Sure appreciate it. Welcome to today's meeting of city council. Today's date is tuesday,
october 21st, 2025, and today's invocation will be given by pastor donnie flippo, pastor of
the gospel center church. If everyone would please silence your cell phones and if you so
choose, please stand and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Heavenly father, we
come to you today in the name of jesus. You said in your word, if any lack for wisdom, all we
have to do is ask. So, father, we ask today that you give us the wisdom that we need to
direct this city into the direction it needs to go for our citizens. Father, you tell
us to lean not to our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge you, and you will direct our paths. So, father, today give them the wisdom. Give them the wisdom
for the finances. Give them the wisdom for the future, and give them the wisdom for our
citizens and the protection that they need. Father, we give you the praise, the glory, and
the honor for it. In jesus name, amen. Pledge allegiance to the five states of america and to
the republic for which it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. May I have roll call, please? Mayor west. Present. Mayor pro tem turner.
here. Council member. Sawyer. Here. Council member. Hilliard. Councilman. Here. I'm sorry.
councilmember williams. Council member. Sherwood and council member. Crenshaw. Here. Thank
you. And as we right before the proclamation, certainly want to extend our condolences to
councilwoman sherwood on the loss of her sister since the last council meeting. So we are
going to have two proclamations and three presentations. And and for those that are here for
the proclamation, we welcome all the photographs. We just ask that city staff gets the
first one, and then we'll stay put for as many as you'd like. And first proclamation is
recognizing october 19th through the 25th, 2025 is international infection
prevention week, and accepting will be cara singleton, r.n. Cic, christa saint elizabeth
infection prevention list, as well as the rest of the group from saint elizabeth. And they
have too much of this. Thank you. Oh, and let me. Thank you all for being here. Always good
to see you. Yes. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Alright,
guys, let's. Perfect. You guys. Here. One. Two three. We're one picture. Yes. Okay. Okay. One.
two. Three. One more. Okay. So, in addition to international infection prevention week, it
is also international hand hygiene day. So we shared some love with that, that little
short song that we heard while we were playing. Was that full 20s that appropriate hand
hygiene actually should occur if you're washing your hands with soap and water. So just
take it. You can sing twinkle, twinkle little star the alphabet to get through the 20s,
but it is an absolute honor to stand here today as we celebrate infection prevention
week 2025, along with international hand hygiene day, a time when we shine a
well-deserved spotlight on the incredible work of infection preventionist everywhere. Today,
we proudly accept the city proclamation from the city and the city council of beaumont,
recognizing the vital role infection prevention plays in protecting our community on
behalf of all infection. Preventionists, thank you for this meaningful acknowledgment.
this year's theme, stand up, unite, protect, prevent and prevail perfectly captures the
spirit of what we do every single day. Infection preventionist are the quiet
force behind the scenes, working tirelessly to keep patients, families, and
healthcare teams safe. Whether it's through education, surveillance or simply
reminding someone to wash their hands. We are committed to making a difference. Hand
hygiene may seem simple, but it's one of the most powerful tools we have. It's a small act
with a big impact, one that saves lives, prevents outbreaks, and keeps our healthcare
environment safe and resilient. So today, let's celebrate the science, the dedication, and
the people behind infection prevention. Let's continue to stand up together to protect
our community and prevail over preventable harm. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now we
have a proclamation recognizing the month of october as national disability awareness
month here in beaumont. Accepting will be melanie williams, executive director of
workforce solutions, southeast texas. Mark duran, deputy director, workforce solutions,
southeast texas, and doctor harold whitfield, manager, texas workforce commission,
vocational rehabilitation or anybody else that is here to accept that. And if not, we. Oh,
yes. Please come up.
yes, sir.
okay. Right here. One. Two. Three. Get one more. This way. Okay. Get one. Yeah. Do you
want me to take it for you? Sure. Please, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. One. Two. Three. Got it.
thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Mayor west and members of the city council, on
behalf of the disability community advocates and inclusive employers across the
city. I'm honored to accept this proclamation recognizing national disability employment
awareness month. This month reminds us that individuals with disabilities are talented,
capable, and vital contributors to our workforce and our communities. It also challenges
us to continue breaking down barriers and creating opportunities that ensure full
inclusion, access and equity and employment. We deeply appreciate the city's
recognition and ongoing support. Together, we can build a stronger, more inclusive
economy where everyone has the chance to thrive. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have city
of beaumont communications update. And I do want to remind people, starting november 4th,
our proclamations and recognitions will take place once a month at the first
meeting of the month, at 1030 in the morning, and we will continue to push that
information out. So it does affect on when you need to put in your information for the
proclamations. Thank you. Good afternoon. In this week's announcements, as you just
heard from our mayor, we want to remind you that this is our last city council meeting to
include those proclamations and recognitions. They will now happen once a month on the morning of the first council meeting of each month. These presentations will each begin
at 1030 in the morning, and they'll start, as he said, november 4th. Do you have a
loved one who may wander or become disoriented? The beaumont police department has launched the take me home program to help safely reunite individuals with their families.
this program is designed for those with alzheimer's or dementia, autism spectrum
disorder, intellectual or developmental disabilities, or any condition that makes communication or navigation difficult. Families can register by providing a photo,
physical description, medical information, and emergency contacts. To register, go to
beaumont, texas. Gov. Take me home. Early voting is now open for the citywide bond election
coming up november 4th. Here's a look at what you'll find on the ballot.
this november. Beaumont voters will see several bond propositions on the ballot. These will determine whether the city can fund certain major projects in
the state of texas. Many cities do general obligation bonds, and they are for projects that
you don't have in your general revenue to be able to complete. So if you want to do special
projects, you go to the voters and let the voters decide. Typically, anywhere from every
5 to 7 years, municipalities have bond elections. Even school districts have them
typically more often than cities every 3 to 5 years to provide infrastructure. So
beaumont hasn't had 1 in 4243 years, so it's time to have one. The 2025 city of beaumont bond
package includes five propositions, which comprise three categories. Prop a
includes infrastructure with improvements to streets, sidewalks and drainage across
all four wards. Prop b covers facilities and public safety projects, things like a new
animal care facility, a new fire station and police headquarters, a large multi-purpose sports complex, a multi-purpose community center in alice keith park, and public
safety enhancements like cameras around the city that connect to our real time crime
center. Prop c builds on quality of life in the city, with parks and recreation
enhancements including ada accessible playground equipment, upgrades to park and the
botanical gardens, as well as a field conversion at the athletic complex. Prop d would
connect the riverfront to the city and add family friendly amenities along the river, and
prop e would allow for economic development and ease traffic near parkdale mall by extending
point parkway from northwest parkway to state highway 105. So for people asking, where did
these projects come from? Well, some of them have been on the books and talked about for
years. These are things that the city and residents have targeted that need change.
however, we with current budgets, we're not able to meet those changes. We need to catch
up on some infrastructure projects. We need to catch up on some quality of life projects. And so this is a way of doing that. If all five propositions are approved, the
estimated impact for the average homeowner would be about $14.25 per month on the
city's website. Beaumont, texas.gov bond and on the city's facebook page. Pinned at
the top, you can find a tax impact estimator to see exactly what it would mean for your
family. If approved, these funds could only be used for the projects outlined in the
bond package. So when you read the propositions, it tells specifically what we're going
to do with that money. And it is accounted for in that way, it's not the city manager
making the decision, it's not the city council making the decision. It's something that's
decided by the voters and citizens of our community. And it's important to note by law,
if there are propositions the voters don't approve, the city would not be allowed to issue
debt for those projects for the next three years, which means they could be significantly delayed. But we want to have everybody look at these propositions, understand them,
and see if they believe they're important for the city. To find out more, go to beaumont,
texas.gov or beaumont bonds.com. These websites include project details, maps, cost breakdowns
and answers to frequently asked questions. And this is just an additional tool. And it's a
tool that you as a resident get to vote on. And you get to decide the future of our city.
early voting begins october 20th and runs through october 31st. Election day is tuesday,
november 4th. For all of your election information, including polling locations, go to beaumont, texas. Dot gov slash election. Adult basketball league registration is now open.
register your team through october 24th, monday through friday, 8 a.m. To 5 p.m. At the
sterling pruitt activity center. Don't miss your chance to compete, connect and enjoy a great season of basketball. Thanks to a generous donation by the mamie mcfadden award,
heritage foundation, the jefferson theater's robert morton pipe organ is fully
restored, and you can hear it played live during a special showing of the phantom of the
opera. That's friday, october 24th at 7 p.m. As part of our 13 nights of halloween series
at the jefferson. Doors open at six. The show starts at seven. Admission is just $10. You can
get your tickets online or at the beaumont civic center box office. Happy halloween from
beaumont animal care. Before you head out for a night of tricks and treats, stop by for
some paranormal fun and meet your forever best friend. Join us october 31st from 10 a.m. To
5 p.m. For our halloween adoption event, where adoption fees are just $20 for one day
only, with over 90 dogs, 30 cats ready to find their forever homes, now's the
perfect time to adopt. Every adoption includes spay neuter, microchip vaccines, flea
prevention and dewormer all treats. No tricks. They're put on your costume. Head over to
the beaumont police department for a spooktacular afternoon of treats, laughs, and halloween fun. Join us for our fifth annual trunk or treat, a safe and not so spooky event for all
ages. That's sunday, october 26th from 2 to 5 p.m. At 255 college street. And finally,
you can celebrate halloween at the sterling pruitt activity center. Friday, october 31st
from 6 p.m. To 9 p.m. Come enjoy an evening of free and safe trick or treating and
festive entertainment for the entire family. That's on halloween night at the sterling. And that's all for this week's announcements. Thank you. Next, we have a presentation of the
beaumont firemens relief and retirement fund 2025 actual actuarial audit by mr. Ryan
falls with. Milliman. Milliman. All right. Thank you sir. There's someone clicking for me
okay. Great mr. Mayor thank you. Members of the council staff appreciate you having me here
this afternoon. So my name is ryan falls. I work with milliman where actuaries and
consultants I work with public pension funds across state of texas and across the country.
we recently completed an actuarial audit, an independent actuarial audit. We are engaged
by the city to conduct an actual audit or an actuarial peer review, if you will, of
the pension fund and the financial results you're getting from the pension fund.
and I know this council took up a pretty significant enhancement to the funding of
the pension fund, the fireman's pension fund, a few months ago. This is really an unrelated
topic, just coincidental. These are both coming up about the same time, but they are
correlated and they do tie together. So jump into it here just to let you know what the
purpose is, why we're here and what the primary results were, some of the areas of our review.
and then any questions you have I'm happy to help dive into them if that's if you have some
questions, we'll know a little bit more. But most importantly again, we just completed a peer
review of the actuarial work that the fund, the fund's actuary, the fund has their own
actuary, they produce financial results. And then the fund communicates those to the city
for your financial statements and for your conversations about funding the plan. This
the state of texas requires every pension fund over $100 million to conduct these
actuarial peer reviews every five years. So we're here presenting that this is the third time I believe that the city has gone through it. It's the city's requirement to do
this peer review. So we looked at december 31st, 2024 is the most recent actuarial
evaluation that the fund completed, which is basically the health checkup for the fund.
and so what we did is basically just dove in, looked at the assumptions and methods. If you've ever looked at a pension valuation, there's a blizzard of assumptions and methods that
go into those calculations. And we just were here to give you an independent peer review,
third party analysis of what the numbers are giving you. So the bottom line is the big
there and the bold. This is what you want to see. After an actuarial peer review. We
reviewed the data, the experience study documents. We replicated the liabilities and reviewed the reports. And we believe that that most recent actuarial valuation is
reasonable based on reasonable assumptions and methods. And the report complies with the
actuarial standards of practice. And the way this ties back to some of the recent decisions
you made, is just that this december 31st measurement that we reviewed is the basis of all
the negotiations and the discussions you had with the pension fund about enhancing the funding. So what basically, I'm here telling you is that the foundation of those
discussions you had recently with the pension fund and enhancing the funding of the plan, we reviewed those kind of bedrock valuation results that went into it. And so you
started from a good place. Those were decision useful numbers you received from the
pension fund. So we have a if you think of an audit, if there's a finding or a
recommendation, usually that's a bad thing. Something wasn't accounted for right. In an
actuarial audit or actual review. There's just a lot of different things going on. And so any time there's a there's always room for improvement and enhancement. So we do have some
recommendations. But the bottom line is everything was appropriate for you all to use
as a city to use those numbers you're getting from the pension fund to make decisions about
the right way to finance the plan. So we look to the liabilities, the assumptions, the data, very briefly just power through these. The liability, we were able to
replicate the pension funds actuaries results within about $100,000. It's about as close
of a replication that I've ever been a part of. And we had some recommendations for ways to
enhance estimating what future active retirement benefits will be when they ultimately retire
can enhance that calculation. We looked at the assumptions and gave the actuary a few
suggestions around inflation, salary increases and life expectancy and future
valuations things to from our perspective and our experience with the in the industry,
working with public pension funds and the bottom line, the data that went into it, the
asset values, the money that the fund has on hand. We're all appropriate. I'm going fast
just to you have all the documentation with you. And then ultimately the funding of
the plan again. Again, this council took up some important enhancements to funding the
fire pension fund. So the funds actuary talked a lot about, you know, what types of
contribution increases were needed to shore up the finances of the fund. And they did a
good job communicating that. And y'all did a good job considering those issues. And
finally, there's a their documentation, their valuation report. It's all just
communication. We had some recommended enhancements to their written communication
about the valuation results. That last bullet doesn't include any impact to the
valuation results. It's all just communication. So with that that's the end of my
prepared remarks went kind of fast. I just know y'all have been talking about the pension a lot lately. Just wanted to let you know that the numbers you're getting are good numbers,
and you can rely on them and go forward and happy to answer any questions you have about the
process we just completed. Does anybody have any questions on council? It's the result you
want. So it's should be easy breezy. Thank you thank you appreciate it. All right. For
those of you that are here for proclamations, recognitions or presentations and you would
like to leave, now's the time to do so. And thank you for coming. But since I don't see
anybody moving, I'm going to proceed. At the close of the meeting today, city council will adjourn into executive session to discuss or deliberate economic development
negotiations in accordance with section 551.087 of the government code, to wit,
specifically, project sport and. Oh yeah, we do, and I did. All right. And now we're going to
have a presentation by texdot.
good afternoon, mayor and council members. I'm ana mijares. I've had the privilege
of working with some of you as the deputy district engineer for the past three and a half
years. I am now stepping into the role as district engineer. I guess you can say I really
like challenges, so. But just want to say that I'm here to to listen. We're we're going to
try and improve our communication. I think we've been doing that, been in this
role for a whole 21 days. But we've we've been trying to improve on the social media
communication and looking forward to the collaboration and the partnership with the
city of beaumont. I know we've got a lot of construction in the city. Just would like to
ask you all to bear with us. Construction is a you know, it's troublesome for the
traveling public, but it's, you know, we're trying to improve mobility. It's going to be
great when it's finished. It's just we've got to get through the construction. So appreciate
it. We're we're going to do everything we can to try and minimize the impact to the
traffic. So anything that y'all can do to help us, we would appreciate it. Today. I do have
my pio, tanya avila, my management analyst sarah dupree and dave collins, my area
engineer, and richard bradley, the assistant area engineer, are going to give a brief
presentation on current projects in beaumont. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank
you. Mr. Thank you, mayor west, council members and city of beaumont. So we have here today
we have a oh, I guess this doesn't work. Thanks, richard. Oh. All right. So got an agenda
here. We're going to talk about the I-10, us 69 interchange projects and our upcoming
future projects within the next 3 to 4 years. As you can see here on this display, the
beaumont area office, we cover three counties tyler, hardin, jefferson county. I got a zoom
up here, jefferson county. And here's yay, that's here. Here's some projects we're working on
right now. So I-10 right here between pretty much from hampshire road all the way up
to walton road. We got a completion date about early mid 2027. Of course, you know, we
got the interchange job right here. But we're looking at somewhere around late 2030 or
early 31 and given some good highlights, we have completed the furniture jobs early summer
this year. This is this red area here. That's from spur 93 to spur 380. So that's been
completed. Richard's going to talk about some other jobs coming up from spur 93 to 124.
