City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our meeting for Tuesday, September 15th. Ms. Hilbrick, will you please call the roll?

Yes, sir. Councilman De La Garza? I am present. Councilman Kitter?

Here.

Councilwoman Butler? Present. Councilwoman Scott? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Young?

Here.

Councilman Lofgren?

Here.

And Mayor Crocker?

Here. If you would please rise and join me for the pledges, followed by a moment of silence.

Thank you. Please be seated.

All right. Again, welcome everyone. We'll jump right into our agenda and we'll start with item B1, which is announcements and reminders. Mr. Garza, good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I have quite a bit of reminders, so please bear with me and my voice. On behalf of the library and the Friends of the Library, we'd like to remind the public that the book sale started this weekend and runs through Friday, September 18th during library hours and Saturday, September 19th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The sale is held in the Bronte Room of the library. Additionally, new or renewed membership to the Friends of the Library during September are valid through the end of 2027. On behalf of Environmental Services, community members are invited to participate in Keep Victoria Beautiful's sixth annual citywide fall sweep on Saturday, September 19th from 8 to 10 a.m. in partnership with the TxDOT Adopt-a-Highway program. Individuals and groups are encouraged to register at victoriatx.gov slash kbb in advance to plan for volunteer locations around our community. On behalf of our police department, we'd like to invite the public to join the police department on Thursday, September 17th, starting at 7.30 a.m. for coffee, not just with any cop. come meet Richard Hawksworth, a former VPD officer who served our community decades ago. The Hawksworth family has graciously loaned us his original uniform from the 1950s, which will be proudly displayed at our public safety headquarters. Mr. Hawksworth will talk about his time at VPD at 8.30 a.m. in our community room, followed by a Q&A session. In addition, VPD continues to plan for the upcoming National Night Out Kickoff Party and Community Safety Fair scheduled for Saturday, September 26th from 5 to 8 p.m. at Delium Plaza. There's still time to sign your organization up for a booth. Please contact the Community Engagement Unit at policeceu at victoriatx.gov or 361-485-3808. I'm halfway there. On behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department, we'd like to remind the public that we have launched Discover Victober to showcase the many events, activities, and experiences available in town during the fall season. Parks and Recreation will kick off Victober with the first ever Pumpkin Drop at the National Night Out Kickoff Party on September 26th in Deli Room Plaza. Residents can visit discovervictober.com to view a lineup of events hosted by the city, as well as many local nonprofits and event organizers from September through November, and start planning their fall outings. For more information or to recommend an event be added to the Discover Victoria calendar, please email parks at victoriatx.gov. In addition, Parks and Recreation Department are inviting merchandise vendors to take part in the Mary on Main Vendors Market Day on December 11th. Interested vendors can apply at victoriatx.gov slash maryonmain. The deadline to apply is October 31st. Vendors are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as space might be limited. On behalf of Municipal Court and in recognition of Child Passenger Safety Week, the City of Victoria Municipal Court is hosting a Child Safety Fair and Car Seat Inspection event on Wednesday, September 23rd from 3 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the Public Safety Headquarters. To register, please visit victoriatx.gov slash car seat. Or for more questions, please call 361-485-3050. We've got one more. On behalf of our Convention Visitors Bureau, we'd like to invite the community to Tejas Fest 2026, presented by Atzenhofer in De Leon Plaza on Friday, October 2nd through Saturday, October 3rd. The event takes place Friday from 5.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. with live music from De Parranda, Easy Band, and more, along with food and market vendors and the Kids Chorale. On Saturday, things kick off at 10 a.m. with a full day of fun, including the car show, cornhole tournament, family activities, kids' corral, vendors, and local live music acts. Our festival headline, The Dos Borrachos, featuring Kevin Fowler and Roger Krieger, take the stage from 10 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. VIP passes are available. Enjoy two days of fun at Victoria's largest free festival.

Thank you, Mr. Garza. Obviously, there's a lot going on. There is a lot going on. All right, we'll jump into public and employee recognitions, and our first one tonight will be for Child Passenger Safety Week. Ms. Hilberg.

Yes, sir. Whereas children are our future, and it is responsibility of parents and caregivers to keep America's children safe, and whereas car crashes are leading cause of serious injury for children under 13, and proper use of child safety seats significantly reduces risk, and whereas when used correctly, Child safety seats reduce fatal injury risk by up to 71% for infants, 54% for toddlers, and 45% for children ages four to eight. And whereas the City of Victoria encourages parents and caregivers to implement best practices for traveling safely with children, and is committed to working closely with our partners and safety advocates to help make the kind of choices that will keep children alive and safe, and whereas child seat inspections by certified technicians ensure children are riding in the right seat for their age, height, and weight installed correctly and used properly. Now, therefore, I, Dwayne Crocker, Mayor of the City of Victoria, do hereby proclaim the week of September 20th through September 26th, 2026, as Child Passenger Safety Week, in Victoria, Texas and encourage all citizens to help reduce injury and tragic loss of life by buckling up themselves and their children every trip, every time.

wanted to say about this particular important recognition week. I got some statistics from the police department today and I thought it'd be interesting to share this to show how the impacts of a car seat or child passenger safety seat can help keep our children safe In 2025, there were 88 crashes that involved child passengers. There were zero serious or fatal injuries and only 12 that did have minor injuries but were protected because of those restraint systems. And so I just wanted to share this information, not just for the city council, but also for the public and make sure that You all come out and see us next week when we will be at the Public Safety Headquarters on Wednesday, September 23rd from 3 to 5 p.m. and make sure your children are buckled up safely. So thank you so much. I just wanted to share that. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Doda. All right. Our next item is another proclamation and this is for Hunger Action Month. Ms. Hilberg.

