[Applause] All right. City Council is uh called into order for August 26, 2025. The city council will now recess into executive session in accordance with Texas Government Code 551.071 to consult with and seek the advice of the city's legal council for those items posted, including items 611 and 714. There we go. Now we got a mic. uh item uh codes 551072 to discuss the purchase, exchange or value of real property and 551.0761 [Music] to discuss and consider matters regarding the critical infrastructure facility. That was a new number thrown at us today. I haven't seen that number before. All right. So, uh the city council is now recessing at 12:31. All right, it's 107. We're back. Reconvene from executive session into open session. We'll take up a work session now for presentation and discussion of the downtown civic park and also the proposed fiscal year 2020 uh 520 26 operating budget and capital program. Uh I'm going to now call on a city manager and you can take it from there. >> Thank you, mayor. I apologize. Was checking a note there. I think today your first presentation is going to be Mr. uh sorry, Miss Briana Brown's going to introduce Brad and his team for your followup on the downtown civic park. >> Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Nice to be with you this afternoon. Super excited um about our topic for today. Um just wanted to give you a little bit of history, mostly for the public on how we got here today and what the plans are for the rest of the meeting related to this item. So, if you all will recall on April 22nd of this year, you issued a four-month extension to Leic Experience, Inc., which is the entity that's holding um raised dollars for our downtown Civic Park project for the former LPNL um building and parking garage space on Broadway. um with that fourmonth extension, you asked Brad Moran and his um fundraising team to bring you back a few items when um in the next 120 days, which is what they're here to do. So, as a reminder, that extension asked for an updated construction plan with an updated timeline for construction, cost estimates for construction, sources for funding this project, and then ask that we design something that could be, um, under construction or close to by the end of calendar year 2025. And so, um, I'll take just a moment of personal privilege to thank Brad and his team. We've been working on this project for over three years. it has been more than a labor of love. Um, lots of energy from lots of great leadership throughout the city and so I just want to personally thank them for their time. This project is close to my heart. So, um, I'll let Brad give you all an update and then we do have two items related to this presentation that we'll be um, you'll be considering for action later in the meeting. Any questions for me? >> I see none. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Moran. >> Good morning, council. I appreciate the opportunity to update you on our project in Iron Park. Uh it's been an effort by a lot of different people. We've worked on this for some three years and we got a little kick in the pants on uh April 22nd to say not only uh do we want to get this thing uh funded and you guys to fund it, but we want you to do it immediately. So that turned out to be a positive kick in the rear for us as much as I hated uh receiving that information. So, we're here today to kind of have a celebration and talk about some positive things. So, uh if you'll look on the screen, uh a little bit of a redesign of our project because we've had one change as it was originally proposed, and that is that we took out the splash pads, uh from the design. Splash pads. Um the city has put in three of those since we first announced this project. Um and we have been advised by many people that they're very expensive to maintain, to install and take care of. And so we've heated that uh those recommendations and remove those and also reduce the cost of of putting in the park. U all these plans and designs have been done by the TBG group uh from San Antonio, the original designers hired to do this. We replace the splash pad area across from what we call the family zone uh with more grass, which is a good thing. That's what you want, particularly in a downtown park. And all other features uh remain the same in in the downtown park. We haven't made any other changes. So, here's a timeline of what our next steps are. Uh that is to select a general contractor, secure permits, set a date for groundbreaking. uh we estimate the construction to be about 9 to uh 10 months and so we're at that point of uh the beginning of Q3 there and uh we're working on things like value engineering uh and getting that GC uh selected the um revised drawings will be submitted to the city for permitting uh soon the value engineering will be resolved and and uh locked down so that we don't go uh make any more changes and that we'll have a bid set for pricing. Um, and then we'll start mobilization and uh we think we can get construction started right there at the first first of the year. And I do want to point out it is important for us to coordinate construction of planting of materials with the right season, the right right time of year. So, it's important to do that and then also hopefully coordinate this with the construction or reconstruction of Broadway uh at at the same time. So, uh we've had some pre-construction expenditures. They total a little under $1.9 million. Um we have some uh balance due of 20 some $235,000. And then we have left over uh a construction budget of $6.7 uh million. are and then we also are still working on uh raising an a couple of million dollars for an endowment for the park and then some startup funding which is the 1.18. So the total projected budget is right at uh $12 million and we have achieved our goal of raising the $9 million to start construction on the project and so we're really excited about that. Um, and the pre-construction funds received of $2,6,000. Uh, donations received of $3.9 million. We still have a pledges receivable out there of 2.7. We feel very confident in the receipt of those uh funds. We've also got some contributions for inind contributions for future events inside the park. uh we have an endowment uh donation that was uh committed and this time has also allowed us to generate some interest income that will will be used towards construction of the park. So we need additional almost $3 million to kind of get to our goal for the endowment and for the um operational uh money to kind of get it started. So you asked for on April 22nd to deliver a construction plan detailing a timetable for construction. We've done that. uh deliver a cost estimates for construction. We have that previously disclosed. Uh provide the amount and source of all funding raised for purposes of construction in the park and funding reasonably expected. We've we've delivered that and the construction plan should sufficiently be detailed to receive any necessary permitting which we're kind of wrapping all that up to get that done uh this current year. So, our uh we've reached a big milestone to get to this $9 million to start construction on the project. And we're still working on the operation funding uh operations and endowment funding. We will continue to work on securing naming rights for the park, which we haven't uh found uh a participant for that yet, but we feel confident we'll find somebody. We have several asks out uh that are currently under consideration and we've been very uh active and had quite a few contributions come in recently. We're also going to launch a community campaign uh that'll be more public where it's been kind of private and quiet, which is the way these large gifts typically happen. And we hope to raise $250,000 in donations towards that uh public uh program that we're going to do. We want to create some ambassadors for the park to uh make the park a bigger thing. will transition uh from my participation as the fundraising person to Drew Anderson who is the uh in charge of the operations for the park as we will ramp up and uh hire staff and kind of get that going. And so we really want to make the park highly visible, position it for a communitydriven effort so that we have lots of events that are going on in the park. So that's the conclusion of of my report and I'm open to any questions. >> Are there any questions for Mr. Maran. Dr. Wilson. >> Thank you, Mr. Moran. Appreciate you uh presenting here today. Um couple of questions for you. So, you say you're 3 million short for the endowment and operations startup. Tell me what is included. I understand the endowment part for operations and startup. And if you're planning on already having it built, what are we lacking on that operation and startup component? >> Well, when we first put our goal together, we did not have a goal. We establish what we think might be our operational expenses which are somewhat uh variable. We have uh uh staff that we'll hire. We'll also have uh security guards, that sort of thing, and m maintenance of the park. So, we can start off with a bare bones minimum um to get get our u operations part of it put together. But that's kind of what we're we think was kind of an original estimate. There's the operations committee has spent quite some time on establishing what those numbers are and they have a fully built program and we'll scale it back for the initial period and kind of ramp it up as as we've raised those funds. >> Okay. So, you have got currently raised non a little bit over nine plus million. Yes. What is actually left from pre-construction costs like what is going to be the actual cost of construction to build the park? the park uh was >> the actual construction cost. >> The actual construction cost we're right at six 6.7 million >> is the actual construction cost. And how much do y'all currently have on hand? >> We have 100% of that on hand. >> Okay. >> Well, pledges and pledges receivable and cash on hand. So I think my question is is if you don't raise any more money, if you can't get the three million, are you going to have enough to get it going to operate like to start and operate post construction >> in hand today? No. >> Excuse me. >> In hand today, no, we do not have that. But we're also didn't want to come forward and start a park uh construction of the park without 100% of the funds committed. >> Okay. So, we've got 100% for construction, but nothing yet for operation startup. So, we're still going to have to work on that part of it. >> We still have meet on the bone. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mayor Prom. >> First of all, congratulations. >> Thank you. I know it was a a lot of work and you guys have been committed to this and even though we had to just kind of prompt it a little bit, thank you for um making sure to get where we needed to be. And I think it's typical that when you're working towards operational, that's more the public portion of it also where you're raising funds. So, I know that you probably have several things lined up and I look forward to hearing those. I also want to commend you for making sure that you are going to parallel your construction to ours because I think that will help citizens just see a whole new downtown and I think that's going to be very positive >> to the construction for Broadway to try and parallel those >> and we look forward to try and match match those two dates up and uh hopefully that won't delay the park because I think we're probably ahead of where the Broadway plan's going to be. And so when do you plan to do a groundbreaking? Um what what's next in that? Just so the public knows to kind of be looking out for that. >> We will uh work on getting our public uh campaign together in the next few weeks and I think that you'll see a groundbreaking October, November. >> Thank you so much. Congratulations again. >> Thank you. And I I want to make sure that we recognize a a a large group of people that have worked on this and and I've just been the one that's been involved in it. Robert Taylor's the guy that I work for that that that asked me to participate in this with Dan Williams. Um uh Drew Anderson, who I mentioned earlier, Briana's been fabulous as a CA city liaison and helped us and gets to the bottom of everything. And Michelle Stevens is is is has uh also been working on this thing and always happy to have her see her bright smiling face to work with her. >> Had to have a woman's touch. I'm just saying. Right. >> I know. Us guys, we can't do anything without our women around. Right. >> I agree. Thank you. >> All right. Are there any other questions from Mr. Moran? Mr. Collins. >> Hi Brad. Hi. Thank you. Congratulations again. Uh what a what a great achievement that you guys have gotten to on the 2.7 million that that you have in pledges. Is there a timeline associated with that? Is that going to be a within the year of construction or is that does that have any uh delays to it? the major vast majority of it is staged to benchmarks um in of construction signing the construction document 50% completion 100% completion and uh then we have some other ones where we had recently had a pretty large gift that came in that we uh were still just working out the delivery and they're they're fine with putting something like that >> and I guess you can see my point. We're not going to need uh interim financing. >> We're very we're very comfortable with where where this is. >> Very good. Great. Again, congratulations. I think this is a remarkable achievement for the community. Uh and and thank you for your efforts. >> All right. And just to reiterate again for everyone that this is a privately funded park. No city funds for whatsoever are expended uh in the construction of this park. And uh so uh we appreciate the work of a private citizens in love who work so hard on this because it will be something that benefits all of us and we'll be proud of it uh when it's done uh and people can enjoy it but uh it's done so without you know public money going into it. So thank you for your hard work on it all of you. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you Mr. Moran. Appreciate it. >> M Mr. Mayor if I might. >> Yes sir. um already been mentioned. Quick reminder, council 716 and 717 are the actions for the council to consider for Brad and his team to put this into motion. >> Those will come up under our regular agenda. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. All right. I turn it over to you for the uh budget presentation. >> All right. We'll switch and uh get the other There we go. Okay. Going to run through the staff side of the budget presentation and turn it over today um for council for further input and direction. Um two items that are going on in special session number two that I just want to put on the deck. I do not think that either will directly impact the budget that has been proposed, but certainly any future budget. The effective date on both of these bills as well as others I don't have listed are currently all listed as excuse me January 1st. So Senate Bill one is a new bill that got moving very quickly. Um came out of the Senate into the House where it stands today. It has been approved by the House. The House version of Senate Bill 1 lowers what is today your voter approval rate of 3.5% to 1%. So from three and a half to one. There is in the House version a carve out and it's a it's a tax formula basically exclusively for police and fire expenses. Um it's interesting the way it's written. It is based on yearover-year change in an actual expenditure. It's not based on a budget number. It's not based on a proposed budget. So it's really a calculation in a rears that stated by the sponsor of this amendment would uh basically hold you harmless for changes or increases in the expense for public safety. Uh I'll talk a little bit more about that at the bottom, but that's where that is today. Senate version and the House version are now different. So the Senate version took what is today your three and a half and lowered that to two and a half. No carveouts other than there was a population bracket in it. So a city of 75,000 or less, a county of 75,000 or less would have stayed at three and a half. There's not a carveout now in the House version for the population, but there is a carveout on the public safety expenditures. So th those things need to be reconciled. That can happen either through a conference committee or through concurrence between the various authors and sponsors. We don't know where that is. It's eligible to start occurring as soon as the two chambers decide to do that. We'll do what we can to watch it, but we don't know. This was a very, very fast-tracked, fastm moving bill. We're working also now to verify that carveout formula. Um, Mr. Jimenez and I have worked on it. There's a bunch of CFOs and city managers around the state also working on it. I hope by your special meeting on the 2nd, I can tell you what that really means or or doesn't mean. At first blush, we're struggling to make it do what the author stated was his intention for it to do. So, just know that that's out there. Um, House Bill 17. This does not have a Senate companion, but it has now passed the House and it's on its way to the Senate. There's plenty of time for the Senate to pick it up. This doesn't change anything in terms of your voter approval rates or budgeting, but rather it requires that you will mail next year a direct notice to owners of all tax parcels in your jurisdiction filling out a basically a large form letter that puts in percentages here and changes there. It's good information. I would suggest the vast majority if not all of it's already in all of your budget documents. It's we do already do a taxpayer impact statement, but that's published online. It's published in the paper. This would require you to take that and mail it to an owner of each parcel within your jurisdiction. It's a whole lot of parcels in the city of Leo. There's two or three more that we're watching very closely behind this. I'll update on the second if they look like they're moving. I don't know that they will or that they won't. Just if you go back to July when we did our wrap up on the regular session, I think I said then that special sessions are the wild west. Things happen very very quickly in terms of procedure. So just to illustrate that, Senate Bill 10 posted for public hearing about 4:00 Thursday afternoon and it had its hearing at 8:00 a.m. Friday and it was voted on in the House noon on Monday. So things happen fast. We'll watch that. Okay. Mayor, any questions on these before I go into your calendar? >> I think Mayor Broton had a question. >> Um Jared, just for the public's awareness, you said Senate Bill one, but it's actually Senate Bill 10, isn't it? >> Yeah, Senate. Did I say one? >> Yes. >> My apologies. It is Senate Bill 10. Thank you. >> I got it right on the screen. I just can't speak. Senate Bill 10. All right. Okay, just quick reminder of the budget schedule, council. Of course, today we have a work session. On Tuesday, the 2nd of September is when you do your budget and tax rate hearings, and that is also the day you do the first reading of your budget ordinance and then separately your tax ordinance. Follow that with your regular meeting on the 9th. That is the second reading of the budget, second reading of the tax rate ordinance, and then that third vote that you always have