also not shown on here early this year. As you all know we have completed the overlay of
the main lanes where we configured to three lanes in each direction, or six lanes
highway from all the way from delaware to tram road. And also we overlaid the frontage roads
to within the city of beaumont, around parkdale mall, up through delaware. All right. So
move along. Kind of mentioned this last, last. Okay. Thank you. I don't know where the
button is. All right. So some of the highlights here. So up here on the top here we have
we're going to do some connectivity around delaware street on the frontage roads. Of course the main focus is that we are expanding from a four lane divided highway to a
six lane divided highway. And a couple other good highlights we have here is down here on the
cardinal drive project. We are continuing, and when we are constructing right now, you can see we're connecting the furniture roads from tinseltown and pappadeaux going across
hillebrandt bayou to tie into sam's club and elegant in that area. And also we're going to
continue off of bnsf over 124, and I'm going to show some pictures. In fact, we just poured a bridge deck today that you all can see. So we are connectivity of the frontage
roads over there on us 69 north and south. Here are some previous pictures. As you can
see we are doing some foundations right here. This is around the pretty much the
eastex freeway. We're looking at some foundations of I-10 east and some of the connectors.
here. You can see how deep the foundation is. The drill shafts are. Here are some of the box
culverts drainage that we are placing around 11th street. Continue on here. This is the
drainage we got on the eastbound frontage road as we get past the harrison street.
and here are some more of the footings that we're pouring around louisiana street. Okay,
so these two pictures right here, this is the overpass at bnsf around 124. This is about
a couple weeks ago. And what we call this is a pmds and panels. And these are the I-beams that
will cross. As you can see this is what we have today. So we have poured our first bridge
deck over 124 over bnsf. So we are continuing to pour that and we continue to work in that
area. Some other projects here. Pictures as we go along. Construction. This is some of
the connector caps and columns for the direct connect on the cardinal drive. As we go to
I-10 69 north, it connects to I-10 east and west. Right here is a temporary shoring wall
that we surround area. And this is to build the furniture road bridge over hildebrandt bayou.
and here's some more. These are a little bit older. This is probably about 3 or 4 months.
these are some of the foundations on the cardinal drive that you just saw previously. And as you can tell how deep this is in this area right here, here are some of
the caps and columns that were poured for those direct connects. Like I said, this is probably about a couple of months ago. The first few pictures are just recently,
within about a week or two. And this is the washington. Oh thank you. Appreciate it. If I
talk too fast, just tell me I'll start slowing down here a little bit. This is the
retaining wall right there at washington street. This is where one of our connectors
that we connected, we have finished this wall already and we are continuing in that area
also. So I will is there another green button okay. So I'll want to hand it off to
richard. But these are our kind of progress meetings we got going on. So just as I noted,
we got a lot of construction around east texas, around 11th street and delaware building a lot of the foundation footings. We are doing some drainage improvements still on the
eastbound frontage road on I-10 from calder to pass harrison. As you all know, we shut down
one lane going westbound. We are building some temporary detours that improve that
drainage in that area, and we continue the construction around hildebrand. So that's a
whole bunch of a lot of talking. In a couple of minutes, I'm going to hand it off to richard
and then we'll open up for some questions. All right. So as dave mentioned, I'm richard
bradley. I'm his assistant out of the beaumont area office. It's nice to meet quite a few
of y'all. I apologize, I don't believe I was able to make it to the last meeting, but I do
look forward to working with you all going forward. What I have prepared for you today is
unfortunately not going to be as picturesque as what dave had just went through. The projects that I'm here to talk about have yet to kick off. So just to give you a taste as to what
we have coming down the pipeline with some of our larger projects just going through the list, the first two projects that we have up here on us 69, they are both going
to be rehabilitations and they're both going to be along the frontage roads adjacent to
us 69 between erie street and florida street, going back to 124. So similar to what we did
to the frontage roads earlier this year in the lamar area, where we tore out all that old
deteriorated concrete, and we replaced it with new, smoother concrete and improved the
drainage. That's going to be very similar to what we do with these two sections of frontage
road also. And once these two sections are completed, then we'll have gone through and
replaced all the frontage roads between 124, going all the way down to the 347 area, all the
way down towards lamar area. The next project let's see, that is a spur 380 project.
this one is also going to be a rehabilitation of the roadway. We're going to be doing some
full depth repairs, some base repairs, joint seal, as well as an overlay. And also, if you've
recall from driving through that area between threadneedle to jim gilligan way and the
median, there is a double sided metal beam guard fence. We're going to be taking that out and
replacing it with a concrete traffic barrier. That center that you see along, say, I-10
or us 69. The purpose behind that is the concrete barrier provides additional protection
for motorists traveling the opposite way, in addition to it being just a bit easier to
maintain in the long run. Also, let's see the next project in fm 365 bridge replacement that
is closer to south county, the port arthur area. We are just going to be replacing a bridge
over road air gully with that one. Below that we have a restoration on sh 124 and
almost similar kind to the two projects on the us 69 frontage road. Being that the frontage
roads are made of concrete and 124 is an asphalt road, we're also going to be doing a
similar kind of project in which we come through. We do base repairs, we do full depth
repairs, and we're also going to be doing an overlay on that roadway as well. So there are
some patches on 124 that can be pretty hairy at times. This project is definitely going to
look at extending the life of that pavement as it nears the end of its lifetime. Below that,
we have a widening project on us 69. This is the project that would take the three lane
configuration, three lanes going north and three lanes going south between tram road
all the way back to I-10. We're going to extend that configuration from tram road,
going all the way up to the split just south of lumberton. That project is going to be a
very good mobility project for the commuters that travel from the northern counties down into jefferson county for for work, and also as they head back to, to their homes that they the
day. Also let's see below that we have a us 69 safety improvement project. This is
going to be a multifaceted project. We're going to be looking at constructing some
paved shoulders through the area all the way from major drive out to the county line.
so we'll have new paved shoulders. We're going to be looking at doing some safety
improvements to the crossovers as well as we're looking at adding some new signalization
at keith road and wooten road, I believe, as well as some additional safety lighting. And
I believe we're also looking at including some median barrier there also for additional
safety measures. And then below that second to last on fm 364 a widening a widening project.
this is that small section of major drive between I-10 and 124. What we're going to be
doing here is we're going to be widening that section to include a center left turn lane.
and I believe we're also going to be looking at increasing the width of the shoulders through
this area also. And then right below that, this is another project out towards the port
arthur area. And similar to what we're doing on the rainbow bridge with bridge maintenance.
after that finishes, we're also going to be looking at the veterans memorial bridge to do
some additional bridge maintenance. All right. And that is, I guess in a nutshell,
the scope of the larger projects that we have coming down the pipeline. But if there
were any questions, you know, dave or myself would be happy to field them for you. Well,
thank you. And I know we are going to probably have some questions. I just want to applaud y'all on coming before us regularly. And also the benefit this will be for our
kids and grandkids. And it certainly can be an inconvenience for us at this time. But interstate ten and highway 69 are such vital parts of southeast texas and bring a
lot of cars through every day. So thank you all for that. And, councilman turner, yeah, first
and foremost, thank y'all. I know it's not easy to stand in front of people when
everybody's looking at the construction. And I understand what growth comes pain. So I get it and I understand I kind of don't share those same sentiments. But I did have a
question with our txdot. Is it one contractor working on everything or is it bid it out
to multiple contractors doing all these projects at different times. So a lot of the
interchange job, it is one contractor. So it's broken two sections. We got east texas
kind of north section around delaware street and 11th street. Then we got cardinal drive, which is around the elegant that goes down 69 going to port to port arthur lamar. So that
is one contractor in that area. From walton road going to 365. That is a different contractor.
that's where we're one of the interstate from three to 4 to 6 lanes, then from 365 to
hildebrandt, that goes back to williams brothers. So for the big contracts, that's what we
have. Those two contractors, williams brothers and johnson brothers. Did you have them listed on one of the slide? The different contractors? No, it didn't show. No, but I can I
can kind of talk about it. I thought I saw some contractors on one. Let's go back here.
that one okay. Oh it does. How about that. That's great. Okay. So that's that's good. I
appreciate mr. Williams. So okay. So yeah right here this is the furniture rail. So this
is texas materials. Or previously named apac. Apac also did that widening from six
lanes from delaware. It's not showing here but from delaware up to tram road. They're also
the contractor did the widening right there. I'll just kind of talk about this area right here.
we got some materials which we're going to be finished in december. I apologize, I didn't
mention that earlier. This is norfolk bayou on 124. That's also texas materials. There's
johnson brothers, as I mentioned, and williams brothers on these two jobs right here. We got regal that's doing a man's job. We've got ici that's 347 up here in port
arthur and we've got a few other jobs, but those are some of our local. We're on a
bidding system and the contractor gets the low bid. That's the one that awards the
contract? Yes. The reason the reason I asked because I noticed the delays. The reason
I asked is I noticed delays. And I understand that even in the city of beaumont, you know,
sometimes we have change orders and delays, so that's to be expected. But when I was riding
through dallas, I was out there with my wife a few weeks back, and it actually had the
contractor's name and phone number highlighted on the road. So when you had issues with
whether it be a pothole or something that may not have been to write honestly, I got
to give corey credit, he's done a good job when it comes to putting it out there on things
that could be better. But, you know, I think it would be advantageous if we did that in
beaumont. I had our contractors do that because honestly, y'all, we all can't see everything.
when people see things, the quicker you report it, the quicker it can be addressed. So
that's just something I seen in that dallas area, and it kind of stood out like a sore thumb,
like. And people actually were on the internet talking about how they were using that number. And things were happening very quickly. Yeah. Right now on our sheets, we don't show that the
contractor does put their company board name, usually with the address or p.o. Box.
we do not specify a phone number at this time. It might be something we might look in
dallas to maybe implement here. But if there is some potholes, councilman crenshaw does it
quite a bit. I'm sure I don't mind. Notify us. We will get those fixed. Absolutely. It is
important that we keep our travelers safe as they drive our highways. And I had a few
more follow ups. I noticed there was a change in leadership. So first and
foremost, congratulations and welcome. We talked about things like maintenance on the
freeways. Currently the city of beaumont. We do do the maintenance on the side of the
freeways. And I know txdot gives a certain portion, but we do budget a significant amount
of money that we don't recover to kind of maintain the integrity of the esthetics that
we want our city to look like when people travel since since it is new leadership, maybe
could we kind of re explore that, that deal of that relationship? Yeah, absolutely.
we're willing to have that conversation. You know, just communicate have that
conversation. Definitely willing to to explore what options we have. You know, we
we as a state as a state agency do have to abide by certain rules. But but we definitely
can can look at some out of the box ideas. I'm willing to always try something different.
you know, if things aren't working. Let's let's try something different. If that's
not working, we'll pivot. So yes, I'm absolutely willing to work with you all to see if
there's alternatives to the way we're doing things now. Yes, ma'am. And my last question,
similar to the esthetics, the previous txdot director was saying he wasn't big on medians,
intersection esthetics. It was kind of like a boring view, not similar to like the mountain
views. And the more, you know, beautification projects we see. I am supportive that we do
explore working relationships to kind of get the esthetics of our appearance with our city
and txdot. I do support that. I'm one of seven, but maybe if we can see what we can do to
work together to improve the esthetics, you know, like I like the red, but I like it
over there by lamar and I-10. But I do like the red, but I just want to know if it's
something you guys would be open to as well, to see if we can revisit it. Because again,
I know that was his sentiment, but it's a new regime and I'm looking forward to working with
you and hearing your ideas. Well, just to be fair to him, you know, on the esthetics and
the cardinal jobs, we did add a lot of esthetics to those projects. You know, everything
done previously, you know, is hard for us to, to, to change that. But moving forward, that
is the direction the beaumont district will be moving into is looking at at esthetics. You
know, I we do we do need to work with our cities and, and our counties of when we do that
esthetics is is who's going to maintain like if we do let's see if we do vegetation, if we
do plants. And you know that the maintenance of that becomes an issue, but absolutely
willing to partner with with the city of beaumont to, to see how we can improve esthetics. I
want, you know, I want as much as y'all for for our roadways to look, you know, to have some
esthetic views like other like other districts have. I, I don't know if if dave went
through the there's a 69 project from lamar in 2028. We are looking at, you know adding
esthetics to that. Working with lamar. You know we want to add some esthetics to our retaining
walls. You know, just just whatever we can do within within our regulations. So we
definitely willing to have that conversation, willing to include y'all in in those
decisions. And but we also need some partnership from, from cities and counties to get that
done. So absolutely. Thank you. Sure. Just one thing again. Congratulations miss harris.
thank you. On your motion. We look forward to working with you, incorporated and
collaborating with you on these projects. We mentioned maintenance I think. Have we
completed the mou. We're in the middle of negotiating mou. I think it's it's still in in
draft form. So I think this is an opportunity to to talk and negotiate some things because
we are in the middle of negotiating the mou as we speak. You can explain what an mou is.
it's a memorandum of understanding where it's an agreement with txdot, the city,
to who's going to be responsible for what along the highways, or we're going to mow
or they're going to mow. Who's going to fix potholes, you know, different. We just have an
agreement on who's responsible for the maintenance of the different things along the
highways, state highways just okay. You done, councilman turner? All right. I know
everybody may have some. I'm going to go to councilman hilliard, then I'm going to go
to councilman durio, and then I'll come to this side. So again, I want to say welcome
and congratulations and thank you for being here. We you know, this is it's really awesome to
have you all here and to keep our citizens updated. And the one thing that I'm hearing a
lot about is there any way we can get these blinking lights at washington fixed? It seems
to be a big concern, especially for people that are trying to avoid the calder area using the
washington when we have the blinking red lights, and at 5:00 and at 830 in the morning,
it's it's pretty crazy. So is there I understand that that we control the lights, but there
is a short or something in the lights that when it rains, it causes the lights to go back to
blinking. Is there anything we can do to get those blinking lights back to working like
they should? So in my short 21 days that I've been in this role, I've been working with
the city of beaumont, the traffic section. Actually, my very first day I think I met
maybe, maybe second day met with the city of city of beaumont. It is the city of
beaumont's traffic lights, but it's our construction that is affecting the traffic lights.
so I pledged to partner with the city of beaumont. We've been using our traffic
engineering consultant to help. Look at timing. Look at what we can do to that light. I believe
there's a part that the washington traffic light is needed. It's been ordered, but
we are definitely partnering. That is how I would like to work moving forward is
partnering with the city because it is a a major project in the heart of the city of
beaumont. So although it is the the city's traffic light, we we need to partner with each other
because our construction is is affecting some of the the timings and the and you know,
the mobility through those frontage roads. I will say when we change the traffic on the
westbound, a couple of those lights went to blinking. We've we've looked at that. Our
traffic engineers have studied that and and actually the blinking is, is actually
working better than the traffic light. So I'm definitely willing to sit down with the
city and explain, you know, and show them the data of of why you know what, you know what
the best option is. My my goal is to make sure that that we we try to minimize the, the impact
to the traveling public. And so just working together with the city, I think we can do that.