Yes, sir. Whereas hunger and poverty are issues of vital concern in Texas where one in five people face food insecurity and one in every four children do not know where their next meal will come from. And whereas everyone needs nutritious food to thrive and in every community in America, people are working hard to provide for themselves and their families. Yet in 2024, nearly 50 million Americans, including More than 14 million children faced food insecurity. In Victoria County, 22% of our population, just over one in every five residents, are food insecure. And whereas the City of Victoria is committed to working with the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent, a partner in the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks, in educating people with the role and importance of food banks in addressing hunger and raising awareness, the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues, and whereas over 61,000 people in the Golden Crescent region rely on food provided by the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent, and whereas the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent distributed more than 7.1 million pounds of food in 2025 through its network of food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community organizations, whereas the month of September has been designated Hunger Action Month in order to bring attention to food insecurity in our communities and to enlist the public in the movement to end hunger by taking action, including volunteer shifts, social media shares, and donations to ensure every community and everybody in it has the food they need to thrive. whereas food banks across the country, including the Food Bank of the Colton Crescent, continue to work tirelessly throughout the month of September to bring awareness and help end hunger in local communities. Now therefore, I, Duane Crocker, Mayor of the City of Victoria, do proclaim September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in Victoria, Texas, and call the observance to the attention of all citizens.

Mayor, Councilman, Councilwoman, thank you so much for this. We really appreciate the continued support. You know, this is our 40th anniversary. We are still strongly supporting our mission of helping heal the heart of hunger. We are facing some challenges over the next few years. We have been facing them, but the amount of food coming in has greatly decreased. the number seeking food assistance has greatly increased. So keep us in your minds when you get ready to donate and come visit us, take a tour. Thank you again.

Thank you, Ms. Gale. And our final listed item tonight is recognition of outgoing board members. Ms. Hilbert.

Yes, sir. Council and staff would like to recognize Ashley Sisson. Ms. Sisson served on the Victoria Public Library Advisory Board from 2020 to 2026. The city appreciates your willingness to serve your community and presents you with the plaque in appreciation of your time and service.

Hello, council and mayor. I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to serve the community and the library. I've spoken up here a couple times about how much I love the library, not just our library, but libraries in general, but I think our library is pretty awesome. So thank you for your continued support of the library, and I thank you for the recognition.

Thank you for your service for the community. Very much appreciate it. All right. Mr. Garza, do you have any public and employee recognitions this evening?

I have one this evening. Okay. We are pleased to announce that Deputy City Attorney Ruby Moon has met all the requirements for the Texas City Attorneys Association Individual Civil Law Merit Certification in Municipal Law. Ruby, this is where you stand. This program recognizes attorneys who demonstrate advanced knowledge and experience in municipal law through substantial professional involvement and educational experiences. Ruby will be recognized at the 2027 TCAA Summer Conference for her accomplishment, and we look forward to seeing those pictures. And so Ruby, thank you for always being very invested and involved into your own professional development, which only benefits us all. So thank you. Congratulations, Ruby. That's all I have for the evening. Okay. Very good.

Uh, items from council. Anything this evening? All right. Seeing none, then I'll jump to citizens communication. I have three cards this evening and as a reminder, if you please, uh, keep your comments within the three minutes and we'll start with Miss Donna Roberts. Good evening. Welcome Miss Roberts.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Donna Roberts, and I would like to be considered for an appointment to the Victoria Public Library Advisory Board. A little bit about me, I've been a resident of Victoria for 38 years, and I've served on a number of community boards, both as a member and as a board officer. My education is in social work where I obtained a master of social work and direct practice. But I've been attending the Victoria Public Library Advisory Board meetings this year and it has given me an understanding of the library's short and long-term goals and deeper insight into the excellent community outreach our library staff have implemented. I've also supported the library financially through personal book donations based on current wish list that I received from the leadership and also through my membership in Friends of the Library. I have put patriotic displays up at the library over the last several years. Um, and um, I will be doing so again this month, actually putting one up tomorrow. I invite everyone to come and take a look at that. Um, it is a celebration of constitution week, which is September 27th, seven, I'm sorry, 17th through the 27th. Um, Along with those displays, I provide free bookmarks for all the patrons of the library. It would be an honor to be on the Public Advisory Board, and I thank you so much in advance for your consideration.

