City of Midway City Council Meeting Minutes May 24, 2021 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Brenda Ford. The Invocation was given by Councilman Steve Parrish. Mayor Brenda Ford led the Pledge. Newly elected Councilman Rex Newkirk and re-elected Councilmen John Whitmire and Gus Kangos were sworn in. Those in attendance included Mayor Brenda Ford, City Secretary Debra Newkirk, Council members John Whitmire, Gus Kangos, Steve Parrish and Rex Newkirk, and Water Operator Janet Boone. Wes Savage and Councilwoman Angie Thornton were not in attendance. The first order ofbusiness was to elect a new Mayor Pro-Tem, whose job is to fill in when the Mayor is unavailable. Gus Kangos nominated John Whitmire at which time Steve Parrish made the second, the Mayor called for a vote and with all present voting in favor, Mr. Whitmire returns as the Mayor Pro-Tem. 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. At this time the Mayor and Council members recognized outgoing Councilman Ed Faw. Mr. Faw had been on the City Council from 2009 to 2021. His service to the citizens ofMidway extends beyond the Council as Ed serves as the Chief ofthe Midway Volunteer Fire Department. Mr. Faw was presented with an award for his 12 years of service and he stated that he might be back sometime! There were no public comments. Josue Chavez was on the agenda to appear before Council to discuss putting in a laundromat and a convenience store next to the metal building in the RV Park. Mr. Chavez was unable to be present at the meeting and requested aj phone call to speak with the Council. The Council requested that Mr. Chavez come to the meeting in June to share with the Council, Wes and Janet regarding his ideas. At this time, the Mayor moved Judge Tommy Starns up on the agenda. Judge Starns was meeting with the Council to address their concerns about law enforcement in the City of] Midway. Gus Kangos told Judge Starns that the whole enforcement thing in Midway got started because the Council wanted to enforce the ordinances. Judge Starns told the Council that enforcing the ordinances is the hardest part of law enforcementmunicipal court. "With code enforcement all oft the expense is really on the City," 22 Judge Starns told the Council. "I truly believe that Midway could get by with 1 part-time officer. This officer could do traffic and code enforcement. Council tasked Debra Newkirk with reaching out to J.D. Cornelius in Normangee to see if! he may know of someone who might be interested in such a position. Debra will also be working on a potential ad, pulling examples from TML and other sources. Sheriff Bobby Adams and his Chief Deputy Steve Jeter can also be called upon. The potential Police Department Budget will also be looked at during the June Council meeting. At this time, Judge Starns left the meeting. Resolution 2021-04R, certifying the Election, was presented to Council. Steve Parrish made the motion to accept the resolution, Gus Kangos made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion carried. Resolution 2021-05R, Appointing Signatories on the City's Accounts, was presented to Council. Steve Parrish opened discussion by asking, "Can everyone on the Council be listed? It would make it much easier to get two people in to sign checks." With that discussion, Steve Parrish made the motion to approve the resolution with all Council members and the Mayor being able to sign on the City's acçounts, Rex Newkirk made the second, and with all present voting in favor the motion passed. The Bond Ordinance for the Water System Improvement projects was presented to the Council. The annual principal payment was listed at $13,000. The annual interest payment was not listed due to the fact that we. have not closed yet. At the time the loan was approved the interest rate was 1.5% and, per Sabrina Glenn, the interest rate will not go up but it could be lower at the time we close; SO, the City could end up with a lower interest rate. Gus Kangos made the motion to approve the bond ordinance, John Whitmire made the second and with all voting in favor the ordinance passed. A quote from ACE Electric was presented to Council. This quote was presented based on work that had been done on the Fire Department portion of the building and that bill being given to the City. Work had been done in February to replace an outside light with an LED pack and the cost was $320.00. At the time that the Fire Department had been called regarding this work, Debra had been told that there was another light out. After speaking with the Mayor, Bunny Unterreiner had been called and told that before any other work was done to the building, that need had to come before the Council. The full quote contained pricing for replacing existing lights on the Fire Department portion of the building with LED packs, putting a motion sensor light over the front door of City Hall and an LED pack on the City Hall portion ofthe building facing the parking lot. Steve Parrish made the motion to deny the quote for ACE to do the work, Gus Kangos made the second and with all voting in favor the quote from ACE was denied. A quote from Brock Tree Removal was presented. Wes Savage had brought to the City's attention that there is a tree overhanging the well yard. The tree is on the property next door and what is overhanging is dead. Debra reached out to Kenneth Wakefield who had owned the property. Upon speaking with Mr. Wakefield, I was informed that the Wakefield brothers had sold the property and Mr. Wakefield gave me the name ofthe new owner. I was able to reach out to him and ask him for written permission for the City to take care ofthe part oft the tree overhanging the well yard, he agreed. As oft this Council meeting, the written permission had not been received. The Council requested that the quote be held until the permission had been received and someone from the Council could look at the tree. The Wastewater Permit is up for renewal and three quotes had been received. Two of the quotes were from consultants who sent "cold call" letters- there is no relationship between these firms and the City, they arej just aware that our permit is up for renewal and they are trying to get the business. The last quote is from Sean Conner with J.F. Fontaine & Associates. All of the quotes are in excess of $4,000.00. Debra Newkirk has done the renewal the previous 2 times and requested of the Council to please consider the quotes. Debra showed the Council the paperwork involved and Council member Steve Parrish requested a break down from Sean Conner for the work done for the $4,000 and asked if possible a break could be given on the pricing. The matter was tabled until the June Council meeting for the requested information from Sean Conner. It is also time for the tanks in the well yard to be inspected. The tanks referenced are the pressure tank and the storage tank. U.S. Underwater Services has done the inspections in the past and they called to let the City know that it was time again for the service. Debra Newkirk requested a quoted for both tanks and that quote was presented. The total amount is $800.00. Gus Kangos made the motion to accept the quote, Rex Newkirk made the second and with all present voting in favor the motion carried. Wes Savage had a request presented to Council for reaching out to Power Field Services to come work on two generators that we are still having issues with. Gus Kangos and Steve Parrish both asked that ACE Electric be asked to come out and work on the transfer switch on D and Wes be asked about a trickle charger on the generator at C. No action on this item until next month' s meeting. The last item before the Council was a quote for ARC-GIS; this is an annual subscription for a computer program for GIS mapping of the City's water and sewer systems. Phyllis Brown has a developed a computer program that allows for the GPS-ing of all oft the components oft the City's water and sewer systems such as: meters, shut-off or isolation valves, man-holes, lift stations, pumps, lines. The items are "pinned" and when you click on the "pin" a list of information is available; items such as meter size, when it was last read, ifit's had work done to it; GPS coordinates. Each pin would have such a list with whatever information has been determined needs to be displayed. The quote for ARC-GIS is $500.00 per year. The request was made that Phyllis come and explain in more detail the program at the next Council meeting. No action was taken. Janet Boone gave the water report and the sewer report in Wes's absence; everything is fine. All reports are in. Debra Newkirk asked for approval for time off: Friday, May 28th and Friday, June 4th and leaving early (at noon) on Thursday, June 3rd Steve Parrish made the motion to approve the time off, John Whitmire made the second, Rex Newkirk abstained and with all others voting in agreement the time-off was approved. Gus Kangos made the motion to adjourn, Rex Newkirk made the second and with all voting in favor the meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Dudi fal Brenda Auhpuhiy Ford, Mayor Debra Newkirk, City Secretary