thank you. You're welcome, councilman dario thank you councilman. Yeah, I may have
missed it, but I seem to remember at one time you said 124. Y'all were changing to two
lanes each way. 124 two lanes, four lanes, four lane turns it into a four lane. One of your
prior presentations, 124 itself was always going to be two lanes in each direction. Now
we're going to rehab all of 124. It's we have two projects. One that richard shows goes from 69
to pretty much labelle road. The 364. We do have another one that's set out a few more years,
which is outside the three year. It's about 4 or 5 years out. We're going to rehab from
pretty much from 365 all the way back to 364, and that's going to be rehabbed. But we
had we didn't have any plans to go to four, four lanes at least. I don't remember of any. You
said two lanes each way. No, one lane each way. Two. Okay. So let me reclarify. So when I
say a two lane highway, that's really one lane in each direction. When I say four lane
highway, that's a two lanes each direction. And if it's a six lane highway, I really mean
three lanes each direction. So 124 will always stay a two lane highway, one lane. Well, excuse
me, not always. It depends. It depends what traffic studies show. And if it does increase
we might go to four. But right now it's not planned. Okay. No other thing because I traveled
this route a lot when you mentioned potholes on interstate ten between 69 and
all the way, probably to calder. There's quite a few of them because I hit them a few times
myself. Yeah. So please reach out to my office. We'll definitely try to get those
handled as quick as possible. We are trying to maintain that system. Like ana and richard
said, we are on an old system that's, you know, coming to its life expectancy. So we are
trying to keep it going. I also, as mr. Said, we are trying to look at out of the box to try
to keep our area going here. So we are just kind of things out of the box that we are looking
at. So there is a bad section in. Councilman crenshaw brought it to our attention to. We're
working on it. The connector us 69 north to I-10 west. So there's a huge blowout, which
we're doing a plan to do a full repair next couple days. And then we're going to mill an
inlay because that's that was old pfc. And that asphalt is unraveling. So we need to get a
better surface to keep that traffic going out there smoothly and restripe that area
too. We did that about two years ago. If you all remember, six I-10 west to 69 south, all
that asphalt was kind of torn up and falling apart. And that's where we milled all that
out and overlaid it because we needed to last for about 3 or 4 more years as traffic keeps on
driving that area. But if there's something pop up, please reach out. We are going
to try to hit that as quick as possible. And one last question. Were you saying that the
flashing red lights are better than if it was regular red, yellow, green? As far as the
traffic flow, I believe it's north street is what they were looking at washington boulevard.
no, not washington, no washington. We're getting there's a part that's missing
that that went out in those lights. And so it's it's been ordered it it's that traffic
light needs to be fixed. That traffic light does not need to be in flashing the
intersections. It's it's it's not a complete t. And so I've said through that intersection
I've seen accidents about to happen. We have a lot of close calls. I've seen I've seen some
accidents there. Flashing red at washington is not what you know, what the traffic
engineers recommend. It needs to be fixed. But they they are also looking at timing it so
that it works better. Because I know a lot of the public saying that the flashing red, you're
moving fast, that it's got better movements. So we're working on getting the timings
on those on those lights corrected so that so that it it the lights actually are more
efficient. So is that something that the city is going to do. We're going to do that together.
we're going to give them the we we have had people in the field with the traffic, the city of
traffic employees. My consultant has been in there working in the cabinets, will
be giving them the the I'm not a I'm not a traffic engineer, but I do have people that are
experts at this. They they know what the timings need to be for the for the lights. They do.
they'll do what's called different studies. So they and they configure the lights so
that it's, it's optimized. And this part that's on order that's going to fix it. Yes it
should. But we're going to continue to monitor it, continue to to I, I pledge to
have my people continue to help the city, you know, partner with the city so that we can
get so this light can can get back to working and optimize as much as possible. Okay. Thank
you. You're welcome. Thank you. Councilman. Anybody? Councilman crenshaw I'll be brief. I just
would like to say how remarkable the change with tex-dot has been communicating
with me and addressing the needs of this city since the last time tex-dot came before
this council. And, ana, you know, thank you. And congratulations to your
promotion for your promotion. And I don't think dave ever thought he would receive daily
texts and emails from me. I don't mind and but we've we've fixed a lot of things together
and y'all are doing a great job. I'm so excited about the the true aspects for partnerships
moving forward. I can think of 4 or 5 projects right now off the top of my head that we've
already talked about, that we're going to get together and try to fix things together with our amazing public works director and and get the ball rolling and really bring some
change to this city that is going to make our roads safer and better for all. So thank
you so much to the the effort that y'all are putting forward and the enhanced communication
and godspeed. Thank you. Thank you, councilman crenshaw, councilman turner, lastly,
mister manager, between txdot and the city, is there any kind of way we can get a joint
statement that explains the washington boulevard situation? Because what's taking place is,
you know, I had a citizen who reached out to me. And, you know, when she reached out to
txdot, txdot stated, you know, it's the city light, which is the truth. But then on the flip
side, you know, we can't actually move forward with fixing the city light because
we're waiting on the part. So most, most people may be at work. They may not have the
capability to watch this. They may want to go back and watch it. But it's a long meeting. So
any way we can put out a joint meeting, I mean a joint messaging saying stating what's
really going on because people are a little confused about it. Sure. And we should be able to
do that by tomorrow. Does that sound reasonable? And we'll give council an update on this
part, whatever this part is, and when we expect it in and when we have that fixed. Okay.
thank you, councilman turner. And thank you all for the thorough presentation. Thank
you, thank you. And now we're done with our proclamations and presentations. And for those
leaving, thank you for coming. And I do want to remind people, since I got out of order, that
at the close of this meeting, city council will adjourn into executive staff executive session to discuss or deliberate economic development negotiations in accordance with
section 551.087 of the government code, to which specifically project sport. And
as we move into public comments, I would also like to say we did cover it. Our communications
director did a great job. I've received several direct. Questions regarding the
different propositions and being able to move money around, and there's been some things
circulating on the internet that we can move more money. If a proposition is approved to
another proposition that is incorrect, we will follow the law. The money has to stay
within the propositions. The flip side to that is, you know, we have estimated cost for
whether it's the fire station, police station, you can look through their again estimated
cost. And if there's money between those projects can be shared. If something came in
under or something came in over, those can be shifted. Those would be approved by this
council, obviously. And any oversight or facilitation committee would be reviewing
that. But again, it would stay within the proposals a, b, c, d and e and, and our city
attorney has faced. So in case I'm saying something wrong, please address it. And. And
I'll stop with that. So she, my wife gives me that same signal. I recognize it. So now is the
time for any citizen who wishes to speak. You may make public comments on the consent agenda.
regular agenda items one through eight or any other topic. Citizens wishing to
speak on items nine and ten will also be given an opportunity to speak during the
public hearing. But if you choose to speak at the beginning, you may. The city clerk will call your name when it's your time to speak. When you approach the podium, please
say your address, city and state. If it hasn't been stated, you will have three minutes for
public comments. The green light will come on when you approach the podium, and the red light will come on when your time is up. And please be reminded that we cannot respond
to your comments at that time. However, we will follow up with you and somebody from staff
might be with you before you leave the meeting. Delilah johnson, 2840 glenwood avenue,
beaumont, texas. Okay. That was that. Good day. I'd like to extend my condolences with you.
our community, our heart is with you. And I have a paper to pass out. Who would I need to
get this to? We're having our first annual farmers market in pear orchard in ward four.
we've been working hard for six years on our community garden, and so we hope to see you guys
out there. Our goal is to teach the community to be self-sufficient, how to change
the composition of the soil in our community, how to add more trees to our community and
stuff to change the quality of the air. So we've been working hard for six years, and we've
gotten a lot of support from different people on the board. And what we're going to do on
saturday, we're going to open up at 10:00 to the city officials, so you guys can come
in comfortably and see what we're doing from 10 to 11, and then we're going to open up to
the community at 12:00. So we're going to have vegan cheese, vegan boudin, we're
going to have fruits and vegetables. We're going to have some other foods as well too.
and so we want to encourage you to purchase a pumpkin for a dollar. And the proceeds of the
money is going to go to beaumont united for project graduation. So this is just the
beginning of many things that we want to do inside of the community. We want to change
that whole street and show that community how everybody can keep their yard cut, grow their
own fruits and vegetables, keep the neighborhood clean. And our hopes is that that becomes
contagious to the whole fourth ward area. And we hope we see we hope to see you guys out
there on saturday. I know there's a lot going on that day, but even if you stop by for ten
minutes, that means a lot to us and all our volunteers and the people that helped put this
together. So thank you. Thank you. All right. Rose randall, 6550 lexington drive, beaumont,
texas. Good afternoon. Today I'm going to tell you some news. Because of ongoing legal cases,
I will be omitting the names. On october 7th, immigration officials in beaumont once
again heroically cleaned up our streets by detaining an aging grandfather on his way to work.
they also valiantly harassed several citizens and legal residents with suspiciously brown skin, who were told that they resembled criminal illegal aliens and would need to show
their papers. Later, they showed up at the jefferson county probation office to
defend america by arresting responsible people showing up for their legal appointments.
they were able to prevent a father, husband and permanent legal resident from stealing
the job. He was weeks away from starting by refusing to allow him to produce documents that
would prove he has a legal right to be in the country that he has called home since he was
two years old. He is not the first documented person detained by ice in beaumont.
the local immigrant community has sounded the alarm, stating that many of their documented
family members have been detained, being born on u.s. Soil to parents born on us soil
is no longer good enough either. When a man's wife contacted the montgomery processing center in
conroe, she was told by someone over the phone that the man's child, a citizen born on u.s.
soil to a mother who is also a citizen born on u.s. Soil, would probably be detained and
deported to. In june, abbott signed senate bill eight into law, requiring that texas
sheriff's departments enter into agreements with ice to support immigration enforcement.
jefferson county sheriff's office, eager to be more helpful to the federal
government than the community they supposedly serve, immediately signed their
contract a full 18 months before they were legally required to do so. They say all
it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing. But I disagree with that. Evil
is most successful when it convinces everyday people to play small little parts to keep
the gears running. Things like unnecessarily signing agreements early, letting ice
ambush people in our government offices, and using local police departments to lay bait and
switch traps that result in ice mysteriously showing up 20s into a routine traffic stop
that happens in our community. Is this the america you want to live in? One where people who
forget their wallet at home may wake up the next day in a holding cell, hours from being
put on a flight to a foreign prison, one where even documented people and citizens
aren't safe from being deemed too close to the profile of the undesirable minority. Is this
our america? Is it the racist, ignorant cruelty of current federal policy that represents
us, or is what represents us, how we dutifully play our small part in keeping those gears
running? I'm asking my city to stop playing their part. Chance 932 west lucas, beaumont, texas.
good afternoon. George retz is a 25 year old u.s. Army veteran who served a tour in iraq on
july 10th while on his way to work as a security guard in southern california cannabis
farm. He was detained by federal immigration agents despite telling them that he
was an american citizen, that his wallet and identification were in his nearby, nearby car.
leo venegas, who was born in the united states, was first detained in may at a
construction site by armed men in camouflage. Two weeks later, venegas was arrested again on
another private construction site when another immigration patrol saw him working and assumed without reasonable suspicion that leo was undocumented. Both times,
venegas told the officer he was a citizen and showed them his real id. I should not be able
to violate the rights of citizens with impunity. Pseudo venom was wrongly imprisoned
for 43 years for a murder he did not commit. 14 days ago, he won his freedom. Ice arrested
him. The next day. He received multiple degrees during his time at huntington state
correctional institute. Sue, who is in fact the first prisoner in the history of
pennsylvania to get a master's degree while incarcerated. Yet even while having been
exonerated for the murder, he had a 40 year old possession that ice found. He had pled
guilty and received probation 43 years ago. But that's all ice needed. Ice wants to deport
sidhu to india. He left india when he was nine months old. This is an injustice. This is
horrible reflection on our country, our culture and our government. Ice should not be
able to violate the rights of immigrants with impunity. Ward. Sleek. 22 years old, was
married on january 31st. She was detained at a miami airport in february after returning
from her honeymoon in the us virgin islands. Around the time of her wedding, she applied for
a green card and successfully cleared the initial stage of process. She has palestinian descent, born in saudi arabia but holds no citizenship there. When she was eight, family came
over here on a visa, applied for asylum that was denied, but they couldn't be deported
because they have no country, they have no citizenship anywhere. So they were required to stay here or they were allowed to stay here and place an order of supervision. She
graduated from high school, got a bachelor's degree, launched a wedding photography business.
she was held for over five months in detention before finally being released. I
should focus on the criminals and gang members, not good people doing honest work. In
june, hays county county commissioners passed a resolution calling for humane
treatment and the process of immigrants within the county. Thank you sir, I would ask you
all to do the same. Bill robinson, 52, 95 gale drive, beaumont, texas. Hello. Okay.
as the other individuals have already mentioned, there's been a lot of distressing incidents
with immigrants and ice. At one time, these were rare. Unusual, abnormal. Today, they've become
the norm. The united states is a nation of both laws and promises, and our history and
identity consists of how well we either fulfill those laws, those promises, or we break
them. Currently, we are in the process of breaking them. We made promises to immigrants, to
people coming here, that if they come here and they go through the process, they can
live here and they can have better economic stability, safety, education. We made that
promise. We set up laws that guide how that is accomplished. Today, though, we are not only
breaking those promises, we are breaking those laws. We are failing our ideals, our
promises, our humanity and our people. It's happening all across the nation and it's
happening here in beaumont. As I said, we are a people of laws and promises and humanity, and
if we want to remain the same, then we need to take actions, no matter how small, to fight
this, to stop it and to rectify it. Thank you. Abigail morales, 1045 church street, beaumont,
texas. Hello, council mayor, please excuse my nervousness. My name is abigail morales, and
I'm a beaumont resident and a us citizen. But I came to this country as a and the city as an
undocumented child. Growing up, I knew the fear that someone I love might be taken not because
they were bad people. Excuse me, but because borders and papers seem to matter more than
families and love. And that fear really never leaves you. In fact, for many in the
immigrant community, it has only grown stronger. That fear isn't imagined, it is real. And
it is something that is happening here in beaumont, and families are living through now.
in fact, just a few weeks ago, immigrant immigration agents detained a man in our city. I
don't know every detail about his case, but I've seen what moments like that do to a
family. They leave behind fear, confusion, silence. And I'm here because silence can't be
our answer. The man that was detained has a little girl, just nine years old, who sees
him as her father. She wrote a letter and with her family's permission, I want to share it.