Thank you, Ms. Roberts. All right, the next card I have is from Michael Vandora.

Welcome back, Mr. Vonderoe. Good evening. I decided to give you a break on Labor Day. That's why I didn't come. I'm Michael Vonderoe. I live at 2107 North Benjora. And good evening, mayor, city councilmen, and city councilwomen. What I was going to say was the Victoria Parks and Recreation, I was wondering if some of the lower-ranking people could get pay raises. Some of them think they deserve a pay raise, and I realize it's not in the budget, but if you times $15 an hour times $52 a month, weeks that's only about 31 000 a year and we got people with the city of victoria making almost seven times those wages and i was wondering if they could find a way to give them a raise if it work overtime or something when i was working as a welder gonzalez manufacturer and they didn't want to give us a raise but they said instead of working 40 hours you could work 50 hours or 60 hours you know just so you could uh make some more money. I don't know if something like that is possible, but I would like to see them make more than $31,000 a year. I know that's the low wage at $15 a hour. I also want to thank the firefighters in 9-11-2001 from Texas that came and fought in the fire in New York. We actually have one firefighter here that actually bought a fire in New York, and I'd like to appreciate all the firefighters from Texas and all the other states that went to New York. And I also would like to summer stone apartments to take care of the air conditions. You know, right now in my apartment, it's 90 degrees, and I talk to them Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and the air condition isn't fixed. I realize I can buy a window one at my cost, but the problem with that is some of them just aren't in. There's an air conditioning shortage. I would like to see Summerstone Apartments do a better job of repairing these units, especially when you pay your rent on time. And to me, it's very unsatisfactory, you know, living in an apartment at 90 degrees because I have a temperature gauge and it does work. So I checked the temperature in the city of Victoria and it was around 69 to 70 degrees. But I would like to see them take care of it. And some people have reported them to code enforcement and shortly thereafter they were evicted and uh i would like to see summer stone uh apartments take care of their air condition the way they're probably thinking is the summer time is uh already finished so they don't need to fix it thanks appreciate it thank you mr bonner and then the last card card i have this evening is miss gay patek

Good evening, Ms. Patek. Welcome back.

Good evening, city council members and Mr. Mayor. For the record, my name is Gaye Patek, and I'm up for reappointment for the Library Advisory Board, and I would appreciate your vote. Over the last three years, we have reviewed many of the policies of the Victoria Public Library, and the Library Advisory Board has given input into those policies. And I'm pleased to say that many of our recommendations have been accepted by the director, Jessica Berger, and staff. And I really appreciate that. We've worked hard on those things. And I know they have, too. There's one more policy that normally gets reviewed and that's the collection development policy and I understand that that is in your purview and when you're ready to do that, I'm sure the Library Advisory Board is willing to give input. And one last thing, Katie Elson is also up for reappointment and she's not here this evening. She had a family commitment, but she said she would be happy to be reappointed as well. I want to say thank you for all you do. I appreciate all the time that you put into our city, all the volunteer time you put into our city, and the sacrifices that you make from your own family to put in time here. And I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Pate. All right, we will move on then. We have no items with public hearings, and so we'll jump to our consent agenda. Ms. Hilbert.

Yes, sir. Item D1 is the adoption of minutes of the regular meeting held on September 1st, 2026, and the special meeting held on September 28th, 2026. Item two is an ordinance amending the Victoria Code of Ordinances, Chapter 13, Municipal Utilities and Services by adding Article 7, Municipal Stormwater Drainage Utility System, adopting provisions to establish and manage a municipal drainage utility system in accordance with Subchapter C, of Chapter 552, Texas Local Government Code, declaring stormwater drainage to be a public utility, providing for the establishment and calculation of stormwater drainage utility charges and credits, providing penalties and remedies for nonpayment of charges, and adding an appropriate section to Chapter 24 to set forth the drainage utility fee and declaring an effective date. This item is on second and third reading. Item D3 is an ordinance of the City of Victoria, Texas, admitting Chapter 24 fees of Code of Ordinances, City of Victoria, Texas, by adding Article 7, Municipal Drainage Utility System Fee Schedule, establishing a municipal drainage utility system fee, providing for exemptions and credits, providing a repealing clause, providing a severability clause, providing a savings clause, and providing an effective date. And this item is also on second and third reading. Item D4 is an ordinance amending chapter 17 of the City of Victoria Code of Ordinances regarding the recreational vehicle park in Riverside Park, and this item is on second and third reading. Item D5 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for recreational trails grant to improve the trail in Ted B. Reid Park for an estimated total of $312,570, with the city responsible for 20% cost share. Item D6 is a resolution approving the first contract renewals with Lawn Star Yard Care and Bio Landscape and Maintenance Incorporated DBA Yellowstone Landscaping for the mowing of city-owned properties in a cumulative amount of $507,614.51. And item D7 is a resolution approving a variance request to section 21-264E, water facilities to section 21-265E, each lot that is being platted or replatted within one mile of existing public water and wastewater facilities shall extend and connect to the public water and wastewater system to create the Allison Ritchie Land Company subdivision, Ray subdivision number three, located off Hamilton Road in Victoria County, Texas.

