[0:05] All right. Welcome everyone. It is officially 6:00 pm on may 12th, 2026
[0:10] to the regular city council meeting for the city of burn, texas. It's my pleasure
[0:14] at this time to, uh, call forward, uh, student pastor pearson s
[0:18] sena from curry creek baptist church to lead us in a, uh, curry creek church to lead us in,
[0:22] uh, invocation pearson. Thanks for coming. Thanks, y'all. I'm really
[0:27] grateful to be here. Um, would y'all bow your heads with me? Sure.
[0:31] father, thank you so much for the gift of today.
[0:36] lord, I thank you for every man and women in
[0:40] this room, god, that they've gathered together, um,
[0:45] ultimately to talk through what it looks like to steward our city. Well, lord, so I pray,
[0:49] uh, that you would be in this meeting. Lord, I'm just reminded of
[0:53] jeremiah writing to the people of israel saying, I want you to seek the welfare of the city
[0:57] that you are in, lord. And I thank you that we get to do that as your people, as
[1:01] we get to seek the welfare of whatever city we reside in. So, lord,
[1:05] I pray that you would be over this meeting as we're discussing just
[1:09] that. And lord, I thank you that in all things you are over it.
[1:13] you know exactly what is happening, lord, and you, you're not unaware,
[1:18] um, of any detail, lord. 'cause you are working through
[1:23] all things ultimately for your name, god. So I'm, I'm grateful
[1:27] that we can trust in that today, lord, and and I thank you
[1:31] ultimately today for, for life that is found in you, um,
[1:35] that our hope can't be placed in governments, but that our hope can be placed in
[1:39] new and a coming kingdom that we get to receive through trusting
[1:43] your son jesus, who came for us out of his love for us,
[1:48] god. So I pray that, that we would keep him on the forefront of our minds to today,
[1:52] as as we go, uh, throughout the city council meeting. But
[1:57] lord, we, we love you and we are grateful for you. And it's in your prayer.
[2:01] amen. Amen. Thanks. Thank you. Pearson. Would you join me in the pledge allegiance
[2:05] and then to the texas flag? I pledge
[2:09] allegiance to the flag, the united states of america
[2:13] to the look for she stands, one nation under god,
[2:17] indivisible, with liberty, justice. For
[2:22] honor the texas flag, I pledge allegiance to judge texas,
[2:26] one state under god. One indivisible. Thank you.
[2:30] you may be seated, exceeded. Moving on to agenda item
[2:35] number two, uh, administration, the new oath of offices,
[2:39] council members, districts one and three. Lori
[2:45] mayor proto, would you like to start? Sure.
[3:08] aye. I do soly swear. Swear. Thankfully,
[3:15] I thankfully execute the office of city council member
[3:20] district one, the state of , the state of texas, the state of
[3:24] texas, and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of
[3:28] my ability, preserve and defend the constitution,
[3:33] preserve, protect defendant constitution and laws of the united states
[3:37] and of the states. So help me, god and the laws of the united states and
[3:42] state. So help me, god
[3:58] shall
[4:04] I, I I do solemnly swear,
[4:09] do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of
[4:13] the I pay for this, the duties of the office, city council
[4:17] district, city council district, free for the city of er,
[4:22] for the city of er, the state of texas. State of texas. And to the best
[4:26] of my ability, to the best of preserve, protect, and defend
[4:30] the constitution, preserve, protect defendant, constitution
[4:34] and of the united states and of states,
[4:38] the laws of the united states and of states.
[4:53] all right, we're going to move to agenda item number 3, 20 26 dash 1 31.
[4:57] consider election of the mayor, office of the mayor pro tem. It is my recommendation
[5:01] to this council that we continue with, uh, councilman willison, serving as mayor pro tem.
[5:05] if we have any questions or comments, um, I'd like to ask some motion.
[5:11] mayor, I, I mo I moved to elect councilman ty willison
[5:16] to the office of mayor prote for the term of may, 2026 to may, 2027.
[5:20] okay. Second from councilman bunker, please vote.
[5:29] motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Welcome. Welcome back, ty. Thank
[5:33] y'all. Moving on to agenda item number 4 20 26 dash 1 63.
[5:38] we're gonna give a proclamation. This is public service, uh,
[5:43] employee week. And so I have a proclamation of refinery. We're gonna honor this proclamation
[5:48] for all the public servants, recognizing their commitment to our community. So, um,
[5:52] I'm gonna read this and then we're gonna do a photo op. I believe so. Whereas public
[5:56] service is a vital pillar of strong, thriving community, those who dedicate
[6:00] their time and talents to serving the public play in a central role, and maintain the quality of life
[6:04] enjoyed by all residents. Public service recognition week provides
[6:09] an opportunity to honor the contributions of public employees at all levels of government, and
[6:13] recognize their commitment to integrity, respect, collaboration, service, and excellence.
[6:18] although public service recognition week was observed nationally, may 3rd through the ninth, 2026,
[6:23] the city of bernie takes this opportunity to formally expresses appreciation for the public servants
[6:27] whose work strengthens our community throughout the year. The city of bernie is fortunate
[6:31] to be served by dedicated team of professionals, those whose hard work expertise
[6:35] and responsiveness ensure the effective delivery of high quality, customer focused,
[6:39] essential services to our community. Public service provide the essential
[6:44] services residents rely on each day, including public safety, education, infrastructure,
[6:49] utilities, emergency management, parks and recreation, libraries, courts,
[6:53] community planning, and many other functions that support a safe, vibrant, and well-served
[6:57] community. We also extend our sincere appreciation of the public
[7:01] servants of bernie independent school district, kendall county, and other public agencies whose
[7:05] work supports our residents, families, students, neighborhoods, and businesses with professionalism
[7:10] and care. We further recognize the members of the burning city council as well,
[7:14] those who serve on the boards and commissions, whose leadership, guidance, and volunteerism
[7:18] help shape the future of our city. The spirit of public service reflects the best
[7:22] of our community. People choosing to serve something larger than themselves, working
[7:26] together to solve problems, care for neighbors, strengthened public trust, and help
[7:30] bernie continue to be an exemplary, exemplary hill country community.
[7:35] the city of bernie affirms that service and excellence are not only organizational values,
[7:39] but civic values that strengthen the relationship between local government, public institutions,
[7:43] and the people we serve. These individuals demonstrate, dedication,
[7:48] adaptability, professionalism, and a deep sense of responsibility, often
[7:52] working in behind the scenes to support the needs, safety, and wellbeing of our
[7:56] community. So, therefore, I frank, richie, may or bernie, do you hereby recognize may 3rd
[8:00] through the ninth, 2026 as public servant recognition. Give yourself a hand
[8:07] as if you come up for the photo. Like everybody that's a, that's a member of team bernie,
[8:11] uh, to come forward for, for photo ops. Anyone that's working for the city that's in the audience
[8:15] can please come forward. Um, and then the council will be back here for, but I just wanna
[8:19] say to the community as a whole, um, each
[8:24] and every day that I come to city hall and, and I get the experience with the different departments that
[8:28] we work with, the amount of excellence, dedication, and preparedness that
[8:32] the staff has, these, uh, public servants have for the city of burn, whether
[8:36] it's the fire department, the police department, parks and rec, water, utilities, um,
[8:41] city manager, staff, the clerk, staff across the board, our com
[8:45] our community is so blessed to have the service that we have. So from the bottom of my heart and
[8:49] the rest of the council, uh, thank you all for the, what you guys do
[8:57] here. Chief, you're chief, you're in uniform, you can be the center.