I've removed the names for their privacy. Dad, I miss you. You are like a dad to me. If
you come back, I will feel excited and I will be happy. I cry every day for you. I am his
daughter, I love him. Please let him go home to his family. Please, please god, let him
come back to us. Those are the words of a child, a nine year old heartbroken and scared. Let
her letter remind us what is at stake. When families are separated. The innocence that
is lost, the fear that lingers, and the deep ache that no law or paperwork can measure. And
this is just one story. There are many families, many neighbors, living quietly with
the same fear for our city and our city. We may not know every story, but they are here. It
isn't about politics. It is about people. It is about what kind of community we want to be
here in beaumont. You, our city leaders, help set the tone, showing that you care can start
small by making sure that our public spaces are safe for everyone. By being transparent
about how our city cooperates with ice, and by standing with families when they're afraid.
because if one child in our community is crying herself to sleep, scared that her family
might be torn apart or praying for someone she loves to come home, that is not someone
else's problem. It is all of ours. Thank you. Christy de la sota, 4590 kenneth avenue,
beaumont, texas. Good afternoon. I was completely unprepared for this. My kids called me at the
last minute. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Are you wanting to speak on a dilapidated structure or.
okay, that will be towards the end. I'm sorry. Carlton sharp, 5150 plant road, beaumont,
texas. Councilwoman sherwood, you have our deepest condolences and prayers. Mayor,
council and city manager, I'm speaking today to follow up on an email I previously sent to
each one of you regarding the current conditions of the tennis complex located on
college street. As we prepare to host the southland conference tennis tournament in
april 2026, we have an opportunity not just to improve the facility, but to reshape
how people see beaumont. When you look on online, there's a mixed picture of our city
residents and visitors often mentioned beaumont affordable living, friendly people and
community spirit. But there are also recurring concerns about crime, limited attractions and
a lack of things to do compared to other cities. These comments influence how outsiders, and
even our own residents perceive the quality of life here in beaumont, and this event
presents a tremendous opportunity for the city to showcase our community to a national audience. By revitalizing the tennis complex, we can begin to change the
narrative. This espn televised event gives us the chance to highlight a different story.
one of progress, one of investment, and one of pride. When viewers see
well-maintained courts and vibrant facilities, they'll associate beaumont with
excellence and hospitality. When visitors come for the tournament and experience clean,
safe and welcoming spaces, they'll leave with a positive impression that ripples through
word of mouth and social media. And when residents see our city taking pride in its public
facilities, it builds a sense of ownership and optimism that encounters that counters the
negative perceptions circulating online. Furthermore, lamar university success is
beaumont's success. The university is a cornerstone of our community, and its athletic
achievements reflect directly on our city. When lamar hosts and performs well in front of a
national audience, it strengthens beaumont's reputation as a city that
supports excellence in education, sports, and community life by ensuring the
tennis complex meets championship standards. We're not just supporting the
university, we're investing in the image and future of beaumont itself. So don't think
that this is just about resurfacing courts. It's about rebranding beaumont as a city
that invests in itself, supports athletics, and creates experiences worthy of being
televised on national platforms like espn. So thank you for your leadership and for
consistently and for considering this timely matter. We have a chance to make a
strong impression on national on the national stage and take actions now will ensure that we
seize this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you sir. Albert harrison, 1240 ashley beaumont,
texas.
mayor, city council of the concerned citizens that are present of the city employees I
hate to. Ride on the same track each time I come here for the last three meetings, but the
other day I received a water bill with a $10 late charge. I know I've expressed to you
before that I pay the water bill one day after the due date. I'm here to inform you that
this particular ten hour charge I'm going to place in escrow. I'm not going to pay it to the
city. Okay? And at the same time, I'm going to encourage other citizens at the same
identical situation to not pay as well. Thank you. Now, I've also noticed in looking at the
water bills, there's a certain amount of inconsistency, as city has, for instance, my
water bill was read july 1st to august 1st. Due date the 28th. Next time it was read august
1st, august 29th. Due date and 27 days, which is different from the first one. What I'm
saying is that your consistency shows me that on some days the water bill is due in 28 days,
some is due in 25 days and in some cases is due 31 days. So I don't see that as being
inconsistent because I'm concerned. I would also indicate that not only does the
water bill seem to be have some inconsistency to do it to it, but there are also other issues
that involve the water bill. Now, my main reason for indicating to you that I'm not
paying that $10 charge is because no one has, still has not given me an answer as to
what in house means, because that's what I was told. That's how this charge came about in
house. I appreciate it very, very much. If somebody would explain to me what in house
means on this particular water bill. Thank you. Thank you sir. Larry gauthier, 59, 26 green
moor lane, beaumont, texas. Good evening, mr. Mayor. City council members, staff. City
employees. I've spoken on several topics in the past, and I started off with my lord. And
my god tells me and shows me what I need to see and do. Well. We look at washington boulevard,
traffic jams, people getting off at 4 p.m. In the afternoon, and they want to be home by 2
p.m. Well, you got a flashing traffic light. If you yield to the right and you look, you'll
get through there. It may not be as fast as you want to, but you'll get there. Okay. We
talked about magnolia street. If you want to make buttermilk, just go down magnolia. You can
start at the 1500 block of magnolia heading north. Or you can go to the 3100 block of
magnolia, where I almost had a head on collision. Nobody called me. I called them, said,
meet with me and we'll discuss it and see if we can rectify the problem. Nothing was solved.
no phone calls, no meetings, trespassing on my property. I've called. I discussed with
the police department. They came out. Come to find out the people that was out there
didn't even have a permit. City of beaumont didn't even know what they were doing. That's
trespassing. Then dirty electricity. I spoke about dirty electricity, 247v on 110
volt line. I talked with the utility company. Didn't get the right answer. I spoke about
abuse after it happens more than three times, then it becomes discrimination as to
what is going on with seismograph testing pile driving in the south end of
beaumont off of the village near beaufort and carroll street. I just need some people
to pick up the phone and call me. I've talked with texdot people before. I've given them
an issue that took place. I almost had a collision up on 69 where it comes into I-10 right
there at that exchange, people, one of the lanes goes away and you have only one lane that's
going to come in to the I-10 exchange. The person cut me off. I had to slam on the brakes,
skid off the road, and could have killed a bunch of people. Nothing done. No return phone
calls. I'm glad I come to this meeting. Thank you sir. Billy. And I think it's willie 7710.
and I cannot make out the street name, but my texas. Mr. Willie. Okay, I have no more
mayor. That's it. All right. If there's no other public comments, we will move on. Is
there a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda? With the exceptions of items e,
g and h make a motion pulled for today. Make a motion. We approve. There is a motion and
a second for approval of the consent agenda. With the exceptions of e, g, and h that
have been approved. Yes. Councilwoman sherwood, can you somebody scroll up to t? I
think I need to have it pulled. I need to recuse myself. On t. I think council member sherwood
wants to want it to be voted on separately. So she can recuse herself from voting on that
item. Okay, so we will. We can certainly do that. So we will. We're also removing t from the
consent agenda. And we will discuss that right after this. So all those in favor of
approving the consent agenda, with the exception of e, g, h and t, please signify by saying
I. Mayor. Yes, the motion was to approve with t, so the motion would need to be amended
to exclude t as well. And you would also need. I was checking you and I thought you were
sleeping, so good catch. Yeah. So? So make a motion that we approve the consent agenda
minus t no, minus e, g, h and t your motion. It will be to amending your motion to approve
the consent agenda. Removing items e, g and t. Okay, I make a motion that it's e g and h e
g h and t. Write it down. Yeah. Is there any other letters? No. That's it. Okay, well, I make a
motion that we approve consent agenda e g except for e g h and t I second. Yeah. All right.
the. So with that, all in favor of approving the consent agenda, with the exception of items e,
g and t, please signify by saying I, I any opposed the motion is carried. Mayor. Yes.
we didn't get a chance to we didn't ask if there was any discussion on the consent
agenda and I had my hand up. Oh, okay. All right. That is. Is it too late? Well, I mean, we have
voted on it. So is it something you feel like you need to say? Yeah. No, I just on on item l,
I just wanted to someone to explain how people can get into that program. And the the home
repair program for the public so they can see how that they can get into that program and,
and have access to some of those monies. That'll be fine. It won't change the vote. I
didn't understand there was any problem. So. Yes, sir, I would like to invite jess prince up.
she's our community services manager and she oversees that program. Good afternoon. That
program is typically open when we receive our cdbg funds. However, we have a waitlist
that exceeds two years of projected funding. So we're not taking applications at this
time. We encourage people to check back in january. The application is online on our
website beaumont, texas.gov. And you would click on services and go to housing. And that's
where the application is. Yes. I say check after the first of the year. Yes. That's all I
wanted. Thank you. All right. With that mr. City manager may we have the reading of item
number t t yeah. Because we're going to we're going to revisit item t. Okay. Council, consider
authorizing acceptance of a sidewalk easement. And the council with the recommendation
of approval of the resolution. All right. Is there a motion to accept item t? So move to
approve. Second, there is a motion and a second for approval. Is there any
discussion? You you want to recuse? I need to recuse myself. All right. If there's no other
discussion, all those in favor of approving item number two, please signify by saying aye.
aye. Any opposed? All right. The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, may we have the
reading of item number one? Council, consider resolution authorizing the city manager to
award a contract to gulf coast electric company, incorporated of beaumont, for electrical
control improvements for mulberry street, piney point lane and wall street lift
stations rebid project. And it comes with the recommendation of approval. All right. There
is a motion for item number one. Is there is there a motion for item number one move to approve
second. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number one. Is there any
discussion? Councilman turner yes, I had a discussion. It's something that kind of jumped
out to me that we sent this to. 674 vendors were notified, and we got one bid received. Is it
possible that as a council, we can do a bid workshop? Because a lot of people are asking
about understanding the process, and I think this is kind of somewhat alarming to me. I just
like a clear understanding of what our process is, how thorough it is, how do we get
the information out? Because that's a little alarming. 674 and one in return. Sure, you
can do a workshop. Is that for the benefit of vendors, possible bidders? Yes, sir.
okay. If I can get a second, I'd appreciate it. Second. All right. With that, we're going
to move back to the discussion on item number one. If there's no other. Oh, councilman duryea,
item one, is there a reason why we just got one? That y'all one bid returned after you sent out
74. This is specifically related to the controls and the switches. Electrical
improvements inside the lift station, and it's pretty specialized work. And there's
not a lot of vendors that will do this scale of work at municipal cost. So we could
compete with the industrial. We can't compete with the industrial scale electricians.
and so in know how to insert, install these controllers, get them programed the way that
they need to be programed, work with us after the after the sale. And so that's why you
will only typically see for a lot of our bids, we cast a wide net across the state of texas
and but we still only get back the one bid because they're they're more I believe they're
more comfortable with working with us. They work with us every day. But at the end of
the day, you know, the we're not attracting the industrial contractors to do work on
municipal work. Okay. Is there anything you can do to change that? Money? That's it. Okay.
all right. Is there any other discussion? All right. If not all those in favor of approving
item number one, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City
manager, may we have the reading of item number two? Council, consider resolution
authorizing the city manager to award a contract to green spaces. Six of liberty for the
whole street and lane. Pavement restoration project and the recommendation of approval. Is
there a motion for item number two? Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second? There
is a motion and a second for item number two. Is there any discussion? All those in favor
of approving item number two, please signify by saying I. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is
carried. Mr. City manager, may we have the reading of item number three? Council. Council,
consider resolution authorizing the city manager to award a contract to portalis industrial
enterprise, inc. Of houston for the cattail marsh wetlands 72 inch outfall pipe coating
project. And it comes with the recommendation of approval. Is there a motion for item number
three? Move to approve. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number three.
is there any discussion? Councilman daria? Just wondering why the lowest bid
didn't get it. And they're right here in beaumont. So the apparent low bidder, there's
submission package had deficiencies, including failure to acknowledge all three
project addenda. And they had a lack of responsive references. So when you ask if we go back
and check these bids we do. And in this case, unfortunately for the apparent low bidder, there
were issues that were missing that precluded us from awarding recommending award of the
contract to that contractor. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Any other discussion? All those in
favor of approving item number three, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The
motion is carried. Mr. City manager, may we have the reading of item number four?
council, consider resolution authorizing the city manager to award a contract to capital
underground utilities llc of houston for the water line replacement for street
rehabilitation. Phase six oldham road, shamrock avenue and harriet street. It comes
with the recommendation of approval. Is there a motion for item number four? Move to
approve. Second, there is a motion and a second for approval of item number four.
is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number four, please
signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, may we have
the reading of item number five? Council, consider a resolution authorizing the city manager to
award a contract to csx construction corporation of beaumont for the quiet zone
median reconstruction project, and it comes with the recommendation of approval. Is
there a motion for item number five? I make a motion. We approve. Is there a second?
second? There is a motion and a second for approval of item number five. Is there any
discussion? Councilman hilliard, I just want to say that thank you for for us getting this
thing going. It is going to save the lives of a lot of people. It is it's about time.
and also, if we could get the information out, is there a way to do that, mr. City manager,
that we can get some kind of release, that we cast a wide net and let everyone know that
the city is actually working to, to make sure that their lives are better without train horns.
so we do have a dedicated website on the city's web page for the updates that we're
publishing monthly, roughly about the progress of this project. So I was waiting for
today's vote in order to push that update. And then we'll coordinate with our
communications department to make sure that that gets pushed out as well. Yeah. Facebook,
instagram, tiktok, everything that we can use because this is a really big deal and I can't
say enough how much I appreciate the hard work that your department's put in and the long hours to make sure this happens. So thank you, thank you. Yes, councilman
daria, so is this just the first of. And we have more of these to come. So this will
address the west end quiet zone deficiencies. So those are the ones that roughly along keith
road, todd street, todd street, wootten major drive and langham road. And that's known as the
west end quiet zone. So once all of those crossings are completed then the quiet zone
with fra's approval will be reestablished and they can quit sounding the horns. This does
not address any other railroad crossings in the city. At this time. Do we have any that were
going to address at a later date? We've been developing cost estimates for the other
quiet zones, and that will probably be a discussion for when we come to you with the
next capital program proposal, because each, depending on the level of complexity, the costs
are in the millions of dollars. So it will be a topic for deeper discussion if you would
like for us to, as we get closer to that point, discuss that further with council. Be
happy to do so. Okay. Thank you councilman. Thank you. Councilman. Councilman turner.
yeah, I would support us discussing it to kind of see a strategic plan to kind of get
it across the city. I'm happy it has been addressed in the west end. It's been a
consistent complaint. I see it on social media, too, councilman hilliard, and it's been consistent. But, you know, I also do support councilman dorio as well as I do support
you with seeing if we can address form some form of strategic plan to address it
across the community. Of course, we can't do it all at once, but I do want to make sure we
decipher the money, to make sure we kind of take care of everybody. As far as quiet zone,
at least have a plan to address it in the future, right? And to be clear, this is to make the
repairs to the existing quiet zone, the establishment of the new quiet zone is is going to
be an order of magnitude higher in cost. Yes, ma'am. I understand, I just I still want
to create a plan to go there. Yes, sir. Yes, councilwoman. Also make a note that there are
quiet zones that have been requested in ward three as well, particularly on hillbrook
helbig. Just to put that on the record. Thank you. And in case it wasn't said, the projected
as allocated 60 calendar days for substantial completion, I believe. Yes, sir. Okay. All
right. If there's no other discussion, all those in favor of approving item number five,
please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, may
we have the reading of items number six? Council, consider resolution authorizing the city
manager to execute. Change order number three to the contract with king solutions
services, llc of houston for the grand avenue and magnolia avenue pipe bursting contract.
phase one. And it comes with the recommendation of approval. Is there a motion for item
number six? Move to approve. Is there a second? Second there is a motion and a second for item
number six. Is there any discussion? Councilman turner, this sir. Staff, can someone
answer with this being the third change order, is it like a timeline that how much longer
it is? I see it's additional 15 days. But is it is it 15 days to get the work complete or is
it 15 days just to address this particular thing? Those 15 days are just to address the work in
proposed change order. Number three don't have a current construction schedule for when
we anticipate completion of the project, but I can definitely get that information and share
that with council. Yes, ma'am. I just wanted on the record so I didn't want citizens confused,
thinking it was over in 15 days. Judging by the condition out there. No, we're not done yet.
yes, ma'am. Thank you. Is there any other discussion on item number six? All those in favor
of approving item number six, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is
carried. Mr. City manager, may we have the reading of item number seven? Council, to
consider amending the ordinance containing the master fee schedule for water, sewer and
environmental health rates. It comes with recommendation of approval. Excuse me. Is there a
motion for item number seven? Move to approve. Second, there is a motion and a second for
item number seven. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number seven,
please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, may
we have the reading of item number eight? Council to consider amendments to chapter
22 of the city code of ordinances. And it comes with the recommendation of a lot of
stuff with the recommendation. It's it's I can read it. The city currently assesses a late
fee the day after payment is due, providing customers with the with about 22 providing
customers customers with about 22 days from the billing date to pay. A review of neighboring
cities found that late fees were assessed within 1 to 10 days after the due date. Based
on this comparison and potential impacts on revenue and cash flow, staff recommends
implementing a ten day grace period. I think the request was for 21 days. So, mayor, before
you vote on that, the memo is prepared by me. But the recommendation was a suggestion
from the finance department. Just want to clarify that the the request came from
councilman crenshaw, which was the second by councilman williams, as stated in the memo.
