All right. Welcome everyone. It is officially 6:00 pm on may 12th, 2026
to the regular city council meeting for the city of burn, texas. It's my pleasure
at this time to, uh, call forward, uh, student pastor pearson s
sena from curry creek baptist church to lead us in a, uh, curry creek church to lead us in,
uh, invocation pearson. Thanks for coming. Thanks, y'all. I'm really
grateful to be here. Um, would y'all bow your heads with me? Sure.
father, thank you so much for the gift of today.
lord, I thank you for every man and women in
this room, god, that they've gathered together, um,
ultimately to talk through what it looks like to steward our city. Well, lord, so I pray,
uh, that you would be in this meeting. Lord, I'm just reminded of
jeremiah writing to the people of israel saying, I want you to seek the welfare of the city
that you are in, lord. And I thank you that we get to do that as your people, as
we get to seek the welfare of whatever city we reside in. So, lord,
I pray that you would be over this meeting as we're discussing just
that. And lord, I thank you that in all things you are over it.
you know exactly what is happening, lord, and you, you're not unaware,
um, of any detail, lord. 'cause you are working through
all things ultimately for your name, god. So I'm, I'm grateful
that we can trust in that today, lord, and and I thank you
ultimately today for, for life that is found in you, um,
that our hope can't be placed in governments, but that our hope can be placed in
new and a coming kingdom that we get to receive through trusting
your son jesus, who came for us out of his love for us,
god. So I pray that, that we would keep him on the forefront of our minds to today,
as as we go, uh, throughout the city council meeting. But
lord, we, we love you and we are grateful for you. And it's in your prayer.
amen. Amen. Thanks. Thank you. Pearson. Would you join me in the pledge allegiance
and then to the texas flag? I pledge
allegiance to the flag, the united states of america
to the look for she stands, one nation under god,
indivisible, with liberty, justice. For
honor the texas flag, I pledge allegiance to judge texas,
one state under god. One indivisible. Thank you.
you may be seated, exceeded. Moving on to agenda item
number two, uh, administration, the new oath of offices,
council members, districts one and three. Lori
mayor proto, would you like to start? Sure.
aye. I do soly swear. Swear. Thankfully,
I thankfully execute the office of city council member
district one, the state of , the state of texas, the state of
texas, and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of
my ability, preserve and defend the constitution,
preserve, protect defendant constitution and laws of the united states
and of the states. So help me, god and the laws of the united states and
state. So help me, god
shall
I, I I do solemnly swear,
do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of
the I pay for this, the duties of the office, city council
district, city council district, free for the city of er,
for the city of er, the state of texas. State of texas. And to the best
of my ability, to the best of preserve, protect, and defend
the constitution, preserve, protect defendant, constitution
and of the united states and of states,
the laws of the united states and of states.
all right, we're going to move to agenda item number 3, 20 26 dash 1 31.
consider election of the mayor, office of the mayor pro tem. It is my recommendation
to this council that we continue with, uh, councilman willison, serving as mayor pro tem.
if we have any questions or comments, um, I'd like to ask some motion.
mayor, I, I mo I moved to elect councilman ty willison
to the office of mayor prote for the term of may, 2026 to may, 2027.
okay. Second from councilman bunker, please vote.
motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Welcome. Welcome back, ty. Thank
y'all. Moving on to agenda item number 4 20 26 dash 1 63.
we're gonna give a proclamation. This is public service, uh,
employee week. And so I have a proclamation of refinery. We're gonna honor this proclamation
for all the public servants, recognizing their commitment to our community. So, um,
I'm gonna read this and then we're gonna do a photo op. I believe so. Whereas public
service is a vital pillar of strong, thriving community, those who dedicate
their time and talents to serving the public play in a central role, and maintain the quality of life
enjoyed by all residents. Public service recognition week provides
an opportunity to honor the contributions of public employees at all levels of government, and
recognize their commitment to integrity, respect, collaboration, service, and excellence.
although public service recognition week was observed nationally, may 3rd through the ninth, 2026,
the city of bernie takes this opportunity to formally expresses appreciation for the public servants
whose work strengthens our community throughout the year. The city of bernie is fortunate
to be served by dedicated team of professionals, those whose hard work expertise
and responsiveness ensure the effective delivery of high quality, customer focused,
essential services to our community. Public service provide the essential
services residents rely on each day, including public safety, education, infrastructure,
utilities, emergency management, parks and recreation, libraries, courts,
community planning, and many other functions that support a safe, vibrant, and well-served
community. We also extend our sincere appreciation of the public
servants of bernie independent school district, kendall county, and other public agencies whose
work supports our residents, families, students, neighborhoods, and businesses with professionalism
and care. We further recognize the members of the burning city council as well,
those who serve on the boards and commissions, whose leadership, guidance, and volunteerism
help shape the future of our city. The spirit of public service reflects the best
of our community. People choosing to serve something larger than themselves, working
together to solve problems, care for neighbors, strengthened public trust, and help
bernie continue to be an exemplary, exemplary hill country community.
the city of bernie affirms that service and excellence are not only organizational values,
but civic values that strengthen the relationship between local government, public institutions,
and the people we serve. These individuals demonstrate, dedication,
adaptability, professionalism, and a deep sense of responsibility, often
working in behind the scenes to support the needs, safety, and wellbeing of our
community. So, therefore, I frank, richie, may or bernie, do you hereby recognize may 3rd
through the ninth, 2026 as public servant recognition. Give yourself a hand
as if you come up for the photo. Like everybody that's a, that's a member of team bernie,
uh, to come forward for, for photo ops. Anyone that's working for the city that's in the audience
can please come forward. Um, and then the council will be back here for, but I just wanna
say to the community as a whole, um, each
and every day that I come to city hall and, and I get the experience with the different departments that
we work with, the amount of excellence, dedication, and preparedness that
the staff has, these, uh, public servants have for the city of burn, whether
it's the fire department, the police department, parks and rec, water, utilities, um,
city manager, staff, the clerk, staff across the board, our com
our community is so blessed to have the service that we have. So from the bottom of my heart and
the rest of the council, uh, thank you all for the, what you guys do
here. Chief, you're chief, you're in uniform, you can be the center.
maybe I'll take back everything I said about efficiency ,
couple them. Yeah, a couple of them might be aggies
over
perfect . Just wanna make sure all
beautiful faces .
okay. All right. We're smiling big.
we're gonna do, we're gonna hold
it for one more second.
thank you. Thank you everyone.
thank you. Yeah, just give it to lori. Yeah, absolutely. Photoshop jeff in later. Yeah.
, again, thank you to everyone that that served this community from, from
across the board. Thanks for all your efforts and your sacrifices. So, moving on,
we're gonna go into, uh, number five, conflicts of interest council members. Do you have any conflicts
of interest this evening? No. No sir. Alright. No conflicts of interest. We'll move on
to agenda item number six, public comments. Um, I'll read your name. You can come forward
in the podium. You can state your name and your address, and you'll have three minutes, uh, once you're done giving your name
and address. Uh, our first speaker tonight is stewart blend. Stewart,
I'll startled you. Stuart . Um,
my name is stuart blin. I live at 2 4 3 marisol in burnie.
and the reason for wanting to be here is about
a month ago. I, I've been in, in, um, um, in,
in a active adult community, uh, that is being built in
esperanza. And about 30 days ago, I'm trying to
turn into es uh, esperanza drive. There
had been an accident, which is probably not real surprising at 46
and esperanza and traffic was stopped
always for over 30 minutes. The
reason I bring this up is because there's only one way in and out of
esperanza. And my understanding is a large part of that is
because of the original plan was to extend esperanza
into adler, which I guess the decision was made not to move adler
or take adler further in. The reason it's a big concern
is several reasons. Number one, if someone was to have a heart attack
and there's no way of getting an ambulance in or a person out,
there's a possibility of someone dying if a child was to have
a, an accident, a serious accident. Again, there's no way in
no way out for them to be taken to a hospital.
so I think this is an extremely urgent
pro problem that we have to deal with in this area. Now,
at the present time, it's my understanding that a road is being built, which has always
been planned, uh, for another way of getting out of
espanza. Actually, on the other side of s of, uh, espanza,
I think about where the hospital is going in. The
reason I'm here, though, is to ask that maybe the
council can help push this along a little bit faster. It's
gonna get done, but from what I understand,
it's not likely to see this until at least 2028.
and like I say, this is a serious issue. It's a serious problem, uh,
because there is only, again, this one way of getting in and out.
and that's all I really have to say. Alright,
thank you, stuart. Uh, no one else has signed up
to speak, but if someone has come in late, I'll give you the opportunity to come forward and state your name and address and
you'll have your three minutes, uh, for public comments.