[9:14] maybe I'll take back everything I said about efficiency ,
[9:18] couple them. Yeah, a couple of them might be aggies
[9:31] over
[9:37] perfect . Just wanna make sure all
[9:41] beautiful faces .
[9:46] okay. All right. We're smiling big.
[9:51] we're gonna do, we're gonna hold
[9:55] it for one more second.
[10:01] thank you. Thank you everyone.
[10:09] thank you. Yeah, just give it to lori. Yeah, absolutely. Photoshop jeff in later. Yeah.
[10:14] , again, thank you to everyone that that served this community from, from
[10:18] across the board. Thanks for all your efforts and your sacrifices. So, moving on,
[10:22] we're gonna go into, uh, number five, conflicts of interest council members. Do you have any conflicts
[10:26] of interest this evening? No. No sir. Alright. No conflicts of interest. We'll move on
[10:31] to agenda item number six, public comments. Um, I'll read your name. You can come forward
[10:35] 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
[10:39] and address. Uh, our first speaker tonight is stewart blend. Stewart,
[10:44] I'll startled you. Stuart . Um,
[10:49] my name is stuart blin. I live at 2 4 3 marisol in burnie.
[10:53] and the reason for wanting to be here is about
[10:58] a month ago. I, I've been in, in, um, um, in,
[11:02] in a active adult community, uh, that is being built in
[11:06] esperanza. And about 30 days ago, I'm trying to
[11:10] turn into es uh, esperanza drive. There
[11:14] had been an accident, which is probably not real surprising at 46
[11:19] and esperanza and traffic was stopped
[11:24] always for over 30 minutes. The
[11:28] reason I bring this up is because there's only one way in and out of
[11:32] esperanza. And my understanding is a large part of that is
[11:36] because of the original plan was to extend esperanza
[11:40] into adler, which I guess the decision was made not to move adler
[11:45] or take adler further in. The reason it's a big concern
[11:49] is several reasons. Number one, if someone was to have a heart attack
[11:54] and there's no way of getting an ambulance in or a person out,
[11:58] there's a possibility of someone dying if a child was to have
[12:03] a, an accident, a serious accident. Again, there's no way in
[12:07] no way out for them to be taken to a hospital.
[12:11] so I think this is an extremely urgent
[12:15] pro problem that we have to deal with in this area. Now,
[12:20] at the present time, it's my understanding that a road is being built, which has always
[12:24] been planned, uh, for another way of getting out of
[12:28] espanza. Actually, on the other side of s of, uh, espanza,
[12:33] I think about where the hospital is going in. The
[12:37] reason I'm here, though, is to ask that maybe the
[12:41] council can help push this along a little bit faster. It's
[12:45] gonna get done, but from what I understand,
[12:49] it's not likely to see this until at least 2028.
[12:54] and like I say, this is a serious issue. It's a serious problem, uh,
[12:58] because there is only, again, this one way of getting in and out.
[13:03] and that's all I really have to say. Alright,
[13:07] thank you, stuart. Uh, no one else has signed up
[13:11] 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
[13:15] you'll have your three minutes, uh, for public comments.
[13:21] all right, no takers. Okay. We will move on then to agenda
[13:25] item number seven, a consent agenda, council members, um,
[13:30] any issues concern with consent agenda? If not, can I get a motion to
[13:34] approve consent agenda on a through c? Mayor?
[13:38] mr. I'm mayor. I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented.
[13:42] uh, second from councilman bunker, please vote.
[13:56] all right, send you to passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone.
[14:03] somebody was excited about that. So, moving on to the regular city
[14:07] agenda items number eight, a 2026 dash 1 55. Receive the
[14:11] second quarter financial investment report for the period ending in march 31st, 2026.
[14:15] presenting sarah buckley. Sarah, good evening mayor and counsel. The
[14:19] purpose of this agenda item is to review the city's financial performance through our
[14:24] second quarter of the fiscal year ended march 30th, 31st,
[14:28] sorry, march 31st. This agenda item aligns with
[14:32] several of the items on our bernie strategy map.
[14:38] so here we are in our budget management cycle, and, uh, we're
[14:43] almost to april and we have kicked off our budget process.
[14:47] um, just to give you all a, an update on that, uh, all the departments have submitted
[14:51] their, uh, preliminary budgets. We've reviewed them, and we'll be doing our force ranking
[14:56] workshop this week so far
[15:00] this year. Um, despite what's going on nationwide and
[15:04] maybe the cooling off of the economy a little bit, um, we're doing, we're doing well.
[15:08] the year is moving forward as expected. We, um, we were conservative in
[15:12] our budget. There were some, at least some of the, um, areas that impact the city.
[15:17] we, uh, we had advanced understanding of what we thought was gonna be happening this year, and we budgeted
[15:21] for it appropriately. And so we're, we're actually moving along just as expected, which
[15:25] is great news. So starting with interest revenue, um,
[15:30] we, we knew, we've had a couple gangbuster years of interest revenue when
[15:34] the, the rate was higher, but we had been told for over a year, almost
[15:38] two years that interest rates were gonna be decreasing. So we had already pro
[15:43] programmed that into the budget. We had projected a 3%, um,
[15:47] overall decrease compared to last year on our interest. And,
[15:51] um, so far we're doing well. We're right, uh, right where we would expect to be
[15:57] at valorem, uh, property taxes. We have met our revenue projections
[16:01] for the year. So 99% of our budget has been collected. That includes
[16:05] current year taxes and delinquent taxes, 97% collection
[16:09] on the current year. So we'll probably see a couple more percentage points collection before
[16:14] september, but where we've received the lion's share of it and
[16:18] are right on track with where we have been in prior years exactly this time,
[16:24] sales, tax revenue, um, you know, de despite what's been going
[16:28] off and it has been cooling off, um, lately in our
[16:32] reports, but, um, 24 and 25 were just amazing years.
[16:36] double digit increases in sales tax revenue year over year. So,
[16:41] um, taking out a one-time audit collection
[16:45] fees, which are, uh, fees that come in after an audit has been conducted. And then you have
[16:49] to pay back taxes. So that's not current revenue. It's audit collections that
[16:53] we got last year. So if you, if you take that out, we're, we're doing very well.
[16:57] um, we've collected 49% of our budget, which
[17:02] is right in line with where we have in prior years.
[17:08] so some of these graphs may look a little different. We've changed, uh, service providers now
[17:12] to, uh, zac tax. They just have a really, a really cool platform. And we have
[17:16] the ability to run all different kinds of reports. So the graphs do
[17:20] look a little differently because they're from a different service provider. But this
[17:25] just shows that, um, our moving average, you know, despite
[17:29] the cooling off, we're still up compared to last january. So, uh, not
[17:33] as high of a growth rate, but we're still growing
[17:39] and sales tax revenue overall. Um, again, we had, we had
[17:43] positive months this quarter
[17:47] permit revenue we're at 36% of budget. Um,
[17:51] part of the reason is we had three large projects that closed down in 2025. And
[17:56] so, um, those, those were a surge at the end of 2025. But we're
[18:00] expecting a few projects that are gonna commence later in the year that are, are gonna increase the permit revenue.