and so normally staff would not have made a recommendation on items that are not proposed by
staff. However, the finance department did ask that that language be included so that it
could be a consideration with the vote. All right. Is there a motion for item number eight? I
move that we go with the recommendation of the finance department to extend a ten day
grace period. As the motion is presented. Second, there is a motion and a second for item
number eight. Is there any other discussion, councilman williams, being as we're
passing this today, is there any way we could waive late fees that maybe were incurred
this month? So I think these are addressed by ordinance. So retroactively doing it, you
would have to kind of amend your ordinance. It's a very tricky situation. So the answer
is yes and no. You couldn't do that today if you wanted to do it retroactively. You could go
back and amend your ordinance to allow that language to be included to do that, just kind
of address it in this. Yeah. So there's some. So and here's the thing. It's not an issue before
council today to kind of waive late fees. But if that's something council wanted to do you kind of have to do it because it's a the late fees are set by ordinance. And so to
adjust that or to do that would probably need to be by ordinance as well. So it's a
it's a yes and it's a no kind of scenario. Does that make sense. Are you saying it can be
done. But it couldn't be done today. Yes. Because it's not something that's before council
as a agenda item. I think that's an answer okay. Thank you. Councilman turner. Yeah I
have no problem with what council member williams said that we could bring it from
staff as an agenda item to see if we can get that addressed in the future, to kind of reflect
what we're doing. So what you could do today, because there's we're currently in another
billing cycle, which means bills are about to go out. Right. So you could obviously
request that this become effective today. So it wouldn't impact any bills that had
already went out. But any billing cycle that is current that has not become due would be impacted by this. So even if someone had already received their bill, but their due date
had not passed, you could so say someone's bill is due tomorrow, right? You could say
that this would not. This would go into effect and not impact that individual. So for anyone's bill who is not currently due that this be applied to that, but this
doesn't do that. Like the motion that's before you does not. So what this would do,
this would go into effect today and it would actually impact the next billing cycle. Unless
you changed your unless the motion was amended to say that you wanted it to be impactful
immediately. Okay. Which means which means it would affect anyone whose bill is not
currently due I got you. Councilman crenshaw. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Several things. Just
the the recommendation here brings up red flags to me. Providing customers with about
22 days from billing date to pay. I do not understand why the city bills with the due
date changing every month. I don't understand why we can't bill on 30 days. And that's
when your your bill is due. That way the due date is consistent. Seems to me by
changing everyone's due date every month, it creates confusion and allows for
problems with the billing. So I understand that's not an issue for us today, but I really do
believe that this that staff needs to sit down. And number one, be sure that our billing
complies with state law, because while we are sitting here today, the city attorney
is showing me that one aspect of the public utilities code, I believe that's what she showed
me, said that the max late fee is $5 or 10%. I have routinely paid a $10 late fee on a $30
and $40 water bill. So that tells me right there that we may be out of compliance with
state law with the $10 fee. I don't know when it went from $5 to $10. To me, it seems like
it's probably been within the last 3 or 4 years because it used to always be a $5 late fee.
but I just I think there's a lot of issues here, and I think that we really need some
lawyers to sit down with our water utilities. I'm sorry, water customer service and
address these issues because I think that there's a lot going on here that's incorrect. And
we hear it all the time from customers and residents that are frustrated with their water
bills. And just by the language that we're using in the memos today, it brings up all kinds
of red flags for me. Here's why I originally changed my recommendation from ten days to
21 days. There was a bill, most recently in our legislature, to change the date to 21 days. It
passed the texas house of representatives. It failed in the texas senate. That tells me
that a lot of people in austin got together and this thing was able to pass the house, and
they made the determination that it was better to have a 21 day grace period instead of a
ten day. So that also tells me there's a very good chance that next legislative session, that
that could actually pass and that that would then put the city of beaumont's water billing out of code. So that's why I think it's better that we go to 21 days if all we can do
is go to ten days today, I guess that would be okay. It's better than nothing. But a lot
of people tell me that are on bill pay with their bank, that by the time they get their bill
and their bank pays the bill, pay automatically every month, they get a late fee because of
the change in the due dates and because it's not enough time to get done. So I just don't
understand why the city needs to have such confusing water bills. We keep having these
problems over and over and over, so I am in favor of as much time as we can give our
citizens today. So I like the 21 days, but I'm not going to vote against this if the ten
days is all I can get. But I do want to make it noted why I thought that 21 days made more
sense. And lastly, I believe that there was an audit done of our water customer service. We
have still not seen the results of that, so I'm wondering if maybe it makes sense for us
just to have a workshop where we can talk about water billing and air out some of these
issues and invite the public to come and give their input, because it does seem to be
problems acknowledged from both within the city, from our city staff, as well as obviously all
the comments that that we have made over the last several months since I've been on
council, that things need to change and things need to to be improved. Thank you. Councilman,
councilwoman sherwood, originally, when we first got on council, I had an issue
where there were an elderly couple that their son was paying their bill, but it was a
requirement that he had to come and physically pay it. If it was, if it had been turned off
or something to this effect. So I'd like to add to what councilman crenshaw is saying,
that basically the process is a little cumbersome. And so inside of that workshop, if we
could also look into the way that we pay these bills because it could get into, okay, now
it's late, now there's a late fee, and now someone has to physically come here. That's
creating a little bit of a hiccup in the giddyup. So I want to encourage us, when we
do have this workshop that we incorporate, the way that we're paying the bill as well, not
just the late fees and the ordinances about the ten days, but also the options of how we
pay this. Just for the record, thank you, councilman turner. And just just lastly, you know,
to that water customer service department, I know as a city council, nine times out of ten
it's somebody call my phone. They're already upset. So just be mindful of, you know, the
role and the job we signed up for. I get it, I understand I take phone calls sometimes and
I'm in a good mood playing with my kid. And people can whatever their issue is, they don't care.
they let you here. So just keep that in mind in this process. I also like to know, as a
recommendation from the water department, what we are lacking as a council to stop them from
being efficient as they request that we're making. You know, I think that's important too,
that we kind of can see if there's some things that we are lacking, because I know when it
comes to funding, often it's things that are requested and we put things in the budget and
we turn around. We want very efficient results. So I'm kind of open to kind of getting into
it all the way. As councilman sherwood and crenshaw said, to see what are we lacking. But
also keep in mind, you know, I get calls about complaints, but I understand because almost every time my phone rings, someone is upset. So I just want us to keep that in mind as
well with customer service. Just like city manager council, we had our first meeting. We
heard the findings of the audit study last week. Of course, we haven't been able to follow up
on that. City attorney's been out of town ever since, so we haven't been able to follow up
on some things there. We are implementing some things that we'll be doing, and I thought
we had already agreed to come to this council with the report on that finding. I could be
incorrect, but ialready determie going to do that. So that will be forthcoming to you. You know,
there are issues, but be mindful. We have 43,000 water customers. I don't know anybody
else. Anywhere around has got 43. Any kind of customers 43,000. So you're going to have
some things that happen that doesn't make what happened. Correct. But the but the
possibility of things happening is great. And when you got 43,000 customers but we get
about five that shows up at the dyess on a regular basis. So that percentage is not as bad
as it appears. Is it bad if if it's one it's too many. Okay. It's one, but I just wanted to
say that I want staff to talk about some reasons why it would be a problem to go to 21 days
of billing, some of the things that the city would face, and then I'll say something else.
so june, either you or bridget can address that. Yeah, I'll cover that. Staff did look at
some other cities. Council member and council members. We we have sister cities that we
compare ourselves to. So we reached out to many of our sister cities to see what their
late billing policy is. Five of those cities responded. And I can tell you what those who
those five cities are city of bel air, pasadena, la porte, deer park, and port arthur. Two
of those cities have a late payment policy very similar to ours. The next, the next day.
they're assessed a late, late fee, just like beaumont. One city, one cities policy. Every
month. The bills are due on a friday and come that monday morning, if payment isn't made
even throughout the weekend, they're assessed a late, late fee. So they have the weekend
to pay. Another city has a five day grace period and and another has a ten day grace
period. So there was no city that had anything greater than ten days. So that's why city
staff recommended a ten day grace period. To talk about billing and the the issues with
billing with a 20 day period. Late period. What will with 21 days, with the 21 day grace
period, what will really happen is that by the time a late fee is assessed, let's say somebody
waits until the 20th day or the 21st day, they won't know that they're assessed a late fee
until two billing cycles later. So it won't show on the next bill, because that bill will
have already gone out. So we think that would cause quite a bit of confusion if we went to
a 21 day billing grace period. Again, that's another reason why we assessed or recommended
the ten day late fee grace period. And also during that 21 days, you know, people are
still receiving water and sewer and garbage service, and we additionally think that it
could possibly cause. A cash flow issue. There may be people who are most citizens may wait
until the end of that 21 day cycle, and the revenue that comes to the city to pay for
operations may be impacted. We don't know. So those are things that that we thought of and
considered before we made the recommendation. Okay. Yeah. So basically in 21 days they will
have received another bill that won't reflect that late fee. If they're late. And then we'll
have a compounded the problem by the time they get another bill in the future. And it will
create confusion. That's why we're recommending the ten days it fits within the timeline of
billing. And and and there's two things I want to add. Just from my experience, my short
time on council is one is for people to understand that all the incoming calls are recorded.
because we had a we had a drought shortly after I became mayor, and I had a number of
people call me and tell me that they were frustrated because water bills went up and that
when they called water customer service, you know, they didn't feel like they got the proper
treatment. And I asked them, you know, if they had made calls from their cell phone and
without exception, every one of them that called me did say that. And I said, well, if you
go back to your calls, you can tell us the day and the time that you called, and we will be
able to pull that tape, and we can use that as a training, you know, for any employee. And,
and I never received anybody's response, which I would I'd have to go back to say for sure,
but I'd say as close to 15. And the other thing that I know that we need to address,
because we've had conversations about this with some other things, and in this workshop, I think it would be an appropriate time. Is a lot of it or some of these issues are
associated with our billing software and our software system, which is pretty
antiquated. And I know we've been researching on the cost of upgrading those, the software
so that we can be more efficient. But, you know, so maybe we can get an update on
that as well, so that we can see if any of this could be helped, perhaps solved with
software updates without it increasing, delaying efficiencies with the number of
employees that we have. But is there any other discussion, councilman hilliard? Well, I, I
can I can speak as a business owner and I'm sure mike will back me up. You know, we we
sell goods and service and we allow our customers a 30 day billing cycle. We give them 30
days to pay. And, you know, we've never had any financial hardship. And I have thousands
of customers. And I know mike does too. And so, you know, just to be fair to a lot of our
citizens that are living on fixed incomes, I think 21 days would be a fair assumption for
these individuals to give them time to make these water bill payments. So, I mean, from a
business standpoint, pretty much everybody I know does a 30 day billing cycle. And so, you
know, I don't know why a city would be different. You know, I could see us doing 30 days
instead of 21. Well, yes, sir, and I agree, I would I would put to councilman williams that
I when you buy retail you pay at the time of it. But and I know in the mortgage business
which I'm a part of, it's 15 day grace period. So it certainly can vary. But again
the only other thing I want to add that we address is oftentimes as a council, we're
talking about ways to enhance the customers that may cost the city additional money when we
don't, when we constantly struggle with having enough staff and being able to upgrade
our software to the degrees and, you know, and cutting budgets. So we also have to be mindful
of I mean, I think all of us ran because we want a better beaumont, and we certainly want
customer service. That's good. But we also have to pay for it. And if there is a cost, where
is that money going to come out of next, next annual budget? Because, you know, there are
things that do cost and that we do have to account for. I'm not saying we can't, we just want
to be mindful of it. So but we currently have a motion for the yes, thank thank you. Mayor.
yeah, I'd like to commend sheriff's department on the audit. They did a thorough job
and and to be currently up front there they did. There are some findings we need to fix.
there's some things that need to be fixed. So I'll be honest with you up front on that. So
when we come to you and have this discussion about the audit, we want to have solutions. We
want to have some solutions bringing them to you. Some things recommendations for
council other than just putting dumping it in your lap. So that's the plan is to have that
done. But to be clear now as they said, you already have 20 days to pay a bill, then 20 to
22. As council member, crenshaw said, it's can be inconsistent. But then you had 21 days on top
of that, 22 days. So that's where it gets cloudy. When it gets into that next billing
period of 21 days, it gets to be prepared. But whatever this council wants to do, we'll make
it work. But but it does create a hardship. And going to 21 days. We've just been honest
with you, I don't have a personal preference at all, but we just we don't want to add to
the problem, mr. Mayor. Yes, councilman. I just want to be sure I understood what mr.
ellis said. The city staff is telling us as to why they want ten days instead of 21 days.
are you justifying not going to 21 days because the city would run out of money and not being
able to collect that late fee in that 11 day difference? No, I'm not justifying that. What
was it then? What did you mean when you said that the city would not have the resources to
do that? I said potentially it could cause a cash flow issue potentially. But but I didn't
say that we are going to do a workshop on this and we can address those. That's just
remarkable to me. We don't we have $40 million in the bank. I mean, how much are we
generating on late fees a month, maybe a 100,000? How could that possibly impact the city's cash
flow? All right, councilman crenshaw, thank you. I just I don't know, that's just. And
now it's raining. All right, councilwoman sherwood, I. I get that the issue is extending the
time. I think what we want to do is land on something reasonable. And if 21 days on
top of 22 days puts you into the middle of another billing cycle, what we're I think what
they're suggesting is that ten days basically brings you to a full 30 days of 31 days, 32
days. I guess if you start with 22, without putting you into the next billing cycle, that
can create some contention for people that may create some more contention. In other words,
the ten day is a happy medium in between us going all the way for 21 days, not as few as a
week. And so ten days is in the middle somewhere. I'm not opposed to 21 days, but I get
that. That may create some more contention and controversy. I'm not really in the mind frame
that it's going to cost the city money, or we're going to lose any money or anything of
that. But I do work in insurance and I do work in medical transportation, and I know what a 30 day billing cycle looks like. If you start extending that to 40 and 50
days, then you've got some problems that could you could incur. Not that I'm going to
run out of money, but I think that ten days is a happy place to make a medium for the
staffers and give some grace. I mean, that's just my opinion. Just one more point of
clarification, councilmember crenshaw. Our fund balances for water is largest they've ever
been. So the city is not having distress to a dollars and and water fund. Yeah. Our bond
rating is improved because of the increase in the fund balance, which is maybe to your
credit. But again I just I'm lost over the argument that, you know, the city is going to
be cash strapped because we gave a longer an 11 day grace period extension. I just to me
it seems nonsensical. But, you know, and I was not speaking for mr. Ellis, but, you know, a
lot of those dollars are invested in different instruments, etcetera, and
they're not readily available all the time. You know, it depends on what those dollars
are. So maybe that can influence cash flow sometimes. But I'm not saying that's the
case, but I'm just saying, right. I just want to make clear there's plenty of money.
yeah. And I'm not saying that either. You know, mr. Williams, I guess just like today,
there's a lot of water and sewer related equipment, big dollar amounts that y'all just
approved. So that's going to that's going to encumber a lot of cash for a lot of these
major pieces of equipment up front. So again, I'm you know, these are just things that that
we thought of as we were, you know, coming up with a recommendation that we thought
would be most beneficial to the city of beaumont. Thank you. Thank you, councilman turner.
and lastly, just for the workshop clarification, I understand if we're going to do
it today, there's nothing wrong with the workshop comes back. If you guys do research and see
it's feasible to hit the longer mark. But my second question is within the workshop, let's just
say I know we asked why bills can't be between the first and the fifth or or what do we do
when a customer turns on their water on the 10th of the month, or turns on the money on the on
the water on the 20th of the month? Because it's no guarantee when you turn your water on. So how does that work? If we were looking to make it a particular time, is that
something staff can bring back to us, to those options? Because I think it's important
that we can't really control when people turn their water on, water on, and how do we deal
with the billing if it doesn't happen between the first and the fifth? If we did want to
kind of make it a standard date, so it could kind of be uniform. That's something we'll have to
bring back unless you have a response to that. I think that's probably something that
we're going to have to look at as a whole with, with the audit findings and everything. But I
did just just want to throw one more thing out there. Thank you, june, for that. But I did also
want to say that we do typically waive fees at least, you know, once every year on a
12 month rolling basis if it's requested by the citizen. So we are already we are doing that
concession. I just want to make sure we kind of clear on what we want to do with the workshop.