all right, no takers. Okay. We will move on then to agenda
item number seven, a consent agenda, council members, um,
any issues concern with consent agenda? If not, can I get a motion to
approve consent agenda on a through c? Mayor?
mr. I'm mayor. I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented.
uh, second from councilman bunker, please vote.
all right, send you to passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone.
somebody was excited about that. So, moving on to the regular city
agenda items number eight, a 2026 dash 1 55. Receive the
second quarter financial investment report for the period ending in march 31st, 2026.
presenting sarah buckley. Sarah, good evening mayor and counsel. The
purpose of this agenda item is to review the city's financial performance through our
second quarter of the fiscal year ended march 30th, 31st,
sorry, march 31st. This agenda item aligns with
several of the items on our bernie strategy map.
so here we are in our budget management cycle, and, uh, we're
almost to april and we have kicked off our budget process.
um, just to give you all a, an update on that, uh, all the departments have submitted
their, uh, preliminary budgets. We've reviewed them, and we'll be doing our force ranking
workshop this week so far
this year. Um, despite what's going on nationwide and
maybe the cooling off of the economy a little bit, um, we're doing, we're doing well.
the year is moving forward as expected. We, um, we were conservative in
our budget. There were some, at least some of the, um, areas that impact the city.
we, uh, we had advanced understanding of what we thought was gonna be happening this year, and we budgeted
for it appropriately. And so we're, we're actually moving along just as expected, which
is great news. So starting with interest revenue, um,
we, we knew, we've had a couple gangbuster years of interest revenue when
the, the rate was higher, but we had been told for over a year, almost
two years that interest rates were gonna be decreasing. So we had already pro
programmed that into the budget. We had projected a 3%, um,
overall decrease compared to last year on our interest. And,
um, so far we're doing well. We're right, uh, right where we would expect to be
at valorem, uh, property taxes. We have met our revenue projections
for the year. So 99% of our budget has been collected. That includes
current year taxes and delinquent taxes, 97% collection
on the current year. So we'll probably see a couple more percentage points collection before
september, but where we've received the lion's share of it and
are right on track with where we have been in prior years exactly this time,
sales, tax revenue, um, you know, de despite what's been going
off and it has been cooling off, um, lately in our
reports, but, um, 24 and 25 were just amazing years.
double digit increases in sales tax revenue year over year. So,
um, taking out a one-time audit collection
fees, which are, uh, fees that come in after an audit has been conducted. And then you have
to pay back taxes. So that's not current revenue. It's audit collections that
we got last year. So if you, if you take that out, we're, we're doing very well.
um, we've collected 49% of our budget, which
is right in line with where we have in prior years.
so some of these graphs may look a little different. We've changed, uh, service providers now
to, uh, zac tax. They just have a really, a really cool platform. And we have
the ability to run all different kinds of reports. So the graphs do
look a little differently because they're from a different service provider. But this
just shows that, um, our moving average, you know, despite
the cooling off, we're still up compared to last january. So, uh, not
as high of a growth rate, but we're still growing
and sales tax revenue overall. Um, again, we had, we had
positive months this quarter
permit revenue we're at 36% of budget. Um,
part of the reason is we had three large projects that closed down in 2025. And
so, um, those, those were a surge at the end of 2025. But we're
expecting a few projects that are gonna commence later in the year that are, are gonna increase the permit revenue.
so it may look like we're behind schedule, but we do anticipate that we'll
pick it up before september. Hotel motel
taxes, this is where we expect to be this time of year. Um,
the sales usually come in during the summer months, and so, um, 34%
is what we would have expected in q2.
the utilities are doing well. Um, consumption, we've had a mild couple of months,
so consumption on electric decreased by 2% compared to the
same year last quarter. And we've collected 38% of our budget
so far. Water revenues, consumption has increased 8%.
um, you know, despite getting some rain, we did have a couple, um, months
or that at least month in january that we needed a little bit of rain.
wastewater falls in line with water, so we're 7%
increase over last year. And 46% of budget
cash utility has collected 57%. Um, we still have that hedge,
um, in place for customers to help keep rates steady and consumption
did decrease by 9% by, um, same time last year.
and storm water is, um, moving along. It's 43% of budget.
it's, um, not very cyclical. It's very same revenues
every month. So in line with where we were last year. Any questions
on the financial performance council? Just for understanding
for myself, this is the second quarter, so we're halfway through the fiscal year. Yes,
sir. Correct. So any of the slides that we just went through, when it benchmarks
at 36% of budget, 51% of budget, that's,
I, is it fair for me to say we're halfway through the year? A benchmark is 50% depending
on the revenue source, and some of them you explained would have, you know, more cyclical
revenue in the summer months, for example, retail tax. Right. So, but
we would already pass the holiday months in that example. Yes. Right. So,
so just as the big picture, I just wanted to make sure I level set where my understanding of
where this is. I absolutely you your understanding exactly correct. Okay.
um, I, we try to put where we were this time, um, same
time in at least the last year or the two years to show where we typically are at this time
of the year. So you're right, sales tax revenue specifically was this last quarter
for the holidays. And there was one slide that I think it was at 36%, but then you explained
that this is something that mm-hmm . There we go. Permit revenue, right. Permit permit
revenue is something that's really can't be easily
forecasted. It all depends on when the big projects close or when they're going on. And
so, um, we saw the surge of revenue at the end of 2025. We were,
we were in a similar situation last year where we felt like we were lagging towards the beginning of
the year, but then we had a bunch of close, uh, projects closed out. There were the three projects
that closed out at the end of 2025. So we are expecting the same, a similar
situation for this year. So 36% may not seem like we're meeting revenue at
50% of the fiscal year, but we do anticipate some of the bigger projects coming online.
the talking points for each of the slides did a great job explaining that. Um, so thank you for
that. I just wanted to make sure I was level setting myself of where we were annually on the fiscal year
at 50% and understanding the numbers. Thank you. Yes, sir. Question, um, permit
revenue. Mm-hmm . Is that just construction revenue? What
about utility permits? Are those all included together or no,
this is governmental permit revenue only. Okay. But do we have permitting for utilities?
don't we? I mean, we have impact fees and,
but I don't think there's permitting on utility side. I'm looking at my utility folks now. There
we would have, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. And, um, I mean, we would have,
uh, so the part of a project, a commercial project,
um, it's called, we call it ocs, but it's your public improvements,
um, infrastructure. And so when those permits are applied for, yes, there
are fees for those. And the reason I'm asking is like in, in, uh, in qualy farms
we're providing gas, correct. Do do each of those gas meter hookups
have to have a permit when they build that house? Yes. Correct. So that permit revenue would
be included in this number as well as any other permit? Or is it separated? No,
this is just governmental funding that would that be under the utility
budget then? Yes, sir. Okay. That's interest understand. Thank you.
any other questions? Council, um, question on the, for the sales tax,
um, I was curious, 'cause it seemed like it was a pretty mild winter. Did we see
an increase? I know you can look deeper into the sales tax revenue.
did you see an increase in our more local retail
customers? I'm just curious. Um, or if, if it was more based on
the larger retailers? So, um, retail was mild, it
was 1%, but they are the biggest portion of our, of our, um,
breakdown, our industry breakdown. Um, I did look up december performance
because I know that that's always, usually a question that gets asked is how did we do with
everybody coming into town? Um, we just did really fantastic in
24 and 25. It's not that we didn't do bad this year, but we did in
fiscal year 24. We did 1.4 million in december and 25, we
did 1.5, um, we did 1.26. So
not terrible. Considering that our, our average is usually 900,000 to
a million dollars. That's still a really great december for us. It's just, it's
being compared to really great years. So, um,
we, I mean, we are cooling off some, but we anticipated that in our budget
and we are doing very well compared to other communities especially.
but, um, some of our bigger retailers, we've seen kind of
a drop, like one of our bigger retailers has seen a drop. And I think it's just because
you do home improvements, for example, when you have a lot of disposable
money. So, um, but so far we're, we're doing okay.
we're keeping an eye on our top, our top. I I do like this slide.
um, I think you explained you're using new software for the presentations.
um, I'd be curious to see quarter after quarter to this slide in particular. My
question though on this slide is, you know, the bottom line number 83%
is a big portion of this overall picture and it just encompasses other,
yeah. Right. So that to me, you know, the other area is making up the
17% or whatever it is. Is that right? That doesn't even add up. The numbers don't add up. Sarah,
wouldn't that also be the audit num money too would've been accounted for in
that, that I think you thank you, christie. Is that, that's wrong. Okay. Yeah.
well, we are, um, we actually have requested some
custom reports from our new service provider and those custom reports,
um, are not yet available. So right now I'm using the, the canned reports,
but we are, we're hoping as soon as we start getting those custom reports, we'll send 'em out to you monthly
and you can really dive into all the details you wanna see. And then, um,
we'll continue modifying these slides with information that you all would like to see. I'd
like to like to hear your feedback because the new platform is really dynamic, so
almost anything you wanna see, um, we can probably put together going forward. Yes.