[18:04] so it may look like we're behind schedule, but we do anticipate that we'll
[18:08] pick it up before september. Hotel motel
[18:12] taxes, this is where we expect to be this time of year. Um,
[18:17] the sales usually come in during the summer months, and so, um, 34%
[18:21] is what we would have expected in q2.
[18:26] the utilities are doing well. Um, consumption, we've had a mild couple of months,
[18:30] so consumption on electric decreased by 2% compared to the
[18:34] same year last quarter. And we've collected 38% of our budget
[18:38] so far. Water revenues, consumption has increased 8%.
[18:43] um, you know, despite getting some rain, we did have a couple, um, months
[18:47] or that at least month in january that we needed a little bit of rain.
[18:52] wastewater falls in line with water, so we're 7%
[18:56] increase over last year. And 46% of budget
[19:02] cash utility has collected 57%. Um, we still have that hedge,
[19:07] um, in place for customers to help keep rates steady and consumption
[19:11] did decrease by 9% by, um, same time last year.
[19:17] and storm water is, um, moving along. It's 43% of budget.
[19:22] it's, um, not very cyclical. It's very same revenues
[19:26] every month. So in line with where we were last year. Any questions
[19:31] on the financial performance council? Just for understanding
[19:35] for myself, this is the second quarter, so we're halfway through the fiscal year. Yes,
[19:40] sir. Correct. So any of the slides that we just went through, when it benchmarks
[19:44] at 36% of budget, 51% of budget, that's,
[19:48] I, is it fair for me to say we're halfway through the year? A benchmark is 50% depending
[19:53] on the revenue source, and some of them you explained would have, you know, more cyclical
[19:57] revenue in the summer months, for example, retail tax. Right. So, but
[20:01] we would already pass the holiday months in that example. Yes. Right. So,
[20:05] so just as the big picture, I just wanted to make sure I level set where my understanding of
[20:10] where this is. I absolutely you your understanding exactly correct. Okay.
[20:14] um, I, we try to put where we were this time, um, same
[20:18] time in at least the last year or the two years to show where we typically are at this time
[20:22] of the year. So you're right, sales tax revenue specifically was this last quarter
[20:26] for the holidays. And there was one slide that I think it was at 36%, but then you explained
[20:30] that this is something that mm-hmm . There we go. Permit revenue, right. Permit permit
[20:35] revenue is something that's really can't be easily
[20:39] forecasted. It all depends on when the big projects close or when they're going on. And
[20:43] so, um, we saw the surge of revenue at the end of 2025. We were,
[20:47] we were in a similar situation last year where we felt like we were lagging towards the beginning of
[20:51] the year, but then we had a bunch of close, uh, projects closed out. There were the three projects
[20:55] that closed out at the end of 2025. So we are expecting the same, a similar
[21:00] situation for this year. So 36% may not seem like we're meeting revenue at
[21:04] 50% of the fiscal year, but we do anticipate some of the bigger projects coming online.
[21:09] the talking points for each of the slides did a great job explaining that. Um, so thank you for
[21:13] that. I just wanted to make sure I was level setting myself of where we were annually on the fiscal year
[21:17] at 50% and understanding the numbers. Thank you. Yes, sir. Question, um, permit
[21:21] revenue. Mm-hmm . Is that just construction revenue? What
[21:25] about utility permits? Are those all included together or no,
[21:29] this is governmental permit revenue only. Okay. But do we have permitting for utilities?
[21:34] don't we? I mean, we have impact fees and,
[21:38] but I don't think there's permitting on utility side. I'm looking at my utility folks now. There
[21:43] we would have, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. And, um, I mean, we would have,
[21:47] uh, so the part of a project, a commercial project,
[21:51] um, it's called, we call it ocs, but it's your public improvements,
[21:55] um, infrastructure. And so when those permits are applied for, yes, there
[21:59] are fees for those. And the reason I'm asking is like in, in, uh, in qualy farms
[22:03] we're providing gas, correct. Do do each of those gas meter hookups
[22:07] have to have a permit when they build that house? Yes. Correct. So that permit revenue would
[22:12] be included in this number as well as any other permit? Or is it separated? No,
[22:16] this is just governmental funding that would that be under the utility
[22:20] budget then? Yes, sir. Okay. That's interest understand. Thank you.
[22:25] any other questions? Council, um, question on the, for the sales tax,
[22:29] um, I was curious, 'cause it seemed like it was a pretty mild winter. Did we see
[22:34] an increase? I know you can look deeper into the sales tax revenue.
[22:38] did you see an increase in our more local retail
[22:42] customers? I'm just curious. Um, or if, if it was more based on
[22:46] the larger retailers? So, um, retail was mild, it
[22:50] was 1%, but they are the biggest portion of our, of our, um,
[22:55] breakdown, our industry breakdown. Um, I did look up december performance
[23:00] because I know that that's always, usually a question that gets asked is how did we do with
[23:04] everybody coming into town? Um, we just did really fantastic in
[23:08] 24 and 25. It's not that we didn't do bad this year, but we did in
[23:12] fiscal year 24. We did 1.4 million in december and 25, we
[23:16] did 1.5, um, we did 1.26. So
[23:21] not terrible. Considering that our, our average is usually 900,000 to
[23:25] a million dollars. That's still a really great december for us. It's just, it's
[23:29] being compared to really great years. So, um,
[23:34] we, I mean, we are cooling off some, but we anticipated that in our budget
[23:38] and we are doing very well compared to other communities especially.
[23:42] but, um, some of our bigger retailers, we've seen kind of
[23:47] a drop, like one of our bigger retailers has seen a drop. And I think it's just because
[23:51] you do home improvements, for example, when you have a lot of disposable
[23:55] money. So, um, but so far we're, we're doing okay.
[24:00] we're keeping an eye on our top, our top. I I do like this slide.
[24:04] um, I think you explained you're using new software for the presentations.
[24:08] um, I'd be curious to see quarter after quarter to this slide in particular. My
[24:12] question though on this slide is, you know, the bottom line number 83%
[24:17] is a big portion of this overall picture and it just encompasses other,
[24:22] yeah. Right. So that to me, you know, the other area is making up the
[24:26] 17% or whatever it is. Is that right? That doesn't even add up. The numbers don't add up. Sarah,
[24:31] wouldn't that also be the audit num money too would've been accounted for in
[24:35] that, that I think you thank you, christie. Is that, that's wrong. Okay. Yeah.
[24:40] well, we are, um, we actually have requested some
[24:44] custom reports from our new service provider and those custom reports,
[24:48] um, are not yet available. So right now I'm using the, the canned reports,
[24:53] but we are, we're hoping as soon as we start getting those custom reports, we'll send 'em out to you monthly
[24:57] and you can really dive into all the details you wanna see. And then, um,
[25:01] we'll continue modifying these slides with information that you all would like to see. I'd
[25:05] like to like to hear your feedback because the new platform is really dynamic, so
[25:10] almost anything you wanna see, um, we can probably put together going forward. Yes.