to do, which is called your tax rate ratification vote. So, we're getting close close to the end there. We put this back up later if desired. This is your expenditure summary sheet of the budget as proposed. And I know that a lot of the attention is going to be on the general fund. So I'm going to kind of walk walk through that one for you. I want to highlight a couple of items. That second row down that's in gray, cultural and recreation services. That grouping, that's where parks and recreation, that's where your museums, that's where those things are. That grouping of departments has a year-over-year increase of $729,000. Jump down a few more rows, you have public safety. Public safety has a $6.5 million year-over-year increase. The majority of that, the vast majority is police and fire, but it's not all. Remember that we've proposed two additional animal control officers. You've got a small amount in public health, and that that kind of rounds that one out. All other categories in the general fund are reduced. So you have those two categories that are up. The rest that are reduced, you take the uh 6.5 and the 729,000. Add those together, you're well up into the 7 and 12 7.7 million range. But the net increase in your proposed budget for the general fund is not that number. It's 2.3 million. And that is offset by those ones you see there negative. Continue down. Um internal service funds are up. Um just as we talked about during your workshop, that is primarily IT and radio. IT and radio. Airport is up slightly. Airport has no tax funds in it. They're pretty much what they earn or what they get on grants they do. You see a $6 million reduction in love power and light. 4.7 million down in storm water. Water wastewater is up. And then your other enterprise funds are pretty statistically flat. They're up by $213,000. So again, the answer to the question, what's the total proposed budget? $943 million. I do have two changes that I would like to recommend to you from the budget that we put forward. Um, you may recall in the traffic engineering budget under other charges, there was request for nearly $24,000 for a large printer that prints out our traffic signs. It died. It's done. It gave up on us. It didn't want to wait till October 1st. That crew has been able to just pull money out of the couch cushions and we're going to buy it with this year's funds. Therefore, I would like to pull that out of next year's request. We're not going to buy two. We just need one. Second, I would like to uh increase the vehicle replacement fund by $110,000. And that is specifically for a it's a little tiny boat looking thing. It's called a cattail removal machine. You may recall we've been using American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA funds, and we're going through the entire chain of the lakes trying to get rid of the cattails. We've had a lot of success. We have not had all the success. There's one more year left on that contract. And when that contract is over, this group that we're using will have done their work. They will have trained and licensed our people to be able to continue that work. But I had a chance to do a field trip Friday and it's we're going to have to physically now get those dead ones out and as we minimize the new ones, get them out. This little machine will be able to do that. the source of the 110,000. I'm asking to pull that from that $2 million street bond contingency capital project that I put up. So, at this point, those are my requested changes and I'll be glad to answer any questions on them. >> Any questions? Okay, we have received one proposal from council members. This comes to you from council members Rose and Collins. I'll kind of start off on it uh and then stop and allow them to carry the the program. This is based on increasing some of our field usage fees inside of parks and recreation. You can see in each of the three brackets what those changes are. I'll just pick out one. User group resident that today is $6 would go to 10. User group non-resident that today is $8.50 would go to 20. Then the per game fee from 35 to 50 for the use of those fields. Go down to the very bottom. So the total budgeted revenue without this proposal is 359,558. [Music] That's what's in the proposed budget. The estimate if the council were to accept these fee changes of what additional dollars would be generated is 236,000. Thus, you would have a total of 5 roughly 596,000. The members have suggested that that revenue and we're talking now about the 595990 that that revenue be directed to two different sources. one's the state of the general fund, which is where all those fees are today. That would be 60% of total, whatever the total ended up being, but it's 60%. Mathematically, that's $357,000. [Music] It's basically whole harmless. The additional 40 that is gained, the additional 40% is roughly 238,000. That would go to dedicated CIP for parks. And with that, gentlemen, I'll stop and let y'all take it. All right. Are there any questions? Mr. Collins, >> mayor and council, I think this is a very important step for us to take in in support of our parks department and particularly these um these facilities that we've built um and and are planning to build. If you'll recall, we've dedicated approximately $8 million uh in the next budget session to uh that was derived from Market Loc and Visit Love Funds, hot tax monies to improve the and and add on to the Tom Martin baseball complex. Uh approximately six years ago, we dedicated about $9 million from those same resources to add and improve um facilities at Burl Huffman. And what we haven't done through this process, and this bill, this budget is the first time that we see it, but we haven't provided for the maintenance of these new facilities, particularly turf replacement, um, and and other things. And I think it's very important that we get ahead of those things. Um, today, I believe, I understand that new turf at Burl Huffman is is approximately a million five, and that turf is expected to last 10 to 12 years, and we're seven years into that program. Uh we're about to um again create a a wonderful new facility with turf fields at Tom Martin and if we don't provide for the maintenance of those then we're going to we can only get what we expect and that is that they're eventually going to deteriorate and we're going to have to find money in the general fund in a lump sum to take care of it. And so this is the reason for this proposal and and I hope that u you and the rest of the council can see fit to support it. Thank you. Mr. Rose. >> Thank you, Mayor. And um like Councilman Collins said, um I'm um of course we both brought this and we're both 100% behind this. Um I wanted to point out the user group resident. Um the current rate is $6, the proposed is 10, and then the per game fee is 35 proposed to move up to 50. And um you know what we talked about with um the parks team is uh protecting the just just the recreational player who wants to come who wants to come play. And um just just keeping that at that 10 these some of these select teams versus uh versus just your recreational player that rate um that that user group res resident rate will will keep that person. um it's, you know, easy to get in. You're going to get on a team no matter what. Uh versus the uh the per game fee, which is more for um like a select um a select player that's playing um playing very competitively. And basically the idea is, you know, we we come up with these uh grand ideas to put these fields in, but we don't have anything to we don't have anything to u keep these keep these fields up. Um, but you know what we came to the conclusion is if you if you build something nice and keep it up, people are going to come back and and we want uh we want tournaments and and things like that for and we want people to come back that we want them to come to love say this is, you know, this was a nice facility. It's well kept up. They're well funded and and we're going to bring our tournament back next year, which which in turn turns the economy um for love, which is what it was what it was used for. um in the first place. So, I think we're um looking forward to hopefully um the council will approve this. >> Mayor Brodale, >> thank you, Mayor. Um I think I've seen this before, something that you did a while back, Jared, but it is definitely something that's necessary for preventive maintenance. I don't think we always think about that, but this is very important for preventive maintenance as well as from what I understand tournament-wise with some of the fields, we have almost 100% in scheduled events already, which is wonderful, but also a reason why we need to be looking at preventive maintenance. And I think that this is going to help support local recreation as well as open for more tournaments that in turn brings more um beds and heads and that's something that we definitely want to be um aware of and to be encouraging. So I think this is important for parks and wreck and they have demonstrated time and time again how they work tenaciously to try to sustain with the little that they have. So, thank you for this proposal. You'll definitely have my support on this, >> Mr. Collins. >> Thank you, Mayor. I I failed to offer my appreciation to Miss Witcher and Mr. Van Gundy and their staff. So, you guys worked very diligently on this on on short notice and and I appreciate the effort that was gone in uh has been put into getting this to this point. Thank you both. >> Dr. Wilson. >> Uh, Mr. Atinson, one of the things that I want to clarify and that you can answer for me. So when we talk about revenue dedication, 60% going back in the general fund, 40% to CIP, even though our parks and reccks