food, restaurants, we, I think, I think we can
get down to that level. Is that, but that we can even do a geo let go the food category that's
called restaurants, correct? Oh, yes, yes. I'm sorry. Food is, that's
very nice. That's positive. Yep. I mean, assuming that's huge. I mean, 16%,
that's a lot. Restaurants did really, really well. And, um, if you look over at the
bar graph, one category I'd never seen before was accommodation, which
is not hotel motel taxes, because that's not part of sales tax. So I had to look into
it. And it's the other fees that hotels, um, charge,
like if you're gonna reserve a room for like a banquet or something during the holidays
or, um, if you sell food in your, in your
hotel bar or things like that. So that was strange that it,
it popped up in our top seven categories, but I had to look it up myself
because I I had never seen that one before. So I think it's
interesting, you know, if restaurants are doing that much higher than I think from a retail perspective,
if they aren't doing as well, it's like, well, how can they, how can they get those
customers? If restaurants are bringing in people, how do they, I think, you know, for the
chamber, I think this is great information for them to use. 'cause obviously their
customers are there, so how do those retail customers get them? So anyway,
I think that's good, good information to be available.
yeah. One other question. Professional services mm-hmm
. What is the sales tax on professional services? So this, um,
the big professional services in our community have to do with insurance companies.
okay. Um, I'm, I'm not as well versed in all the insurance
products to know which ones are taxable or not, but, um, so there's, there's
an insurance claims company that generates a lot of revenue for us every year that's based
outta bernie. Gotcha. Okay. I just wanted understand what that meant because I mean, I, I don't think you
pay sales tax when you go to a lawyer or a doctor or a dentist that I'm aware of. So I just wanted
to know what that meant. You, you pay a lot. I don't know if it's tax, you just pay a lot.
that's why you gotta have insurance. . Okay.
any other questions from counsel? Can I get a motion to, yeah,
I move. We receive and approve the second quarter of financial and investing report for the
period ending march 31st, 2026. Second from councilman
mickelson, please vote.
motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thank you sarah. Thank you. Moving on to agenda
nine a resolutions nine a 2026 dash 0 5 2.
consider resolution number 2026 r 25, a resolution of the city council of the
city of be texas. Adopting the city of bear needs comprehensive safety action plan,
reaffirming the city's goal zero commitment to eliminate roadway fatalities and these
serious injuries and directing implementation to accordance with the safe streets and roads
for all grant program, uh, presenting abigail. Abigail.
hi, good evening. For those of you who haven't had the chance to meet, my name is abigail knott. I am city
engineer, uh, working with, uh, director kara.
the safety action plan relates to our brain strategy map. Uh,
it's obviously for infrastructure implementation, uh, also using data
to inform our decisions and borrowing from our master plans.
so a brief overview of safe streets for all. Really at
a high level, it's analyzing our networks to determine where crashes are impacting
our community and what things we can do to improve upon for pedestrian safety
and vehicular safety. There
are two types of ss four a grants. There is the planning and demonstration.
so that's the current grant that we have received and what we're working on right
now. It's really the development of a comprehensive safety plan. It's also
allowing us to, uh, determine activities that can be done that can be
used for the next phase of grant applications, which is implementation. So
what can we, uh, plan, design, and develop from
the safety action plan? So the ss
four a process. In april, 2024, we submitted
a grant for the planning application. In late 24,
we were notified of that grant and we did move forward with an rfq for
a consultant to help us, uh, engage in that plan. Um,
we are so sorry, um,
in that, that we are amending, uh, the city safety action plan. So that was part of the
mobility master plan. Uh, it allows us to conduct pedestrian safety
action plans in the downtown area to analyze pedestrian fatalities
and, uh, injuries, and then to conduct intersection focus,
road safety audits. So
I know, uh, director carol has presented to you before, part
of that was the safe, safe streets for all plan to have public
outreach. And so this timeline kind of shows you the activities we have done to date.
and today we are here for the culmination of all of the activities related to this planning grant.
and that is the comprehensive safety action plan.
this all started with a five year analysis of crashes throughout
the city limits in burney. So from that, we are able to determine if
what types of crashes occurred and where. So there were 2,342
crashes within the city of burn. However, when you start
to break it down and look at the high injury network, so we're looking for
areas where, uh, there were fatalities, there were major or minor
injuries related to a crash. You can see that even though there were 153
miles of network impacted by crashes,
really only 23 miles of those 153
were impacted by, uh, high injury crashes. That's 15%
of our streets are really telling up to 73% of those high
injury incidences. From
that, we establish the high injury network. This allows us to
focus on future safety projects and code updates that we'd like to
implement that are focused on what is occurring in those areas.
from that, we really get to that, uh, comprehensive safety action plan. So
what are the targeted projects that we can implement that would help in those,
um, those areas, those 15% of the areas where we're seeing 73%
of the incidences occurring. And it was narrowed down to five intersections,
river plant, main river, the five points area,
main bandera and cascade and scenic loop, and really also focused on three
corridors. So main street, blanco, and river road.
and in those we're looking at all of the things that could be
considered to help make improvements to the network.
so some of those things are systemic countermeasures. And so implementation,
uh, on the ground, is it shared use pass? Could it be flashing
yellow arrows? It could even be a signal reflective back plate.
so those are the orange boundaries that go behind a signal light that draw
attention to what the signal is telling you to do. Uh, it could also be non infrastructure
projects. So safe routes to school corridor studies. So additional studies
to understand what's going on in the corridor, uh, intersection evaluations or
there improvements that can be made.
the policy and procedure recommendations really gets down to what updates
can we do to our design standards? Are there additional operational
and guidances that we can include in design to make streets safer?
um, parking management programs, additional campaigns. So
just simple outreach to let people know, uh, what to do in
certain areas to be safe. Um, maintaining the high injury
network. So we want to upkeep that crash data. The more that we're able to
know and study in those areas of helps us understand, uh, changes that
are occurring and things that we need to do to adjust, um, a public facing
transportation safety task force. So that would be something that we could engage
with the public. We're currently current, we're currently doing something internally
that looks at traffic operational improvements, but really this would turn it towards
the public to give them an opportunity to interact with us. And then, um,
progress in our a da transition plan.
the ss four a process really considered a lot of public
input. So not only did director carroll come to, uh, city council to speak, but
also we had a safety safety task force. And so it was comprised
not only of, um, different positions throughout the ci city of bernie,
but also engaged with members in our community. So, uh, county commissioners, we had council representatives,
uh, bernie, isd, um, you can see the picture at the
top right corner. Our consultant went out to market days and engaged with
folks in the community just naturally to get some feedback
on how they felt about some of the high injury network areas and even get feedback on what
they thought would be an appropriate improvement.
so the community's top priorities, river and her were downtown intersections.
and then of course, pedestrian safety.
one of the last, uh, public outre public outreach components was a survey
that went out in april and there were 49 comments received. And
you can see speed enforcement was one of the things top on the mind of folks in the city of
bernie. So the reason we're here today
presenting this is it's, it's the culmination of the process. So it is that comprehensive
safety action plan and its adoption lends towards the vision zero goals
that were adopted by the city council in august, 2022. Uh, that started with
that mobility master plan. It allows, uh, this grant allowed us to
amend the safety action plan to meet all the current federal requirements. And really
it is that roadmap to vision to vision zero. In addition,
approval of this, um, comprehensive safety action plan allows us to reach into
that next, uh, set of dollars that's set aside for grants for implementation.
so what's on the plan, uh, can be moved into the implementation stage
well if we are awarded a grant for it.
and then of course, uh, as I mentioned, director carroll did come to multiple council meetings to present,
uh, ongoing process with you. So with that, I will
take any questions on the, um, planning grant
and the resolution today. Thank you, abigail. Any questions on council? Just
to comment on the surveys, um, I was looking over that data and I found that
interesting. You said there was 49 unique surveys that came back, but collectively, if you look at
that data, 46% of 'em had a similar sentiment as the
number one thing that we could focus on. So I look forward to those conversations if
this moves forward with the, with the grant money. And that conversation was around police enforcement
and speed, to your point on that one slide. Um, and enforcing
some of the laws that we might have available to us, particularly on main street, where than most of the
incidents have taken place. So I, I think it's a great opportunity.
I'll, I'll share, I I know director carol's told me once that we received this feedback, he, he
had a conversation with chief perez and our department to talk about that, that
perception, the feedback there. And, and they'll take that into consideration
when they figure out their downtown plans. Well, I've, I think in the last few months
I've seen a lot more presence on main street blanco, at least, um,
for me. So I think they've already been doing it.