that's what I said. That's something I would like to see within that workshop. So we
know the options and what we're dealing with. I just want to make sure what we're asking for
is feasible, because I'm open to anything that makes sense. So, mayor, if I may, because
the audit that my office conducted specifically looked at the issues that were
requested at the time by council, councilman crenshaw and councilman turner, when that dealt with the individual having a disconnection improperly. And so what we did
is we reviewed the entire process from start to finish, and we made recommendations on
the efficiency of the the office. Some what we noticed as gaps in the process and the
procedure. We also interviewed department directors that oversee that department as well
as some some other departments to see, like what what they were seeing in terms of what
they consider that happened. So a lot of what's being requested now, in terms of when a
workshop could be presented, may push that deadline back. If you needed staff to do
additional research on a finding out if there's a different, different software,
which is something that we did recommend, but that's an ongoing process to see what
would work with the city. If we're also requesting some additional information as it
relates to effectiveness and procedures, that would change because what we did was audit
our current practices and make recommendations on what we currently do. And so the recommendations that were presented in the city manager, I believe that was last, last
week. So we completed the audit on september 30th and cleaned it out, and I reviewed it with
my staff internally, presented it to. To other members of executive office for review.
and then we met internally last week to discuss discuss those findings. If if council wants
something different at that workshop, it may take a while. Like I said, the audit itself
took over over 30 days to complete. And there was the reason for that. That gap in
between when it was discussed internally with executive staff, was to give them a chance for
feedback and for follow up. There were some questions that came out, the audit that required that they wanted to have follow up questions on. So we used that additional time
prior to our meeting of last week to to answer those questions, specifically wait
times, what was the average wait time for a citizen that wasn't included in the average,
the original audit? Because that wasn't an initial concern. But we did go back and look at
that. We also compared that to long term. Was the current wait time. Now was the current wait
time when it's peak time, the drought, what's overall like? You know, so if there's
something different, I'm just telling you that it does and it will require additional time of
council said, hey, we want it at the next meeting. That might not be feasible if we're requiring something different. That was already discussed internally. Well, just me as an
individual, you know, I understand what you're saying, but I don't want it to come to
us as a workshop if it's not as efficient as it can actually be. So I can only speak for myself.
but my thing is, how can we actually make it better and efficient? Because what's
happening is people are consistently coming with issues about the billing, and I don't
want to just kind of talk about within, how can we really make it efficient and better. So
that's the audit did focus on improving the overall operational efficiency of the office. And I think that that that could be addressed if council said we would like it
at the next workshop. I think that that could be addressed at the next workshop. But like I
said, councilman sherwood, councilwoman sherwood, yeah, it was more in line with like
software and software equipment, even though that's one of the recommendations that we brought
out in the audit. It's not something that we're prepared to say this will work for the
city. It's something that obviously we have to get with our it department, which again,
we haven't even that meeting only contained high level staff. Myself, the city manager, the
department directors that oversee it. And so it did not include our it director, who
would be the one who would need to do that search. Right. So we haven't expanded out with any
of the things that we do when we roll it out. It does. It's a multifaceted project. So there
is some other things that need to do. There's also some operating procedures that we discussed that we would need to kind of like operate and adjust for that department. That's
going to involve some cooperation with some other departments. So even though we're at the recommendation stage and again, we can present that to council, we have yet to
start implementing those things to do that, we did assess in that meeting myself internally,
we did look at what the timeline for some of those projects would be with anything.
when it comes for improvement, improvement is not something that you just fix overnight. It's going to be a continual thing. So obviously once we start implementing projects,
once we see how it goes, there might be some tweaking of that, that process as well. This might work and we might need to tweak it a little bit. We might have thought this was a good
thing and we need to change it. So like I said, we can present the findings of the audit as we
present to executive staff. But if there's something additional in terms of like what software we're proposing, what are some other things and what are the costs for those things, we just
don't have that yet. All right. Well, I'm okay with the the findings, with the expectations
that we're looking for more after that, I guess. I mean, but I'm just one of seven. So I
guess I got to see how other people feel. But I definitely want to see some true results,
not just the report. That's what I'm looking for. We might, councilman, we might could get
on on the november 18th meeting with council. If you have some other issues that you
specifically want to hear about, address. If you would send those to me, we can get that
information together for you and included in that workshop. Okay. Thank you. Mister, just a
point of clarification. I believe the city attorney covered this earlier, but my water bill is due today, the 21st. I plan to go pay it today by 5:00. If we pass this ten
days. I have ten days on this billing cycle to pay it. Because you said this would go
into effect today. If I could make it. So resolution's going go into effect when the mayor
signs it, when we have to adjust like ordinance language or things like that or other
things, it could be longer. But if it was made to say that he unaffected signing, which is
most of our things do go in effect when when some of your signs provided that the mayor
signed it before 5:00. Well, I'm just I'm wondering and I could care less about my
personal situation, but I'm wondering how I communicate this to people because questions are immediately going to be asked when we leave here and when they say so. If my
water bill is due this month, is this going to apply this month or is this going to apply
on the next billing cycle? Because earlier when you talked about it, it made it seem like
what we would do today is effective today, but it would not be applied until the next
billing cycle. So councilman williams had specifically asked, like, how would this impact
someone whose water bill was due today? So when a water when a mayor signs an ordinance or
resolution, it goes into effect that day. So the mayor signed it after five, which is when
somebody's water bill would be due. It obviously wouldn't apply because it's not signed until after five. So now we're getting into semantics and stuff. So it's due the it can
be effective upon signing, but it determines it's 347 right now. So if the mayor usually
signs a post meeting. So if the mayor signs it post meeting before 5:00, obviously we need
to adjust that. But there's some individuals who've already paid their water bill, paying their water bill, paying it online counseling. I told him he can make the the motion that
no one be assessed a late fee. Today with the passage of the bill, if that was the motion
that's on the floor, but the motion is on the floor only consists with the bill going
into effect today. So this would only impact someone whose bill was due on the 23rd, on
the 22nd, because the mayor would have signed it and that would have been in effect today.
so it wouldn't necessarily affect somebody whose water bill is due today because he could sign it after five, technically. Y'all ready? Any other discussion? If not, we'll
proceed with the motion that we have for ten days and we will have a workshop. So do I need
to amend it to make it effective immediately? Your your motion would need to say
that you would like this, that you would like to approve it with a ten day grace period.
and you'd have to add the caveat that no one would be assessed a late fee today and
moving forward. So I move that we go with the recommendation of the ten day grace period,
with a caveat that no one be assessed a late fee as of today. Effective immediately. Second.
it was it was an amendment to a motion so that so that this. Wanted everybody to. Yeah. You
said make it. You said it. Don't be assessed a late fee as of today. What if they go past
the ten days that I believe the content of the motion is that they not be assessed a late if
their bill is due today, before the passage, before the signing of the bill, so that it would
basically pause any late fee that was due today. Okay. Correct? Correct. So it would
not erase late fees in their entirety, but only pause a late fee that was possibly due today.
okay. All right. If there's no other discussion, all those in favor of approving item number
eight as presented with the adjustments as read into the record, please signify by
saying I, I any opposed. The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, would you take us into
the public hearing? Thank you. Mayor. Council, to conduct a public hearing to declare the
following 50 structures to be unsafe and ordered the owners to to raise the said structures
within ten days. If the property owner fails to comply within ten days, staff is
requesting city council council authorization to demolish these structures without further
further notification to the property owner or city council action. Additionally, if the
property owner of a structure request and is authorized by city council to enroll in a
work program, all delinquent taxes shall be paid in full or payment plan shall be
established prior to the enrollment of the work program, enrollment and the work program
shall occur within ten days after the effective date of the ordinance. All right. The
public hearing is now open. Madam city clerk, do we have anybody that has signed up to
speak? We do. I have travis and jan mccall. 1239 mccall road, hampshire, texas. Item number
1060 85. Concord. First of all, thank you all for your your service to the city, all the
issues y'all y'all grapple with. I'm just glad I have my own water. Well, I'm here, I'm here,
here today to talk to y'all about just primitive baptist church. It's a new hope
primitive baptist church on 6085 concord. It's a small family church. It's been there
for 75 years. Over the years, the membership has dwindled down. We haven't had a preacher
in several years. And the homeless people in the area broken into the building to get
out of the cold, and we're in the process of trying to either get the building renovated,
have it moved, and the last resort have it demolished if we have to. But I won't take any
more of your time. But long story short, we just need some more time. And that's all we're
asking is a little more time to try to do something with the building before the city
demolishes it. And we're in the process of of looking at all our different options.
economically is the only thing that it's always the money. But we just appreciate your your
consideration and we just need more time. Thank you. Thank you sir okay. Mark barnes 4365 el
paso beaumont, texas, number 12. Hello mayor, council staff. I have a property at 4365 el paso
that I've been working on for a while, and excuse me, can I get some water? No, I'm just
kidding, I have. I thought I was in a work program, I believe I was, but some time
passed and we have gotten the structure up to code except for one item hvac. Vented hood.
we've passed our structural roofing. What had happened? We had a small fire in the front
ten feet of the the front room, and we got that all taken care of. It's got past electrical,
past structural. We had a building, I mean, a plumbing inspection today, I believe. I
don't know, all we had to do was put something on the outside of the hose. The whole
structure wasn't damaged, but it's a little bit is damaged. You got to bring everything up
to code and. That's not it. Well, that was it way back. But that's not what it looks like
now. Do y'all have current? That's all I have. I have a current picture if y'all want
to see it. But anyway, all that's been done painted new roof and past inspections. So
maybe I think I was going to ask silas more time on the how much time. We're close to being
finished with everything. As far as bringing everything up to code, all the electrical,
hvac. I'm still holding up on hvac because it's never had a vent hood, but we're getting
that done. So the water is on, the electrical drop is connected, but the electricity
is not on until the final final. So we've gotten it almost all the way finished. Thank you.
thank you sir. Edmund richards, 2020 bun street, beaumont, texas, 1165 goliad. Item number
17. Good evening, city council. I'm just my name is edmund richardson, 2020 bun. I have a
house at 1165 goliad. And I'm just simply here to ask for more time to finish the
property up. I understand this is the last end of the road, so. But I will get it done if you
all allow me to. Thank you. Thank you sir. Wilma spike, 1605 victoria. Excuse me.
beaumont, texas. Item number 27, 1952 sema. I don't know. Beaumont. Hi. Good afternoon.
mayor. City council, everyone. Good afternoon. I'm wilma spikes. I'm here to ask about
the property at 1950 j-comi j-comi. I would like to enter into a work program to pull
this property back up to standards to meet city code when it previously, when the
property did get red tagged, it was a little confusion and I think they had other department
heads. But back here once again the property is red tagged and I would like to enter into a
work program if it's okay. Thank you ma'am. Thank you. Christy de la sota, 4590
kenneth avenue, beaumont, texas. Item number 29. Good afternoon. Yes, my kids just called me
about this letter this morning, so I was completely unprepared. I'm just asking for a little
bit more time. The homeowner is currently not available for another week and his son is in
houston, so he's having to come down every weekend and work on it. And we're just gonna need a
little more time to get it done. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. And j.t. Hays, p.o. Box 963,
beaumont, texas. Item number 31 920 lockwood. Good afternoon. Council. I'm local lawyer here
in town. My client here, mr. Dyess, has inherited this property at 920 lockwood. The
biggest problem we have with the property is it does have some problems and needs to be
addressed, but it still has his parents furniture and things in there. A lot of antiques. We're
asking for a work program on the property. I've handled a handful of these cases before,
and I'm happy to say that every case I've handled has end up in a successful rehabilitation of
the property. So we'd ask you to give us that time. Thank you. Sure. Yeah. I just want you to
know that if you get to the mic. Please, sir. I'm sorry. My name is robert doss. How are y'all?
some of you might know me or not. I've been owned a business here in beaumont for over 40
years. Did a lot of work with scouts and our church youth program. The the house is I
have the hvac system already in my storage, most of the materials and everything to do
the repairs are already have in my shop. What happened was when I originally signed a work deal,
I found out my kidneys were failing and so I had to address that issue. And now that things
are back on track, I'd like an opportunity to be able to do the structure, if that be
possible. Thank you sir, thank you. Mark frazier, 801 laurel beaumont, texas. Item number 47
1056. Vermont. Council mayor I'm here appearing on behalf of the owner for this particular
property. And I'm pleased to, first of all, the the property situated at fronts vermont and
on the back side is jim gilligan. And so it's in the middle of lamar. And I'm happy
to announce that lamar has agreed to purchase the property. The effect of that is we're
going to need some more time. Property hadn't been in a work program, so the point or the
basis would be to allow for this, for this sale to go forward, lamar will have to, as
the state agency will have to go through some certain procedures. But. We would
request that extra time for that to happen. Thank you sir. That's all that I have. Mayor.
all right with that? If there's no one else to speak. Yes, sir. Steve, I'll. You can come
forward and just share your name and address, if you would, mr. Law. Oh. I'm sorry. Well, I
had two for 920. Lockwood. I thought y'all were together. I apologize, I thought you were
with him. No, that's no problem at all. Steve lyle, 975 lockwood. By my texas item
number 31. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. And the council and the demolition department, which is
kind of guided me through this process. I wasn't aware of mr. Mr. Diaz's problem, but I've
lived at this location, my house, for 25 years in. This house has been abandoned for 25
years. I didn't know he had furniture in the house. I knew he had inherited it. But we've
had we've turned in things to the city before about animals going in the house to the
garage door. It's fallen apart. They addressed it by putting some plywood up against the
door. And I'm not here to try to take somebody's home or house. But, you know, my neighbors have entrusted me to to work on this program, and nothing has been done except
for, you know, when the demolition department went out there and put some signs on, it
puts the red tags on it. Well, the next week the red tags were taken off and there was posted
signs put on it. So just our neighborhood would like the city to do something about it.
if mr. Diaz can get in a program and possibly get it done. Like I said, I'm not
looking to try to take the man's property. But I do know that if it doesn't get taken
and nothing gets done, I'll be back here to do this again. And just my neighbors would like to
see something done. So I appreciate what y'all are doing. I wish they had the pictures
because it looks pretty bad. But thank you all for what y'all are doing. And that's what I got to say. Thank you, thank you sir. I think that's all this time, mayor. Sorry.
all right. No other hands real quick. Mayor west, if I could have silas clutter, our
demolition coordinator, come up and speak on the items that came up, and I can tell you
which numbers they are to kind of guide you. Okay? Sure. Do you have the pictures available?
we can. We're trying to. They are also in your guys's packet that's in front of you as well.
we listed them with one, you know, one, two, three and so on. But we can try to pull it up.
yeah. We don't have those pictures. Just there's no packet. It's just electronic.
yeah. So it's I'm just saying it's electronic. So there's no like hard copy packet like
normal. Oh I'm sorry. Then we can try to pull that up. Just as some general info for the
councilors who haven't been through one of these red tags hearings before. When it comes
to residential structures that the city raises, we do not charge the homeowners for that
process, and we do not take the property itself. All we do is demolish the structures that
have been tagged. The property will stay in their ownership. Do you have any questions so
far as to the structures that came up? I believe we have seven structures. Councilman
turner, just for people watching from staff. Normally, if the structure is torn down
and taxes are old, like how does that normally work? Like what's the process? So so we
don't generally get involved in the tax aspect. That's more of a county issue. The one
exception is that in order to qualify for this work program post council, they will have to
be caught up on their taxes. Okay, I just I want to I knew that, I just thought it was
important that that said on the record. So people know up front this is one of the requirements
to even enter the program. They have to either pay it up in full or prove that they are on
a payment plan. I got a question. So for this first property, 685 concord, the
owner, as he said he did get in contact with me after he got his letter telling him about
this meeting. He is interested in selling the property. I do not have a problem with y'all approving a post council work program. If you want to give him more time, that's item ten.
okay, 4365 el paso. Item 12 from mark bounds. He has made some wonderful progress since
he got his letter about this council. The pictures for el paso were taken back in august.
he has since renewed his permits. He has passed a plumbing final and an
electrical final. If you all approve a post council work program, I'm optimistic that he
could complete his project. Item number 12, item 17. Sorry that we've discussed ten and 12,
council councilwoman sherwood, and he was favorable for both of those. Item number 17 1165
goliad. This property has struggled over the years, but if he wants to get on a post
council work program to complete, I do not object. I can't keep up with the scroll
she's trying to get to. We can hold tight till she gets to it. I agree, sorry, I'm talking
faster than her scrolling. Are there taxes out there are not taxes owed on that property. So
on ten, 12 and 17 no taxes are owed. Correct? Okay. The next structure is number 27.