[25:14] food, restaurants, we, I think, I think we can
[25:18] get down to that level. Is that, but that we can even do a geo let go the food category that's
[25:22] called restaurants, correct? Oh, yes, yes. I'm sorry. Food is, that's
[25:26] very nice. That's positive. Yep. I mean, assuming that's huge. I mean, 16%,
[25:31] that's a lot. Restaurants did really, really well. And, um, if you look over at the
[25:35] bar graph, one category I'd never seen before was accommodation, which
[25:39] is not hotel motel taxes, because that's not part of sales tax. So I had to look into
[25:43] it. And it's the other fees that hotels, um, charge,
[25:47] like if you're gonna reserve a room for like a banquet or something during the holidays
[25:52] or, um, if you sell food in your, in your
[25:56] hotel bar or things like that. So that was strange that it,
[26:00] it popped up in our top seven categories, but I had to look it up myself
[26:04] because I I had never seen that one before. So I think it's
[26:08] interesting, you know, if restaurants are doing that much higher than I think from a retail perspective,
[26:13] if they aren't doing as well, it's like, well, how can they, how can they get those
[26:17] customers? If restaurants are bringing in people, how do they, I think, you know, for the
[26:22] chamber, I think this is great information for them to use. 'cause obviously their
[26:26] customers are there, so how do those retail customers get them? So anyway,
[26:30] I think that's good, good information to be available.
[26:34] yeah. One other question. Professional services mm-hmm
[26:38] . What is the sales tax on professional services? So this, um,
[26:43] the big professional services in our community have to do with insurance companies.
[26:47] okay. Um, I'm, I'm not as well versed in all the insurance
[26:51] products to know which ones are taxable or not, but, um, so there's, there's
[26:55] an insurance claims company that generates a lot of revenue for us every year that's based
[26:59] outta bernie. Gotcha. Okay. I just wanted understand what that meant because I mean, I, I don't think you
[27:03] pay sales tax when you go to a lawyer or a doctor or a dentist that I'm aware of. So I just wanted
[27:07] to know what that meant. You, you pay a lot. I don't know if it's tax, you just pay a lot.
[27:12] that's why you gotta have insurance. . Okay.
[27:16] any other questions from counsel? Can I get a motion to, yeah,
[27:20] I move. We receive and approve the second quarter of financial and investing report for the
[27:24] period ending march 31st, 2026. Second from councilman
[27:29] mickelson, please vote.
[27:37] motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thank you sarah. Thank you. Moving on to agenda
[27:41] nine a resolutions nine a 2026 dash 0 5 2.
[27:47] consider resolution number 2026 r 25, a resolution of the city council of the
[27:51] city of be texas. Adopting the city of bear needs comprehensive safety action plan,
[27:55] reaffirming the city's goal zero commitment to eliminate roadway fatalities and these
[27:59] serious injuries and directing implementation to accordance with the safe streets and roads
[28:03] for all grant program, uh, presenting abigail. Abigail.
[28:07] hi, good evening. For those of you who haven't had the chance to meet, my name is abigail knott. I am city
[28:12] engineer, uh, working with, uh, director kara.
[28:17] the safety action plan relates to our brain strategy map. Uh,
[28:21] it's obviously for infrastructure implementation, uh, also using data
[28:25] to inform our decisions and borrowing from our master plans.
[28:30] so a brief overview of safe streets for all. Really at
[28:34] a high level, it's analyzing our networks to determine where crashes are impacting
[28:38] our community and what things we can do to improve upon for pedestrian safety
[28:42] and vehicular safety. There
[28:46] are two types of ss four a grants. There is the planning and demonstration.
[28:51] so that's the current grant that we have received and what we're working on right
[28:55] now. It's really the development of a comprehensive safety plan. It's also
[28:59] allowing us to, uh, determine activities that can be done that can be
[29:04] used for the next phase of grant applications, which is implementation. So
[29:08] what can we, uh, plan, design, and develop from
[29:12] the safety action plan? So the ss
[29:16] four a process. In april, 2024, we submitted
[29:20] a grant for the planning application. In late 24,
[29:24] we were notified of that grant and we did move forward with an rfq for
[29:28] a consultant to help us, uh, engage in that plan. Um,
[29:34] we are so sorry, um,
[29:38] in that, that we are amending, uh, the city safety action plan. So that was part of the
[29:42] mobility master plan. Uh, it allows us to conduct pedestrian safety
[29:47] action plans in the downtown area to analyze pedestrian fatalities
[29:51] and, uh, injuries, and then to conduct intersection focus,
[29:55] road safety audits. So
[30:00] I know, uh, director carol has presented to you before, part
[30:04] of that was the safe, safe streets for all plan to have public
[30:08] outreach. And so this timeline kind of shows you the activities we have done to date.
[30:13] and today we are here for the culmination of all of the activities related to this planning grant.
[30:17] and that is the comprehensive safety action plan.
[30:23] this all started with a five year analysis of crashes throughout
[30:27] the city limits in burney. So from that, we are able to determine if
[30:31] what types of crashes occurred and where. So there were 2,342
[30:36] crashes within the city of burn. However, when you start
[30:40] to break it down and look at the high injury network, so we're looking for
[30:45] areas where, uh, there were fatalities, there were major or minor
[30:49] injuries related to a crash. You can see that even though there were 153
[30:54] miles of network impacted by crashes,
[30:59] really only 23 miles of those 153
[31:03] were impacted by, uh, high injury crashes. That's 15%
[31:08] of our streets are really telling up to 73% of those high
[31:12] injury incidences. From
[31:16] that, we establish the high injury network. This allows us to
[31:20] focus on future safety projects and code updates that we'd like to
[31:24] implement that are focused on what is occurring in those areas.
[31:30] from that, we really get to that, uh, comprehensive safety action plan. So
[31:34] what are the targeted projects that we can implement that would help in those,
[31:39] um, those areas, those 15% of the areas where we're seeing 73%
[31:43] of the incidences occurring. And it was narrowed down to five intersections,
[31:47] river plant, main river, the five points area,
[31:51] main bandera and cascade and scenic loop, and really also focused on three
[31:56] corridors. So main street, blanco, and river road.
[32:00] and in those we're looking at all of the things that could be
[32:04] considered to help make improvements to the network.
[32:10] so some of those things are systemic countermeasures. And so implementation,
[32:14] uh, on the ground, is it shared use pass? Could it be flashing
[32:18] yellow arrows? It could even be a signal reflective back plate.
[32:22] so those are the orange boundaries that go behind a signal light that draw
[32:27] attention to what the signal is telling you to do. Uh, it could also be non infrastructure
[32:31] projects. So safe routes to school corridor studies. So additional studies
[32:35] to understand what's going on in the corridor, uh, intersection evaluations or
[32:39] there improvements that can be made.
[32:44] the policy and procedure recommendations really gets down to what updates
[32:48] can we do to our design standards? Are there additional operational
[32:52] and guidances that we can include in design to make streets safer?