Thank you, Ms. Hilbert. That was almost as much as the announcements and reminders, so great job. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda?

Motion to approve consent agenda as read.

Do I have a second? Second. We've got a motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? And the consent agenda is approved. All right. We'll jump into our action items, and we'll begin with item E1.

That's me, sorry. Item E1 is the appointment or reappointment of three members to the Victoria Public Library Advisory Board.

Good evening, mayor and council. I apologize. I forgot to put your ballots on your desk, so I'll pass them out in just a moment. But thank you. They have their names on the top. The resolution before you tonight, or this evening, will appoint or reappoint three members to the Victoria Public Library Advisory Board. And the purpose is, as stated here, that the board is to advise the Victoria Public Library on matters pertaining to the development of immediate and long-range policies and programs, the annual proposed budget as established by the library administration, and improvement and expansion of library services and facilities, and any other matters determined by the library director. The board consists of 11 members. It's a large board. And the people are appointed to three-year terms. We have four appointees from the county, four from the city. We have one Joint City County appointee, and then one representative of the Friends of the Library, and one representative of the Bronte Club. And one of the positions that's up this time is the Joint City County position. So the two appointees for the city positions with terms ending on September 30th of 2029, and then we have one appointment for that joint position at the same expiration date. Ms. Olsen is a city appointee, as mentioned by Ms. Patek, and she is eligible and wishes to be reappointed. Ms. Patek is the joint city-county position. She is eligible and wishes to be reappointed. And then Ms. Sisson, who we honored earlier with the plaque, serves as the city appointed position, but she is not eligible due to term limits. And there were eight applicants for these positions. So we have Angie Knickerbocker, Anne Riggs, Donna Roberts, Katie Poole, Nicole McMongle, Dr. Wanda Carter-Dyer, and Ms. Olson and Ms. Patek. And again, they are eligible for reappointment and desire to be reappointed. The ballots were passed out by Mr. Garza, and they do include your names because you cannot vote by secret ballot, so you would need to vote for three individuals. Do you have a question, Ms. Scott? Yes.

Do you have to reside in the city limits to be appointed to the library board?

Not for this particular board, no, ma'am. We check the bylaws just to make sure. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. And so just if you'll circle the three people that you wish to appoint to those positions, and then I'll collect the ballots, and James and I can tally up. Thank you. And everybody must get at least four votes to be appointed to have a majority of the council appointing them. And if there's no clear winners, then we'll vote on the ones receiving the most votes.

Okay.

Yes, only three.

Pardon me?

Oh, three. Oh, sorry. We'll let you decide which one you don't want to do. So we were able to get that established in one vote. So the names that will be added to the resolution are Donna Roberts, and then Catherine Olson, and Gay Patek for the joint position.

So I need a motion on the resolution for those three individuals.

I move that we appoint Donna Roberts, Catherine Olson, and Gay Patek to the Library Advisory Board. Second.

All right. And just for clarification, Ms. Patek would be the Joint City County appointee, correct? Yes. All right, we've got a motion and a second for those three names. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the motion passes. All right, thank you. I will now jump to item E2.

Item E2 is a resolution appointing or reappointing four members to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

I don't want to make your choices for you.

You started on the wrong end.

I was tempted.

OK. So this one, the resolution before you appoints or reappoints four members to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

How many?

Four. Oh, my.

So the purpose of this board was clarified in 2020. And it states the purpose will be to advise the Parks and Recreation Department on matters pertaining planning and the acquisition of park and recreation areas and facilities, the development of park and recreation areas and facilities, and any other items determined by the Parks and Recreation Director. And this one is a nine-member board, and they serve three-year staggered terms. You may not serve more than two consecutive terms, and former members will be eligible to serve again after abstaining for a minimum of one year from the date of their term expiration and any member originally appointed to fill a vacancy may serve two full terms in addition to the unexpired term if the vacancy had less than 18 months remaining. And that's kind of an important point at this time because one of the positions is for a partial term or an unexpired term but it's for two years so it would count as a full term. So the current members include Glenda Nickel, there's a vacant position that was formerly held by Mr. Fisk that passed away. And then there was Ms. Roberts serves currently, Michael Afiles Sr. serves, Brian Billingsley, Stephen Biles, Lisa Kiner, Carolyn Rodriguez, and then there's another vacant position for Julie Hughes had to resign after moving outside of the city limits because this particular board does require you to live inside city limits. And there's three appointments that will expire at the end of this month. Ms. Roberts is eligible for and wishes to be considered for reappointment. Ms. Nickel is actually eligible but not seeking reappointment. And then we have one place that's vacant due to the passing of Harley Fisk for a full term. And then the vacant spot for Ms. Hughes resigning, which is the partial term, but it's for two years. So, and then there's, The three new appointments will end in 2029, and the partial term would end in September 30th, 2028. And then you will also need to designate which one has the partial term. So, and we had several applicants for this one as well, Suzanne Fram Kroll, Mark Hinojosa, Mike Rivera, Mr. M. Steven Rogers, Mr. Jake G. Flores, and Donna Roberts, who is eligible for reappointments. Is there any questions on this one?

