Thegfeart Ofilake Palestine  COFFEE CITY, TEXAS  7019 Pleasant Ridge Road CR4 4217 * Coffee City, TX 75763 Phone: (903) 876-3414 * Fax: (903) 873-2433  CITY OF COFFEE CITY City Council Meeting Minutes December 11, 2023 @ 6 pm 7019 Pleasant Ridge Rd Coffee City, TX 75763  NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN OF A COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNICL OF COFFEE CITY. TOI BEI HELDON MONDAY, DECEMBER 11,2023, at 6:00 PM ATTHE COFFE CITY,CITY HALL, 7019 PLEASANT RIDGE RD, COFFEE CITY,TEXAS. FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSIDERATION OF THE FOLLOWING AGENDA ITEMS. THE CITY COUNCIL RESERVES THE RIGHT TOI MEETI IN A CLOSED SESSION ON ANY AGENDA ITEM: SHOULD THEI NEED. ARISE. AND APPLICABLE PURSANT TO. AUTHORIZATION BY TITLE5, CHAPTER: 551, OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE.  Council Members  Jeff Blackstone - Mayor (A) Ruthie Seward -] Place 1(P)  Carrie Ousley - Place 3 (A) Keith Skender Place 4 (P) Ollie Harmon - Place 5(P)  Marquis Castleberry - Mayor Pro-Tem (P)  1. Call Meeting to Order:  Mayor Pro-Tem, Marquis Castleberry, called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM.  2. Roll Call and Announce if quorum is present: present. A quorum was present. 3. Opening remarks:  Mary. McDonald announced. roll call. Mayor, Jeff Blackstone and. Alderman Carrie Ousley were not  Mr. Castleberry thanked everyone for coming out and. stated that the Mayor had a prior engagement and  couldn't make it SO he would be carrying out the meeting. 4. Consider and Act upon approving items 5 & 6.  Keith Skender made a motion to approve the November 2023 city financials and the minutes for the November 13, 2023 meeting and the October 23, 2023 town hall meeting. Ollie Harmon seconds the.  motion. Motion carries.  5. Approving City financials for November 2023.  Mrs. Seward asked about the fuel charge and ifit included anything. for the police department. Mary McDonald. stated that it had nothing with the police department and was onlyfire department charges. 6. Approving meeting minutes for the October 23, 2023 Town Hall Meeting & November 13, 2023  council meeting. 7. Firel Dept. Report:  Fire Chief, Chris Moore gave the fire report. He listed the number ofcalls) for service and what they were for. He discussed the number of members on with the department and that they have recently picked up fwo more that will be probationary) for a while. He discussed upcoming trainings. Mr. Moore stated that he    had been talking with the Mayor in regards to the fire department using the slick top Tahoe. Stated that they thought about the chief using it and his car be used for medical calls due to it being better onj fuel and those are the majority oft their calls. Mr. Moore stated that they haven't lit their propane tankj yet but will eventually have to and the council will notice a rise in the propane charge. He stated that he hopes to  modernize the heating. system and that he had put in a grant for it.  8. Municipal Court Report: distribution of those funds. 9. EDC Report:  Mary McDonald gave the court report and discussed. the total amount ofcollections of $13,750.32 and the  Vicki Castleberry gave the EDC report. She stated that they approved to add another. signer to their bank accounts due to the need ofh having another person available. She stated that the board voted to donate somej funds to the Lake Palestine Resort for the January 2024.frework. show. She stated that they reviewed the city ordinance pertaining to the height ofthe grass andi will ask) for council to review it. She stated that they were still working on the welcome signs and received a bid for $7,500.00 each. sO they were still looking for other bids in hopes of getting a better price. Mrs. Castleberry stated that they are still looking to move forward with the gifted property and waiting response. from the city attorney once he reviews the contract and they are able to move forward. She also discussed that the EDCreceivedar reimbursement check from. Kilos liquor because their contract timeframe had passed and they had notj finalized the project that grant funds were issued for. She stated that the Christmas vendors market was canceled. due to not Mr. Castleberry asked ifthey were just looking to donate funds to the firework show or ifit had already been done, Mrs. Castleberry stated that it had already been voted on and approved to donate. Mrs. Seward asked. how much was donated and Mrs. Castleberry, stated they agreed on $1,500.00 for the. January 10. Consider and Act upon approving the name selection of the property on the corner of Highsaw Trail and FM 3506 as "Coffee City Multi-Purpose Park". (Item was not acted on in the November meeting) Mr. Castleberry asked. Mrs. Castleberry if she could explain. the reason behind the name ofCoffee City Multi-Purpose Park and. she stated that the idea came from a couple of guest at their meeting and thej fact that they intend to use the area, for more than, just