City of Richland Springs Minutes of City Council Meeting on Monday September gth, 2024 Meeting: Discussion of the ongoing projects and regular business of the city Council Attendees: Mayor Frank Pearce; City Water Manager, Chris Perry Council Members: Aaron Bessett, Larry Crump, Jessica Scales, Dale Mckinnerney, & Johnie Reeves Called to Order/Location: 07:00 pm at City Hall Note Taker: Jessica Scales Johnie Reeves, Chris Perry Absent: none City Officials Present: Frank Pearce, Aaron Bessett, Jessica Scales, Larry Crump, Dale Mckinnerney, Guests/Citizens Present: Deana Sealy, Morgan Verette 7:00 pm 1. We opened the meeting with a prayer. 7:01pm 2. Guest and Citizen Participation: none 7:01pm 3. We held a public hearing for the new tax rate. There were no guests and no public commentary. Discussed rate changing from 0.4100001 to 0.438870, no election required. No further 7:04pm 4. We discussed and approved the previous minutes from the 8/14/24 meeting. A correction was made to agenda item 7, edited incorrectly noted tax rate and agenda item 18 mayor reports corrected to show pump needed to be set, not tank. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Dale Mckinnerney, 2nd byl Larry Crump, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. Discussed special meeting notes, one correction made to agenda item 6 mayor reports, bid amount should be $14,000 for drywall install, NOT $1,400. A motion to approve the special minutes was made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd 7:14pm 5/6. We discussed the bills and reviewed the reports. Discussed extra monthly costs for large plumbing repairs, parts, and labor. Deputies patrolled a few shifts as well. The requested lead and copper samples were submitted. Aaron Bessett made a motion to accept the bills and reports, 2nd! by discussion. by. Johnie Reeves, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. Jessica Scales, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. 7:23pm 7. Rolling Agenda Item: Sheriff's Office Report No deputies in attendance for area wide report. No discussion, no action taken. 7:23pm 8. We discussed the Water Line Grant. Deana had advised us that she received a notice that the city needed to adopt a water conservation plan to meet state requirements. Discussed what's required in the plan and what's already been drawn up. It is part of the state's mission to encourage water conservation throughout the state, and to know how much we use, waste, etc. Chris is our water conservation officer, and is also required to offer tours to the youth/RSISD as well as puttinga notice on our website of our plan to encourage citizens to conserve and how. The Enforcement Division will be sending us a new case number with our problem issues listed, same issues as previously told to us. Jim M. gave us the phosphorus numbers we tested, which will be used to see how we are doing and where we are headed. No mention ofi fines at this time. We are increase the numbers to allow us to spread waste onto thet field, as previously discussed. trying As to we get approval from the landowner, once approval from TCEQ goes through, the city will long the as process. Should be easier since the standard numbers have been provided. As far as the time begin line goes, we are still moving forward smoothly. They must: approve our water conservation has already been drawn up before this meeting), and our representative Jessica has plan(which on it as well, sO it should go through. Deana was also provided with the full list of already signed off to our water project as soon as our audits went through, sO the project is definitely everyone going forward. assigned 7:30pm 9. We briefly discussed approving our water conservation plan as needed for our water project. Everyone looked at the document. Motion made to accept water conservation plan submit as needed. The motion was made by. Johnie Reeves, 2nd by Dale Mckinnerney, passed and 7:32pm 10. We discussed setting the tax rate for the 2024-2025 year. We already discussed selected a rate that will work fori the city and its citizens. Chose tax rate of 0.438870. A motion and made to set the 2024-2025 tax rate to 0.438870 and publicly announce it as required in the was newspaper. The motion was made by. Johnie Reeves, 2nd by Dale Mckinnerney, and passed unanimous vote 5-0. by unanimous vote 5-0. by 7:34pm 11. We discussed changing the water rates. Chris ran the numbers and provided us with data usage fori the city and all its meters showing how many accounts use how many gallons. We have We have 38% (73 accounts) who use more than 5,000 gallons monthly. We will 2,000 gallons or less. only sO as not to affect the minimum users, only those who use lots of water will be usage extra. rates will gain $1,435 per month if we change the usage rates only for the 5,001-10,000+ paying Deana also noted that our water loan would not begin repayment until one completion, giving us time to save up for yearly payments. We will change the year rates after project Garbage rate sheet, with new rates going into effect November 15t 2024. The motion was made 7:44 pm 12. We discussed scoring two RFP's(Request for Proposals) for our CDBG/Community Development Block Grant). Administration Contract. We are required to review and score each proposal. We were provided proposals by Grant Works and Public Management, two administrative companies who oversee community development grants. Grant Works did not a did provide an information sheet and prices. We looked over that. Morgan Verette give showed presentation, but Public Management and presented her proposal along with an information sheet and amount available this yeari is $750K, with our matching marker of 2%, or $15K. Based on prices. the Highest points possible, 60, for having our project chosen as it's been 6 every since years, we score highest Phase 1: In December 2024 we will find out if we were invited to apply and would know Phase 2: scope development; identifying project with engineer and going over cost estimates and exhibits. Phase 2, if invited, we would find out resolutions and cost estimates, due April 2025. water accounts. 