god bless you. This is item number 27 1915. The owner has boarded
and secured the doors and windows fairly recently, which I am happy about. There has not
been any other progress. If you want to approve a post council work program. I do not object,
but the owner should be aware that there is pretty hefty taxes owed and they will not
qualify for that work program until that is resolved. What does that amount? She owes over
$30,000 in property taxes. That's 27. So the rule is they have to either pay the taxes in
full or in a in a payment plan before that time and be active. Next property is number 29.
this is for 590 kenneth. There are also over $10,000 in property taxes due at this
property. The individual who got in contact this morning is the first time I have ever had
any contact. We did send out letters quite some time ago, but they apparently discovered
them today. I do not object to a work program if they wish to try to fix this property up,
but the same issue with taxes would need to be resolved. I have a question. Yes,
councilman. Dario, mr. De la certa that came up and spoke. Is she the owner of the
property? No, she is okay. Do you have to? Can someone come up and ask for time? If they're
not the owner, you have to be an owner. That's that's the city's policy or a or listed.
so like if it was left to them like in co-ownership, like an airship. So if the person had
died and they were the children or the heirs of the property, that would work because the
property hadn't been through probate. But council typically only extends that to a spouse.
a. Question. So councilman hilliard, does this property have electricity? No, this
property has no utilities. Okay. And I guess never mind. Miss de la serna was trying to speak
just now. Can she come back up to the mic, say what she had to say? Technically, yes, because
it's in the public hearing and council had questions. Typically we would have went through all, all the properties, but in the past it's 50. So we staff opted to only present to
council the ones that showed up to speak on the property. So during public hearing is the
only time council can have open dialog with property owners. So if council has questions, post
the the presentation you can call her back up to answer any questions. You will let her
come back up, or if the mayor is at the discretion of the let him finish and then she can
come back up. The next property is 920 lockwood, which is number 31. The owner has been
in contact with me several times. I am not opposed to a post council work program, but
the same tax issue is present at this property. I checked this morning and that has risen
to $40,000. Can you repeat that number real quick? Because I want to make sure I heard it
because I'm documenting everything. I checked this morning on the owed taxes and it has risen to $40,000. So this is this is the house that one of the neighbors came up
and spoke on. Yes, sir. The last property is number 47. Which is a commercial property,
which means that there would be a charge for the demolition. Next time, we'll do a
powerpoint slide. It's tough to predict who's going to come up and speak when the packets are
due, but next time we'll put all of them on a powerpoint. Thank you. This is 156 vermont.
we have had contact with the owner for some time. If they would like to get on a post
council work program, I do not object. They are up to date on their taxes and they are
seeking to sell the property to a new owner who also plans to demolish the structure. Yes.
councilman turner, so this is actually the building behind the business center at lamar
university? I believe so, yes, right at the entrance. Okay. Depending on which way you're
coming from. So this is the property that he said lamar was planning to buy this property
here. Okay. Correct. And just so I'm clear, so of the seven properties that someone came
here to speak on today, four do not owe taxes and three do owe taxes. Correct. Thank you.
thank you sir. You can call her back up if she wants. You're welcome to come back up. Okay.
so it's a family property. And his son is actually in houston. And he's currently in jefferson
county corrections. And he gets out in a week. He got picked up not long after the inspection
was done. So he didn't get there to fill out the paperwork he needed to fill out his since
the inspection is done. Kind of got pushed out to houston, so he hasn't really been able to
get in town with his work out there. It's a family property that's been in their family for
generations, and his wife just died just 3 or 4 years ago. And so he went through a lot of
hardship. And so the kids are really trying to pick it back up now. They just became of age
and they're just now getting on their feet. So they asked me to come be here today because they
couldn't. Thank you ma'am. There's no one else to speak. I'm going to. Go ahead and
close the public hearing, though. And then. Mr. City manager, if you could read item
number nine. Okay. Council, to consider an ordinance to declare the following 50
structures to be unsafe structures and ordered owners to raze the structures within
ten days. If the property owner fails to comply within ten days, staff is requesting city
council authorization to to demolish these structures without further notification to the property owner or city council action. Additionally, if the property owner of the
structure requests and is authorized by city council to enroll in a work program, all
delinquent taxes shall be paid in full or payment plans shall be established prior to
enrollment in the work program. Enrollment in the work program shall occur within ten days
after the effective date of this ordinance. All right. Is there a motion for item number
nine? Yes. Councilman turner, just want to make sure to the three that did all the taxes. I
just want to make sure it's clear that the work program, we couldn't get into it if a
payment plan wasn't arranged or if it was paid. I just want to make sure it's clear so
everyone here understands. Thank you. Councilman turner. Councilman daria on on the
three that. Oh, the back taxes. Can we because of reading this it says what he just what the
manager just read that they had to sign up for the for the work program within ten days of
today, and that the taxes had to be paid before they sign up for the work program. Can we
agree to give them an extension today and when and when they if they meet the requirements,
then they're in it? Or do they have to wait until after they meet those requirements to be
able to go into it? So the rules are you have to either pay in full or be on a payment
plan so they can establish a payment plan today in and enroll in the work program
tomorrow. Okay. So we we don't put them in the work program. They can't get in there today.
so no. So we give them an extension. Why do you need to do that. But you could there's.
councilman turner the the I understand what you're saying. The three that are behind. Can
we explain to them how the work program, any of the what they go to get into the work program
if we decide to move forward with it. So the they just go upstairs to do the work program,
floor left counter community development, they will have the work program prepared, and then
the owner would come up and prove that they are the owner, prove that they've paid any
taxes if they owe any taxes. And then we'll be able to sign the work program. And from
there, they have 90 days to dry in the structure and then 150 days to finish all repairs. And
director ingman, it has to be the owner of the property. Correct? Not a representative.
yes. Owner of the property. Okay. Or their heirship. If that's if as long as it's, you
know. So probate I think we need to be clear. So like it's heirship. But also there was an
attorney here who was representing the property. So he's a legal representative.
he's acting on behalf of his his client. That's appropriate. If the reason we require that
the owner or a legal representative be there is because you really can't compel someone to do this. Obviously, council can allow for an individual to be in the work
program, and if they don't, within the time frame, it doesn't it doesn't count
against the property. We just added back into the property because they fail to comply
with the ordinance. So that's at the discretion of council as well. But the reason why we do that is so that for the reasons we're discussing right now, if you wanted to allow them extra
time or give special instructions, they're here to to receive that information. Thank you. Councilwoman sherwood, I think one thing that we probably need to get
some extra clarity on for those that owe those taxes, they must go to the tax office to enter
into or call or contact the tax office in order to be entered into a payment plan or in order
to pay those taxes. Before you go to the second floor. You can't do that today if you
haven't contacted the tax office. Right. And I'm sure those individuals know that the
people who own the property because they call. All right. So with that, does anybody care
to amend, to exclude, to allow these to enter into the work program? Because currently the
way does not address that. So we would have to give them the numbers that would be
sufficient. The numbers typically how this is done is that there's a motion by
council made to. Allow certain properties to be included in the work program, and then the
the other properties to be demolished. Okay. And mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we proceed
with the exception of properties. Ten 1217 and 47 and we allow them to enter into the
post council work program, and we move forward with the remainder properties second.
all right. So we have a motion to exclude number ten, 1217 and 47. Correct. And all right. And
there is a second on that. Is there any other discussion regarding that. Just yes.
councilman williams, so can any of the other people that spoke today, can they still go enter
into the work program or. No, not okay. Mayor. Yes. You just just clarification. Typically
what we do is, is there's a motion to as the city attorney pointed out, there's a motion
to approve the recommended ordinance, with the exception of and the list of the numbers
if council so chooses. And that specified that they're able to enter into a work program. Now,
what I did kind of there were a few that were left out. So I had ten, 12, 17, 27, 29, 31, 40.
he's not including those. So the motion the motion was to for 1012, the motion was to
approve the the the ordinance as written, with the exception that ten, 12, 17 and 47 be
allowed to enter into a work program. Okay. So the other motion was seconded and those
other three were not included, so they wouldn't be included with this motion because of the
delinquent taxes, just because you didn't include them? Because you could technically, you can approve them and allow them to enter into a give them a chance to enter into a
payment plan or work program. And just so council is clear, even though you voted to allow these individuals a chance to enter into a work program, if they fail to do so by the ten
days, then it just goes into the raise property. You won't have to take any more action,
correct? Okay, so does that change anything for you, councilman? We're in discussion,
right? Yeah, yeah, we hadn't gotten out of discussion. Okay. Go ahead. No, we're still in
discussion. I'd like to amend the motion to include 27, 29 and 31. If they comply, fine.
if not. Still fine. We do. We need to accept the amendment or just we vote on the amendment
first. So she's asking to amend. If she made a second motion, you would have to vote on the
second motion. But if she's asking to amend, councilman crenshaw would have to accept her amendment. And then I believe councilman hilliard seconded. He would have to
agree as well. For the sake of getting out of here next five hours, I will accept the
amendment, even though I see zero realistic chance that someone that owes $40,000 is
going to show up with the money. Thank you. Councilman. Councilman hilliard and I will
second. All right. So now. We have all seven properties. Ten 12, 17, 27, 29, 31 and 47
included with that, they have ten days to enter a work program. And with the ones that
three owe taxes, they would have to either enter into a tax payment plan or pay them off.
so with that, unless there's any other discussion, all those in favor of of approval, please
signify by saying I. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City manager, would you
take us in to the next public hearing council to conduct a public hearing finding and
ratifying the determination of the public health director that public health nuisances exist
on the property owned by gwendolyn walden at 1792 broadway street, with the legal
description of mike mcfadden. L four through six w four four of three b 11 and ordered the
owner to abate public health nuisances within ten days. If the property owner fails to
comply within ten days, staff is requesting city council authorization to abate the
property without further notification to the property. Owner of city council action.
good evening mayor and council promise not to keep you any longer than you have to stay
here. You can go to the next slide. Tina. Miss bruce, I'm sorry, this is just to give you
some background on this particular property. That second bullet is the property has been red tagged and declared structurally unsafe, unfit for human occupancy and
in a state of deterioration likely to endanger the health, safety or the general welfare
of citizens of city citizens. On june 27th. So in september of 25, it was referred to the
public health department. Additionally, the property owner has failed to enclose the
pool on the premises properly. A reinspection was done on october the 6th. Next slide and
here's just some pictures. As you can see, the pool is green and so. And you can see that
water hose. Now we at the time pictures were taken, we haven't observed the owner draining the
pool, but it just implies that the the owner has been draining the pool from that water hose
onto the street. Next slide. And there's just some pictures of the particular property. And
with that standing water like that, that's just a breeding ground, breeding ground for
mosquitoes. And so which poses a health hazard to the questiont presentation. Is there is that
it. It's just the the pool the water. Yes. Problem. Well and it has other litter on the
property as well. But the property is red tagged. It's red tagged. But with that
standing water which becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which carries the west nile
virus. And so you're not allowed to have standing water on any property, even if it was
just in buckets. And the pool is not being kept on maintenance or maintained. Okay.
and has has she taken any steps to remedy the issue? No, sir. Have we had any contact with
her? We? Yeah, we've had contact with her. Does she live there? She says she doesn't.
but as the staff has gone out between public health and code enforcement, they've noticed a
dog on the inside of the property. But as far as we're told, she doesn't live there.
but we've made contact with her about cleaning. At least getting the pool maintained.
okay. And what's the status of the red tag? Because the structure is has been declared
uninhabitable. Okay. It would go to the historic landmark commission first because it is
an old town. So there's that's not gone to them first. It's just been tagged for unsafe.
it's an it's tagged for unsafe structure. Sorry. I'm like tripping over my words. Do we
have a picture of the exterior of the home? Other than the pool? I can pull one up. I'm
sure it's in the case. One moment, councilman turner. So, mayor. Why why, why she pulls
that up? This is one of those properties I think is a combination between the health
department as well as building codes. Correct? Well, code enforcement does initial
inspection, but it brings it to us when it's the. I wanted to be declared as a public health
nuisance. Okay. We have to give it that that teeth. So this is one at this time it's a
competing interest. So the properties the property's red tagged. So that remains in code
enforcement because differently from when it was like a ton of litter on the property, we
would have in no other issues. They would have transferred that to health. But the
property is red tagged as uninhabitable structure. And as director said, it does have to
go through the historic landmark commission first before it can be completely
brought before council for consideration for to be demolished code enforcement
whenever they are having problems with properties that present a public health issue,
will transfer those properties to public health, because that's the only way you can get
civil relief. So similar in in some other cases where we would be asking the court if it got
to that point, will we be asking the court to allow us to enter the property to clean it?
in this regard, we'll be asking to enter the property to essentially drain the pool.
right. And just just for perspective about how long have we been dealing with this
particular property? It came to public health in september, I think, on those previous if you
go back to that second slide since june. Since june of 25. Yes. Councilwoman sherwood, so
there's a I imagine, a proper way to drain this pool, which is not putting the water on the
street. Right? Yes, ma'am. So. I, I guess, can anybody speak to what is the right way to
drain the pool is to have a plumb drain. Okay. To the sewer system. Yes. It's a it's a a
pool company would come in like somebody would come and drain it. Yeah. So apparently they don't. The house is they don't have the money to drain the pool. And right now they're
just draining it onto the street, which is creating more. Something or other. So will we.
so I guess my question is the next step is for us to intervene into this. So the
next step would be obviously, if council determined that this was a public health nuisance,
the health department would send out a notice saying that the council has declared this
as a public health needs, giving them ten days to rectify the situation. So in all
honesty, the average cost to drain a pool would nothing else. If you call a regular pool
company could be anywhere from 100 to $200. They would charge you by the hour. So I don't
know how how big that pool is, but it could be a nominal fee if we if that didn't happen,
obviously we would file charges. This ordinance also allows for the city attorney to file a a
case in civil court, which we will be asking the court to go in and allow us to drain the
pool months down the line or whatever, because now we got to give them some time. Then we
got to know. So the timeline for this, obviously if we did ten days and if she said, you
know, I contacted the pool company, be at the discretion of the health director to allow
her additional time depending on how quickly she was moving, if she if it was determined
that she was nonresponsive and noncooperative. Obviously it would it would, it would then
it would go to court and you would pay a fine or fee or whatever the case may well, in
civil court, there's no fine. We just asked for our cost back. Okay. Okay. So councilman
hilliard, then councilman daria, so we're going to drain the pool, and then it's going to
rain and the pool is going to fill back up, and then we're back to square one. So what
kind of. What are we going to do to make sure the pool doesn't fill back up with water.
and you're not here again. So the only relief we can ask for the court would be to drain the
pool and fill it in, but that would be up to the court to to assess whether or not we could
do that. So again, if it if it got to that point, the only thing we can ask is that the
drain, the pool be drained and maintained. And for her to rectify the situation by draining it and maintaining the pool that way. It would have to rain significantly hard and a
lot for that pool to to fill to fill back up. So we'd have to have some, some, some heavy
torrential rains to happen. Because just because it would naturally evaporate if the pump isn't running. But if we had to file a civil case, one of the remedies we could request is
that we be allowed to drain it and fill it in. Well, I understand that, you know,
hopefully you don't have any biblical proportion rains, but anybody who lives in southeast texas, you you could have just a small thimble full of water and it could have millions of
mosquitoes in it. So the pool will hold water. It will not evaporate, especially if we get
1 or 2in of rain. And so we're going to continue to, to to mitigate this problem over and
over and over and over again. What the goal is, is to, you know, we can get with her to be
cooperative and to maintain the pool, to drain it, and she can cover it, and that would
prevent it from filling up again. And she's been very cooperative up until now. No,
sir. Okay. So is this is a possibility. We could be back before you, if that's what
you're asking. Is the is the pool enclosed by a fence? It is not. No. See that way? I mean,
with that thing full of water, a kid could go back there and drown. Yeah. This this is like
something I think needs to be done right now because it is a public safety, public health
issue, but it's also a public safety issue on private property. And they they are
here. So that is what we can do if we don't. So if that we'll close the public hearing unless
there's other things to say. And then we can move on to the motion. Thank you sir. All
right. If there's no one here to speak on item on this public hearing, I'm going to close the
public hearing. And, mr. City manager, will you read item number ten? Yes, ma'am. Council
to consider an ordinance finding and ratifying the determination of the public
health director that public health nuisances exist on the property owned by gwendolyn
walden at 1792 broadway street with the with the legal description of mcfadden l four
through six west fourth feet of three b 11 and ordered the owner to abate public health
nuisances within ten days. If the property owner fails to comply within ten days, staff
is requested. City council authorization to abate the property without further notification to the property owner of city council action, and it comes with the
recommendation of approval. Yes, sir. With that, is there a motion for item number ten?
