City of Midway City Council Meeting Minutes October 31, 2022 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Brenda Ford The Invocation was given by Councilman John Whitmire, Councilman Gus Kangos led the Pledge. Those in attendance included Mayor Brenda Ford, City Secretary Debra Newkirk, Council members Rex Newkirk, Gus Kangos, John Whitmire and Marc Nelson. Wes Savage was in attendance. Janet Boone and Councilwoman Brandee Curtis were unable to attend. The Consent Agenda for this meeting included the minutes and financial reports for September as well as the following resolutions: Resolution 2023-01 Signatories on the City's Accounts Resolution 2023-02 Making the Madisonville Meteor the Newspaper of Record for the City Resolution 2023-03 Approving the Paid Holidays for the City. These specific resolutions are presented each year at the October Council meeting and with little to no change in any of them, they are placed on the Consent Agenda. If there were any discussion needed on any of them, they could be moved to the Statutory Agenda at the request of Council. Gus Kangos made the motion to approve the Consent Agenda, John Whitmire made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion carried. An unexpected guest arrived, new resident Jacob Ezerski. Mr. Ezerski and his family have moved to the Midway area, having purchased land off of Idaho Lane, which is outside the city limits. Mr. Ezerski came to the Council meeting to see the things going on and to introduce himself to the Council. They have purchased the building were the hardware store/lumber store used to be. Mr. Ezerski informed Council his plan is to turn the building into an activity venue for the community. It is in the plan to provide live music, a "Painting with a Twist" type of event. They will provide some small snacks but they will not be providing alcohol at the present time. They have not opened but are trying to get it done as quickly as they can, but there is still no hard date in place. He and his wife just wanted to do something for the community, providing people aj place to gather and engage. Mayor Ford introduced all of the Council members and City staff present to Mr. Ezerski; she also thanked him for coming and let him know that he was welcome to stay or leave. Mr. Ezerski elected to stay. The first item presented to the Council was the 4th Quarter Budget Review and a review of the Final Budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022. A breakdown was provided by department: Water Department Projected Income based on prior rate study was $215,016.80 Actual Income for the year was $ 94,322.12 The information used is this rate study used al higher customer number and that is what generated the higher income projection. Our most recent rate study used our actual customer numbers. Projected Expenses for the year $ 99,031.00 Actual Expenses for the year $103,265.88 Actual Expenses exceeded projections by $4,234.88 Actual Expenses exceeded Actual Incomes by $8,943.76 Sewer Department Projected Income based on prior rate study $196,557.00 Actual Income for the year was $ 53,055.39 The information used is this rate study used a higher customer number and that is what generated the higher income projection. Our most recent rate study used our actual customer numbers. Projected Expenses for the year $85,821.00 Actual Expenses for the year $73,480.85 Actual Expenses came in under projections by $12,340.15 Actual Expenses exceeded Actual Incomes by $20, 425.46 City Projected Income for the year $92,100.00 Actual Income for the year $105,273.84 When projecting incomes for the City, the City had not previously collected Sales Tax or Administrative Fees on the Trash Service. There is no easy was to projects for Licenses & Permits or Miscellaneous Fees and those projections remain blank. Projected Expenses for the Year $67,846.00 Actual Expenses for the Year $78,950.84 Actual Expenses exceeded Projections $11,104.84 Actual Income Exceeded Actual Expenses $26,323.00 Ordinance 2023-02, amending the Budget for Fiscal Year 2022-2023, was presented to the Council. The need to amend the budget SO early has to do with Chemical Supplies for the Water Department. With the City's new filtration system, ACH (Aluminum Chlorohydrate) is being used. The cost per barrel is $650.00 and from September 6, 2022 to October 24, 2022 the City has gone through 3 barrels. In an effort to keep from running out of this chemical more has been ordered. The request at this time is to increase the expense from $3,000 to $7,500. A rate study had been done to show that this increase does not exceed what the previous rate study had shown, SO there would be no reason to increase the water rate. Rex Newkirk made the motion approve the ordinance, Marc Nelson made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion carried. The next item before the Council was to determine the dates of the meetings forl November and December and to determine ifthe Council wanted to host an Open House during Christmas. Dates presented for discussion were November 21st and December 19th with No Open House this year. Gus Kangos made the motion to approve the dates, John Whitmire made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion passed. At this time, Council entertained discussion regarding continuing on with the GLO, CDBG-MIT program. As Council had previously been informed, this is a mitigation allocation for those communities and counties that had been impacted by rain/flood events and Hurricane Harvey; events that occurred from 2015-2018. The purpose of the program is to help communities fund projects to mitigate against future disaster events. At the time the program started, the allocation to the City of Midway was $500,000. At the time Mayor Brenda Ford and City Secretary Debra Newkirk attended the MOD meeting on the 14th of October, the allocation had risen to approximately $708,600. At the MOD there was much discussion regarding the fact that the original MOD was for the 4 counties of Madison, Grimes, Washington and Burleson were to share in $10,729,000 and some of the representatives of these counties felt that it was unfair to take that money and put it with the additional funding that came in with the other 3 counties of Brazos, Robertson and Leon. After the MOD, all recommendations were considered and the BVCOG responded with reserving the first $10,729,000 to the 4 presidentially declared