MINUTES CITY OF AMES 304 MARTIN DR. - AMES, TEXAS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 09, 2024 6:00 PM The City Council for the City of Ames, Texas held a meeting at the Ames City Hall at 6:00 p.m. Mayor Barbara Domain called the meeting to order at that time. Mayor Domain conducted the roll call, at this time the members of the City Council who were present were: Mayor Barbara Domain, Councilman Michael Trahan, Councilwoman Elizabeth "Liz" Hardy, Councilman Eddie White. Councilwoman Audrey Harrison arrived late at 6:28p.m. Councilman Alfred Freeman Jr. was absent. Counçilman Eddie White led the prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. CITIZEN APPREARANCE There was no public participation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR NOVEMBER 04, 2024, REGULAR MEETING, NOVEMBER 14, 2024, SPECIAL CALLED MEETING, NOVEMBER 16, 2024, JOINT COUNCIL AND EDC WORKSHOP, AND NOVEMBER 25, 2024, SPECIAL CALLED MEETING. The council took a few minutes to look over the minutes. There was no discussion. Mayor Domain asked for a motion. A motion was made. All were in favor. Passed unanimously. Motion made by: Councilwoman Elizabeth "Liz" Hardy Seconded by: Councilman Eddie White All in favor: 3 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS: 1. CONSIDER, AND IF APPROPRIATE, TAKE ACTION, BY RESOLUTION, TO APPROVE THE SELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION OF A CPA TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF AMES, AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO NEGOTIATE AN AGREEMENT FOR SUCH SERVICES. At this time Mayor Domain explained that an email was sent to about 6 CPAS and the ad did run in the paper. We did not receive any submissions in response to this RFQ. Councilwoman Hardy asked what the next step would be since no one responded. Marivious stated that we can extend the deadline. Mayor Domain explained that Jonald Walker of Bruno and Tervalon, stated that he didn't feel as though we needed to have a CPA. They would help us to put some controls in place to make sure that everything that the city is doing is done in the right manner. They are currently in the process of assisting us with setting up QuickBooks SO that we will be able to generate more accurate reports. At this time, it was decided that we would give the CPAS until January 10, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. to submit their response to the RFQ. There was no further discussion. This item was postponed due to not receiving any submissions. Deadline was extended to January 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM. 2. CONSIDER, AND IF APPOPRIATE, TAKE ACTION, BY RESOLUTION, TO APPROVE THE SELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION OF A CONTRACTOR TO PROVIDE GENERAL MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF AMES, AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO NEGOTIATE AN AGREEMENT FOR SUCH SERVICES. Mayor Domain stated that we only received one response back for the Maintenance and Repair RFQ. The response was from Reclaim Environmental Services, LLC. There was no further discussion. Mayor Domain asked for a motion. A motion was made. All were in favor. Passed unanimously. Motion made by: Councilman Michael Trahan Seconded by: Councilman Eddie White All in favor: 3 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 3. CONSIDER AND IF APPROPRIATE, APPROVE THE RESOLUTION FROM THE LIBERTY COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT. A RESOLUTION WHEREAS, ITI IS THE INTENT OF THIS VOTING TAXING UNIT TO CAST ITS VOTES FOR THE POSITION OF DIRECTOR OF THE LIBERTY COUNTY CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT BOARD FOR 2025 ELECTION. Mayor Domain stated that this resolution is for us to vote on the Director Position for the Liberty County Appraisal District. Councilwoman Hardy asked if everyone had to turn in a individual ballot. It was explained that each council member would cast their vote and the candidate with the most votes would be the candidate that the City of Ames would submit. The votes were tallied and the candidate that won the vote was Charles Bowles. There was no further discussion. Mayor Domain asked for a motion. A motion was made. All were in favor. Passed unanimously. Motion made by: Councilman Michael Trahan Seconded by: Councilwoman Elizabeth "Liz" Hardy All in favor: 3 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 4. CONSIDER THE SELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION AND TAKE ACTION TO AWARD, BY RESOLUTION, THE CITY OF AMES SANITARY SEWER REHABILITATION PROJECT TO C&A CONSTRUCTION LLC IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $1,464,241.11. Mayor Domain stated that Philip Jacobs from SPI was present. She asked if he had anything that he wanted to share. He had nothing to share at this time. There were six (6) contractors that submitted their bids. Outofthe 6 bids, C&A Construction came in with the