City of Richland Springs Minutes of City Council Meeting on April 10th, 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 Called to Order: 07:00 PM Note Taker: Jessica Scales Absent: Aaron Bessett  Scales  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: Paige Moats, Dell Becker Sagebiel 7:00pm 1. Opened meeting with a prayer.  7:01pm 2. Citizen and Guest Participation: Paige - advised us she ordered more mulch for city park, will need assistance moving bags onto playground, was given general time frame for delivery; city advised will assist with tractor once they arrive. 7:05pm Dell - she states street maps are incorrect, Auburn St does not exist, states she has Marion St. address, believes the city street is her private property. Discussed other properties on the street. She states her family purchased all those properties decades ago. Advised that does not mean streets were included, still city property, street was never closed, and still not closing streets at this time. She accused the city of conspiracy tot take her property via some form of taxes and states she will bring all her evidencei to  next meeting.  7:15pm 3. We discussed and approved previous meeting minutes.  Motion to approve made by Frank Pearce, 2nd by Franky Soto, passed by unanimous 7:18pm 4. We discussed and approved the payment of bills for the citya and water, sewer, and garbage. Normal payments this month except for purchase of supplies Motion to approve bills made by Franky Soto, 2nd by. Jessica Scales, passed by unanimous 7:23pm 5. We discussed the monthly reports fori the city and the water sewer and -Collection agency fully operating now, six ongoing collection accounts already in AMS(sewer pond cleanout)-The location has power nowi in place, Oncor decided we needed our owni transformer for steady power connection, power will be operational in 10 days(4/20). Had to connect water at different location than originally discussed, next to Frank Griffin's, original hilltop location next to tower did not have enough PSIt to  vote.  needed to complete sewer pond cleanout project.  vote. garbage. progress.    Acourt date has been set for April 20th, for a few who would like to challenge the citations given. Also 3 new certified letters sent about ordinance on multiple properties around town. 45 days notice is being given before incurring fines. Discharge permit application still in progress per TCEQ, they have also requested additional information in regards to gallons pumped in and out daily and how many! hours pump runs. We willl be monitoring daily for next 10 days to give most current stats. We may be pumping too much, will bei investigating further Trade Days this weekend (April 15), we will be setting out the city dumpsters to keep trash down for the city, The Feedlot and Preservation Society. Franky Soto, current member of Preservation Society, gave update. He advised us! 501K: status expired for Preservation Society. Jan 2023, no longer has status of non-profit. Now county is requesting property taxes, and comptroller wants access to building to measure square footage to determine amounts. They have also requested income amounts for the business running out of the building. Franky will bei investigating to find out how status was lost and seei ift taxes cant be reduced or dismissed completely. Preservation Society will need financial 7:58pm 9. We discussed current rental fee fori the Community Center. Compared to other centers for rent in area. Our fee is almost 75% less. Discussed inflation, current cost of stocking all supplies for building, paying professional cleaners monthly, and keeping electric and water on. All costs have increased. Decided to increase daily rental fee from $25 to $50, to keep profitable but reasonable. Also discussed last few renters not cleaning up center after use, asi is requested, forcing us to schedule additional cleaning appointments. Discussed adding deposit to rental fee for cleaning, should center be left dirty. Did not want to increase fee too much, decided to give citizens verbal request and benefit of the doubt. Decided city will advise each renter ati time of rental, that building must be left in condition it was rented or renter would be subject to $50 cleaning fee. Should they not agree or not pay fee ifr requested, they will no longer Motion made to raise the rental fee of the Community Center from $25 to $501 from this moment forward, and to personally advise each renter of verbal cleaning agreement, and should it not be met, to then impose a $50 cleaning fee on renter as needed. Motion made by Frank Pearce, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous vote. 8:04pm 10. Entered into Executive Session under Section 551-074 of the TX Govt Code 8:20pm 11. Motion made to exit Exec Session by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Larry Crump,  to determine exact numbers  assistance ift taxt fees are required.  be eligible to rent community center.  Item 1.  passed by unanimous vote.    City of Richland Springs Minutes of Executive Session on April 10th, 2023  Executive Session: Discussion of the Business of the City Council Attendees: Mayor Johnie Reeves  Council Members: Aaron Bessett, Franky Soto, Frank Pearce, Larry Crump, and Jessica  Scales  Called to Order: 8:04PM Note Taker:. Jessica Scales  City officials present: Mayor, Johnie Reeves; Treasurer, Franky Soto; Secretary, Jessica Scales; Larry Crump; City Water Manager, Chris Perry Absent: Aaron Bessett  Discussion:  -Johnie advised council he will still be mayor in name only, next meeting will be his last (May 2023). We as council will operate from that point going forward without official mayor presence at meeting. Discussed authorizing Chris to work as city manager and giving him official authorization to sign city documents as needed, in place of Johnie. Frank as Mayor Protem, is also able to sign but may be harder to reach him during the daytime. This designation will exist until someone runs for the position (no one submitted election form, election has now been cancelled), or until we appoint a chosen citizen as mayor. Discussed setting up resolution for the next meeting to make Chris official city manager. Discussed suggestions for mayor as well. Most people we approached with: suggestion, as individual council members in personal time, said no. Jason Lewis is only citizen to directly inquire, spoke with Franky. Jason did not run again this year for RSISD school board president and would be eligible for mayor position pending last school board meeting. Will discuss candidates further in the future. Discussed water grant improvement project dragging on USDA end, nothing we can do but wait on them at this point, everything done and ready on our end. They extended Motion to exit session made by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous  date again for final approval. Noi further discussions. vote.  BA Jessica Scales  Mayor, Johnie Reeves  9248