counties (Madison, Grimes, Washington and Burleson) as was the original plan. The remaining $14,312,000 would be available to all 7 counties and the entities in the other 3 counties would each receive a minimum of $500,000. LMI (Low to Moderate Income) is also a factor in distribution oft these monies and as of October 215 GLO conditionally approved this 3rd MOD. So as of October 218, the City of Midway's allocation is $982,800 and per the BVCOG the only way this number would change would be to increase. This increase would come if an entity made a choice to not proceed with receiving this funding. The rule has been stated that if an entity opts out of the funding, they cannot opt back in at a later date. The monies of those entities opting out are but back into the pot and are redistributed amongst those going forward. At this time, it is necessary for the Council to decide ifthey want to go forward. The question was asked if we had enough projects to spend this money on, and the list of proposed projects was discussed. Projects listed include: a sewer system smoke test; repairs to the sewer system the smoke test reveals; clarifier and automated backwash on the filtration system; shut off valves; reimbursement to the City for the $1,500 that the City paid in the match for the County Hazard Mitigation Plan; setting aside the match amount for an upcoming CDBG opportunity; new computers with larger monitors; maps.com and mapping down by Phyllis Brown; chemical building and slab for ACH; replace existing rock in the well yard with concrete; jet pro system for the sewer system lines; metered flush valves; paving streets and roads; early warning system; increasing the line size from Mary Ogg to the Post Office and from OSR to the RV Park; re-do the existing fences at the well yard and extending them; concrete slab with valves and a meter for the fire department; clean up all the old cable wires around town. Rex Newkirk made the motion to approve proceeding with the funding, Gus Kangos made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion passed. The next item before the Council was to explain the City's participation in the Texas Water Development Board': S Asset Management Program for Small Systems. This was a program that the TWDB developed and earlier in the year, they asked for City's that wanted to participate to submit an application; each application would be scored and the top ten in water and wastewater would be chosen to participate in the program. Midway was chosen on the water side and North Zulch was chosen on the wastewater side. With both systems being chosen and Janet Boone being the licensed operator for both, Janet and Debra Newkirk discussed with Mayor Ford the benefit of choosing the same contractor to work for both systems. The TWDB put forth a RFP/RFQ to get the right contractors to provide the services and the deliverables. The contract is between the contractor and the TWDB and there is an MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the TWDB, the contractor and the City. TWDB will pay the contractor, and the City provides approximately 80 hours of staff time which is not a lot over the course of a year. The benefit to participate is that the City gets the results of a $100,000 program without incurring the expense. Debra Newkirk explained that 2 companies had been interviewed; one looked promising until he told us that one ofthe services he could provide would cost the City $2,500/year; the second company has been doing this for years. Information on GHD was included in the Council's packet as well as the highlighted list of deliverables. There was no action needed on this item. At this time, the Mayor and City Secretary brought up the request to provide Holiday meals this year. Hams and turkeys had been given out at Thanksgiving last year and boxes had been put together with Brookshire's in Madisonville and distributed to some oft the senior families as well as the families ofthe children on the City's Angel Tree. The original request came for the money to come from Petty Cash, instead the Council members made individual donations. It was stated that work would begin immediately to get as much to as many as possible. Staff reports were given at this time and with Janet Boone not being at the meeting the report was given by both Debra Newkirk and Wes Savage. Debra reported that according to Janet everything was fine regarding all of the samples that she has taken and everything that she was aware of. There was no update on the sewer project Janet is working on. Wes reported that maintenance had been done on the generators and Mr. Zaskoda would be getting back to us with a quote on the repairs. On the water side, the increase in chemicals had already been talked about but he is still having to come up every day and backwashing is still within a 24 hour period. Wes also informed the Council that Key, the man who put in the filtration system, would be coming back because there is some kind of sediment in the tank. Wes asked that if anybody on the Council was notified of anything at someone'. 's house to please let him know. Debra gave the City Secretary's report, most of it had been covered with regards to the CDBG-MIT, AMPSS, CDBG-23/24, the only things to be discussed were reminders of office closures on November 11th for Veterans Day and the 24th and 25th for Thanksgiving. Debra requested approval of time off on the 23rd to get ready for the holiday. Gus Kangos made the motion to approve the time off, John Whitmire made the second, with Rex Newkirk abstaining and all others present voting in favor the time off was approved. At 8:10 p.m. the Council entered into an Executive Session per Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, Section 551.074- personnel matters regarding the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee. At 8:20 p.m. the Council entered back into Open Session. Rex Newkirk made the motion to approve pay raises for Wes Savage and Allison Basinger; Marc Nelson made the second, and with John Whitmire abstaining and all others in attendance voting in favor of the motion, the motion carried. At this time, Councilman Gus Kangos made the motion to adjourn the regular meeting and Councilman John Whitmire made the second and with all present voting in agreement the meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m. Qebaylu bKh Brenda Ford, Mayor Debra Newkirk, City Secretary