50% of our meters(97 accounts) use minimum water monthly, 194 We change gallon users. today, to go into effect November 1st 2024. Motion made to change water usage rates only, on our Water Sewer and Johnie Reeves, 2nd by Aaron Bessett, and passed by unanimous vote 5-0. by up for low to moderate income rate and our scoring within the cyclical funding discussed the phases of the project should we forward. 2025 if we received funds, within 6-8 weeks approximately. 2 years we made any requests. We go by January Ifthe grant is awarded, the agreement would not start until February 2026, with a possible 2nd round award in February 2027 because we need the funding. With this timeline the earliest the project would physically begin construction is early 2026. Everything for the buildup to the construction phase would be done in the meantime, not to be started until closer to February 2026. Morgan would be writing the grant and our resolutions. We can go through this entire process and if not approved would cost us nothing. Should we receive the grant, we would start the project in early 2026, with two years given to complete the project. Morgan feels this project should take roughly one year to complete, assuming no large problems arise. Our engineer Deana would be allowed to start planning closer to Fall 2025 once we receive the formal numbers. With this grant water, sewer, and streets are all prioritized the same. Morgan noted that telling TCEQ we are starting this project may help with Reviewed provided materials from each proposal. Each council member scored each proposal. Alsoa note, but Morgan brought this grant to our attention. Her price was lower and she explained the full detailed process. Council discussed, appreciating Public Management for reaching out, and taking the 8:03pm 13. Final discussion over adoption of a resolution awarding the Administration Contract for the 2025/2026 CDBG Grant. The council chose Public Management to handle the water grant. A motion and resolution were made to assign the Grant Administration Contract to Public Management, to handle and manage our water development grant going forward. The motion was made by Dale 8:06pm 14. This agenda item was added in case of additional information being provided by the property owner requesting annexation. Noi further info provided at this time, no discussion, no action 8:06pm 15. We had planned on discussing the installation and price of lights in the city park but the representative was unable to attend the meeting. Rescheduled for next regular council meeting. 8:06pm 16. We discussed the citizen of the year award. A motion was made to go forward with the award and award to one citizen who meets all the requirements. The motion was made by Aaron Bessett, 2nd by Dale Mckinnerney, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. The city will post all necessary ongoing enforcement issues. time to discuss the proposal and grant in depth with us. Mckinnerney, 2nd by Aaron Bessett, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. taken. information on Facebook and the city website. 8:09pm 17. We discussed the old water office. Construction is still in progress. The insulation needs to be stapled in, and a ditch needs to be dug for sewer out to connection. Need to rent a digger and install a 3" line, and the vent is already installed. Discussed Mando doing with supervision ofa plumber. We are currently unsure what the cost ofi insulation will be. Exterior 2x6 framing will allow for thicker insulation on exterior walls. Will price and purchase as needed. Overall bill of around $100K should be sent and we will review as a few items are still not yet completed. We still owe! $28K for the roof. Will use the last of insurance funds and around $25K out of city funds to complete payments. 8:15pm 18. Mayor Reports: -Discussed waste water efforts. Frank leases a field east of sewer pond, looking at putting a pivot face out there for dispersion with 4" pipe. New pivots in place, rig has been fully repaired, fully functional. Will try to get thei irrigation company out to move and install where it needs to go. We don'tneed to pump a lot, just consistently. Would probably run one day a week, with the goal to flow back to the pond and pump it through a pivot to keep the pond empty; if kept empty it can store rainfall. Frank would like to sell it to the city once inj place to use for our sewer distribution. Frank will do personal lease with neighboring property to his to use for dispersion, and would like to recoup costs of repairs at least, with sale to city. Currently still int the setup and install phase. Electrical connection would be -Sale of property east of City Hall from Dean Lord to Boho Unique owner has not been finalized and -102/104 E Main St property, a person claiming stake to property after residing there has been incarcerated for up to 14 years, and there has been no one maintaining property for months now. We will look into methods of assuming the property as abandoned property in order to have legal right to clean up the lot. Daughter of the deceased property owner has already discussed with the city, after legal counsel, she does not want the property and does not want to pay back taxes, sO she will sell to the city after probate course. We can expect legal recourse from a person who was staying at property even after the owner's death and is still claiming the property. We will look into tax office options for Someone has been illegally connecting very! long hoses (300 ft+) to disconnected water meters and stealing water. Looking into who it is and how they are accessing meter connections and how much 8:26pm 19. No further discussions, no executive session needed. A motion was made to adjoin the at the same pad where TruClear setup is. Dean has gone back to using the property. back taxes and possible exemptions. they are stealing. meeting by. Jessica Scales, 2nd by Larry Crump, passed by unanimous vote 5-0. 4wer C Secretary, Jessica Scales &calo ARs