department is in the general fund, can we attach some type of stipulation to this that says that these the revenue off of these although going back into the general fund cannot be pulled into other things because I think the city of LC with you being in mind has done a very good job when we do feebased things like water, waste water, those fees are tied to that fund. So, what I would my fear would be and what I don't want to see and I don't think this council would do it, but to secure these funds and this revenue for our parks department, I would like to see them somehow be linked to where they can only be used going back into the parks department to use these for maintenance. I would hate to see revenue generated from fees from parks be pulled to other things in the future. >> Good, good point. Good point. So the 40% that's the call that the new money in this proposal. The council members did a great job of leaving what was in the general fund in the general fund and then moving the rest over. That 40% is dedicated and can only ever be moved by an action of the council. Be it this council or council in the future. The part that's in the general fund in this case does differ a bit from water, wastewater, storm water. um you could put a 100% of all the fees that parks collects and you're talking about all in 750,000 out of 14 million. So, it's it's that part of it. The general fund is considered. We put all the dollars in, we allocate the dollars out, or more appropriately, you you the council allocates it, >> right? I mean, but you could see my concern. Like I said, I don't think this council would do that. But I would hate to see because that's one of the big things that, like I say, I think we do really well on is pulling property tax for essential services and then finding creative ways to find things that some taxpayers would consider maybe non-essential like parks and ball fields. Even though it's a great quality of life item for our citizens in LVC, I just would hate to see revenue that they are pulling in based on those services then be turned over to a different department and then then we're left with the same problem in 10 years that we're struggling to maintain these fields. And I think if we're going to charge larger fees, charge our residents larger fees, charge non-residents larger fees, that those fees be dedicated back to the parks department. That way we can maintain this because I think that's what is the this council sitting up here saying is we all want to see these maintained. I just don't want th that those dollars to be in jeopardy later to where they are used for something else and not actually what we are all standing here saying we want them to be used for. >> Absolutely. Let me let me work a bit on that and maybe add some to that conversation. I think this council has done a lot getting us in the direction um that you're talking about. You know, last year we added the dedicated funding specifically for Tom Martin and Burl Huffman because those are your your turf complexes. That's maintenance. It's not replacement. The budget proposal does have a small CIP that we were establishing for year one dedicated to the turf replacement out at Huffman. This can be added to that as well. uh this finds favor with the council. We can back this up with a separate resolution much the way gateway is managed. Still does not mean that a future council could not change it, but it adds another step to it. >> Yeah, I think I'd like to see something like that. So, some direction I'd like to give because then I think if future councils try to take that action, at least it has to be done in the public and funds just can't be shifted and and people aren't aware that their money is going to something different. Glad to do that, Mr. Rose. >> And yeah, just so the public knows, that's what we were kind of trying to get at with this this revenue dedication versus the 6040. So, we wanted we wanted the increased fees to be um you know, essentially set aside so we could and we talked with parks a lot about you know, it's windy around here and the canopies, you know, they're expensive. Those one of those goes, we have money set aside to replace those things. uh soccer nets at Burl Huffman. Um and we're even putting back money to uh replace um you know, obviously it wouldn't get us all the way there, but we're putting money back at least to replace turf at at Burl Huffman. Um talk to some uh talk to parks about just the the turf fields, whether you play on them or not, just because they're in the sun uh 10 years and they're about they're about done. You've got to you've got to put a replacement on it. So, we're just trying to take care of the things our nice things that we've built. Um, they're nice at first, but um, you've got to have money to keep them up. So, that's what we're doing right here. And I I would definitely be look for an additional resolution that that sets that money aside if you know if if legally possible. >> All right. Well, and I want to uh thank uh Mr. Collins and Mr. Rose and our parks department uh for working on this and they uh surveyed a lot of different cities and their fees for these kinds of uh um charges and and set these charges well within those limits. Uh so it allows us I think to continue to draw tournaments and um athletic teams here to play in our fields but also maintain them um uh appropriately and keep them attractive to people coming in. This is a first stab at trying to set aside a dedicated uh fee uh that would help maintain those fields. Uh we can always adjust it if we want to. This proposal right here doesn't make any really uh material change to the general fund budget one way or the other. Not a cost, not a a revenue. Either one. It's level with what pretty much what we have. It's just that additional amount that would be set aside. If this council wishes to take that further, we can certainly do that. But this is the proposal today. And I commend them for their work on it. I think it's a good use of that money and um uh it's proactive and looking forward to it. So, thank you very much. Any other questions? All right. Okay. So, council, we've got the two changes that I've requested to the budget. We have the proposal from Mr. Rose, Mr. Collins. Um, another opportunity for the council if any of you have any direction that you would like staff to work on and to assist. Um, and again knowing the next time we have this discussion will be next Tuesday as you're starting to head towards actions. So, mayor, with that, I'll turn it over to you. All right. Is there any discussion amongst the council on these proposals? Uh, Jarrett, would you go back to your page four for me, please? All right. Just uh since we were talking about parks uh a minute ago, we have cultural and rec recreational services going up by about 800,000 something like that. Uh one of the only two increases I think everybody understands our public services, our public safety increases due to uh salary increases and other things we will be doing in those areas, adding uh staff people in our um animal services. Uh, so it's the only other area that went up. Um, can you explain where why that one went up and where that that money is going? >> Um, yes sir, glad to do that. Um, and I have a couple of direct numbers maybe that will help. So if you recall over the course of the last year, uh, as we have managed the mowing of all the various different facilities. So that's your parks, that's your city facilities, and in certain areas it's the medians, the rightaway, and the loop turnarounds. And the loop turnarounds are all on the south loop. So that's University Indiana, Quaker slides where those mainly are. We've struggled with those contracts, and it's been a hard hard job to keep the parks looking good. parks went back and decided that they would put bids out not to the multiple the 10 different contractors but to those three groups parks, city facilities, median rightaway, etc. We did that. Um I think personally and I've actually for the first time this year rain has helped but we're getting compliments on how well they're taken care of rather than can you hurry up and get somebody to come out there. So the groups that we have, they they come in and they take care certainly of the mowing. They're doing the tree trimming. We actually had some calls about tree trimming in the last day or two. They do our herbicides. They fix the irrigation where such is appropriate and they take care of the trash removal. Those are more expensive than the way we were peacemailing it. So here's where the breakdown is. For the portion of those contracts that are the city parks, that's 2.98 million. For the portion that are city facilities, um, and this is going to include your your Le Cemetery, um, $414,000. And for the portion that are the medians, the rideaways, etc., That's $123,000 all in. Despite the fact that this is expensive, you add it all up, we're up at $3.6 or so million. Still only had a $729,000 increase. That's a lot of money. I I get that. But it's not a carry forward of all of it. We've cut in other areas to try to help. Mayor Prom, >> I think the other point to yours, Jared, it's not like there's not an abundant number of folks that can do this type of work. There's a lot of there's a big process and it is a time where there's just not it's a necessity. It's a necessity. So, it might be an increase, but it's one that is a necessity. because we hear the complaints from citizens when the cemetery is not being mowed, when the parks are not being mowed. So, this is very important, I think, and and I think that despite it all, we've managed to keep it at a a decent rate. >> Thank you. It really is what's the service level that the