MINUTES CITY OF AMES, TEXAS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 10, 2022 6:00 p.m. The City Council for the City of Ames, Texas met in a regular meeting in council chambers at the Ames City Hall at 6:00 p.m. Mayor Cornelius Gilmore call the meeting to order at that time. Mayor Gilmore led the prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Mayor Gilmore did the roll call, at that time the members of the City Council who were present are: Mayor Cornelius Gilmore, Audrey Harrison, Michael Trahan, Barbara Domain, Carlton Rollins, and Eddie White. CITIZEN APPREARANCE Mayor Gilmore thanked the citizens for being here and to please silence your phones. A list of citizens is attached. MINUTES Mayor Gilmore asked the minutes to be tabled at this time. OLD BUSINESS No old business to discuss. REGULAR SESSION 2021-01: EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH MATTHEW GOTT REGARDING LA WSUIT WITHTHE CITY OF LIBERTY. Mayor Gilmore made a motion to enter an executive session with City Council and attorney Matthew Gott to discuss City business. O Mayor requested a quick executive session with the City Attorney, Matthew Gott, regarding the lawsuit with the City ofLiberty. All in favor; unanimous Gerald Hicks talked to other citizens about how Ames need infrastructure in order to grown because people want to move here but they don'tl have anything to work with. A few citizens complained about the internet services A female citizen "maybe Reescano" said "they said 5 minutes and it has been 25 minutes" Hicks said "it is going to be an hour before they come back" Hicks said "they're having a discussion they don't want us to know about" Dwight Webb "they should have done this at another time, this is not professional" The Mayor, Council Members, Secretary, and City Attorney came back into session and a female citizen said "that was a long 5 minutes" Motion to come out executive session Matthew Gott left the meeting. Motioned by: Councilman Reggie Rollins Seconded by: Councilman Eddie White All in Favor: 5 Opposed: 0 Regular City Council resumed about 20 minutes later. 2022-02 - DISCUSS AND TAKE ACTION TO PAY TEXAS DRAINAGE OUT OF TDEM GRANT FOR DITCH CLEANING FOR THE CITY OF AMES. Mayor "for those ofyou that don't know, started cleaning ditches starting on Tip Top Road and with all of the rain over the weekend, there was no complaints but instead a lot of"Thank You's". Corrected "digging and cleaning the ditches" Dwight Webb "What kind of equipment is being used?" Mayor "Gradall excavator and the ditches have not been cleaned and dug in 9 years" Dwight Webb "who is operating the equipment?" Mayor "Texas Drainage" Dwight Webb "In all of Ames?" C Mayor began telling him the routes they will starting on. Councilman Trahan "Is this to take action on paying using the TDEM Grant?" Mayor told everyone that the TDEM Grant is public knowledge and the City has a grant for $148,000 and that we're getting another $148,000 this year. Whatever we got to use to fix this problem we will use. Dwight Webb "so it's going to take the whole grant?" Mayor "no" Mayor brought up the Comcast situation Dwight Webb "will the citizens have to pay for that?" Mayor "no, not for installation but anything they don't do then we would have to cover the cost to finish." Dwight Webb wanted to know what kind of agreement does the City have with Comcast. Mayor said it was done through the State. Other citizens wanted to know how could Comcast work in Ames without letting anyone know?. Dwight Webb "how could they come into our city and work without letting the City of Ames know about it. That's not right." 27 Councilwoman Domain said she keeps in contact with a guy, Erwin Hernandez, that works with Comcast. She requested a meeting with a representative SO they can meet up to discuss what project is being done but hasn't gotten a response about it other than Covid is the reason for the delay. Comcast got approved to go all the way to Clayton Thibodeaux' 's house. They're getting approvals are in sections. Mayor asked the County Judge if he knew anything about Comcast but he didn't know anything about it They got the meeting back on tasks about the ditches and voted. Motioned by: Councilman Reggie Rollins Seconded by: Councilman Michael Trahan All in Favor: 5 Opposed: 0 2022-03 - DISCUSS AND TAKE ACTION TO PURCHASE EQUIPMENT FOR LESS THAN HALF PRICE ($8,950.00), GENERATORS, ETC., FROM VOLT UNLIMITED, LLC (SEE ATTACHED QUOTE). Erwin Semien mentioned that this equipment would be good to have back up for the City. The current equipment is not dependable, especially the generator. Mayor "Volt LLC came to our mini-excavator training showing us new equipment at half the price for the "end of the year". 