City of Richland Springs Minutes of City Council Meeting on. June 12th, 2023 Meeting: Discussion of the ongoing water and sewer projects and regular business of Council Members: Aaron Bessett, Franky Soto, Frank Pearce, Larry Crump, and. Jessica  the city Scales  Council Attendees: Mayor Johnie Reeves Called to Order: 07:00 PM Note Taker: Jessica Scales  City Officials present: Mayor Protem, Frank Pearce; Treasurer, Franky Soto; Secretary, Jessica Scales; Larry Crump; Aaron Bessett; City Water Manager, Chris Perry.  Guests present: Paige Moats, Dell Becker Sagebiel 7:00pm 1. Opened meeting with a prayer.  7:01pm 2. Guest and Citizen Participation: Dell verbally requested employee compensation amount from last meeting, advised would discuss during city reports. Paige advised us RSBC patriotic banners were now in place for the: summer. 7:02pm 3. We discussed and approved previous meeting minutes. Motion to approve made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote. 7:07pm 4. We discussed the reappointment of JT Owen as our municipal judge. Discussed his good job so far, no complaints, decided to reappoint to position. Motion tor reappoint JT Owen as the City of Richland Springs municipal judge made by Jessica 7:09pm 5. Swore in. JT Owen as judge, signed necessary documents, sealed with city 7:11pm 6. Public Budget Hearing: no comments from guests, have discussed budget last three meetings as well to make sure all allowances were considered. 7:1 13pm 7. Motion made to approve city budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Motion made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote. 7:13pm 8. Discussed bills and payments, nothing out of the ordinary last month, advised 7:17pm 9. We also discussed the monthly reports for the city and the water sewer and garbage. Biggest news, AMS: station now up and running for sewer pond. Motion made to approve bills and reports, made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by  Scales, 2nd by Aaron Bessett, passed by unanimous vote.  seal, and will submit.  Dell of compensation increases for city employee.  unanimous vote.        7:22pm 10. Discussed request made by Nick Taylor, current president of the Richland Springs Youth Sports Association. Nick has requested the city deed over the Richland Springs Baseball Field in order tol have control over improvements and maintenance planned for the field. Draft shows new bleachers, new dirt and grass, ai fenced playground, bigger dugouts, new plates and backstops, newi fencing and painting of everything, and a new scoreboard. Nick also provided us a renovation draft with all the improvements and updates they are hoping to make on the field, with their placements provided via a satellite image of whole property. Discussed changes, all helpful to the program, nothing outlandish or unnecessary. Council decided to deed over sO upgrades can be made, with one exception. Should there be no youth sports for 24 months or more, the RS Baseball Field would revert back to the city. Motion made to proceed with request from the Richland Springs Youth Sports Association (RSYSA) in deeding the Richland Springs Baseball Field over to the RSYSA fori improvements and maintenance to the field, with the provision that ift the fieldi is not used for youth sports for at least 24 months, thei field will revert back to the City of Richland Springs via deed. Motion made 7:30pm 11. Discussed the old water office. Had al bidder stop by and inspect location. States its possible to clean up and restore and add in pole barn setup to enclose building. States with the work required, he will need to make estimate after looking up cleanup costs for removing tar and burned sections. Will provide us estimate as soona as Sidenote**Large hailstorm warning came in fori the area via cell weather alerts, 7:33pm 12. Discussed street repairs and culverts. Still only patching holes until water project completed, but there are two culverts that may need replacement soon, one by the RR1 tracks on N. Carter St. and one on Hall St. by the hollow. Fund currently has about $7,000. Will get estimates to see if we can afford two new tinhorns at this time, based on current inflation prices. Will also seei if N Carter culvert is covered by TXDOT. 7:42pm 13. Discussed the TXI Eclipse happening April 2024. This entire part of state in the viewing area is planning for tourism. Discussed what we could offer locally for those in the area at that time including porta potties, signs, RV spots, park RRs etc. Also discussed the surrounding area plans. Local businesses are also beginning plans. Will keep this as agenda item to discuss monthly should anything change or more plans 7:52pm 14. Discussed local law enforcement pay for the Sheriffs Deputies who volunteer to patrol our city weekly when they are not regularly scheduled for the county. They are all busy with life changes (spouses, pregnancies, new homes etc.) and have less time to patrol. Discussed incentivizing the department with higher pay. Currently we match their already existing pay, discussed increasing by $5 per hour.  by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by. Jessica Scales, passed by unanimous vote.  available. No action taken at this time.  speeding up meeting to prevent being caught ini the storm.  No action taken at this time until estimate is available.  needed.        Discussed how many hours they patrol when on county time, versus city time. Will compare those numbers before making a decision. Motion made tot table the decision until further information is available. Motion made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto,  passed by unanimous vote. 7:59pm 15. Mayor Reports:  Update of sewer pond - pond now running, 120 gallon per minute, into secondary pond. All working accordingly, level of pond already decreasing PIA and OMA training needs to be done by all council members by next meeting. All available via TX Atty General website, also available to the public ifi interested. Howlers Club failed to advise us in timely fashion of request to be on agenda for street closure. Next meeting will bei tool late for requests. Legally have to wait 72 hours for another meeting. Scheduled a special meeting on 6/16( four days from now) at 10am to discuss street closure for Stars and Stripes celebration. 8:02pm 16. Discussed mayoral appointment for city. One again no one. showed up to speak to the council about being appointed directly. We are unsure if anyone is running int the special election at this time. City will put notice in the paper about the open position and will post on local boards to make sure in compliance with the law. No  action taken at this time.  8:05pm 17. No executive session needed for discussion at this time. Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote.  8:05pm 8. No further discussions, motion made to adjourn meeting. Motion made by  Pullane  Mayor, Johnie Reeves  bala