council wishes to provide. And so, uh, any other questions on that regard? Uh, we'll go down to the, uh, lower half of your chart there and the enterprise funds. Uh, most of them have gone down or not gone up by much. Uh, what about the, uh, waste water, wastewater, and that increase? >> We can switch back. Uh, I'll need a quick break to do it, but I can switch us back to the presentation that's actually got all that detail if you would like, mayor. >> Yes, sir. >> You want to do so? >> Yes. >> Okay. Give me a moment. Okay, mayor, you might see if it'll come back on for you. All right. Okay. At the top level, and then we can switch into the detail pages if you would like. Um, recall that we're adding four additional water meter technicians. So that is the last part of the roll off of when love power and light was doing this to back 100% we're doing that inside the fund. One industrial electrical technician and associated increases that go with that. The general operations and maintenance of these systems just goes up. Chemical cost is really the driver of that. There's not a lot of places to get the chemicals we need to do this. We do have some professional services increase largely inside of the wastewater portion of it. As we continue to work mainly on the big south plant. Um as those what we call the internal service funds, those charges get allocated out. It affects them as well. The cost of our or being the cost of being provided water from Crimo is up this year. For them, a lot of that's chemical and a lot of it's electricity coming up through there. um debt service is going up. Uh the real change that you had there, we had a smaller issuance that was the purchase of the V8 ranch for Lake 7 and you had the larger step one issuance that was the West Leuk water expansion. And then finally, the other one is going to be the business office allocation. That's a fancy word for what we pay LPNL to bill and collect on our bills. >> And thank you for that. I just want people to understand that that the death service increasing part of it is a significant part of it as well and that's for the uh lake 7 uh and then the west part of our city's uh expansion of our water project which are very necessary important things for our our future. So >> exactly >> people to understand you do see some increases there but it is buying absolutely necessary things for our city's future. >> All right, any other questions? All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Collins. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, Mr. Atkinson, one of the things that I'd like for us to look at as we go forward uh and and have for discussion next next time is our staff compensation increases that we're proposing. We have a 4% increase proposed for our public safety um team, which I think is very appropriate and very important as we continue to try to fill uh those open positions and to elevate the level of of our public safety. Uh but we have a 2.5% uh proposal for staff. Um one of your previous presentations said that our CPI is 2.7. uh cost of living in the city of Lok has gone up more than we are proposing to increase those staff members and and I think it's very important you know that we allow them to stay up with the cost of living and to recognize the cost to the city if we lose those members. Uh I I think this is very challenging and something that we don't ordinarily recognize is what does it cost to replace someone? We've seen a couple of highle staff people leave. I won't say it's because of of pay, but I will tell you uh and and say to the public to replace those folks is going to cost a considerable amount of time. It'll cost us loss of service and it will cost us um you know when we go to replace them. And so that that concerns me. And so I would like to have information provided uh about what a half percentage point increase citywide uh costs so we can understand what that number is and and then we can possibly look at at some places where we might be able to find those dollars to uh to help keep our staff um increases above the cost of living. >> Yes, sir. Glad to do that. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions at this point? All right, I see none. Thank you very much. All right. Um, let's take a brief break now and we'll come back um in about five minutes. All right, everybody. Here we go. >> All right, city council will uh reconvene now in regular session and we will take up our ceremonial items. I'm now going to call on senior pastor Steve McMans of Indiana Avenue Baptist Church to come forward lead us in our invocation after which our mayor pro Tim will lead us in our pledges to the United States and the Texas pledge uh flags. Please stand if you can. Let's pray together. Our father, you tell us that we should give thanks to you because you are good. And so we want to do that today. We thank you for this incredible country that we get to live in and we are so blessed by it. We thank you for this city that we get to live in. I love living here and I thank you Lord for allowing that for me. And we thank you for men and women who will step up and try to give good leadership to a community. And I know that uh their pay is nothing. And so I thank you for their service. I pray also that you would help them, give them wisdom as I look at this budget they're working on, how difficult that must be. So I pray for every one of them. I know that when we have good leadership, the people are blessed. And so I pray for them to have the wisdom that comes from you that they will follow you and help your people in love be blessed. We thank you and we praise and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. [Music] States and to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible to the Texas one and indivisible. Yeah, I told the pastor, I said, "We don't get paid much up here." You know, the pay is not much, but the praying is is is good. So, we appreciate that when we get that. Uh, thank you very much. All right. We'll now call the meeting to order and take up our citizen comments. According to our city council rules, any citizen wishing to appear in person before a regular meeting of the city council regarding any matter that's posted on our agenda completes a sign up form provided at the meeting no later than 2:00 on the date of the meeting. And so we have one person signed up today. I will call you forward. Uh please give us your name and your address and you'll have three minutes to make your comments. A bell will ring when you have 30 seconds left and a second bell will ring uh when you need to finish up your comments. So, uh, today we have Michael Ward, uh, coming forward to speak on agenda items 2.1 2.2. Miss Ward, >> I'll try to be brief. I missed the beginning of the presentation on the civic park, but I had sent you all some history on it because I think it's important. You've inherited a lot of messes from previous councils, uh, including a lot of debt on cos and all sorts of things, too. So, I appreciate at least that we're getting around to making the best of bad situations in some cases, but it's very important for future uh councils to know the history on how some of these things got started because every time we hire high paid outside consultants, they love to come in and just dream skyhigh. I've even seen banners that said uh dream as if price was no object and this is how we come up with these grand plans on this. So I wanted you all to have at least the on paper best I can detail from open records I had on the consultants contracts. It was hard to determine because a lot of them also had their expenses paid while they were here. But that's how we wind up with huge crazy things that we would never do otherwise. And I just thought the history of it was important for you all to have that how much the u basically the Overland partners that dreamed up the downtown for about the fifth or sixth time and then u TBG partners which I think is a same place in San Antonio made up the little green squares and then for some of us that thought it was crazy to tear down a 65,000 square foot building and really good parking garage uh to Smitherines in order to put in a elaborate fancy park. And there's too much of this central planning stuff goes on from these consultants anyway in that they think everybody's going to move downtown into little highrises around pretty little green spaces and don't need cars and they'll just work and play and eat and live and play in the park. So, I'm I'm hoping that they'll scale back that to something practical that won't blow away in the wind. I've been asking if anybody mentioned the I think the video screen and all that. I imagine it wouldn't last very long. I've lived here all my life, so I I kind of know. But I'll I'll reserve my comments on the uh budget until I have time to actually read the whole thing. But I know y'all are trying to scale back some things and I appreciate your efforts on it. So, just thought it was important to comment on the civic part because it's been a weed patch that I used as exhibit number one on what we don't want to do in the future. So, appreciate your help. >> Thank you, Mr. Ward. I think we're all glad to see something happening there. Uh, and tired of the dreaming and the planning and wanting to see something uh finally moving forward on a budget that will work. So, all right. No other people have signed up for comments. So, we'll take up item 5.1, the minutes from our July 22nd, 2025 regular city council meeting. Is there a motion to approve item 5.1? >> A motion and a second. Any uh discussion or changes to the minutes as they've been presented? I see none. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. So, that motion is approved unanimously. We now take up item six, our consent agenda. There has not been a request uh today to pro remove any items from the consent agenda. So, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there such a motion? >> I'll move second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the consent agenda? I see none. All in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented. Uh please let it be known by saying I. I. Any oppose? Say nay. I hear none. That passes unanimously. We'll now take up the regular agenda and we'll consider items 7.1 and 7.2. Without any objection, we will conduct a consolidated public hearing on these two zoning cases. The council's already received their packets uh and the staff reports from the planning department and recommendations from the planning and zoning commission. As a reminder, the purpose of the public hearing is to hear from the applicant, members of the public. The council may ask questions of the applicant or staff during the public hearing, but no discussion on the merits will be conducted by the council during the public hearing section. So, I now call on our director of planning, uh, Kristen Sager, to provide a brief summary of each of the zoning cases subject to the public hearing. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. Item 71, zone case 1190D. It is located in district 3. The request is for a zone change from neighborhood commercial district to heavy commercial district. We sent out 49 notifications receiving four in opposition. The property is located north of 50th east of Quaker. Here are the four letters we did receive in opposition. Here's an aerial view of the subject property. There is residential to the north, additional businesses along 50th Street to the east and west and south. Current zoning is neighborhood commercial. There is additional neighborhood commercial, auto urban commercial, and heavy commercial zoning along 50th with low density single family to the north. Future land use plan designates this property for commercial land uses. And here are some photos of the subject property with the existing building on the property and the adjacent area. The future land use map designation is for commercial land uses which is consistent with the request for heavy commercial zoning. The proposed zone change is in conformance with the zoning ordinance and will be appropriate at this location. It is compatible with the surrounding area and will not change the character of the existing development. 50th Street is designated as a principal arterial. Staff has no objection to the request and the planning and zoning commission recommended approval with a unanimous vote and I'd be pleased to answer any questions. I see no questions. >> Item 7.2, zone case 3531 in district 4. The request is for a zone change from lowdensity single family SF2 to heavy commercial. We sent out nine notifications receiving no responses. This property is located north of 130th future loop 88 west of slide. Here's an aerial view of the subject property. It is currently vacant. There is a mix of uses along Slide Road and then further west is outside city limits. Current zoning is low density single family. At your last meeting, uh a zone case was approved northwest of this property to reszone to heavy commercial. So it is no longer SF2. Future land use plan designates this property for commercial land uses. And here are some photos of the subject property and surrounding area. The future land use map designation is for commercial which is consistent with the request. It is in conformance with the zoning ordinance and compatible with the surrounding area. Future leap 88 is designated as a freeway and slide is a principal arterial. Staff has no objection to the request and the planning and zoning commission recommended approval with the unanimous vote and I'd be pleased to answer any questions. >> I see. Thank you, Mr. I'll now open the public hearing for agenda items 7.1 and 7.2. Is anyone here wishing to speak in favor of either of these zone cases? If so, would you please step forward and and tell us which one and state your name and address? >> Hello, my name is Ricky Plunkett. I'm the one leasing the property on that that uh 50th Street. I'm using it for uh my construction company. is for showroom purposes and holding some materials in the building. Very little on the outside would just be a truck or trailer. Very small use like overnight mainly. Other than that, if there's any questions y'all need, I'll be glad to answer anything. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for Mr. Planket? >> Thank you'all. >> All right. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to item 7.1? All right. Anyone here uh wishing to speak in favor of item 7.2? Anyone here wishing to speak in opposition to item 7.2? I see no one coming forth. So I will now close the public hearing at 220. So is there a motion to approve agenda items 7.1 and 7.2? Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor, let it be no by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. Motion passes unanimously. So now we take up item 7.3, an ordinance on second reading approving the request of annexation by Beatenbo Homes LLC and Starlight Development LLC to annex an area of approximately 8.82 82 acres adjacent to the southwestern city limits of the city of love south of 146th Street adjacent to and west of Frankfurt Avenue just as you see on your map that's up here now uh into our love corporate city limits uh since this is a second reading unless requested by the council. I'll forgo the staff breathing briefing and ask for a motion. Is there anyone that wishes further discussion or presentation? I see none. So I'll consider a motion. >> Do I have a second? All right. Any further discussion? All in favor let me know by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. The motion passes unanimously. All right. We now take up item 7.4 through 7.13. These items all relate to approving the assessment rates for the following public utility uh excuse me, public improvement districts. Bell Farms uh public Improvement District or PID, Quincy Park PID, Northwest Passage PID, Upland Crossing PID, Upland Crossing 2 PID, the Upland Crossing 3 PID, and North Overton PID, North Point PID, Willow Ben Villa's PID, and Cypress Ranch PID. Without objection, the council will conduct a consolidated public hearing for establishing the assessment rates for these PIDs. And we've already received in our packet the staff reports and recommendations from the advisory boards for each PID. So is there any objection for a consolidated public hearing on these? I see none. So I'm going to call on our city's business development director, Brianna Brown, to provide a brief summary of each PID assessment recommendation subject to the public hearing. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor Councel. I'll apologize in advance because you're going to hear a lot from me in the next little bit here. Um, so our public improvement districts this year wanted to point out a couple of things before I start. One, there is one district that's missing from the public hearings today and that is the Valencia public improvement district and that was due to a staff error. Staff being myself, um, I had a typo on the date in the publication with the Avalanche Journal and that went out to the homeowners. And so we will take that public hearing at your first meeting in September. So, if we have citizens here, I think we've noticed them of the new meeting time that hopefully um they knew they know it's been moved, but my apologies if I missed anybody. Um so, we will have one more public hearing for you in two weeks. Um the other thing I wanted to point out before we start is we have no proposed changes to any of the assessment rates in our PIDs this year. So, everything that you will see today is the same rate that you approved last year. Um, and just for the public's information, um, for the majority of our public improvement districts, we base these assessments on property value. So, this year we are proposing no changes to those rates. The only way a homeowner would pay more in an assessment is their if is if their property value went up year-over-year from last year to this year. We will start with Bell Farms. For each of these districts, I'll have a map. Um, our special districts manager, Molly Bisteros, has provided new maps for you this year, so it's a lot easier for you to see um, the different areas, the public areas within each of these districts that the pit is responsible for maintaining. Um, Bell Farms is one of our largest pits is our largest PID right now. Um, where we manage the most assets and so you can see all of those on the map here. Um each district slide will have the 2024 assessment rate, the proposed rate for this year, which for Bell Farms is 12 cents per $100 valuation. Um and then a list of the services that the PID provides in each of those areas. If you want me to go into additional detail on any of these districts, please feel free to stop me. But I'm going to keep going until somebody tells me to stop. The next district is the Quincy Park Public Improvement District. You can see here that we manage a large green space and um some sections of median in Quincy Park. We actually lowered the assessment rate in 2024 from 15 cents to 14 cents um and recommending that we maintain the 14 cents um assessment for this year. Our next district is Northwest Passage. We um are really just beginning construction or the developers are beginning construction in this area. Um so the map's a little outdated. We have a little bit of construction or construction commercial um buildings that have gone up on