We're selecting four, correct?

Four this time, yes. Four out of four. Yes. Thank you, sir.

Oh, now I'm confused. I thought it was three.

I feel like we need Jeopardy music.

We could have a drum roll.

Tell a joke.

Okay, so we'll have to take another vote on this one. We have three people that did get six votes each. And so that's Mark Hinojosa, Steven Rogers, and Donna Roberts. And then we have two people that got four votes. So we would need to decide between those two who would get an additional spot. And so that would be Mike Rivera and Jake Flores. So you'll use your second ballot and vote only between Mr. Rivera and Mr. Flores.

Bye.

Okay, so with a vote of four to three, Mr. Rivera's name will be added into that. So we would have the four appointees would be Mark Hinojosa, M. Steven Rogers, Donna Roberts, and Mike Revere.

Ms. Hilbert, obviously Ms. Roberts was reappointed to her full term. So it is up to council to determine which of the other three gentlemen will serve the unexpired term for Mr. Fisk's spot. So what I would propose, if you would write those three gentlemen's name on separate pieces of paper, and randomly draw one of those, then whoever's randomly drawn will be the individual for the unexpired term and that's the way it will appear on the resolution.

So we have Mr. Rogers, Mr. Rivera, and Mr. Hinojosa's names on slips that we readied beforehand.

You gonna let Mr. Garza do it?

And the winner is Mark Hinojosa.

Okay. Mr. Hinojosa would get the term that's right at two years, the partial.

Okay, very good. Which would make him eligible for?

One more term only, but that's over 18 months.

All right, thank you very much. Can I get a motion then for those four individuals with Mr. Hinojosa being appointed to the unexpired term of Mr. Fisk?

I move that we appoint Mike Rivera, M. Stephen Rogers, and reappoint Donna Roberts to the Parks Board, and additionally appoint Mark Hianosa to fill the unexpired term of Harley Fisk.

Second. All right. I've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, very good. I do want to say to all of those who applied for both of these boards, thank you for wanting to be involved, for getting involved. For those that were appointed, we're We're grateful for your service, and for those that weren't, please keep trying. We have lots of boards and need lots of help. It's great to see community involvement, and we really appreciate you guys being willing to serve our community, so thank you all. All right, with that then, let's jump down to action item E3. Ms. Hilbert.

Item E3 is a resolution allocating funding to outside agencies for FY 2027 from the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund.

Mr. Novosel, good evening.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thanks for having me. I have a short presentation prepared for our annual Hotel Occupancy Tax Funds Awards. I can say it was a very smooth process this year. We had a very engaged subcommittee. So I will present to you now their recommendations for the 2026-2027 program. Our timeline here, as it's been the last few years, applications were open the entire month of July. We did have four workshops, the 6th, the 13th, the 20th, and the 27th, in person at 700 Main Center. I'm happy to say that all of our awardees listed on the resolution here tonight did attend a workshop. They only need to attend at least one. In early August, we reviewed the applications and prepared the calculations. On August 27th, met with the Hot Fund Subcommittee of the Tourism Advisory Board. At that meeting present was Brian Keith, Brenda Guajardo, Brian Keith, the performance food group, Brenda Guajardo of the Courtyard Marriott, Rosanna Frisch of the Victoria Mall, Jennifer Ortiz-Garza of Texas A&M Victoria, and James Weirden of the In on Main. We had about an hour and a half long discussion. That was a publicly posted meeting for full transparency. On September 15th, we're here tonight to present the resolution that was in the amounts that were recommended by the subcommittee, and the contracts will become effective. October 1st, we'll work with legal to put those together if the amounts are approved tonight. So some background information, as it's been for the past few years, we had a total of $135,000 available. We did receive 16 applications, and of those, a total of $220,551 was requested. Came here a few months ago just to present some small changes to the program. Again, we've still had it split into two different groups. Group one is events, can be non-profit or for-profit. Must be able to show hotel room nights for event most recent to current application period. The top 10 hotel room night generators are eligible, and a minimum of 25 hotel room nights are needed to be eligible, which I'm happy to say all our applicants in group one achieved. Group two arts and historic preservation and promotion must be a registered Nonprofit must be an organization whose primary goal is to advance the arts or historic preservation and promotion Must have a minimum of two events exhibits or operate on a continual basis and they must be able to show room nights For the event season most recent to the current application period and in that group we had our usual Call them the usual suspects the seven Nonprofits here that apply in that group usually How we broke up the funding, group one events received 70% of the 135,000. 70% of that 70% is evenly split if the applicants all hit these three markers, which they did. And then the remaining 30% is distributed based on their share of the hotel room night total within that group. Arts and Historic Preservation and Promotion, they received 30% of the available funding, and with that group, 90% of it is evenly distributed. Again, all seven of those hit those three markers, and then the remaining 10% is distributed based on their share of the hotel room night total. And then a new thing we did add this year, a max of $15,000 was allowed per application. So here's group one, how the funding recommended amounts split up. Our number one applicant, as it's been for the last few years, was the club at Colony Creek. They were the number one hotel room night generator at 446 room nights. The ninth place was the Victoria County 4H, the 2027 Whizbang, at 29 room nights, so they got in there. And those were our nine applicants there, and you can see all the other amounts listed in descending order. Group two, our number one hotel room night generator there was the Museum of the Coastal Bend, as they've been for the past few years at a recommended amount of $6,945. And then in a descending order, you see Victoria Symphony at $5,319. We do have an appeals process. I'm happy to say, as it's been for the last few years, There were no appeals received. We gave them, you see there, they were all notified on Friday, August 28th, gave them until Thursday, September 3rd, and no appeals were received. What do we do next? CVB and legal department will work to generate the contracts. They will be sent via DocuSign to their representatives, signed by the representatives and the city manager. And of course, they don't get their money October 1. It's a reimbursement-based program. After their event is completed, they submit what's called a post-event report. Myself, I review it, also is sent to our finance department. They review it and everything looks in order. They are issued their reimbursement. So just a recap, $135,000, have 16 total awards. I forgot the six there, I apologize. But nine in group one, seven in group two. And of course, we, like I said, have a very engaged subcommittee. They are always interested in improving the program. So we're looking to have some workshops in the coming months to just talk about continual tweaks there. I can take any questions you have right now.