99 It consisted 2 of the things we needed for the City such as a generator with lights and a trash pump. Erwin said everything is needed because ofthe quality of the equipment that we already have is not trustworthy or dependable. We have 2 trash pumps and one works fine and the 2nd one won't prime. Our generators aren't dependable for emergency situations. Volt generators has a welder, air compressor, automatic start, and lighting which is everything we need. The welding machine could be used to build an attachment for our mini excavator SO we won't damage any utility lines. The City doesn't have a pressure washer. He felt it is worth the purchase. Rollins "how often will it be used?" Erwin Cc it depends on the job" Domain 66 what are we going to need it for? For $9,000 how often is the equipment going to be used?" she didn't see the need for a welding machine or the lighting attachment. She suggest purchasing the light from Harbor Freights for $40. When a light is needed. Trahan "I heard a couple of (have to haves) and a couple of (nice to haves). We should only entertain the (have to haves) and let the (need to haves) go." 9> Domain "we could use $9,000 for something else.' 99 Rollins GG would any citizens like to speak on it?" White "all of this equipment is worth $20,000 but we are being offered it at $9,000" Mayor "it's better to have it in case we need it. It's like having it on standby. A citizen asked "Do you have a welder?" Mayor "Erwin can do it?" Erwin "yes" Rollins "but are you certified?" Erwin "no I am not certified" A citizen 44 but you can weld?" Erwin "yes, I can weld." Trahan "T'm for the trash pump on this list" Rollins "we have 2 already. 66 A citizen "but it barely works Rollins G we can pay to get that fixed and it'll be less than $9,000 to do that" Erwin "it's not worth fixing" A citizen asked how old is the equipment that we have Domain "we have a brand new generator in there" Mayor 46 the trash pumps are not new" Domain felt like the only necessity would be the trash pump but everything else wasn't needed Motion was made not to purchase this equipment Motioned by: Councilman Reggie Rollins Seconded by: Councilman Michael Trahan All in Favor: 0 Opposed: 5 2022-04 - COUNCILMAN ROLLINS TO SPEAK ON ANOTHER TRANSIT SYSTEM. Councilman Rollins spoke on getting a green bus system stationed in Ames. The system is like Metro. He believes it will bring jobs. He wants to take one Saturday to have a workshop amongs the mayor, councilmembers, and city employees. 20 to 25 mini-buses and vans. Citizens "a customer will have a chance to purchase cards to ride the bus system?" Rollins wants to ask the Catholic Church if we could use their property to station the buses and mentioned that the City is in the process of purchasing 16.7 acres and hopes to turn that property into a station. He wants to put electric stations at the city hall for people to charge their vehicles. He feels it is a better system than what we have. He said it is not really coming out of our money. They voted to meet on January 22nd @ 10 am. MAYOR'S REPORT He spoke on the ditch digging again and about how the lights on the light poles are being changed out and light poles being added around the community. He discussed about the country club being in ames and how we should be charging the country club. He discussed the lawsuit with Liberty. He spoke about the speed installation. ADJOURNMENT All council members were in favor of adjourning the meeting at 7:10 p.m. Coinalin Hlmane Cornelius Gilmore Mayor Attested: ganuceh hup Jennifer Purnell City_Secretary Page to Approve Minutes for January, 10, 2022 LRD Michael Trahan, Councilman, Position 1 Calla Carlton Rollins, Councilman, Position 2 Bdda HIK Eddie White, Councilman, Position 3 B Barbara Doman, Councilwoman, Position 4 Audrey Harrison, Councilwoman, Position 5