one thing and would like to see ifhost several different events. Mrs. Sewardaskedwhat they plan to charge someone that wantedi to bring their service truck inj for an event and Mrs. Castleberry stated that they have not gotten that far yet and they would be looking into what others charge for something like this. Mrs. Castleberry stated they have thought of placing a bench and table out in the areaj for the citizens can use to, grill. Mrs. Seward stated that during the summer months that would be a great idea and maybe add a pavilion. Mrs. Castleberry stated that maybe instead ofusing the word park ini the name use pavilion instead. Mr. Castleberry suggested that maybe this item be tabled again to give the EDC and the council more time to think on other options and Mrs. Costleberry stated that would be great and their next meeting will be the 22"d and council should attend. so put in their opinions on the naming of the property. Ruthie Seward made ai motion to table selecting the name for the EDC property located on the corner of Highsaw trail and FM3 3506. Ollie Harmon seconds the motion. 11. Consider and Act upon the EDC & City moving forward with the gifted property located at the corner ofHWY 155 and FM: 3506. (Item was not acted on in the November meeting) Mr. Castleberry stated this item will be. skipped for now and will be discussed afier item 12 and 13. Mr. Castleberry stated that this item would be discussed in an executive session based on Government code Resumed open. session at 7:11 PM. Mr. Castleberry stated that they will now act on item 11 ofthe EDC and city moving, forward with a giftedproperty located on the corner of Hwy 155 and. FM3506. Mrs. Seward made a motion to act upon the EDC and City movingforwardi with the giftedproperty locatedo on  having anyone sign upJ for the event.  firework show at the Lake Palestine Resort.  Motion carries.  551.071, deliberation about gifis and donations. Time 6:44 PM.    the corner of Hwy 155 and FM: 3506 with amending items 1,2&. 3 in the contract. Keith Skender seconds 12. Discuss, Consider & Act upon amending City Ordinance #20170911. Allowing Weeds to Grow Mr. Castleberry asked what they were looking to reduce it to and she stated maybe one and a half or two feet. She stated that they would like it lower but for now those wouldwork and that it's scary to walk ini the neighborhood with abandoned buildings and tall grass and not being able to see what is ini there. Mrs. Seward. stated that she would suggest that they table it for now due to the fact that they wouldn't have anyone to enforce it and. she asked Mrs. Castleberry ifthere was a certain area, she was concerned with. Mrs. Castleberry stated that it would be her neighborhood along with aj few other surrounding areas that she has noticed. Mrs. Castleberry stated. that they had discussed possibly reaching out to. Henderson County Sheriff's department and see ifthat was, something that someone could help oversee bi weekly or monthly. Mrs. Seward. stated that at ai meeting the Sheriff stated that they were stretched. and. short on the manpower. Mr. Skender stated that he would also suggest that it be tabled until the city is able to actually enforce it because at this time there is no way to do that. Keith Skender made a motion to table amending the city ordinance allowing weeds to, grow higher than three feet. Ollie Harmon. seconds the motion.  the motion. Motion carries.  Prohibited: Reduce the current height of3 feet.  Motion carries. 13. Open Forum:  Open Forum is limited to items currently on the agenda. Speakers must sign in 5 minutes before the beginning oft the meeting. Speakers will be given 3 minutes to speak.  Any person that is unable to attend and wishes to. submit questions to the council can e-mail the  questions to the City Secretary at cisecretaryQcipolcofeecly.com  No one spoke during openj forum.  14. Adjournment:  Ruthie Seward made ai motion to adjourn the meeting. Ollie Harmon seconds the motion. Motion carries  and meeting adjourned at 7:15PM.  The City Council ofthe City ofCoffee City reserves the right to adjourn into Executive Session at any time during the course of this meeting to discuss any matters listed on the agenda, as authorized by the Texas Government Code, including, but not limited to, Section 551.071 (Deliberation about Gifts and Donations), 551.074 (Personnel Matters), 551.076 (Deliberations about Security Devices), 551.087 (Economic Development), 418.175-183 (Deliberations about Homeland Security Issues) and as authorized by the Texas Tax Cod, including, but not limited to, Section 321.3022 (Sales Tax Information).  CERTIFICATION  ICERTIFYTHATA COPY OF THE MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2023, CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA BY THE COFFEE CITY, CITY COUNCIL WAS POSTED AT THE CITY HALL PUBLIC NOTICE BOARD AND THE CITY  WEBSITE ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2023 BY5:00PM.  4 6  JEFF BLACKSTON MAYOR  CITYSECRETARY  hsne