[32:57] um, parking management programs, additional campaigns. So
[33:01] just simple outreach to let people know, uh, what to do in
[33:05] certain areas to be safe. Um, maintaining the high injury
[33:09] network. So we want to upkeep that crash data. The more that we're able to
[33:13] know and study in those areas of helps us understand, uh, changes that
[33:17] are occurring and things that we need to do to adjust, um, a public facing
[33:22] transportation safety task force. So that would be something that we could engage
[33:26] with the public. We're currently current, we're currently doing something internally
[33:30] that looks at traffic operational improvements, but really this would turn it towards
[33:34] the public to give them an opportunity to interact with us. And then, um,
[33:38] progress in our a da transition plan.
[33:44] the ss four a process really considered a lot of public
[33:48] input. So not only did director carroll come to, uh, city council to speak, but
[33:52] also we had a safety safety task force. And so it was comprised
[33:56] not only of, um, different positions throughout the ci city of bernie,
[34:00] but also engaged with members in our community. So, uh, county commissioners, we had council representatives,
[34:05] uh, bernie, isd, um, you can see the picture at the
[34:09] top right corner. Our consultant went out to market days and engaged with
[34:13] folks in the community just naturally to get some feedback
[34:18] on how they felt about some of the high injury network areas and even get feedback on what
[34:22] they thought would be an appropriate improvement.
[34:26] so the community's top priorities, river and her were downtown intersections.
[34:31] and then of course, pedestrian safety.
[34:36] one of the last, uh, public outre public outreach components was a survey
[34:40] that went out in april and there were 49 comments received. And
[34:44] you can see speed enforcement was one of the things top on the mind of folks in the city of
[34:48] bernie. So the reason we're here today
[34:52] presenting this is it's, it's the culmination of the process. So it is that comprehensive
[34:57] safety action plan and its adoption lends towards the vision zero goals
[35:01] that were adopted by the city council in august, 2022. Uh, that started with
[35:05] that mobility master plan. It allows, uh, this grant allowed us to
[35:09] amend the safety action plan to meet all the current federal requirements. And really
[35:13] it is that roadmap to vision to vision zero. In addition,
[35:17] approval of this, um, comprehensive safety action plan allows us to reach into
[35:21] that next, uh, set of dollars that's set aside for grants for implementation.
[35:26] so what's on the plan, uh, can be moved into the implementation stage
[35:30] well if we are awarded a grant for it.
[35:35] and then of course, uh, as I mentioned, director carroll did come to multiple council meetings to present,
[35:39] uh, ongoing process with you. So with that, I will
[35:43] take any questions on the, um, planning grant
[35:47] and the resolution today. Thank you, abigail. Any questions on council? Just
[35:51] to comment on the surveys, um, I was looking over that data and I found that
[35:56] interesting. You said there was 49 unique surveys that came back, but collectively, if you look at
[36:00] that data, 46% of 'em had a similar sentiment as the
[36:04] number one thing that we could focus on. So I look forward to those conversations if
[36:08] this moves forward with the, with the grant money. And that conversation was around police enforcement
[36:12] and speed, to your point on that one slide. Um, and enforcing
[36:17] some of the laws that we might have available to us, particularly on main street, where than most of the
[36:21] incidents have taken place. So I, I think it's a great opportunity.
[36:25] I'll, I'll share, I I know director carol's told me once that we received this feedback, he, he
[36:29] had a conversation with chief perez and our department to talk about that, that
[36:33] perception, the feedback there. And, and they'll take that into consideration
[36:37] when they figure out their downtown plans. Well, I've, I think in the last few months
[36:41] I've seen a lot more presence on main street blanco, at least, um,
[36:46] for me. So I think they've already been doing it.
[36:50] 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.
[36:54] I feel like I've seen more people pulled over by yeah, so I think, I think they're
[36:58] already, um, implementing it. And I would look and I would encourage that to continue,
[37:02] but the discussion is to get grant money to further the efforts in that,
[37:06] um, making the streets safe and having zero deaths. And so, um,
[37:10] when we can get that money, there's a lot of different things, but according to the survey, you know, most
[37:15] of the people were saying, hey, it's around, um, controlling,
[37:19] distracted driving jaywalking, how is that defined, um,
[37:23] in the state of texas. So things like that. I look forward to those conversations as all.
[37:27] um, item number two and item number three are most common of the survey
[37:31] feedback were things that are outside of our control, right? That would require something with the state of texas
[37:36] on, on the streets. And so focusing on what we can do, um, I thought
[37:40] was important. Any questions from
[37:44] council? Nope. Can I get a motion from councilman wilson?
[37:48] yep. I'd like to make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash
[37:53] r 25, a resolution of the city council of the city of burn texas,
[37:57] adopting the city of bernie comprehensive safety action plan, reaffirming the city's
[38:01] goal zero com commitment to eliminate roadway fatalities
[38:06] and serious injuries in directing implementation in accordance with
[38:10] the safe streets and roads for all grant program requirements. Second
[38:14] from councilman bunker, please vote
[38:23] in. Motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. All right, don't go nowhere. Have we go? Moving on
[38:27] to nine b 2025 dash 1 58, consider resolution
[38:31] number 2026 dash r 26, resolution of city council. City of
[38:36] bernie authorized the submission of the application to the us department of transportation for
[38:40] safe streets and rose for all fiscal year 2026 implementation
[38:44] grant affirming that the comprehensive safety plan adopted this date. Cons,
[38:48] cons constitutes, thank you. The city qualifying act,
[38:52] qualifying action plan, committed to requirement non-federal local matching funds and
[38:56] providing for related matters presenting abigail. Abigail,
[39:00] thank you. Thank you for your approval. So let's talk about the very
[39:04] exciting next phase of ss four a. It also fits into our strategy plan
[39:09] much in the same way. The planning, granted, it allows us to invest in our infrastructure,
[39:13] use data to, um, make decisions, and then also it
[39:17] lends from our master plans. So mobility studies
[39:22] from the past really gives the roadmap of how we got to this point. So in 2018,
[39:26] we had a master plan that recommended crosswalks with medians on main and
[39:30] river. From there, we've continued to develop master plans that all lend towards
[39:34] the same type of downtown pedestrian safety improvements
[39:42] in past citizen surveys. And this was analyzed as part of
[39:46] ss four four a as well as for the planning grant. It was looking at what
[39:50] did the community think that we needed to do. And so we have about 1000,
[39:55] uh, responses that are mobility focused. And of those
[40:00] pedestrian improvements was one of the highest responses
[40:04] for things that we need to evaluate.
[40:10] so as we've been working with our consultant, uh, on the planning grant, we
[40:15] really did target may, 2026 to get the comprehensive safety action plan
[40:19] approved because we were already focused on the next steps. And that next steps is the
[40:23] grant that is now open for us as four a for implementation.
[40:28] and so our goal is to propose, uh, 3.6 million
[40:32] in funding for pedestrian safety construction and a safe
[40:36] route to school planning. And so this grant does, uh, require upfront money from
[40:40] the city of bernie, however, it's matched at 80% from the federal government.
[40:46] so of the items proposed in the grant, I'll walk through each of them.
[40:50] uh, we have south main street and we really are looking at improvements,
[40:55] uh, for pedestrian safety. And that can include pedestrian refuge
[40:59] islands. So that's a safe space in between lanes where pedestrians don't
[41:03] feel they have to cross such a long street. Uh, it gives 'em
[41:07] time to pause, reassess if it's safe, and then cross again. Uh, flashing
[41:12] beacons. So those are, uh, flashing alert to let folks know pedestrians
[41:16] are crossing outside of a designated intersection signal,
[41:20] uh, a da compliant curb ramps, um, pedestrian
[41:24] ramps directionalized. So that just allows folks to cross the street in a directional
[41:29] pattern that sends 'em directly across instead of in, into a different, uh,
[41:33] longer path. And we don't anticipate that any way, any right of way acquisition
[41:37] is required for river road.