North Slide and then homes under development through Beaten Bow Homes and then also um Jordan Wheatley's group. Um and so we should be seeing more activity in this area over the next couple of years. Assessment rate last year and this year is 15 cents per $100 valuation. Upland Crossing, we recently took over all of the public spaces in this um area. That's something you all approved in this fiscal year. We manage two parks and some areas of fence. Uh current assessment rate is 15 cents per $100 valuation and proposed rate is 15 cents. Upland crossing 2, which is just south of Upland Crossing 1, um we will manage a drainage basin only. Um this will be strictly maintenance of that drainage basin once the neighborhood is built out. We do not um we're not responsible for any maintenance so far. 12 cents per $100 valuation now. 12 cents proposed in Upland Crossing 2. Upland crossing 3, which is to the east, is the same situation. There's a drainage basin over there that we will take over once um the neighborhood is built out and the PID can afford to do so. This is a little bit smaller of a district, so a little bit higher assessment rate. They are currently at 18 cents per $100 valuation and we will keep them at 18 cents. North Overton um we manage a very large area and lots of public rideway and um a large park space in North Overton um Glenn Goodaker Improvements if you think of all of that green space that's in that ride ofway um and most of the public spaces throughout the district are managed by the PID. This is also unique that we manage all of our street lighting and pedestrian lighting. That's the only um district that I have that we that we do that to that extent. 18 cents per $100 valuation in North Overton now and it's proposed to remain at 18 cents. North Point Public Improvement District, we are currently maintaining all of the sections of North Slide, all of the medians um in the public ride of way. We have a walking track in this area as well. And then we are under construction on an extension of this walking track to the west. So the pit is funding construction of that project and then we'll maintain that green space once it's complete. They are at 14 cents per $100 valuation and we're recommending that they stay at 14 cents. Willow bin Villas. This is another um district that we currently do not maintain any areas, but they do have two pocket park areas and a drainage basin that um we plan to take over in the next fiscal year. Their assessment is at 15 cents per $100 valuation and it will uh remain at 15 cents per $100 valuation. Cypress Ranch, this is our newest PID until probably later today. Um, this uh area has a couple of drainage basins that we will eventually maintain and then one park space as well. They do have homes that have been built and sold. We need to get you a new map of this one. Their assessment rate is 15 cents per $100 valuation and it will stay at 15 cents. Fast and furious. Happy to answer any questions that you have. Mayor Pro, >> just for the public's sake, can you remind everyone what a PID stands for so that because it's a constant question? Yes. Uh PID stands for public improvement district and the easiest way that I have found to describe them is a homeowners association that's facilitated by the city. So property owners within a designated area receive an additional assessment, which is what you all are studying today. um that is collected by the central appraisal district with their property tax bill. LCAD then pulls those funds and sends them over to the city and then most of our districts are managed by a board of property owners that work with our city liaison to tell us how they want to spend those dollars. Majority of our districts, their primary function is to maintain parks and green space. They do do smaller scale construction projects like we talked about um in North Point, an extension of a walking trail. We've built a couple pray playgrounds um added some amenities like that, but everybody that pays the assessment benefits from the assessment. And so it's it's similar to a homeowners association in that way. >> Mr. Harris, >> just one question. Why is the Overton area 18 and the rest of them are like 15 and 14? So, that's a great question. Um, primarily because of the cost of maintenance that we provide over there. We have more green space in the public rideway because there's so much commercial. It's one of the few that we have that actually have any commercial area in it whatsoever. And then we do have that large uh Roy Pioneer Park uh that we maintain as well. We do look at um revenues versus expenses on an annual basis. So, Quincy Park is a great example. They're what we call one of our more mature PIDs. They're really done building or adding anything new. And so they strictly exist to provide maintenance for the park. And so we didn't need to be generating as much revenue as we were to cover those costs. And so when when a district gets to that life cycle, then we can lower the assessment and ease that burden on the property owner. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. And when you say that the city maintains the uh drainage or the city is maintaining something, the city has paid for that service out of the pit. >> That's correct. The the pit is not a legal entity. So everything that we own and maintain is technically a city of love um asset but the funds that are generated through the pit assessment cover 100% of the costs of those assets >> and which is an assessment of an over and above the assessment that a normal homeowner would have that's not in a pit. >> So the normal home uh the homeowner who's not in the pit is not paying for the maintenance of these services within the pits. >> All right. >> Yes sir. >> That's an important distinction to make. All right. Any other questions? I see none. Thank you very much. So, I'll now open the public hearing on agenda item 7.4 through 7.13. Uh so, if you'd like to speak, please come forward and identify which uh public improvement district you're speaking about. Is anyone here wishing to speak in favor uh regarding any of these recommended assessment rates? Is anyone here wishing to speak in opposition to any of these assessment rates? I see none. So I'll close the here public hearing at 231. So is there a motion to approve agenda item 7.4 through 7.13 as recommended? >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor? Let it be known by saying I. All right. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. The motion passes unanimously. All right. You're back up here already again. >> Guess who? >> And now I'll take up item uh 7.14 and uh we'll have a public hearing to consider the creation of the Highland Oaks Public Improvement District. And Miss Brown, if you'll provide a brief summary on this agenda item. >> Yes, sir. I will. and I've combined so we have a public hearing first and then you'll be considering a resolution. I just have one presentation for both. Um if you'll recall we started the process on creation of the Highland Oaks public improvement district um in September of 2024. And so at the time we were both looking at the potential creation of a public improvement district to fund a large water infrastructure project while the area was also um being considered for annexation into the city of Leach. And so we originally held a public hearing to annex or to um create this public hearing on October 22nd of 2024. Um state law requires that we have to file the creation resolution within six months of that public hearing. Because of the logistics of putting this whole thing together, we did not make that deadline. And so we are redoing that public hearing today um to get back in line with state law. So this is a map of the area. I know you are all um very familiar with this project and what we're trying to do out here, but just as a reminder um Highland Oaks has now been annexed into the city and they are in need of municipal water services and so the primary purpose of this district will be to fund the infrastructure costs to bring water to the area. As a reminder, council did approve the petition um for this district in September of 2024. You can see the petition numbers there. This is a very unique situation and that this is a fully developed um area and so kudos to the homeowners association that is out in Highland Oaks who went doortodoor and met the requirement the state law requirements of the petition to get this area formed. We did renotice um as required by state law on August 8th for the public hearing that we will have today. This slide um just speaks to what the public is invited to speak in favor of or against. And I can put this slide back up when we get to the public hearing portion if you would like. Um we've kind of covered this. The the reason we're here is to help this area um fund a capital improvement project to engineer, procure, and construct water infrastructure. Estimated cost of that project is $7.1 million. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's actually come down a little bit since we saw you last. So, that's good news for their homeowners. Um, total project costs because we this will be a bonded project. Um, so with issuance costs, interest, and management fees, it's about a $8.5 million project. Each property owner will pay an assessed assessment of $33,3,700. Um, and again, homeowners will have the opportunity to pay that off as they are able or participate in the 20-year bond. Happy to answer any questions that you have. We do intend um the next part in the process once the pit is created is to levy the assessment which sets the assessment rate for the property owner. Um that is anticipated to be done by October of this year and then we will issue bonds for this project in February at our normal issuance. And I can put that slide back. >> Any questions? Yeah, if you put that slide back up. Any questions, Miss Brown? I >> see none. All right. I'm going to now open the public hearing for agenda item 7.14. If you wish to speak in favor, please come forward. State your name and address. We appreciate it. Hopefully this will be the last time before. Yeah. >> Tim Goal at 5308 156th Street. Now, uh here to speak in favor of the creation of the pit. This is uh really how we're going to get all this funded. It's an expensive project. It's a big undertaking. Want to thank Eric and Briana. A lot of the their deadline missing was us. We were trying to figure out maybe some ways to facilitate it outside of the city and that wasn't working. And so don't blame them for that. That was us. And so, but yeah, here to take any questions if you guys have any. >> Are there any questions? I see none. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Anyone else wishing to speak in favor of it, please come forward. Anyone here wishing to speak in opposition, please come forward. I see none. So I will close this public hearing at 2:37. Is there a motion to approve agenda item 7.14 as recommended? So move. >> Is there a second? Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor please say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. Passes unanimously. So now we take up item 7.15, resolution authorizing the establishment of Highland Oaks Public Improvement District. And is there a motion? I don't think anybody has any further questions for Miss Brown. So let's uh uh I will entertain a motion to approve item 7.15. >> So move second. >> Have a motion, a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. And the motion passes unanimously. All right. Now, we're going to have item 7.16 relates to our work session earlier today on the downtown civic park. Uh and unless there's a request by anyone on the council, we'll forgo any further briefing on this. Anyone wish any further staff briefing or to ask any further questions on this? I see none. So, I'll ask for a motion to approve item 7.16. Have a second. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor, let me know by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. That motion passes unanimously. Now, item 7.17. Uh, this also relates to our work session earlier on the downtown city park. And again, unless anybody wants it, we'll forego a staff for the staff briefing. I see no one. Uh, so is there a motion to approve item 7.17? So move. >> Have a motion. Have a second. Have a second. Any discussion? >> I see none. All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say nay. >> I hear none. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Now we'll move on to item 7.18. Miss Brown, if we would provide a staff briefing on this matter. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. We're almost You're almost done with me. I promise. Um we have two nominations before you today for um the Texas Enterprise Zone program. This is a sales uh state sales and use tax rebate program um that is offered through the governor's office of economic development and tourism. They accept applications four times throughout the year. And so we have two companies that are requesting a nomination from you in the September 1st which because of the holiday September 2nd round. Um all that we can do for these companies is make a nomination. So it is a competitive process. They will compete against all other applications that come in in this round including the ones that are um their local competition. Um we have no other jurisdiction over those decisions. We simply send a nomination of support. Um we are given nine designations every two years. Um, and this September 2nd round will start the creation of a new bienium. And so we will be back to nine credits, if you will, before you consider these. Um, I'll go through the two projects, but the total ask today is worth 1.5 designations, leaving you 7.5 for the next two years until um, September 1st of 2027. Your first company, item 718, is from MLAN company Incorporated. They are um they have a distribution center at 1717 East Loop 289. They are making a $12.3 million investment in new equipment and upgrades to their facility. One of the criteria um that is required through this process is that they create at least 10 new jobs and then retain a certain percentage of their existing jobs. So in this case they do plan to create 10. They do anticipate they will retain all 287 existing employees. These are five-year agreements with the state and so they are required to maintain those job levels throughout the course of the nomination or the designation. This project is inside of a state designated enterprise zone. That's um areas that are determined through the census um process. And so 25% of those new employees will be required to be residents of enterprise zones themselves. If they were not in an enterprise zone, then that threshold goes to 35%. Any questions on MLAN? And they are your full project request. So this is one designation. I can stop there or go on >> Mr. Harris. >> Oh, sorry. >> What is an enterprise zone? Where is it located? So they are geographic areas um that are designated by the state based on um census data, demographic information, poverty information, um all of those sorts of things. We have a map on the city's website. If you go to the business development website, you can see all of the census um enterprise zones throughout the city. They were just updated in 2022 as a result of the 2020 census, but we have maybe 40 or so throughout the city. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> And a a project can be inside or outside of an enterprise zone. They're two separate designations, right? One of the more complicated things about this program um is an enterprise zone and an enterprise designation are not the same thing. Um you do get that 10% benefit, if you will, by locating your company inside of an enterprise zone. So, there's a little bit of a difference in hiring requirements if you're not, but either can qualify. >> All right. And again, just to be clear, this does not require any expenditure on the part of the city. It's really just a letter of support, a nomination. That is correct. To the state. It's a state funded project or state. Yes. Okay. >> Yes, sir. No local incentives through the Economic Development Alliance, although they are here to answer questions if you have them. Um, this is simply kind of our checking off on the application that we approve of this company and want them to be successful and love it. >> All right. Would you move on to the next one? >> Okay. 719 is for Tyler Technologies, Inc. Um they are submitting for a half enterprise zone project. So they will cost us 0.5 of a designation. Um their headquarter location is located at 5519 53rd Street and they plan to invest $3 million in business per personal property. Um this is way outside of my lane, but I understand that they're making significant network upgrades to bring technologies um into more modern era. And that's about all I know about that. So, um they also plan to create 10 new jobs and retain their existing 240 employees. They are also in an enterprise zone. So, 25% of those new employees will be from enterprise zone areas. >> Are there any questions for Miss Brown? >> I see none. Can we have a consolidated Is it okay if we have a consolidated motion on both items, Mr. White? All right. Without objection, I I see no objection. So, I'd consider a a motion to approve items 7 one see and 17. >> Yeah. No, no, I was saying I'm looking at the wrong page. 18 and 1 nine. Um 18 and 19. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All right. Is there any further discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. Any oppose say no. I hear none. So that passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Our chief of police is up next, Chief Herman. He's going to provide a staff briefing on agenda item 7.20. >> Good afternoon, council and mayor. Uh 7.20 is related to the current ordinance concerning alarm permitting and fines. The most note not noteworthy change would be the allowance of a third-party vendor to manage those systems, effectively freeing up at least one of our personnel within the records division. It would also estimate that we would reduce the number of false alarms our people would respond to. Uh alarm calls throughout the year are the four fourth most prominent that we uh respond to on a nightly and daily basis. So, as you can imagine, it takes at least two officers to respond to alarm calls. the number of false alarms far outweigh those actual true alarms. This change would not reduce our service. Uh we would continue to respond to all alarms. However, uh as we've seen with other jurisdictions, the utilization of a third party is effective in reducing the number of false alarms and streamlines the processes for us. I'm glad to answer any questions you may have. >> Any questions for the chief? I see that. Thank you, Chief Herman. Just appreciate it. We do request, although it's not in your packet, that this become effective October 1 to be in line with the fiscal year if possible. All right. >> Thank you. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve item 7.20 effective as of October 1st? >> So move. >> I have a motion. Have a second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, let it be known by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. That motion passes unanimously. So we've exhausted all the items on our agenda. So this meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much everyone. [Music]