City of Richland Springs  Minutes of City Council Meeting on. January 8th, 2024  Meeting: Discussion of the ongoing projects and regular business oft the city Council Members: Aaron Bessett, Franky Soto, Jessica Scales, Larry Crump, and. Jason Lewis Called to Order/Location: 07:00pm at the R.S. Community Center Jason Lewis; City Water Manager, Chris Perry (Quorum met) Absent: Mayor Protem, Aaron Bessett; Larry Crump Guests/Citizens Present: Paige Moats 7:00pm 1. We opened the meeting with a prayer. 7:01pm 2. Guest and Citizen Participation: none  Council Attendees: Mayor Frank Pearce Note Taker: Jessica Scales  City Officials Present: Mayor, Frank Pearce; Treasurer, Franky Soto; Secretary, Jessica Scales;  7:01pm 3. We discussed and approved the previous minutes. A motion to approve the minutes 7:07pm 4. We discussed the payment of bills for the City, and the Water, Sewer, and Garbage Dept (WSGD). The city found unpaid late bill, was paid. Also purchased No Trespassing signs for the water tower. WSGD had no unusual activity this month, did have sheriff patrol last month. Jason Lewis made a motion to accept the bills, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote  was made by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote 3-0..  3-0.  7:14pm 5. We discussed the monthly reports for the City, and WSGD: our estimated taxi income this year will be "$63K  we have lots of negative balances due to over-budget expenditures WSGD didn't have a lot of repairs sO that's helped balance out amounts Garbage truck has large antifreeze leak, noti found twice now during recent repairs, still leaking. Forced to spend extra on purchase of 2 large jugs of antifreeze per week, until  leak found.  7:19pm 6. Rolling Agenda Item: Sheriff's Office Report  No deputies in attendance for area wide report. Discussed recently scheduled Sheriff Election Candidate Forum. Iti is scheduled for 1/22/24, location TBD. Race getting ugly at this point, lots of online accusations, name calling, and loss of civil discussion. Letting them explain their platforms in a controlled environment with no outbursts will be necessary. Trying to schedule at the: school cafeteria for more room for citizens tol hold standard forum, for good acoustics, and for a deputy presence to keep it civil. If we can't hold at the school, we will use the community center. We will take all questions from anyone in advance and choose those most  frequently asked, dependent on timeframe. No action needed.    *Sidenote, from already discussed reports: the city was looking into a sewer system upgrade grant, its not looking promising as they already offered al loan option, which we declined at this 7:27pm 7. We discussed ordering an election for May 4th, 2024 for Mayor and Council positions. Everyone running/rerunning must submit election form Jan 18th-F Feb1 17th, 2024 by 5pm.  time.  Election will be for:  Mayor (1 year unexpired term), currently held by Frank Pearce Council Place 2 (2 year term), currently held by. Jessica Scales Council place 4 (1 year unexpired term), currently held by. Jason Lewis Council place 5 (2 year term), currently held by Larry Crump  Early voting willl be set for April, dates and times TBD at later date. We will order election; there is no way of knowing if any positions will be contested. Motion made to call for an election to be scheduled May 4th, 2024 from 830am-11:30am at City Hall. Motion made by. Jessica Scales, 7:32pm 8. We discussed Ordinance 2023-1 for Public Nuisance Animals. We discussed the need for the ordinance again.. Jessica Scales states does not believe there is a need for the ordinance, she spoke with the Chief Deputy for the Sheriffs Office about call volume and call reasons before this meeting, and was advised there had not been any calls that were not already covered by existing laws and ordinances or related to animals being loud. There were also no new examples or incidents since last discussion. Briefly discussed. Not enough merit for a new ordinance at this time. We decided to table this ordinance. No action taken. 7:38pm 9. We discussed the purchase of a new propane tank and connections for the Community Center backup generator. We also discussed the installation and location of tank. Discussed possibly placing inside screened in area that can be locked from the outside, to deter theft. Looked at bids for tanks from Armadillo Propane and Heartof Texas Propane. HOT Propane is almost twice the price for same sizes. Discussed cost of cheapest option. Franky has decided to donate a spare tank he has on a property, 250 gallon. Will use that in place of purchasing. No action taken, no motion needed. Discussed fuel rates. City will sign upi for 7:47pm 10. We discussed the electric provider contract for the WSGD. We have rolled over into a new contract at al higher rate, with our new provider as soon as program date passed. We discussed Champion and' TXU as providers and covered rates. Lowest TXU rate was 10 cents higher than the higher rates from Champion. Discussed multi-year contract options. For lowest rates must commit to at minimum, a 3 year plan. Decided to go with middle ground, 361 month contract at 0.06412. A motion was made to select the 36 month plan with Champion energy at rate of 0.06412. Motion made by Franky Soto, 2nd by. Jason Lewis, passed by unanimous vote 3- Continued discussion on electricity and discussed street lights in town that are out, or need to be upgraded to larger, more visible light post. Jason mentioned intersections around town that  2nd by. Jason Lewis, passed by unanimous vote 3-0.  account for propane with Armadillo Propane, lowest price fori fuel.  0.    are completely dark. Discussed light fixtures and possible costs associated. Discussed poles possibly being needed in some locations. Oncor had previously mentioned possible program to get us lights, fixtures and poles for discounted price. For approximately $120 a month we could put up 5 new street lights around town. Our Oncor representative Pat Wilson also wants to view the old cable lines running around town to see what needs to be removed, and provide us help with choosing poles or getting poles for new lights.. Jason mentioned street lights have been known to lessen crime in some studies done, he is requesting lights on his street. He also mentions neighbors recently saw someone walking down street opening mailboxes late at night. Discussed TXDOT not addressing issues in at timely manner as well. Still havent placed our Engine Break signs up, still have not addressed road repair needed on FM 45/Main St across from City Hall where a meter is exposed due to missing pavement, still have not responded to request for FM 45 turn sign with flashing lights to lessen the amount of missed turns leading to traffic incidents. We have been asking TXDOT for years ati this point, for better highway lighting on 190 and FM 45 through town. Micah: Shaw referred us to Brownwood office for TXDOT1 to have them look into our requests. We will contact TXDOT to begin our campaign of trying to get 8:05pm 11. Discussed moving city council meetings back to City Hall. We had moved during COVID precautions to meet required meeting standards. This is no longer needed, and should we need to hold a large meeting we can always schedule in advance at Community Center. Votes cast to move city council meetings back to City Hall starting next meeting. 