I, at least for me, I dunno if that's true or not chief, but I think they're already . Yeah, I feel the same.
I feel like I've seen more people pulled over by yeah, so I think, I think they're
already, um, implementing it. And I would look and I would encourage that to continue,
but the discussion is to get grant money to further the efforts in that,
um, making the streets safe and having zero deaths. And so, um,
when we can get that money, there's a lot of different things, but according to the survey, you know, most
of the people were saying, hey, it's around, um, controlling,
distracted driving jaywalking, how is that defined, um,
in the state of texas. So things like that. I look forward to those conversations as all.
um, item number two and item number three are most common of the survey
feedback were things that are outside of our control, right? That would require something with the state of texas
on, on the streets. And so focusing on what we can do, um, I thought
was important. Any questions from
council? Nope. Can I get a motion from councilman wilson?
yep. I'd like to make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash
r 25, a resolution of the city council of the city of burn texas,
adopting the city of bernie comprehensive safety action plan, reaffirming the city's
goal zero com commitment to eliminate roadway fatalities
and serious injuries in directing implementation in accordance with
the safe streets and roads for all grant program requirements. Second
from councilman bunker, please vote
in. Motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. All right, don't go nowhere. Have we go? Moving on
to nine b 2025 dash 1 58, consider resolution
number 2026 dash r 26, resolution of city council. City of
bernie authorized the submission of the application to the us department of transportation for
safe streets and rose for all fiscal year 2026 implementation
grant affirming that the comprehensive safety plan adopted this date. Cons,
cons constitutes, thank you. The city qualifying act,
qualifying action plan, committed to requirement non-federal local matching funds and
providing for related matters presenting abigail. Abigail,
thank you. Thank you for your approval. So let's talk about the very
exciting next phase of ss four a. It also fits into our strategy plan
much in the same way. The planning, granted, it allows us to invest in our infrastructure,
use data to, um, make decisions, and then also it
lends from our master plans. So mobility studies
from the past really gives the roadmap of how we got to this point. So in 2018,
we had a master plan that recommended crosswalks with medians on main and
river. From there, we've continued to develop master plans that all lend towards
the same type of downtown pedestrian safety improvements
in past citizen surveys. And this was analyzed as part of
ss four four a as well as for the planning grant. It was looking at what
did the community think that we needed to do. And so we have about 1000,
uh, responses that are mobility focused. And of those
pedestrian improvements was one of the highest responses
for things that we need to evaluate.
so as we've been working with our consultant, uh, on the planning grant, we
really did target may, 2026 to get the comprehensive safety action plan
approved because we were already focused on the next steps. And that next steps is the
grant that is now open for us as four a for implementation.
and so our goal is to propose, uh, 3.6 million
in funding for pedestrian safety construction and a safe
route to school planning. And so this grant does, uh, require upfront money from
the city of bernie, however, it's matched at 80% from the federal government.
so of the items proposed in the grant, I'll walk through each of them.
uh, we have south main street and we really are looking at improvements,
uh, for pedestrian safety. And that can include pedestrian refuge
islands. So that's a safe space in between lanes where pedestrians don't
feel they have to cross such a long street. Uh, it gives 'em
time to pause, reassess if it's safe, and then cross again. Uh, flashing
beacons. So those are, uh, flashing alert to let folks know pedestrians
are crossing outside of a designated intersection signal,
uh, a da compliant curb ramps, um, pedestrian
ramps directionalized. So that just allows folks to cross the street in a directional
pattern that sends 'em directly across instead of in, into a different, uh,
longer path. And we don't anticipate that any way, any right of way acquisition
is required for river road.
we are also looking for pedestrian improvements the same as as
main street. So refuge islands, the flashing beacons, a da upgrades,
um, enhanced high visibility pavement markings. So just making
the place where we want pedestrians to go a little more obvious. And
we also do not anticipate right away acquisition
on, uh, west san antonio. West blanco. So the small loop
that goes, um, in the downtown area, we're looking for,
uh, some more comprehensive improvements. So transitioning to partially
one way. So controlling the traffic through the area to make it safer for pedestrians.
um, a roundabout at west san antonio and west blanco. So
to help, uh, ease the movement of vehicles, but
while safely maintaining space for pedestrians of another, um,
rapid flashing beacon pavement marking improvements. And again, no
right of way acquisition is anticipated.
we're also looking at, um, safe routes to schools. So this would be something
more in the planning area, which is, uh, doing a walking assessment,
analyzing sidewalks in the area, uh, near the bisd campuses inside
the city limits, identifying sidewalk gaps, really looking for ways
to make sure that children are able to get safely to school.
so the, the items proposed in our
implementation grant came from a variety of sources. Of course, we did develop
the planning grant, which had out extensive outreach. And so we do have an understanding
of what is sought from the community, what is sought from, um, the
city officials, but also it was really important that if we're gonna
go after a grant, we should be able to attain the grant. And so it was looking at what
are the conditions in the grant and what projects did we have in that ss
four a, uh, comprehensive safety action plan that we felt had
the most viability of obtaining an implementation grant. So we wanna make
sure that we're able act to, to gain funding to implement something.
so, uh, we are focusing on, uh, five outta the 10 highest crash intersections
in the downtown area. And of course we are lending from things that are part of
master plans that we already have in place. And really the goal is just a
safe, walkable downtown that supports our community charm.
with that, I am happy to take any questions. Alright, thank you miguel.
any questions, counsel? Mr. Just add one more comment on the roundabout on the
square. Oh, so helps because that, um, it's like a, a blind, it's a blind
spot. So visibility, that's another reason for it. 'cause it slows traffic down and allows for the
flow, just adding that component. Um, just a comment on
a lot of those, uh, diagrams you had raised median, is that
a viable solution on the txdot roads? The,
the solution that, um, we have laid out is viable. Okay.
um, and actually txdot prefers to do that when they can? Correct. Okay. And
then the other clarification, clarification question I had is
the list of projects that were just presented for this particular,
um, part of it, uh, those are for discussion. If the grant is awarded, then we
can discuss those projects and you know, obviously we can't do all of 'em 'cause of the
amount of money it seems like just on the list of projects wouldn't cover that. No,
we're gonna do all, no. If we get awarded that money, we'll bring it. We have to accept it. If
we choose not not to, we don't do all those projects for, we're, we're letting them know we think we can do
all these projects and they'll, you know, the grant will cover 80%.
so we will need to have an item to, if we get receive it to officially
accept it and, and then we'll talk through the, the planning of that. But
okay. And the grant was 3.3 0.6 millions and it would cover all
of those projects for 3.6. That's 80%. Okay. Thank
you for explaining. Um, another thing it does is, um,
re re reduce left turns. Um, one thing I've learned from jeff
and other engineers who know much more than this brewer, um,
is, uh, left turn lanes create lots of traffic headaches in
downtown and create lots of safety concerns. So if you ever gone down river road traffic
backs up, left turns going onto turner pecan, et cetera, or
downtown on the few streets, we're not supposed to take left turns.
, everyone takes left turns anyway. So creating situations where people can't take those left
turns. Yeah. And in addition, creating those pedestrian safety areas,
um, you know, both my businesses, I look out my office and watch people watch
people playing frogger every day and it's not, not safe. So, um,
I think what we have laid out is, assuming it can happen,
I think would be great for downtown . I I don't disagree with you at all. We all
see that every day. Um, downtown, I just, you know, the cost of 3.6
covering all of that seems like a tall, tall order. But,
um, you know, I, I think the other curious thing is in about two weeks everybody
will talk about how traffic is so great around bernie and we don't have a traffic problem.
one other question on the roundabout on the square, we need to make sure that
when we plan that it's incorporated with the concept that we're working
on to revitalize the whole square. It is. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. We've
talked about how that works with waterworks already, so yeah, that
is, yeah. So mayor pro tem willison was kind of the council liaison
on this work. Was council member scott on this as well with you?
was there someone, another council member working with you and director carol, but he's also on that subcommittee
with waterworks terrace and so they've had those conversations with those property owners down there. Yeah,
and we've, when we met with the property owners for waterworks terrace, we talked to,
um, christine and I talked with them about how we were also working on the safe streets
and how that might likely be first just because of the grant process, if,
if we got the money. So they were aware as well about that. So.
okay. Any comments from council? Motion? Councilman willison?
mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026
dash r 26, a resolution of the city council of the
city of burn texas, authorizing submission of an application to
the us department of transportation for a safe streets and roads for
all fy 2026 implementation. Grant affirming
that the comprehensive safety action plan adopted this date constitutes the
city's qualifying action plan, committing the required non-federal
local matching funds and providing for related matters.
second from councilman bunker, please vote.
and motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Moving on to nine cce 2026
dash 1 3 0 consider resolution number 2026
dash r 27 a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and manage
an amendment to the agreement between the city of bernie and freeze and nichols, incorporated
for the adler road and drainage improvement projects presenting. Abigail. Abigail,
thank you. So the adler road projects lends towards our
strategy map and that it's an investment in our infrastructure. It's also investing, uh,
recommendations for the master plan, both drainage and mobility.
so the city has two ongoing adler road projects. There is the
low water crossing project, which if you've driven on adler road, you're very familiar with it.
we also have the road widening project, which is currently in design freezing nichols
was selected as a design team in 2022 for the culverts. And in 23 for
the road projects. The proposed item is an amendment to our existing
engineering con contract with freezing nichols for both projects.
the drainage projects for the low water crossings at curry and nona creeks
were identified in the drainage master plan. It is funded through
the stormwater utility fund and cost sharing with kendall county. And as I
mentioned, both culverts are under construction and we do anticipate completion of the
entirety of the project in august of 2026.
so additional services are required for the project for a few reasons. First,
we did revise the bid plans so that the two culverts were
bid separately. We did have right away acquisition needs we were able to secure right
away at curry creek. However, at no name creek, it did take us a little bit more time. So
the goal was to get the contractor started as soon as possible so that we could
get the project completed as soon as possible. Um, we do have additional
construction services because of, uh, delays that I'll talk about in
just a second. We did need the, the consultant to stay on longer to help us through
the project. Um, some of those delays were related to historic and environmental
permitting. We did find a, well, there were also some communication lines that we
had to assess that were unanticipated. And so a little extra
time, um, on the project.
the roadway project was part of the 2022 quality
of life proposition, a bond. And so it is a design focus on road
widening, drainage improvements and sidewalks.
and as the design has advanced, there were just opportunities that came
to the forefront that we really believed that we needed to take advantage of to enhance
the corridor. So some of those are
roundabout improvement at plant street, which will provide,
uh, improved pedestrian safety, better traffic flow.
uh, in addition, we intend to make it a bid alternative
so it will be implemented into the design. However, if
we opt not to construct it, we would have a regular intersection. However, that regular
intersection will also be designed so that at a later date
the roundabout can easily be inserted and it won't require any additional changes
to the roadway that we've just built.
the amendments also include additional coordination. So it's it's lessons that we've
learned from the low water crossing projects. So we have, uh, telecommunications
lines that need to be coordinated. We also know that we have sewer and water upgrades that
will need to be done. We're improving access to northside park.
we'll have additional lid features, additional drainage improvements.
uh, we do wanna have public outreach as well. And then, uh, it, we
have determined through assessment of all of these additional needs that we might need some additional
right of way. So we just wanna have them on hand to determine whether or not that might,
that might be needed. So
again, by incorporating all the lessons that we've learned, we really know that we want to be
ahead of the game for the, for the larger project because we'd like that to go as
smoothly and quickly as possible for the city of bernie. And so we've adjusted things
for the field condition and by adding the additional design and construction phase
support, we really believe that this is, uh, a necessary enhancement to the project that's
underway. And the goal at the end of the day is just is to improve
safety address drainage and ensure that we're really making
a long-term improvement to the infrastructure that's not going to require
us to come back and do additional fixes later.
so with the proposed amendment, uh, we are looking at
about 130,000 towards the culvert improvements.
so additional fees for that. For the roadway project, it's about 1.36 million
and that will increase the contract amount from about 1.6 to
3.27 million.
so on the roadmap to completion for adler road, uh, right now
for the overall road widening project, we are at preliminary design
and assessing the right of way needs. Um, we are hoping that
design will be completed in, uh, early spring of 2027.
that allows us to go out into construction in 2027.
with that, I will take any questions.
alright, any questions from counsel? It's
not the money, it's the, the money. No, but most of that I believe,
if I'm correct, a large part of the increase is due to right of way
acquisition. So we do have about, uh, $229,000
that's going to go to the additional effort for right way acquisition.
it is one of the larger, uh, increases.
okay. Alright. Can I get a motion from councilman wilson? Mayor, make
a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash r 27
a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and
man manage an amendment to the agreement between the city of bernie and
rece and nichols, incorporated for the adler road and drainage improvements
projects for an additional 1,648,483
with a not to exceed total costs of 3 million 266 535.
second from council macaluso, please vote.
and motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thanks abigail. Moving on to 90 20 26
dash 1 4 9, consider resolution number 2026
r 28, a resolution authorized and city manager to enter into and manage
a professional services contract with liquidity engineering llc
for design services for the amman road water transmission main project for amount
not to exceed $127,000 presenting. Andrew, andrew,
thank you. Thank you mayor. Good evening mayor and council again. Tonight we'll
be talking about the amman road water transmission main.
this is how this project aligns with our strategy map. It invests in maintaining high
quality infrastructure systems as well as advances master plan recommendations.
it's a little project background, just a refresher. Uh, this is a 16 inch water transmission
main that will connect our, our new tank and pump station off of ammond road. Shown in
this picture on at the yellow, uh, to the east side of our distribution system
where a, the developer will install a, uh,
uh, extension of the distribution main to the amman transmission main for us to connect
to the developer of george's ranch. Uh,
the project was completed back in 2024. Uh, however,
the timeline for construction was unknown at that time because the timelines of
the corresponding projects were unknown. So we put the project on hold.
there's a portion of the project that's underneath ammond road, uh, that will, um,
under the westbound lane of ammond road that we'll need to move into easements
due to a county, kendall county right of way rule change that passed last year
in september. Um, due to this rule change, they no longer allow utilities
under the roadway. Uh, so we're looking at uh, re-aligning the
water maintenance easements outside of the road. Uh, we did look at
the space between the pavement and the right of way line, however, there was limited space
for the construction of a 16 inch main as well as there were, um,
existing telecom utilities in that area that made it difficult for us to fit the water main in
that space. So the liquidity
engineering is, was the original design engineer for the project. So we reapproached them
for the additional services needed to do that realignment. And again, it's for
only 21 and linear feet of that pipeline. It's not for the entire project, it's
just the portion underneath ammond road. Uh, so they provided a proposal to us to
accommodate that redesign as well as provide bid face services,
uh, as we will go straight into bid phase as soon as the design is completed and permitted.
and we anticipate that timeline to be about three to four months, um, assuming all
the easements are obtained, um, soon. And then we can start bidding construction
later this year.
so with that, I'll open up to any questions. Alright, any questions from counsel?
okay, just one. I mean I assume that the price was in line with what they charged us
before. Yes. Yes, we checked for that and thank you.
okay. Alright. Can I get a motion from councilor olso? May I
make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash r 28 a
resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and manage a professional
services contract with liquidity engineering llc for design
services for the amman road water transmission main project for an amount not to exceed 127002nd
from councilman bateman, please vote.
motion passes. Pause zero. Thank you everyone. Moving on to nine
e, right, 2026 dash 1 5 0.
consider resolution number 2026 r 29, a resolution authorizing city manager
to enter, enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of fair oaks ranch for the shared gbr
water main extension along ammond road presenting. Andrew. Andrew. Thank you mayor.
this is how this item aligns with our strategy map. We're collaborating with our community partners. We're
committing to strategic and responsible conservative financial management, as well as advancing
again, our master plan recommendations. So just
to give some background on this one. So this is regarding the gbra delivery pipeline that
the city of burning will be constructing on behalf of gbra. It'll be a pipeline that gets dedicated
to them. Upon completion, it'll take it from their regional main at the south end of ammond
road, uh, to our new tank and pump station site. Uh, this will
become our second delivery point from gbra, uh, second metering station,
or second to our current one at buckskin drive off of cascade caverns. So
it'll provide system redundancy in that, in that fashion, uh, for us to, if
there was any maintenance needed on one side, we could use this other delivery point.
additionally, it'll provide, uh, system pressure for this east side of the system and fire
flow capacity with additional storage at our tank pump station.
so this is a, a great opportunity for community partnership. Uh, fair oaks ranch
has, um, similar connection point that they're planning, uh, at an adjacent site
next to ours for their water infrastructure. So they have approached
the city and our staff to determine how this pipeline would be sized if
we were to share in this investment. And, uh, so we did that. We looked at both of
our, uh, peak capacity needs and size, the pipeline accordingly,
uh, as a 16 inch pipeline. And, uh, from that we were able to determine
what the cost sharing split would be. So, uh, based on those peak capacity needs,
bernie responsibility would be 69%, and fair oaks ranch would be 31%.
and this includes all design and construction costs, uh, for that shared
pipeline up to and including the branch. Point beyond. The branch point will be the metering
stations where each of the cities will intake the water from gbra.
