City of Richland Springs Minutes of City Council Meeting on May 8th, 2023 Meeting: Discussion of the ongoing projects and regular business of the city Council Members: Aaron Bessett, Franky Soto, Frank Pearce, Larry Crump, and. Jessica  Council Attendees: Mayor. Johnie Reeves  Scales  Called to Order: 07:00 PM Note Taker: Jessica Scales Absent: Aaron Bessett  City Officials present: Mayor, Johnie Reeves; Mayor Protem, Frank Pearce; Treasurer, Franky Soto; Secretary, Jessica Scales; Larry Crump; City' Water Manager, Chris Perry. Guests present: Dell Becker Sagebiel, Sheriff Deputy Ty Mann, Deputy Dustin Morgan  7:00pm 1. Opened meeting with a prayer.  7:01pm 2. Guest and Citizen Participation: Dell, states no comment other than that 'she will be getting her house back, currently in redemption status, and will be getting back. 7:01pm 3. Swore in new council members and had them take oath of office. Franky Soto, Aaron Bessett, and Larry Crump all sworn in, all duly elected, uncontested, signed, 7:06pm 4. Certified candidates fori the city council, all certifications signed by above 7:06pm 5. Reorganized council officer positions. Motion made to keep all current members in current positions, Jessica Scales as council secretary, Franky Soto as council treasurer, and Frank Pearce as Mayor Protem. Motion made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by 7:07pm 6. We discussed and approved previous meeting minutes. Motion to approve made by Franky Soto, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous vote. 7:09pm 7. We discussed and approved the payment of bills for the city and water, sewer, and garbage. Motion to approve bills made by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed 7:16pm 8. We discussed the monthly reports fori the city and the water sewer and  sealed, and dated. listed members.  Larry Crump, passed with unanimous vote.  by unanimous vote. garbage.  -ACM ready to go, waiting on CTTC internet setup -had large sewer issue, took multiple days to fix, costly -water project, Deena stays still in progress, in 'review status' -no word back on pole barn estimates    -county issued warning about Eclipse April 2024 bringing thousands of extra people to Motion to approve reports made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by  county for viewing unanimous vote.  7:22pm 9. Discussed and approved attorney contract for the USDA water project via an already drawn up resolution, already edited as necessary, showing Randy Robertson will serve ini the position, signed and sealed with city seal. Motion made to approve resolution by Franky Soto, 2nd by Frank Pearce, passed by unanimous vote. 7:24pm 10. Discussed appointing Chris Perry as official city manager and giving him permission to sign all necessary documents as needed, hei is already bonded as well, edited previous resolution to indicate that, to prevent liability issues, two council members will still need to sign any checks, and issues will be brought to council first if approval needed for purchases etc. Motion to approve resolution asi it stands, made by 7:30pm 11. Discussed proposed budget. Will be approximately $25,000 over budget based on this years spending, does include all monthly bills. Budget provided to members to go over, to be decided on at next meeting, and then having a public meeting 7:36pm 12. Discussed purchase of sewer pump trailer rig from Juices Septic. Listed for $18,000. Discussed previous sewer leaks. Last three sewer issues cost around $20,000, most oft that cost paying for pumping. Trailer will pay for itself. New generator, new pump, tank in good condition. Mando is already familiar with the equipment as well. Great price compared to other equipment. Sidenote: pump does not reach bottom of lift station. Council decided to purchase to save future pumping costs for ongoing sewer issues. Motion to purchase Juice's sewer pump trailer for the price of $18,000 as is for the City of Richland Springs, using funds from the water, sewer, and garbage account. Motion to purchase made by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous 7:43pm 13. Discussed PIA and OMA training for all council members. Needs to be completed by all council members within 60 days and submitted to city manager to update certificate status. All members given links to online training, a few hours worth of  Jessica Scales, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous vote.  set to approve budget. No action taken at this time.  vote.  time, to be done in personal time. No action needed at this time.  7:45pm 14. Mayor reports: -3 new dumpsters arriving Thurs 5/12  -had 1000 ft of sewer line run from new meter to sewer pond.. Judge Griffin allowed us tor run across corner of his property. Electricity in place with newi transformer, AMS ready -sewer lift pump tech finally came out and fixed pump, rings and gaskets replaced.  to go.    -house clean ups still in progress out on Old San Saba highway and FM 45, per notices -Deena waiting on TCEQ and USDA still, mentioned liner conditionality test needs to be  given by city  done for pond as well, will look into No other updates, no action needed  7:53pm 17. Entered into executive session to discuss employee compensation. 8:12pm 18. Exited executive session. Motion made to exit Exec Session by Aaron Bessett, 8:12pm 15. Discussed action to be taken after session. Motion made to increale Mando Garcia's: salary by $300 per month, roughly a 15% increase, effective starting next paycheck. Motion made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Frank Pearce, passed by unanimous 8:13pm 16. Discussed mayoral appointment. No one has publicly approached the council with interest in position. If someone is found who would like to run, at that time, we can schedule a special election if needed. Frank, as mayor protem, is noti interested in mayoral duties full time. Discussed how Chris would be handling all city issues from now on while. Johnie steps back for personal issues. Frank would only handle mayoral duties at meetings. No candidates. Franky mentioned Jason Lewis had inquired about position. Franky asked him to attend tonight's meeting but Jason declined. Decided with all issues currently on track and everything running smoothly, we do not necessarily need to appoint anyone. Discussed from here on, Johnie will be mayor in name only, council members and city manager will handle business as needed, with everyone trying to help when/if needed. Note: should someone want to run, special election would need to be 8:22pm 19. No further discussions at this time, adjourn meeting. Motion to adjourn made by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Aaron Bessett, passed by unanimous vote.  2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous vote.  vote.  scheduled by June 22, 2023. No action taken at this time.  Pearce  Scales  phats  -ks