lowest bid in the amount of $1,464,241.11. On the recommendation of SPI, we would like to approve awarding the contract to C&A Construction. Councilwoman Hardy aske if this contract was to fix all the issues we have been having with the sewer system. Phillip from SPI stated that this contract amount would include all sewer line leaks, smoke testing issues, and manhole repairs. Mayor Domain asked if the manholes will be replaced with composite manhole covers. Per Philip, if the covers need to be replaced, they will be replaced with composite tops and if they do not need to be replaced then it will remain the same. Phillip stated they SPI put in an item for 30 composite ring covers replacements. This is just an estimate based on what they saw in the field. Phillip stated that if the contractor does not use all 30 of the composite covers then the City of Ames will not have to pay for the covers that were not used. There was no further discussion. Mayor Domain asked for a motion. A motion was made. All were in favor. Passed unanimously. Motion made by: Councilwoman Elizabeth "Liz" Hardy Seconded by: Councilman Michael Trahan All in favor: 3 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 5. CONISDER, AND IF APPROPRIATE, TAKE ACTION, BY RESOLUTION, TO ACCEPT AND APPROVE THE CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTY FROM THE AMES VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT AS DESCRIBED IN THE GENERAL WARRANTY DEED AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS. Mayor Domain explained that the property where the fire pad is located does not belong to the City of Ames. It belongs to the Ames Volunteer Fire Department. The General Warranty Deed that is attached acknowledges that the Ames Volunteer Fire Department is transferring ownership of the property to the City of Ames. Counciwoman Hardy asked who was still apart of the fire department that was living? Mayor Domain explained that the current members of the Volunteer Fire Department that were submitted to the Secretary of State are: Chief: Henry Winters, Assistant Chief: Lavar Domain, and the Board Member is Michael Fregia. They were allowed to sign the general warranty deed to transfer the property over to the City of Ames. Councilman Trahan asked if Tarver Abstract will be handling the transfer. Marivious explained that the warranty deed is all we must have to make the transfer official. He stated that of course the warranty deed would have to be filed with the court to have it on record. There was no further discussion. Mayor Domain asked for a motion. A motion was made. All were in favor. Passed unanimously. Motion made by: Councilman Michael Trahan Seconded by: Councilman Eddie White All in favor: 3 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 6. MAYOR'S REPORT > The rehabilitation of the sewer system will begin in 2025. Per Philip Jacobs, mobilization of equipment and start time should be sometime in Mid-January. He explained that they would have to obtain conditional approval from Liberty County tomorrow (December 10, 2024). They will then have to obtain bonds from the Contractor, and they would negotiate the contract. It will take an estimated 240 days to complete the project; however, that could change based on extreme weather conditions. Public Management submitted the application on behalf of the City of Ames for the TXCDBG 2025 = 2026 Grant. Mayor Domain plans to reach out seek grant funding from TDEM to upgrade the generators at the lift stations from diesel to natural gas. They currently have $2.2 million dollars in funding available and they have only had 2 applications submitted, which makes our odds of being approved more favorable. There is a match of 25% associated with this grant. Mayor Domain has been working with Communities Unlimited and there are a couple of projects that they are trying to assist the City of Ames with. There is a housing assistance program. A meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday of next week at 10AM. Also, they are trying to assist the City of Ames with GIS Mapping. This will help us to locate our manholes and cleanouts from our phones. There are a couple of tracts of land that the mayor is considering to house a wastewater treatment facility for the City of Ames. It is a 16-acre tract and a 20-acre tract off highway 90. She has spoken with the lawyer who manages the Aurelia Mitchell Trust to obtain more information about the properties. The Mayor and Erwin will be attending a meeting with the Texas Water Board tomorrow at 1pm in Lumberton. They will provide information about funding for a wastewater treatment plant 7. ADJOURNMENT. Mayor Domain asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:32 PM. Motion made by: Councilwoman Elizabeth "Liz" Hardy Seconded by: Councilwoman Audrey Harrison All in favor: 4 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0 Barbara Domain Mayor IMA Wellona Godfrey City Secretary E : 5 0 - T - D>