so just a, uh, high level of what the interlocal agreement outlines. Basically, uh,
city bernie will manage design permitting, bid and construction, which we have done so thus far,
um, design is a hundred percent completes. Permits are approved. We're currently in bid
phase. Uh, we'll also advance payment of all costs, uh, subject to reimbursement,
where fair oaks ranch will then reimburse us for those costs for their shared
split, which would be that 31%, and they'll do so on a quarterly
basis to the city. Uh, if you recall there, we were 100%
complete on this project, and recently in fair oaks ranch recently told us about
or informed us of, uh, updates and realignments. They're planning along amon road
widening, softening of the 90 degree curve. So, uh, because
that came after the project was, uh, designed and permitted, uh,
they agreed to pay 100% of those additional costs. And so that's written into the agreement
as well. So with that,
I'll open up to any questions you may have. Okay, thank you. Answer any questions from council?
pretty straightforward. I get a motion from councilman bunker. Yeah, I move. We approve
resolution number 2026 r 29 resolution. To authorize the city management,
enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of federal oaks ranch for the shared
gbra water main extension along hammond road. Second from councilman
mickelson, please vote.
motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thank you andrew. Moving on to agenda item
10 a 2026 dash 1 54 discussion regarding
the naming process for the new community park currently under construction at the north side community park
site. Presenting, uh, that was that. Good
evening council and mayor, let's talk about some fun stuff. There we go.
forget this pipeline and streets. And even
though we need all that to get to the park . Um, alright, so we have some
exciting things to talk about tonight. We get to talk about renaming, what
we currently call northside community park. Renaming the park as
to our community charm. It serves our customers and it helps us achieve the
best in class status. Why
are we here? Alright, so the purpose tonight is we staff
need your input, you specifically counsel, um,
based off of our naming policy,
naming rights policy. We need your input. We need to know which
approach you want us to select on, or which approach you want us to go down
to select a name. We need to know how much level of participation
you want from the community. And then we're also gonna talk about what
is needed to name a park, what kind of criteria and
priorities. And then at the very end, we're gonna talk about next steps and
timeline. And if you want, that is a,
uh, preview to what some of our new signs at the park will look like. Obviously,
we need to change something there. So, uh,
as some of you are more aware, council will listen. Who gets to
see it every day? Um, we are very active on the construction site.
uh, we basco is coming to life. We just installed the
lights under the pavilion. Um, all the concrete pads have been poured for
the pickleball, uh, the restroom, the three restrooms are coming to
life. And now you can start to see our trail. Uh,
so we are moving and then we are also working on the dog park as
we speak. So there's a lot of activity taking place at northside.
one of those is we've are looking at our first review of the signs.
so the way finding signs, signs that say that discuss the park
rules that talk about the splash pad, that talk about the pickleball rules, playground
dog park, multi-use fields. Some of these signs
are going to have our park name. So we're here tonight to talk about
what our park name is going to be or what potentially what, um, what path we
need to take. Based off your feedback tonight, we'll guide us to the next steps.
but before we do that, we do need to talk about some of the history of
the land. This will all tie to our naming policy. It
will come together at the end. So back in
the 18 hundreds, um, burning specifically,
this piece of land property was striving in the agriculture world.
uh, we had a lot of cattle, corn, oats, uh,
but we were really heavy in sheep. Now I'm just gonna share a really quick
fun fact. Um, in 1880, kendall county had a
sheep population of over 16,000, which produced more than 65
pounds of wool. I just thought that was a interesting fact.
um, we're gonna move on to property owners. We are the 14th
property owner. The very first owner was the state of texas. The
state of texas granted the land to a female resident
in 1837. Since then, again,
we are now the 14th owner, but before us, um, was
ernest and rosa presler and were farmers. They had
the land in 1942 all the way to 2008 when the city purchased
the land. Now let's talk briefly about the
historic features of the property and surrounding area
as of today, and hopefully in the future, we have no desire to relocate it or remove it,
but the ice house is still on the property. The ice house
lived behind the pressler home. Um,
and if you're curious, we still use that ice house. It is currently
vacant because of the construction, but before that it was our it room. It's where we had our,
uh, wifi set up for the cameras. Um, so we're still using
it . Um, and then the land next to it,
um, it was a ranch. It was the adler ranch, hence
adler road. And the adler ranch eventually became a boarding house with
eventually became a nursing home slash hospital. That hospital
was called the wynonna home. Hence the photo there.
it is also the land that has a really adorable pig if you drive by
adler. Um, okay, so now you've got a little bit of
history on the land, the culture, um, the area,
which leads us into our city naming policy. Highlights. Typically
a city owned property should generally reflect geographical.
so any names tied to the location, um, or surrounding areas.
culture names that reflect bernie's identity, um,
or community character. Historical names
connected to the property's past ecological significance, highlighting
the natural resources and landscaping features. That land has
a lot of trees. Um, and then recognition. This one
we have not spoken about until right now on purpose. So the recognition based names
honors an individual who significantly provides
contribution sustained service and substantially advance the
advancement of the recreational opportunity. In bernie.
we actually have an individual who speaks to this, this
criteria perfectly. Um, maybe some of
y'all knew her, uh, but she was the very first
director of bernie parks and recreation. She's also the one that
per that proposed the land to be purchased for future
park development, which is how we actually have the park. And if you're
curious, her name is linda cornelius. She also served as
a director in five other cities across the state. But most impressively,
she is the f most impressively, she has one
of the most accomplished female athletes at texas a and m.
um, she also is the first female student
athlete induced, induce inducted into
the school's hall of fame. She's also the first female track
and field, all american four years. And she qualified for
the 1980 us olympic team. But if you recall, in 1980,
we did not, uh, we did not attend the olympics on purpose. Um, so
she left quite a reputation, um, professionally
and, and on the track. So just wanted to throw that out there because
it's rare that we have a name, um, that hits every
criteria. Now, from here, we still have opportunities
for park amenity names. So if down the road we have a very generous donor, we
can name the basketball court after them ghost briscoe. Um,
we can name the dog park fuels after them. We're leaving that opportunity available
for the future. Uh, and then the final
naming decision really it it comes down to to use city council
mayor. So this will, so we have four options that y'all can
consider that we hope that you consider. Option one is staff develops the
name. Option two, we take it out to the community and ask for their
feedback. Option three, it's a council led nomination process.
option four, it's a hybrid process combining what staff has
researched. We take it out to the public and we ask for their feedback, their input.
we believe that these are four solid options, but again, we need your
feedback and your guidance. So it takes us to our last slide for tonight on this particular
topic. First step was to come here tonight.
next step, depending on your guidance, we take it out to,
we take it to only staff or we take it to, we take it out to the public and we
rely on our communication department. We lean on them to help us get the word out.
and then by the time we meet again in june, we will have a staff
recommendation. And then we will formally ask for counsel, um,
to accept that name for the park. So now I leave it up to
you and ask for your feedback on which way you would like us to go.
well, alright, well thank you those that, um, I mean my,
my personal thoughts on this, I think first of all, great presentation, great job. Um, you
kind of gave us too many options, honestly, . Um, my
personal thought process is I like the hybrid process combined, the staff research and then the public
input. Um, it is slash right now we call it the community park.
so I think it should have some community input. Um, maybe
communication goes out there and says possible names. Here's basically this presentation
out to the community. 'cause if they don't have the history, they're gonna say, we should name it, blah, blah, blah, blah.
exactly. You know what I mean? So if we give them some history, some background of the park and
the people there, kinda like what you just did now, um, that might narrow
down the, the process. Um, and have staff go through, through that
process plus what your recommendations. Um, and then bring that back to council with hear
the top five choices that from what the community has said, staff agrees
with and something like that. And then have that discussion. And then council has a final decision.
but that's just my 2 cents. So I'll open it up to anyone on the council.
I think, you know, we're billings with tax dollars from our community. So I think community
input has to happen, right? I mean, whether absolutely. Um, I do think
that, uh, we do limit ourselves there. We don't
allow the community to propose names. I think there needs to be
a process. 'cause there may be somebody out there that we have. I mean, you had me at aggie,
uh, so I was of that name. But, uh, it will not be, there
may be someone else out there that, that the community, uh, that we're missing.
just because you just have a, so, uh, that's possible. And
know, I I, so I like the idea of as long as the community
recommendations meet those guidelines and then the filter through staff, not
just, you know, I don't want parking park face, but you know, something
you no legitimate. I, I like the idea of the committee to be able to propose
names as well. Not just getting a list of let's vote on
these names. And I don't think it should end up with a straight vote to the city either.
I mean, it's, I think we should limit it and then we can decide on a name.
that's just my thoughts. Okay. Council macaluso.
well, I have a very different point of view than you might expect. I don't
really like naming civic structures after people.