Any questions for anyone?

Great, great process. Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you to the committee.

Yeah, the committee obviously put some time into that, so thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right. Do I have a motion then with respect to item E3, the allocation of hotel occupancy tax fund for 2027?

Move to approve item E3.

Second. Got a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And E3 is approved. All right, we'll move to item E4.

Item E4 is a resolution allocating funding for nonprofit organizations for the FY2027 from the Child Safety Fund.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am happy to present the fiscal year 27 proposed program for the Child Passenger Safety Grant, or the Child Safety Grant Program. This year, we did receive seven applications. We had two new recipients this year, totaling a request of $77,594. Recommended funding allocation is $54,950. We are recommending funding for all the applicants and our internal committee reviewed those based on objective data. Our application timeline is open annually at the end of July, is open for a three week time period. We notified awardees of their funding recommendations by August the 28th and they also had an opportunity to appeal and we did not receive any appeals prior to tonight's meeting. And so tonight we're recommending the funding to you all with those contracts to then become effective October 1st if approved by city council. So this is an overview of the grant program for this year. We do have two new applicants paying to purpose, which I did see them in the crowd tonight. So happy to see one of our organizations did attend to show for that award. And then we have the SJRC Belong that is also one of our recipients that is new from this year. So we recommended funding of an equal split in this year's recommendation because we did have some higher grant award amounts. Then based on the number of requests we got, we felt the impacts did not warrant necessarily awarding one more than the other And so that is our recommendation for this year is an equal split amongst our applicants that we received. We're able to fund some of their requests, maybe not entirely, but we're able to provide them some of that funding to be able to help with their projects that they have submitted and the types of work that they do within our community. The funding timeline for this is a reimbursement-based grant that is done on a quarterly basis, and so we have the first opportunity to request that would be in January, April, July, and October are the four request timeframes that they can get that reimbursed throughout that timeframe. And so with that, I will open up for any questions. We are looking to reevaluate the program for next year as we have been in this program for about five years now. And so we will be looking at some potential program changes on how the application process, not too much, but hopefully be able to make it a smoother process for our applicants and continue to evolve and potentially come back with you all with some suggestions on how we would like to see that molded. And so I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions? Thank you, Ms. Toda. All right, so with that then, I will accept a motion on item E4 for allocation of the Child Safety Fund for 2027.

Motion to approve item E4.

Second. Got a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And E4 is approved. We'll move on to item E5.

Item E5 is the resolution approving the agreement with Motorola Solutions Incorporated for the flex CAD and RMS subscription for the command central aware and the MAC alert fire station alerting our FSA system in a total not to exceed amount of $3,497,817 to be paid out over a three year term for a five-year agreement.