3 in favor,  light issues corrected.  unanimous 3-0.  8:07pm 12. Rolling Agenda Item: Drought Contingency Plan  We discussed the drought contingency plan and its current stage. The well is still sitting around 20' with ongoing small showers. Decided to leave at current stage, Stage 2. No action taken. 8:07pm 13. We discussed the ongoing old water office construction project. We received 2 bids at this time. February 10-h is our deadline, we will be requesting an extension. For the first bid, our insurance sent out a contractor fori inspection and they have already drawn up a plan and placed al bid, under name MPAK Construction. They are insured and bonded. Bid includes closing in entire space, roofing plus membrane, framing in walls, and finishing out the storefront with windows and door. Does not include cost of metal door on back of office space. Price excludes masonry' work, electrical, or plumbing of any kind. Bid is $118,450.00 including labor and materials. Timeline would be to try to complete by. January 31s. The second bid came from Curtis Durham out of Lampasas, and was a written list of estimates. No mention of bond ori insured. Bid includes removing remaining debris from frame and fixing, pole barn, no mention of roof or membranelunsure if he installs membrane roofs ati this time), windows and doors for storefront and framing inside plus metal door for back office space. No electrical, drywall, or plumbing included. Bid is $100,395.00 including labor and materials. Discussed amount available for project. We already spent $15K out of $28K being held aside for work, leaving us with approximately $107K. Bids are: similar. Discussed the projected timelines. We will need special meeting scheduled to get more details from each bid, detailed breakdown    needed, itemized list. Next meeting we can schedule, giving required 72 hour notice, would be Friday. *Scheduled a special city council meeting for Friday 1/12/24at 11am. * Will: setup teleconferences with bidders. Chris will advise contractors. Will advise council members not  present of special meeting.  8:30pm 14. Rolling Agenda Item: Eclipse 2024 No new information, no action taken.  8:30pm 15. Discussed pay for employees and contract labor. Currently we offer $10/hrfor contract labor(ex: helping dig for plumbing, filling pot holes, trash assistance). These jobs run 4- 51 hours on average. Discussed local wages offered in area, we want to try to match. Fast food restaurants and convenience stores are starting at $12-$14/hr. Decided tol be competitive, discussed rate after taxes, and discussed inflation and cost of living rising. Discussed $15/hr. Decided to change. Motion made to raise rate of hourly contract labor pay to $15 per hour, to offer fair and competitive wages. Motion made by Franky Soto, 2nd by. Jason Lewis, passed by  unanimous vote 3-0. 8:34pm 16. Mayor Reports:  -Recap of Christmas Dayi incident involving water tower and law enforcment. Local resident trespassed and climbed onto the northeast city water tower at the intersection of McCovey St. and Olive St. The city had accidentally left a ladder on site after recent maintenance and it was used to get over the razor wire and to access the high ladder on the tower. The resident told witnesses they wanted to speak with God and needed better reception, sO they went to the top of the tower. After first responders got them down, they were checked and tested, and were found to be drug and alcohol free, incident being chalked up to a mental health episode. Local agencies working to get this resident further assistance. Discussed whether anyone should be charged with trespassing. Cityl has since purchased signs and placed on all sides of outer fences of all water towers. Discussed how this resident needs help, and their current status on probation locally. They are almost completed and we would not want to punish for this incident. If we pressed charges, their probation would be revoked and they would go straight to jail. Jason wants charges pressed and believes jail time is necessary. Jessica asked if highschool kids do: same thing, are we going to press charges and give felonies to them too, ruining futures for all. No responses. Frank and Franky spoke of giving second chance and resident having no bad intentions or ill will. Discussed liability issues. Chris advised us he spoke with city attorney, who has advised us since there were no signs clearly posted at the time, we cannot press charges this time anyway, but can in future. Should similar incidents happen again, it will be discussed on a case by case basis at that time.The resident has since been given community service per probation office, to worki for the city of RS, to apologize to their community through work. Discussed how probation determined amount of hours to serve and costs tot the county for thet first responders to incident. Resident is also still working with their family business, although business has been slow, and they are working through hard times. Discussed city offering them at fewj jobs as well, since we do need those services. Decided community: service could be done with Mando when he starts next round of road repairs and maintenance.    -No other incidents of any kind during last month, no animal issues or major traffic incidents -Jason advised us there was good turnouti for Preservation Society Bank Building cleanout. -RV park remains unrented during Eclipse time, most people are going further east for overnight accomodations. Discussed letting PumpCo know we have RV spots available should  their crews need places. - No other reports  8:51pm 17. No executive session needed. Noi further discussions. Motion made to adjourn meeting by Franky Soto, 2nd by. Jessica Scales, passed by unanimous vote 3-0.  balio Jessica Scales  Mayor, Frank Pearce AalR  Ke