[41:42] we are also looking for pedestrian improvements the same as as
[41:46] main street. So refuge islands, the flashing beacons, a da upgrades,
[41:51] um, enhanced high visibility pavement markings. So just making
[41:55] the place where we want pedestrians to go a little more obvious. And
[41:59] we also do not anticipate right away acquisition
[42:04] on, uh, west san antonio. West blanco. So the small loop
[42:08] that goes, um, in the downtown area, we're looking for,
[42:13] uh, some more comprehensive improvements. So transitioning to partially
[42:17] one way. So controlling the traffic through the area to make it safer for pedestrians.
[42:22] um, a roundabout at west san antonio and west blanco. So
[42:26] to help, uh, ease the movement of vehicles, but
[42:30] while safely maintaining space for pedestrians of another, um,
[42:34] rapid flashing beacon pavement marking improvements. And again, no
[42:39] right of way acquisition is anticipated.
[42:43] we're also looking at, um, safe routes to schools. So this would be something
[42:47] more in the planning area, which is, uh, doing a walking assessment,
[42:51] analyzing sidewalks in the area, uh, near the bisd campuses inside
[42:56] the city limits, identifying sidewalk gaps, really looking for ways
[43:00] to make sure that children are able to get safely to school.
[43:08] so the, the items proposed in our
[43:12] implementation grant came from a variety of sources. Of course, we did develop
[43:16] the planning grant, which had out extensive outreach. And so we do have an understanding
[43:20] of what is sought from the community, what is sought from, um, the
[43:25] city officials, but also it was really important that if we're gonna
[43:29] go after a grant, we should be able to attain the grant. And so it was looking at what
[43:33] are the conditions in the grant and what projects did we have in that ss
[43:37] four a, uh, comprehensive safety action plan that we felt had
[43:41] the most viability of obtaining an implementation grant. So we wanna make
[43:45] sure that we're able act to, to gain funding to implement something.
[43:50] so, uh, we are focusing on, uh, five outta the 10 highest crash intersections
[43:54] in the downtown area. And of course we are lending from things that are part of
[43:58] master plans that we already have in place. And really the goal is just a
[44:02] safe, walkable downtown that supports our community charm.
[44:08] with that, I am happy to take any questions. Alright, thank you miguel.
[44:12] any questions, counsel? Mr. Just add one more comment on the roundabout on the
[44:16] square. Oh, so helps because that, um, it's like a, a blind, it's a blind
[44:20] spot. So visibility, that's another reason for it. 'cause it slows traffic down and allows for the
[44:24] flow, just adding that component. Um, just a comment on
[44:29] a lot of those, uh, diagrams you had raised median, is that
[44:33] a viable solution on the txdot roads? The,
[44:37] the solution that, um, we have laid out is viable. Okay.
[44:42] um, and actually txdot prefers to do that when they can? Correct. Okay. And
[44:46] then the other clarification, clarification question I had is
[44:50] the list of projects that were just presented for this particular,
[44:54] um, part of it, uh, those are for discussion. If the grant is awarded, then we
[44:58] can discuss those projects and you know, obviously we can't do all of 'em 'cause of the
[45:02] amount of money it seems like just on the list of projects wouldn't cover that. No,
[45:06] we're gonna do all, no. If we get awarded that money, we'll bring it. We have to accept it. If
[45:11] 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
[45:15] all these projects and they'll, you know, the grant will cover 80%.
[45:19] so we will need to have an item to, if we get receive it to officially
[45:24] accept it and, and then we'll talk through the, the planning of that. But
[45:28] okay. And the grant was 3.3 0.6 millions and it would cover all
[45:32] of those projects for 3.6. That's 80%. Okay. Thank
[45:36] you for explaining. Um, another thing it does is, um,
[45:41] re re reduce left turns. Um, one thing I've learned from jeff
[45:45] and other engineers who know much more than this brewer, um,
[45:49] is, uh, left turn lanes create lots of traffic headaches in
[45:53] downtown and create lots of safety concerns. So if you ever gone down river road traffic
[45:57] backs up, left turns going onto turner pecan, et cetera, or
[46:02] downtown on the few streets, we're not supposed to take left turns.
[46:06] , everyone takes left turns anyway. So creating situations where people can't take those left
[46:10] turns. Yeah. And in addition, creating those pedestrian safety areas,
[46:14] um, you know, both my businesses, I look out my office and watch people watch
[46:18] people playing frogger every day and it's not, not safe. So, um,
[46:22] I think what we have laid out is, assuming it can happen,
[46:27] I think would be great for downtown . I I don't disagree with you at all. We all
[46:31] see that every day. Um, downtown, I just, you know, the cost of 3.6
[46:35] covering all of that seems like a tall, tall order. But,
[46:40] um, you know, I, I think the other curious thing is in about two weeks everybody
[46:44] will talk about how traffic is so great around bernie and we don't have a traffic problem.
[46:51] one other question on the roundabout on the square, we need to make sure that
[46:55] when we plan that it's incorporated with the concept that we're working
[46:59] on to revitalize the whole square. It is. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. We've
[47:03] talked about how that works with waterworks already, so yeah, that
[47:07] is, yeah. So mayor pro tem willison was kind of the council liaison
[47:12] on this work. Was council member scott on this as well with you?
[47:16] was there someone, another council member working with you and director carol, but he's also on that subcommittee
[47:20] with waterworks terrace and so they've had those conversations with those property owners down there. Yeah,
[47:24] and we've, when we met with the property owners for waterworks terrace, we talked to,
[47:29] um, christine and I talked with them about how we were also working on the safe streets
[47:33] and how that might likely be first just because of the grant process, if,
[47:37] if we got the money. So they were aware as well about that. So.
[47:43] okay. Any comments from council? Motion? Councilman willison?
[47:47] mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026
[47:51] dash r 26, a resolution of the city council of the
[47:55] city of burn texas, authorizing submission of an application to
[48:00] the us department of transportation for a safe streets and roads for
[48:04] all fy 2026 implementation. Grant affirming
[48:08] that the comprehensive safety action plan adopted this date constitutes the
[48:13] city's qualifying action plan, committing the required non-federal
[48:17] local matching funds and providing for related matters.
[48:21] second from councilman bunker, please vote.
[48:36] and motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Moving on to nine cce 2026
[48:40] dash 1 3 0 consider resolution number 2026
[48:45] dash r 27 a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and manage
[48:49] an amendment to the agreement between the city of bernie and freeze and nichols, incorporated
[48:53] for the adler road and drainage improvement projects presenting. Abigail. Abigail,
[48:58] thank you. So the adler road projects lends towards our
[49:02] strategy map and that it's an investment in our infrastructure. It's also investing, uh,
[49:06] recommendations for the master plan, both drainage and mobility.
[49:12] so the city has two ongoing adler road projects. There is the
[49:16] low water crossing project, which if you've driven on adler road, you're very familiar with it.