Good evening, Mr. Foote.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilor. Tonight, I'm bringing forward a recommendation to replace two of the city's oldest public safety technologies, one in police, of course, one in fire, with a single connected platform for Motorola Solutions. This isn't a routine software refresh. It addresses real operational gaps that have been building for a while. I'll walk through the process of where we started, where we stand today, what's being proposed, and what that costs. Both department systems were purchased more than 15 years ago. In 2009, the fire system purchased Zetron alerting system. At the time, it covered five fire stations and dispatch, and the tones and alerts were sent out across the radio system. The following year, the police department purchased SunGuard's CAD and records management system for $766,708. Both of these were sound investments in that era. The issue is that they weren't bad decisions, it's just, 15-year-old technology, and plus the vendor change and turnover has left the city in a very different position than it is today. The city never chose to change vendors for SunGuard. The vendor change underneath us twice. Vista Equity Partners purchased SunGuard in 2017 and rebranded to Superion, and then in 2018, they merged into Central Square Technologies, which is the brand we operate under today. What looks like three systems is actually three separately maintained pieces. Patrol reports into OSMCT. The acronym for that is basically their mobile computer terminal is what they're doing. OSSI is the name of the application. Staff uses RMS, which is Record Management System for case management, and dispatch runs CAD. So this summarizes the operational risks we're carrying today. First, Central Square, again, like I said, isn't one system. To maintain is three, CAD, RMS, and OSMTT, each with its own quirks and support needs. Second, getting usable analytics out of the system requires command staff to reach back to their staff or command IT to get that analytics. Third, on the fire side, Zetron alerting hardware is no longer manufactured. Fourth, when that hardware fails, we're literally having to go out and solicit used parts from companies like eBay. So literally, our life safety alerting equipment is currently being kept running with second-handed parts. So that's the challenge, here's the response. A single solution from Motorola solution that brings police and fire under one connected platform. Flex suite, command central ware, and mock alert fire station alerting. Replacing both legacy environments at once under one vendor relationship. Before getting into that solution, I want to be clear about how staff arrived here. There wasn't a single department driven decision made in isolation because CAD and dispatch And if CAD dispatch and fire station alerting must work together seamlessly, neither department could choose a solution that could work on its own. So joint committees from police and fire reviewed multiple vendors, evaluated integration between the two systems, required vendors to demonstrate their system in person, include the site visits to other agencies that are using that software. So under the proposed solution, FlexCAD Plus and FlexRMS Plus share one underlying database. Information entered once is immediately available to dispatch, records, mapping, and analytics. No duplicate entry, no recording, reconciling through systems. Command Central Aware adds cloud-based situational awareness, anonymous tip submission, camera registration, and more importantly, is directly integrated with the RMS solution. It's not bolted on like their current solution. On the fire side, mock alert replaces the Zeton hardware entirely across six stations. We're currently at six stations and dispatch. Text-to-speech alerting means that the dispatcher enters the call into CAD once and the system automatically converts it into a clear voice announcement at the station. No manual paging is needed from the dispatcher. Dual network connectivity directly addresses a real vulnerability in our current setup today. If the network connection to a station goes down, that station does not receive the alert. Mach alert dual patch connectivity removes that single point of failure. If one, if the network goes down, it will go out across the radio and across the cellular. Incident display boards give crew the address and call that type the incident is created. And the LED lighting alerts the right crew without startling the whole station. So if it's just for EMS crew, then they're the only ones that are being alerted with those lights. Once a dispatcher enters the call, everything downstream happens automatically with no further dispatcher involvement required. Because this is a subscription model rather than a one-time hardware purchase, software maintenance support and new features are included for the life of the agreement. We're not budgeting for separate upgrade projects five years from now. Motorola also assigns a dedicated customer success team from day one and focuses on adoption, not implementation. Importantly, this agreement doesn't lock the city out of the future. If we later want to move to their full cloud solution, CatRMS, it's already built in the platform. We can directly migrate from where we're at now. So this is the before and after summary. Today, three separate systems under one brand name. Analytics are hard to access. end-of-life fire alerting hardware, second-hand replacement parts, and two vendors with two separate support paths. Under the new proposed system, one connected hub for CAD and RMS, dashboards built for command staff, new supported alerting at all six stations, no more second-hand parts, and one ecosystem and one accountable partner instead of two vendors coordinating between what happens when something goes wrong. And here's the final one, the big investment. So the FlexCommand Connect and Command Central, $1,774,891. Mock Alert is for $1,722,926. That's a total price of $3,497,817. We have worked with Motorola to get this on payment terms, so year one, which is due at execution, $1 million. Year two is the $1,276,734. And year three is $1,221,082. So one of the things we also were able to get with Motorola is that with over the three-year terms, we were not paying interest on this. Had we had gone out to a bond at typical 4.1%, we would have been realizing an additional 291,000 interest. So the vendor payment structure in itself is a meaningful savings. and I'll take any questions.

Go back four slides. Please. There you go. Is this one? No, one more.

All right.

No, the other way.

The other way.

Where you were.

Right here?

Okay.

The city may elect to transition to Motorola full cloud. Tell me about that.

So basically, we have either on-prem or cloud solution. And so basically, it's a very simple process of just taking that data, just migrating it straight up into the cloud. So there are advantages to go to the cloud if we want to do that. Obviously, we have the hardware side that we save on there. And I don't have it. I apologize. But I don't have what that actual... There's gonna be a slightly higher cost if we go to the cloud solution because they're hosting it off of there. But the more important part is it's their system, it's under their database, and it's easy for them just to migrate with literally no effort at all.

Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? All right, thank you, Mr. Foote. Thank you. All right then, do I have a motion with respect to item E5?

Move we adopt E5.

Ms. Hilderick, was that a, or Ms. Butler, was that a second?

That's a second.

We'll get a motion and a second.

She's trying. Is there any discussion on this item?