I do not like it. And the reason I don't like it is over time
history changes and you end up wanting to change the name of the structure or
the event, or the statue or whatever. I would prefer it to be a bernie park, if
you wanna call it bernie northside park, bernie central park. I don't care. You listed
a whole list of great things that I can see as
educational, informational signage throughout the park. You went through all the
history of the land. I think that's fabulous signage. I can see that throughout the park
giving people the history of the land. I just don't like picking out an name. The,
the person you mentioned, ms. Cornelius, I think that's fabulous as an information
piece. I just, that's just my opinion. I have seen it so many times. They name
things for people, which is great. I understand why.
it just, it's just my personal bias. I, I don't particularly like it. So my answer is,
it doesn't matter which process you put in here because my personal view is it should be a very simple
name. Bernie, northside park, bernie central park.
we already have a city park, so it can't be city park. Uh, it's
gotta be some other name. I would prefer bernie to be front and center because bernie and
the citizens of bernie are paying for this. And the people that come there, majority of
which are not gonna be from bernie, should know that bernie is where they're coming.
and I just think you have so many great ideas you put out there that I can just
see all these informational signs all over the park, giving people information about the
history, about the whatever, you know, all the different things you put out there. That's,
that's just my, my view. So we, because otherwise, otherwise you get
into this list of names, right? And well, I like this name and I don't like
that anymore. It's, that's just my perspective. So
I think the conversation next time is gonna be great. Um, so I am most
supportive option for the hybrid process and getting community feedback. 'cause I think more
input is better than less, right? And then collectively to come back in that next
conversation I think will be lively because we'll have community input and we'll
have some of our own ideas and that's why we're here to make those decisions. So I think
option four would be what I would support. Okay. Kyle?
I, I support option four as well. I think definitely get, uh, community
feedback. Yeah, I think, um, community input.
I think you, I would hesitate to give the community
the names. I think it's better to let them choose because
as someone who went through the branding process, um, even
though you might get silly names, it doesn't really matter.
you just get the names. Um, and then maybe staff looks,
gets rid of the ones that were obviously silly and then, uh, brings forward the ones that are
more realistic. Um, and then council as, uh,
councilman bateman pointed out can then discuss that. I mean, I tend to lean
towards what joe said as well. I think kinder park was a great name leaning
towards the german heritage. It's simple. It's not one person or indoor a
something that's more poignant towards just northside.
um, I think, uh, connecting it to a person
isn't, kind of, doesn't really go with any of our other parks. So I don't know why we would start
now, but, um, I know we're not debating that at this point, so
I won't go further into that. So I think the hybrid process is the way to go. Okay.
yeah, I agree. I I think the, um, with what everybody said up here, joe, I, to your point,
I, I agree. I mean, putting bernie out there for sure, um, but from someone
who travels almost every weekend to a soccer tournament, and when you go to austin community park
and austin community park, and they're 17 miles apart, you
know, someone coming to the community goes, I was, I'm going to burning city park. Well, I'm going to burning
city park too. I don't wanna call it city park. I know, but, but I'm just saying,
um, I did just for the, the the heck. But I looked, the ice house had my,
my, my attention. So I looked up the german name for doss ice house,
and it's a doss ice house, right? Just spelled with an e, right? So, um, that's
not very original there. So free thinkers park. Free thinkers park. There you go. Um,
but I agree, I think the hybrid process is probably the consensus for the counselor to,
to move forward. Um, but like I said, going out to the community, like here's,
we could just say open up to everything, but these are some of the top ideas
and then bring it back and, um, we can do that through email conversations
and stuff like that. So why, why don't we do this? I think we've got a good consensus to pursue
option four. We'll get with staff, we'll come up with a plan, we'll get you that plan
as soon as possible, and the tool in which we're gonna get public input and,
um, there's a good chance we probably won't have our next meeting,
the second meeting in may. So that gives us enough time to, to get back and get something
to you for the first meeting in june. Okay. I
would try to get the survey out before oh, before school's out?
absolutely correct. Yeah. We'll, we'll, we'll convene tomorrow and start working on the otherwise people
correct say we tried to do it. Well, they're gonna say that no matter what.
all right, great. Thank you counsel. All right, thank you lizette. Uh,
before we move on to, oh no, we're going to 10 b uh, 2026
dash 1 36 discussion regarding the proposed gas rate update.
sarah, good evening. Again,
I feel like we need a stretch break or something. . That was fun. .
um, the purpose of tonight's presentation is to review the results of the recent gas
rate, um, study, as well as the proposed changes
to the rate structure. The this agenda item is just a presentation
and discussion only. There's no action item being proposed tonight.
this item aligns with several of the items on our strategy map.
so over the past many months, uh, city staff has worked very closely with
schneider engineering to review the finances and the rate structure of the gas utility.
and that involved, um, projecting and looking at the utilities
operational and infrastructure needs over the next five years and developing
a proposed funding plan. Additionally, um, as part of that study, there were
some rate structure changes that, uh, came to light that we'll
wanna discuss. So tonight we'll go over the purpose of the gas rate review,
review, uh, future infrastructure projects, the funding plan for those projects and
the overall gas rate study results.
so why now? Why are we looking at gas rates now? Um,
the overall purpose of this rate study and really any rate study for a utility
is to develop a financial plan that supports the long-term
sustainability of your system. And the last time we did one of
these comprehensive rate studies was back in 2014, and a lot has changed
since then. Our system has really, really grown. It's seen some tremendous growth.
and so with any growing utility, there's really a need to continue
upgrading the operational support and infrastructure to,
for that increased capacity. At that same time, we have
existing infrastructure that's aging, and with any system, you need to continue to
invest in that infrastructure to maintain your reliable and safe operations.
um, additionally, as part of this study, we wanted to really
look at whether our existing rate structure was aligned with individual
customer demand. And what I mean by that is that there are some
customers that create a greater demand on the system simply by the types
of appliances they're using, the new technological advances in those appliances.
and so what we wanted to do was determine whether
or not the funding plan that we could come up with would, um, be able to
be, um, equitably allocated consistently between the customer
groups depending on that demand.
so this is a service map of our, um, of our system, and it
shows kind of the bubbles of the emerging growth areas on our system.
um, this next map shows the upcoming infrastructure needs
in our system, and over the next five years, our gas utility
capital improvement plan, um, has about 9.3 million
of infrastructure needs that we're planning for. Um,
the cip plan is the primary driver really for this rate study. The need for the rate
study and is also the biggest impact on potential future rate changes.
the goal, uh, for to fund this infrastructure is to issue debt
for a portion of it. And so our, um, new rates would
need to be able to, um, support that new debt service for that
infrastructure. I mentioned that the need for this infrastructure
is, um, driven largely by the new appliance technology
that's evolved in the past decade or so. And, um, what
I'm talking about specifically, one of the biggest culprits is the tankless water heaters.
they were developed to be more efficient. You're not needing to
heat a whole tank of water all day waiting for when you need it to
take your hot shower, but what it does require is it requires that,
um, immediate burst of energy in order to give you that hot water on demand.
and when you have bubbles of customers that are all wanting to take their hot shower
at the same time with tankless water heaters, what that creates is,
um, a system capacity issue during that, that peaking hour.
and so it just creates this additional strain on the system that makes
it more difficult to maintain that consistent pressure and system reliability.
and that was just an unintended consequence of the new technology
and something that our original system wasn't, wasn't built for. So that's
kind of the need for our increased, um, infrastructure. So one
of the goals was really to evaluate whether this
our current structure or a new structure could be adopted to better
reflect the differences in system demand and infrastructure costs across
the customer classes. So what what we're
proposing is, um, currently, um, surprisingly we just have a single
tier for each residential and commercial. And so I have a breakout there
of our current rate structure broken up between the number of customers
in the residential class and the commercial class. And this is actually a little bit unusual.
it's more common, um, that our peers have tier, um, I didn't
mean to rhyme, but I just did. Our peers have tiers. And so what we're
recommending is a three tier approach, um, to break our customers
each class into three tiers. And so small residential
is by large our biggest, um, customer tier, and
they're the ones that would see the least impact on this new,
um, bill or the new rate structure. Um,
in the past, what we've noticed is that if you look at the
average residential bills, it's really those small customers that they're,
they're not the ones that are driving this demand for the increased infrastructure, but they're paying the higher bills.
and so what we wanted to do is create those incremental
tiers so that the cost of this infrastructure is, um, pushed
more to the, the medium and the larger customers that are have that appliance
technology. So this slide
shows the, um, the projected average
bill impact to the three different tiers of customers. Of course,
the largest, um, the largest group is residential small, and they
would see an average of about $9 a month, um, increase on their bill.
