texas Government Code 551.087, 551.072, 551.071, and 551.06 074. [clears throat]