move to approve. Is there a second on motion ten? Second, there is a motion and a second
for item number ten. Is there any discussion on item number ten? I still think this is
somewhat of an emergency as far as that water being there and that pool not being fenced in
to where we have, I don't know if we can go to judge or get permission, but we need to go
in there as soon as possible, like tomorrow, today if we can, because that's very dangerous.
and our kids over there in that neighborhood. Thank you councilman. Okay. You're
welcome. Staff, have any response on the timing to be able to address to. Councilman
dario's question? I would need to look into it. I'm hesitant to enter someone's property
without their without a judgment. It's not to say that we can't maybe look at a
building official side of it for unsafe structures or anything like that. I know that
we've done a board and secure before, so let me look into it. Well, you have, because you
have done like a they had a red tag house that looked like it was about to fall on another
house. And y'all done an emergency demolition of it, you know, right away. Yes, sir.
that's that's what I'm referring to. Let me look into that and I'll get you an answer.
okay. The action before us now is to we have a motion and a second on item number ten as it
is presented. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. Any opposed? The motion is
carried. All right. At this point, we're going to move into council comments. And I'm going
to start over with councilman crenshaw this time. No comment. Councilwoman sherwood. Thank
you. Councilman, I'd just like to thank everybody for all the thoughts and prayers and kind
words and council members that showed up and offered their condolences. I'm grateful for
the community and all the support. I appreciate it. If you've got time, I'd like to
see people go out to this farmer's market. Gardens are a big deal for me, so I'm excited
about that. I'd like to see some information on how we cooperate with ice and what our
role is. I know we've got a limited jurisdiction on what cities actually allow to do and
things of that nature, but this ice issue and detaining of u.s. Citizens and. It's it's
creating some heartache and trauma and drama in my heart goes out to this community. As
far as the tennis complex is concerned and it meeting national standards. I'd like to
see what we need to do to make sure that we are presenting ourselves as a city in the best
light, whatever that looks like, and whatever cost may be associated with that. Thank you
all. That's it mayor. Thank you. Councilwoman. Councilman williams. Yeah, just like to
echo everyone else's comments here today and and offer condolences to councilwoman
sherwood. And congratulations to our new cfo. I know we're we're happy to have filled that
position and are thankful to duncan for for filling in while we were were searching and and
also congratulations to miles on filling in and the economic development role. And
councilman hilliard, you might have me in trouble since you told everybody that I offer 30
days credit on liquor, beer and wine. So. That's it. Thank you. Councilman. Councilman turner.
yeah, just I'd like to follow up with the encouraging everybody to go out on 1025 to
the pumpkin spice event that miss delilah talked about at 2840 glenwood. I hope we gave
clear clarity on what direction we're looking to go in with the water bill workshop, and if we
didn't, we need to get clarity because I think we discussed it pretty thoroughly. The next
thing is, normally we go by every structure one by one. So to miss demi's department,
thank you. Because I've sat through almost two hours of structures and today we only
did the ones that actually put forward. So I appreciate that. One thing I want to know, mr.
williams, and you don't have to tell me today, but I want to know publicly the tennis
complex, what year was it built and how much did how much did it cost? Can I get some history
to how the tennis complex came about? And currently, is it considered a revenue generator
or just a quality of life thing? I'd like to know that at the next council meeting. I don't
want an email to me, I want to I want somebody to tell me out loud. And lastly, I want to say
thank you to the kenneth williams with the cfo appointment, also with the
economic development appointment, just to be more efficient and utilize staff
that's already existing and consolidate things to kind of make sure we have a healthy
balance. And I'm looking forward to it. I wish you nothing but success. You
willing to step into a big role and I know you will do good at it. I have nothing but
confidence in you, miles and and mr. Raggett. So thank everybody for what you do and looking forward to working together. But I just wanted to know that because a lot of
people have been asking me about that facility, and I want to make sure I give accurate
information. I want it to come from staff, not me. Thank you. Councilman turner. Yes,
councilman hilliard, your comments. Well, I would like to to say my condolences for the
loss of a great loss. And I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this in your family.
and my heart goes out to you. And we you're in our prayers every night. So also the the
garden. I think this is wonderful. I would love to see this across the whole city, to
get back to what we used to be, learn how to plant and feed and and not rely on on grocery
stores. But I think this is a neat thing and it brings a community together. And welcome
to our new cfo. I haven't really had a chance to meet you, but I'm I'm I'm happy to see
you sitting there. And thank you, duncan, for what you did. And miles and kenneth,
congratulations. I think that you guys are going to do a great job. And so, just so you
know, councilman williams, I was just I was just saying your commercial accounts, not your
walk in. So that being said, I know a company that can make tennis courts look really good
at a very low price. So just throwing that out there. It's pretty inappropriate. But
anyway, I. Thank you guys, the city, the staff, jimmy, you all have done a wonderful job.
especially we were I think we were going to have to go through all 50 houses. So you
did a great job and thank you, kevin. Jeremy. Thank you. I said, I know you were playing.
oh yeah. Yeah I just want to on that, I guess. I don't know who I would ask, but are the tennis
courts in shape? That's what I want to know. Are they ready to play this this nationally
televised southland conference tennis court there? We don't want to be out there playing in
with tv out there and is looking raggedy and all that. So I would think we would have
to make sure that I'm pretty sure they'll have them ready, but let's just make sure they
we, we really want to show off beaumont and that tennis court. And thank you for he's gone
already, pastor shaw, because he's been bringing that to our attention for the last couple
of months. Also, congratulations to the the cfo. And I guess miles really does
have a staff now. And mr. Raggett as well. And and just just a reminder about the farm
to fork farmers market saturday from it's from 12 to 4 and it's going to be at 2840 glenwood
avenue and miss delilah, she gave us all the invitation. She wanted us to be able to come
out a little early if we wanted to. So just take advantage of that. And I'm going to try to.
I'm. I'm might even buy a pumpkin and and I think she might have some fresh okra. So
I'm gonna try to get some of that from her too. But I think that's. Oh, and as far as the
that the people that came up and spoke about ice, I don't know if it's anything we can or
can't do about it, but it certainly is a concern to some of our constituents. And if
nothing else, at least we need to to look into it. What are we doing? Well, are we actually
apprehending? People with ice or because it's it's a concern and anything that's a concern,
I don't think we should just say there's nothing we can do about it. It's not our problem.
if it's a concern for our citizens, then we at least need to look into it. Thank you.
councilman. Okay. And just everybody keep a close eye on me. My wife is out of town for
the week, but I was able to get myself dressed for the meeting. You look very nice. Thank you.
I appreciate you wearing clothes. Yes. So, city attorney, I do want to address the isis
concerns, since it was brought up by several of our council members. The ice raids are
generated by our federal government with the consent of our governor. The house bill
that was referenced by the citizen does not require local police agencies to participate
unless. Unless they have a local interlocal agreement with with the sheriff's office. So
that does have a jail that doesn't really apply to city to city doesn't operate our jail
as a museum. We contract with the county for jail services. So I understand that the
citizens are concerned is a concern in our city. However, that really should be addressed
to their state legislator and the governor because there's really there's really not a lot
that the city can do. We don't have authority over ice agents. We can't put them out of the
city. And texas has texas has has, you know, obviously participated there. There are
some cities in other states who are essentially protesting the presence of isis and the
government has there are several lawsuits that have been filed subsequent to that,
because they do have a have a authority to be here pursuant to executive orders by the
president. So that's a it's a very tricky situation. It's definitely sad that it's
impacting legal citizens and legal residents. And it's and it's a shame that that there's
that there's fear amongst those communities. But unfortunately council doesn't have the
authority to impact that. So I hope that I hope that answers your question as well as
councilman sherwood's question. There's we haven't entered into any mou or consent decrees with
isis because that's not a requirement for us, mostly because we don't operate a jail.
on another note, congratulations to bridget. Looking forward to continue to
work with her. It's been a pleasure already. And also spoken with you privately. But
you know, my heart and my prayers are with you and your family. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
miss miller? Yes. Sorry, molly, because I know you're going to say it, but also shout out to
lamar. They won. They won again last saturday. Hey, did I miss that game? But it was amazing
homecoming game and lamar is on a roll. So if you haven't caught a game this season,
you're missing out because lamar is on the road right now. Go will you? That's it. So
council councilman asked about the schedule for the pipe bursting work that was
discussed on the change order. So all of the work in the current contract is complete.
so those 15 days will they will start on the work that was approved today. They'll start
on that this week. And then that'll be 15 days worth of work. Do want to advise though,
that during the course of the of the construction of the contract, they've discovered
that there's about 2500ft of sewer pipe that was on the maps, was not in the ground. So we
are going to redirect that work. And the magnolia and grand area and bring forward a
consideration to instead then do since those pipes don't exist, pipe burst in that
immediate area as well. The lines that we do know do exist that need to be replaced. So
there is going to be good, more good coming to this area to correct or clarify an item that
the district engineer mentioned. There is not a part on order for the signal at washington
and interstate ten, but there are electrical repairs that are needed. There is a meeting
later this week with txdot's electrician and their traffic engineer, and we'll get those
repairs made. Once those repairs are complete, tex-dot is going to give city staff the
timings for those signals, and then we can put the signal back into service. I do want again,
like like she mentioned, I want to make sure that we're clear the traffic is going to move
faster through those intersections. And when they're in flash, it doesn't seem like
it, but it actually does. And I had a lot of chatter back on. About that. So they're going to
try to optimize the timing of that signal. But it will be slower. But it will be safer to
go through that signal because like she described, it's not a perfect 90 degree intersection.
it is at a skew. And so to improve the safety, we'll put the signal back in service. But
it will be a little bit slower to actually get through that intersection. And then one last
thing. The quiet zone construction is expected to start in early december. Once
all the contracts are executed, and we anticipate construction to be completed mid to late
february. So thank you. Thank you, assistant city manager. Boom. Yes. I just wanted to
echo condolences to councilwoman sherwood and the loss of her sister and
congratulate bridgett on her appointment to cfo. Of course, I'd like to thank duncan for
his work during the interim period. Congratulate kenneth regret on his overseeing of
facility maintenance. And then I would like to point out miles haynes being appointed the
interim economic development manager. So look forward to working with miles on that. And
that's lamar university 57 yards. If you missed the kick, it was it was something. That's
all. Thank you. Yes. Assistant city manager ellis thank you. Mayor, I just want to extend my
condolences to you, councilwoman, for your loss. And I would like to
congratulate miss zivic being appointed as the city's cfo. You have my support, always, as
all city staff do. So I know you'll do well for the city. And, mr. Haynes,
congratulations on your appointment as interim economic development manager. Best of
luck to you and all that you do for the city. And mr. Raggett back there, who stepped up to,
you know, take over the facilities maintenance division. Now it's it's no longer a
department, but a division within his department. So I think, mr. Raggett, for
stepping up and taking on that challenge, I would like to let remind the council that this
thursday, city has our joint meeting with busd. It begins promptly at 5 p.m. Dinner is
served at that time at the lakeside meeting room, and then at 6 p.m. The meeting starts
with busd next door in the auditorium. Thank you mayor, thank you. Madam cfo. Welcome.
thank you. And thank you for your congratulations and condolences to councilwoman
sherwood on the loss of your sister. I also want to say congratulations to miles and to
mr. Regret for your promotions as well. And I am excited to work with you all and make some
positive changes. Thank you. Yes, I'll keep it quick. There was an item today to form a
steering committee for the comprehensive plan that was pulled. I do apologize, I did not write it in a way that allowed for wiggle room due to internal deadlines to meet the
posting requirements on this agenda, I had to post it prior to planning commission, so
that's going to be moved to the november 4th. If you guys could look at that list and let us
let me know by friday, or let city manager know by friday if you need, if we need to amend
anyone on that list just so we can get it right for the november 4th resolution. Also, the comprehensive plan, just so you guys know, is a long range plan. It covers planning,
infrastructure, economic and housing goals, economic development and housing goals.
and it's an outlook for about 20 years for the city. It's a super high community engagement
process. It's about a year and a half long. So there's going to be multiple voices. It's not
just the steering committee. There's focus groups, there's town halls that happen with
these kinds of plans. I also want to say that it is fully funded by a grant through the
glow, which is great considering that our comprehensive plan is at about
20 years, the current one that we have and able city will be introduced. There are vendor
that was selected, so they'll be introduced on the fourth with a brief presentation.
thank you guys. Yes. And city clerk. City manager. Thank you mayor. And likewise with
council member sherwood. Condolences there. I too lost the older sister a short time
ago and it's tough. So I understand what you're going through. A couple of things
I'll just add to what city attorney said about ice. You know, immigration. Now a lot of
our grants are tied to cooperation with federal government now. And we accept
those grants and sign those documents. Now, we're basically saying we're going to we're
going to work with them on these type of issues. And now that's that's the standard
that's the norm in doing that. So just remember that as a city, you are committed to a lot of
things that you probably didn't know. Probably. It just didn't start. We cities have been
doing that for years, signing those agreements to accept those dollars. And those
dollars will go away more than likely if you don't cooperate. But I would like to have police
give a report to you about what we do, what they do in this situation. I think that would
be helpful. A couple other things. New employees, it's good to I was going to chris
and june were going to introduce them, but everybody else got to it before that. So
it's great. It's great to have them on board. It's even better to be able to promote within,
to have a good succession plan. When I came here, one of the things I wanted to do, an
organizational chart and one of my goals with the employees was to be able for them to promote
within and be able to. One of those times we were able to do that. So it doesn't always work
that way. So it was really great to see that happen and people be rewarded for their
hard work. We already made the announcement about the joint meeting. I would like to thank
the beaumont police officers association for their work in negotiating an agreement. It
was done very well. I'd like to thank president llewellyn and llewellyn and his group for a
very. Cordial, productive, collaborative negotiation that now there'll be something
coming to council for your consideration. But first, go to their membership for
consideration. So we anticipate that coming soon to you as a as a council after they they
consider it the guardian event is happening. The city is partnering with that we are
providing garbage containers etcetera, for that event. They've contacted us and we are
participating and and giving them some resources to make them successful out there.
great projects. Sounds like a great project. And last but not least, council member williams.
when I go through ivanhoe, I will think about you when I'm going up to northeast texas and
what you're giving away now. It's your store up there. That's. And that's all I have
here. Thank you. Thank you, mr. City manager. And again, councilwoman sherwood, we our
condolences. I would like to remind people that early voting has started and will continue
with november 4th. Our next council meeting will be the day of election. I want to thank
all the staff for their hard work and the cardiac cards for their last. They've won five
straight games, their last two games. Two weeks ago they made espn on that and then last week
winning with a 57 yard field goal in the last minute, which is a lot of fun. And the crowds
are growing. And certainly congratulations to our new cfo, miss eva. And mr. Raggett and
his expanded roles and miles for his interim appointment. Those are exciting. And
thursday evening we do have the joint meeting, and we certainly invite everybody back. And yes,
mister, I always want to give you the last word, but but on the tennis court, this is not
the first time we've we're hosting this event. This will be the fourth time in the last
eight years. The city of beaumont has hosted this event at our complex. So the complex
is held that event and and the facilities and the participants have really thought well of it.
so much so that they keep coming back and they want to do it. So we're going to make sure
it's it's it's up to par. It's excellent. But the facility has hosted this event four times in
the last eight years. Well with that the meeting is now we are going to recess into