um, there's this, uh, one time differential that we're
creating in order to set up the tiers. So you see the incremental increases
from small to large. Um, it
you that sets up the, the tier structure that we need to, um,
the small residential customers would see the smallest overall increase of
all the bills and their bills are not forecasted, and our rate structure
forecast to increase in the next three years. So this would be the one time increase
for them. They wouldn't see any additional increase. This
next slide shows the estimated average commercial bill impacts
commercial customers with the larger meters and higher system demand would see the
larger increases under the proposed tier structure, um, same as the residential.
so next steps after, after we have discussion and obtain feedback from
counsel, we would bring forward the first reading of the gas rate ordinance on
june 9th. The second reading of the ordinance would come june 23rd.
it would take approximately two months to set up the billing system. It takes a little bit of time
to set up those tiers in the billing system, and during that time, we plan
to work, um, the, the customer service department plans to work
with the communications department to send out proactive customer communications.
so the new right rates could become effective as early as august 1st consumption,
which would show up on september. Bills.
um, councilman wilson may remember, I rem I know that this is
something that you've brought up in past, uh, rate studies that
for customers that are needing assistance, we do have a fantastic partnership with
the hill country family services called the good neighbors fund. And it is funded
by contributions by existing city utility, uh, customers who either round
up their bill or donate a dollar or so a month. And that fund goes to hill country family
services for folks that are needing assistance. Um, they can sign up with an application
through hill country family services for help. So,
any questions? Questions or feedback? Council macusa,
just to comment, um, you said the average looked like the average bill based
on the 2016 rate was about $50 a month. Am I recalling that correctly?
uh, so, uh, yes. Most of our customers residential are
about $50. So just with the inflation calculation index, that's over $70
a month now, right? That's with nothing else.
that's just inflation and gas. Gas service is,
um, not only critical, but it's dangerous. So maintaining the infrastructure
is extremely important. You get gas leaks or explosions, you hear about
'em over the country, and that can be devastating to neighborhoods, homes, individuals lives.
so, I mean, I think it's, it's obvious it's gonna have to be a rate increase. Um, the
other thing I would mention, I don't know, I don't think any, I have a propane system at my house. I don't
have city gas propane's expensive, so I did the calculation
even at the new rate. I mean, it's $750 a year on average for gas, for, for,
based on the average rates you're showing. I mean, I can tell you what it costs to put in a
propane tank and to fill it up, up twice a year. It's a lot more than that. So I'm just saying
the city customers are on natural. I wish I was on natural gas getting a really good
deal overall compared to what the options are. Say if you lived outside of the
city or even within the city, but don't have, but don't have gas system.
thank any comments council? No.
okay, great. Thank you sarah.
all right. Moving on to before we head in to agenda item number 11, comments from council. I'm gonna
turn it over to city manager, uh, uh, thatcher. Uh, we don't have a
two mayor's report tonight, but he does have a prepared statement he wants to talk about today. So,
ben, uh, mayor counsel, thank you very much. I do have a couple items. First off,
as I mentioned earlier, the second meeting in may, there's not a lot of items in
the queue. It's the day after memorial day. I think one or two of you might even be gone. So
we're aiming to not have that meeting. I'll confirm that and let you know, but
it looks like that probably will happen. Also, today, uh, began the
installation of the america two 50 decor around city hall. It's gonna be going
on at the, uh, at the, the town square park, the gazebo.
you'll see some things. Those decorations will be out until
we start, uh, decorating for, uh, for dickens. Um,
so as you are all aware, many of those in the, in the community of
major network television network made a big announcement yesterday that impacts
bernie. And I've received a significant amount of questions,
concerns, just curiosities about how this all came about.
so I, I would like to read a statement that kind of answers a lot of those
questions. I did provide you a copy of it so you can have that.
basically, the city learned about this project at essentially the same time as the community
did, and that was when the, uh, the network made their public announcement.
I wanna be clear that the city of bernie is not producing, sponsoring, endorsing,
casting, or otherwise partnering in this television production.
following the announcement, a production manager did contact our parks department about
a, uh, potential inquiry. And based on that initial conversation,
staff understands that the production currently anticipates filming primarily
at residential homes with possible occasional filming involving
cast members, exiting vehicles, walking in the downtown area or
dining at local restaurants. The production manager indicated that
they do not anticipate needing to close streets.
that is the extent of the city's direct communication. At this point, no formal
formal permit application has been submitted, and no street closures, park
closures, or use of city property have been approved by the city for this production.
uh, I do want to acknowledge the concern we have heard from residents. We
understand that concern because so little is known about this project at this time.
what we do know is that our neighbors care deeply about bernie its character
and the way our name is used. We take immense pride in our community and what
it represents, bernie is far more than just a storyline.
bernie is a real community made up of families, neighborhoods, small businesses,
churches, volunteers, public servants, and people who work hard every day
to make this a special place. That is the bernie, our residents know
value and help sustain every day.
I also wanna clarify the city's role. Bernie is a film friendly texas
community as certified by the texas film commission in the office
of the governor in 2021, the city council adopted
filming guidelines to manage filming activity in a way that protects residents,
businesses, public property, public property, and public health,
safety and welfare. That certification and those guidelines
should not be understood as an endorsement of any particular production.
they are reg regulatory framework only. Private
filming on private property does not generally require the city's permission. Simply
because a production company is filming, the city becomes involved when
filming activity requires the use of public property, public streets,
rights of way parks, public facilities, city
equipment or personnel traffic control, or creates impacts that
fall under city ordinances and policies. If formal requests
are submitted, they will be reviewed through the city's normal processes and
in accordance with applicable law. The city's review must be based
on the operational and legal standards in our ordinances and policies,
not on the viewpoint, storyline or editorial choices of a production.
it is also important to remember that the greater bernie community exp extends well
beyond the municipal boundaries of the city limits of bernie. As I have shared
on multiple occasions, the city of bernie covers approximately 12 square miles,
while the greater burn area associated with the two bernie zip codes covers
more than 150 square miles. Because bernie is the primary
incorporated city and kendall county, many activities and public conversations
in the broader area are often associated with bernie, even when
they occur outside the city's corporate limits. Based on the limited information
shared with staff, it appears likely that a significant portion of this production
activity may fall into that same category and occur outside the city's
jurisdiction. Now, bernie remains open to responsible film,
media and creative projects that are respectful of all residents, businesses, neighborhoods,
and public spaces. At the same time, the city does not control how
our private television network markets or edits a program. What we
do control is how we protect the public interest and how we continue to tell the true story
of bernie. We will continue to monitor the situation, respond
appropriately to resident questions, and keep the counsel informed if any
formal permit applications or operational requests are submitted.
most importantly, we will continue doing the work that actually defines bernie as you
recognized earlier, mayor with your proclamation. And that is providing excellent public service,
supporting our neighborhoods and businesses, protecting our quality of life, and
preserving the community character that our residents value.
absolutely. Thank you, ben. I couldn't have said it better myself.
moving on to, uh, gentleman river, comments from council. Do we have any other comments from
council this evening? I would say
no. We got three more days of ap testing and then finals next week. So good luck to
all the kids that are testing and finish strong next thursday. Then you can forget
everything. When's graduations? Uh,
friday next. Next friday. Okay.
uh, chargers baseball. Mm-hmm . Doing great. So good luck to them in the
playoffs. Um, and then thank y'all to council for, um,
mayor pro tem again. And then thank you to, um, bernie
for trusting me for another now three years now that we have three year terms. So appreciate that.
look forward to working with all of staff again. Um, stuck with me for
three more years, so, um, that'll be fun. Um, look forward to it. Um,
you know, bernie's a great community. I look forward to, um, seeing
through many of the projects we still have in the, in our radar. Um,
excited to still be a part of the bonds that we still have going forward.
so I'm, I'm glad to be here for that part as well as other projects.
so again, thank you all to everyone. Alright, thank you. Time,
joe. Good? Yep. Uh, yeah, I just wanna say, uh, appreciate, uh,
the trust again, and, and it's been a pleasure working with you guys briefly and, uh,
look forward to another three years and continue to learn and serve. So appreciate it.
yeah, thanks kyle. Absolutely. Just, uh, thank you guys for willing to step up as
a public servant once again. Um, you know, it pays so well and, uh,
we got a big pay raise. Yeah, you guys do get a pay raise this year. So, um, but thank
you tha for stepping up as mayor pro tem. Uh, again, just hats off to, uh,
our community, uh, public servants, uh, our staff across the
board. I mean, you guys are top-notch. It is the best, it's the best community.
um, ben, thank you for, for the statement for what's going on in our community.
um, bernie's bernie, and we love bernie. Um, so no matter
what the media wants to portray or whatever we want to think about it, this is a wonderful place
to live, work, play, and, and be a part of. So, and that's because of the public servants,
um, the community members, and then all those that take care of one another. So thank
you guys and have a great, uh, great rest of your week. And we will officially adjourn at 7:36 pm.