[49:20] we also have the road widening project, which is currently in design freezing nichols
[49:24] was selected as a design team in 2022 for the culverts. And in 23 for
[49:28] the road projects. The proposed item is an amendment to our existing
[49:33] engineering con contract with freezing nichols for both projects.
[49:39] the drainage projects for the low water crossings at curry and nona creeks
[49:44] were identified in the drainage master plan. It is funded through
[49:48] the stormwater utility fund and cost sharing with kendall county. And as I
[49:52] mentioned, both culverts are under construction and we do anticipate completion of the
[49:56] entirety of the project in august of 2026.
[50:02] so additional services are required for the project for a few reasons. First,
[50:06] we did revise the bid plans so that the two culverts were
[50:10] bid separately. We did have right away acquisition needs we were able to secure right
[50:14] away at curry creek. However, at no name creek, it did take us a little bit more time. So
[50:18] the goal was to get the contractor started as soon as possible so that we could
[50:22] get the project completed as soon as possible. Um, we do have additional
[50:27] construction services because of, uh, delays that I'll talk about in
[50:31] just a second. We did need the, the consultant to stay on longer to help us through
[50:35] the project. Um, some of those delays were related to historic and environmental
[50:39] permitting. We did find a, well, there were also some communication lines that we
[50:43] had to assess that were unanticipated. And so a little extra
[50:47] time, um, on the project.
[50:52] the roadway project was part of the 2022 quality
[50:56] of life proposition, a bond. And so it is a design focus on road
[51:00] widening, drainage improvements and sidewalks.
[51:04] and as the design has advanced, there were just opportunities that came
[51:08] to the forefront that we really believed that we needed to take advantage of to enhance
[51:13] the corridor. So some of those are
[51:17] roundabout improvement at plant street, which will provide,
[51:21] uh, improved pedestrian safety, better traffic flow.
[51:25] uh, in addition, we intend to make it a bid alternative
[51:30] so it will be implemented into the design. However, if
[51:34] we opt not to construct it, we would have a regular intersection. However, that regular
[51:38] intersection will also be designed so that at a later date
[51:42] the roundabout can easily be inserted and it won't require any additional changes
[51:46] to the roadway that we've just built.
[51:51] the amendments also include additional coordination. So it's it's lessons that we've
[51:55] learned from the low water crossing projects. So we have, uh, telecommunications
[52:00] lines that need to be coordinated. We also know that we have sewer and water upgrades that
[52:04] will need to be done. We're improving access to northside park.
[52:09] we'll have additional lid features, additional drainage improvements.
[52:13] uh, we do wanna have public outreach as well. And then, uh, it, we
[52:18] have determined through assessment of all of these additional needs that we might need some additional
[52:22] right of way. So we just wanna have them on hand to determine whether or not that might,
[52:26] that might be needed. So
[52:31] again, by incorporating all the lessons that we've learned, we really know that we want to be
[52:35] ahead of the game for the, for the larger project because we'd like that to go as
[52:39] smoothly and quickly as possible for the city of bernie. And so we've adjusted things
[52:43] for the field condition and by adding the additional design and construction phase
[52:47] support, we really believe that this is, uh, a necessary enhancement to the project that's
[52:52] underway. And the goal at the end of the day is just is to improve
[52:56] safety address drainage and ensure that we're really making
[53:00] a long-term improvement to the infrastructure that's not going to require
[53:04] us to come back and do additional fixes later.
[53:10] so with the proposed amendment, uh, we are looking at
[53:15] about 130,000 towards the culvert improvements.
[53:19] so additional fees for that. For the roadway project, it's about 1.36 million
[53:25] and that will increase the contract amount from about 1.6 to
[53:29] 3.27 million.
[53:33] so on the roadmap to completion for adler road, uh, right now
[53:38] for the overall road widening project, we are at preliminary design
[53:42] and assessing the right of way needs. Um, we are hoping that
[53:46] design will be completed in, uh, early spring of 2027.
[53:50] that allows us to go out into construction in 2027.
[53:56] with that, I will take any questions.
[54:00] alright, any questions from counsel? It's
[54:04] not the money, it's the, the money. No, but most of that I believe,
[54:09] if I'm correct, a large part of the increase is due to right of way
[54:13] acquisition. So we do have about, uh, $229,000
[54:18] that's going to go to the additional effort for right way acquisition.
[54:22] it is one of the larger, uh, increases.
[54:27] okay. Alright. Can I get a motion from councilman wilson? Mayor, make
[54:31] a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash r 27
[54:35] a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and
[54:40] man manage an amendment to the agreement between the city of bernie and
[54:44] rece and nichols, incorporated for the adler road and drainage improvements
[54:48] projects for an additional 1,648,483
[54:54] with a not to exceed total costs of 3 million 266 535.
[55:00] second from council macaluso, please vote.
[55:09] and motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thanks abigail. Moving on to 90 20 26
[55:15] dash 1 4 9, consider resolution number 2026
[55:19] r 28, a resolution authorized and city manager to enter into and manage
[55:23] a professional services contract with liquidity engineering llc
[55:27] for design services for the amman road water transmission main project for amount
[55:31] not to exceed $127,000 presenting. Andrew, andrew,
[55:36] thank you. Thank you mayor. Good evening mayor and council again. Tonight we'll
[55:40] be talking about the amman road water transmission main.
[55:44] this is how this project aligns with our strategy map. It invests in maintaining high
[55:49] quality infrastructure systems as well as advances master plan recommendations.
[55:54] it's a little project background, just a refresher. Uh, this is a 16 inch water transmission
[55:58] main that will connect our, our new tank and pump station off of ammond road. Shown in
[56:02] this picture on at the yellow, uh, to the east side of our distribution system
[56:07] where a, the developer will install a, uh,
[56:11] uh, extension of the distribution main to the amman transmission main for us to connect
[56:16] to the developer of george's ranch. Uh,
[56:20] the project was completed back in 2024. Uh, however,
[56:24] the timeline for construction was unknown at that time because the timelines of
[56:28] the corresponding projects were unknown. So we put the project on hold.
[56:33] there's a portion of the project that's underneath ammond road, uh, that will, um,
[56:39] under the westbound lane of ammond road that we'll need to move into easements
[56:43] due to a county, kendall county right of way rule change that passed last year
[56:47] in september. Um, due to this rule change, they no longer allow utilities
[56:52] under the roadway. Uh, so we're looking at uh, re-aligning the
[56:56] water maintenance easements outside of the road. Uh, we did look at
[57:00] the space between the pavement and the right of way line, however, there was limited space
[57:04] for the construction of a 16 inch main as well as there were, um,
[57:08] existing telecom utilities in that area that made it difficult for us to fit the water main in
[57:12] that space. So the liquidity
[57:16] engineering is, was the original design engineer for the project. So we reapproached them
[57:20] for the additional services needed to do that realignment. And again, it's for
[57:25] only 21 and linear feet of that pipeline. It's not for the entire project, it's
[57:29] just the portion underneath ammond road. Uh, so they provided a proposal to us to
[57:33] accommodate that redesign as well as provide bid face services,
[57:37] uh, as we will go straight into bid phase as soon as the design is completed and permitted.