All right, seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And E5 is approved. I know this is a much needed upgrade, expensive upgrade, but very much needed. And so I know you guys put a lot of time into doing some research on this. So very much appreciated, Mr. Foote. All right, then our final action item is item E6.

Item E6 is a resolution approving an agreement with Axon Enterprises Incorporated for digital recording devices, software storage and management, live streaming, redaction software, VR equipment, and tasers in the amount of $1,966,797.39 over a five-year term.

Good evening. My agenda says Clay Fedders, but you're not Clay Fedders.

We have Captain Sanderson who's going to be presenting this this evening.

Good to see you, Captain.

Chief Fedders had a speaking engagement at a first responder banquet this evening, so I'm filling in for him.

So he owes you a steak dinner? Is that how that works? Yes, sir.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Kevin Sanderson, Captain of the Victoria Police Department, and the department is seeking approval of a five-year contract with Axon for several of our necessary services and equipment. The contracts for a Taser 10 conversion, currently we have Taser 7, the Taser 10 is an upgrade which I'll explain in just a few slides. Body cameras, which we've had for about 12 years already, so it's just a more modern version of what we started with. Mobile in-car cameras, audio video recording in interview rooms in the new public safety headquarters. Video and audio redaction software for information requests. And we currently have a different product, but by moving into Axon's redaction product, it has a little bit more capability. And the videos that it's redacting are already in its native system, and it saves about $1,000 a year. So it works a little better, and it saves funds. And virtual reality, which we refer to as VR, for training for firearms, taser, and negotiations, which I'll also explain a little bit further. Evidence.com, we currently have, it's where the videos and the photos are stored for all the cases. The Taser 7 upgrade to Taser 10 expands our overall capabilities, extends effective range significantly from 21 to 45 feet, which makes it much more likely that we're gonna get good contact. The Taser 10 has 10 darts versus two, It's very hard, especially if it's a moving target, to hit with just two, and that's your one shot. The 10 allow you to keep firing until you get two good contacts, which will immobilize the muscle area between those contacts, which means we can mitigate the resistance. And only, this is important, when not all 10 get energized, only the best two contacts would get energized if you had to fire more than one shot. Virtual reality trainer utilizing the VR. A study was done showing that a 92% effective rate with Taser 10 compared to 75% for departments that don't have the VR for training. So that's almost a 20% increase in effectiveness. an officer to stop at the station take 15 to 30 minutes to do some practice scenarios a lot of people think of it just shoot don't shoot but it's more than that there's negotiation situations where you you don't use any weapons or anything like that there's also taser and there's also even a firing firearms range portion for accuracy to help with that as well so When we go to the firing range, it's an all-day event where you have to take supplies and ammunition and water and haul instructors and that type of thing out there. This, you can stop in the station with one instructor to run the scenario. The officer can go in there real quick. It's not dependent on whether it's raining outside or poor weather, and then they can get back on the street. So it's a lot more time effective. And it provides realistic escalation scenarios. We can change the scenarios up so the officer doesn't come in and say, oh, I've seen this one before. I know how it's going to end. There's countless scenarios in the system. Redaction assistant, this is the one I said we had another product that we were using that we would like to switch away from. This saves a lot of time. We have one clerk that is their full-time job to redact videos for people making requests of body cameras and in-car cameras. You can just tell it to redact all the driver's licenses in the video, all the faces, all the license plates, and you can see that it reduces the amount of time. 20 pieces of video evidence can simultaneously be redacted in just a matter of minutes. Axon interview, that's the interview rooms in the new public safety headquarters. Uh, it's a high digital or high def digital and audio recording.

Those are not our interview rooms. Picture there.

No, no. These, these are, uh, some stock photos that I, I located the, uh, what's good about this, that it's integrated with, uh, Axon, it's Axon cameras and video system, is it goes directly into evidence.com, which we have, the DA's office has an account as well, so they download from that, and then they're required by law to share that information to defense attorneys, and they also share a link from Axon, so it makes it very seamless and much more effective than having to copy on the thumb drives or take folders with a multitude of pages of documents like we used to do. And it's secure storage, and it also has an audit trail, which is very important. So it'll tell you who all has printed something, viewed something, transferred, made something available, and that's very valuable. The contract. It's a five-year contract that expires in September of 2031. Results in a total discount of $502,000 due to bundling and due to some part negotiations. Paid in five annual payments beginning with $393,359 in fiscal 27. and it will have equal payments to that amount each year through the five-year contract. The total cost of the contract is $1,966,797. Is there any questions? Any questions?

Looks like a big improvement over. Absolutely. A good upgrade, yeah, absolutely. All right, do I have any motions with respect to item E6? Motion to approve item E6.

Second.

We got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And E6 passes. Mr. Garcia, do we have any city manager reports this evening?

No, sir.

I understand we will have an executive session?

Yes.

OK. So we will take a 10-minute break. Or we will, yeah, take a 10-minute break and reconvene in executive session.

OK. City Council recess for executive session on the 15th day of September 2026 at 6.04 p.m. Deliberations are as follows. Texas government code 551.087, 551.072, and 551.071.