[57:42] and we anticipate that timeline to be about three to four months, um, assuming all
[57:46] the easements are obtained, um, soon. And then we can start bidding construction
[57:50] later this year.
[57:55] so with that, I'll open up to any questions. Alright, any questions from counsel?
[57:59] okay, just one. I mean I assume that the price was in line with what they charged us
[58:03] before. Yes. Yes, we checked for that and thank you.
[58:07] okay. Alright. Can I get a motion from councilor olso? May I
[58:11] make a motion that we approve resolution number 2026 dash r 28 a
[58:16] resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into and manage a professional
[58:20] services contract with liquidity engineering llc for design
[58:25] services for the amman road water transmission main project for an amount not to exceed 127002nd
[58:32] from councilman bateman, please vote.
[58:40] motion passes. Pause zero. Thank you everyone. Moving on to nine
[58:44] e, right, 2026 dash 1 5 0.
[58:49] consider resolution number 2026 r 29, a resolution authorizing city manager
[58:53] to enter, enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of fair oaks ranch for the shared gbr
[58:58] water main extension along ammond road presenting. Andrew. Andrew. Thank you mayor.
[59:03] this is how this item aligns with our strategy map. We're collaborating with our community partners. We're
[59:08] committing to strategic and responsible conservative financial management, as well as advancing
[59:12] again, our master plan recommendations. So just
[59:16] to give some background on this one. So this is regarding the gbra delivery pipeline that
[59:20] the city of burning will be constructing on behalf of gbra. It'll be a pipeline that gets dedicated
[59:24] to them. Upon completion, it'll take it from their regional main at the south end of ammond
[59:28] road, uh, to our new tank and pump station site. Uh, this will
[59:32] become our second delivery point from gbra, uh, second metering station,
[59:37] or second to our current one at buckskin drive off of cascade caverns. So
[59:41] it'll provide system redundancy in that, in that fashion, uh, for us to, if
[59:45] there was any maintenance needed on one side, we could use this other delivery point.
[59:50] additionally, it'll provide, uh, system pressure for this east side of the system and fire
[59:54] flow capacity with additional storage at our tank pump station.
[1:00:00] so this is a, a great opportunity for community partnership. Uh, fair oaks ranch
[1:00:05] has, um, similar connection point that they're planning, uh, at an adjacent site
[1:00:09] next to ours for their water infrastructure. So they have approached
[1:00:13] the city and our staff to determine how this pipeline would be sized if
[1:00:17] we were to share in this investment. And, uh, so we did that. We looked at both of
[1:00:21] our, uh, peak capacity needs and size, the pipeline accordingly,
[1:00:26] uh, as a 16 inch pipeline. And, uh, from that we were able to determine
[1:00:30] what the cost sharing split would be. So, uh, based on those peak capacity needs,
[1:00:34] bernie responsibility would be 69%, and fair oaks ranch would be 31%.
[1:00:39] and this includes all design and construction costs, uh, for that shared
[1:00:43] pipeline up to and including the branch. Point beyond. The branch point will be the metering
[1:00:47] stations where each of the cities will intake the water from gbra.
[1:00:54] so just a, uh, high level of what the interlocal agreement outlines. Basically, uh,
[1:00:59] city bernie will manage design permitting, bid and construction, which we have done so thus far,
[1:01:03] um, design is a hundred percent completes. Permits are approved. We're currently in bid
[1:01:07] phase. Uh, we'll also advance payment of all costs, uh, subject to reimbursement,
[1:01:12] where fair oaks ranch will then reimburse us for those costs for their shared
[1:01:16] split, which would be that 31%, and they'll do so on a quarterly
[1:01:21] basis to the city. Uh, if you recall there, we were 100%
[1:01:25] complete on this project, and recently in fair oaks ranch recently told us about
[1:01:29] or informed us of, uh, updates and realignments. They're planning along amon road
[1:01:34] widening, softening of the 90 degree curve. So, uh, because
[1:01:38] that came after the project was, uh, designed and permitted, uh,
[1:01:42] they agreed to pay 100% of those additional costs. And so that's written into the agreement
[1:01:46] as well. So with that,
[1:01:51] I'll open up to any questions you may have. Okay, thank you. Answer any questions from council?
[1:01:55] pretty straightforward. I get a motion from councilman bunker. Yeah, I move. We approve
[1:02:00] resolution number 2026 r 29 resolution. To authorize the city management,
[1:02:04] enter into an interlocal agreement with the city of federal oaks ranch for the shared
[1:02:08] gbra water main extension along hammond road. Second from councilman
[1:02:12] mickelson, please vote.
[1:02:21] motion passes. Five zero. Thank you everyone. Thank you andrew. Moving on to agenda item
[1:02:25] 10 a 2026 dash 1 54 discussion regarding
[1:02:29] the naming process for the new community park currently under construction at the north side community park
[1:02:33] site. Presenting, uh, that was that. Good
[1:02:38] evening council and mayor, let's talk about some fun stuff. There we go.
[1:02:42] forget this pipeline and streets. And even
[1:02:46] though we need all that to get to the park . Um, alright, so we have some
[1:02:51] exciting things to talk about tonight. We get to talk about renaming, what
[1:02:55] we currently call northside community park. Renaming the park as
[1:02:59] to our community charm. It serves our customers and it helps us achieve the
[1:03:03] best in class status. Why
[1:03:07] are we here? Alright, so the purpose tonight is we staff
[1:03:11] need your input, you specifically counsel, um,
[1:03:17] based off of our naming policy,
[1:03:21] naming rights policy. We need your input. We need to know which
[1:03:25] approach you want us to select on, or which approach you want us to go down
[1:03:29] to select a name. We need to know how much level of participation
[1:03:34] you want from the community. And then we're also gonna talk about what
[1:03:38] is needed to name a park, what kind of criteria and
[1:03:42] priorities. And then at the very end, we're gonna talk about next steps and
[1:03:46] timeline. And if you want, that is a,
[1:03:50] uh, preview to what some of our new signs at the park will look like. Obviously,
[1:03:55] we need to change something there. So, uh,
[1:03:59] as some of you are more aware, council will listen. Who gets to
[1:04:03] see it every day? Um, we are very active on the construction site.
[1:04:07] uh, we basco is coming to life. We just installed the
[1:04:12] lights under the pavilion. Um, all the concrete pads have been poured for
[1:04:16] the pickleball, uh, the restroom, the three restrooms are coming to
[1:04:20] life. And now you can start to see our trail. Uh,
[1:04:24] so we are moving and then we are also working on the dog park as
[1:04:28] we speak. So there's a lot of activity taking place at northside.
[1:04:32] one of those is we've are looking at our first review of the signs.
[1:04:36] so the way finding signs, signs that say that discuss the park
[1:04:41] rules that talk about the splash pad, that talk about the pickleball rules, playground
[1:04:46] dog park, multi-use fields. Some of these signs
[1:04:50] are going to have our park name. So we're here tonight to talk about
[1:04:54] what our park name is going to be or what potentially what, um, what path we
[1:04:58] need to take. Based off your feedback tonight, we'll guide us to the next steps.
[1:05:03] but before we do that, we do need to talk about some of the history of
[1:05:08] the land. This will all tie to our naming policy. It
[1:05:12] will come together at the end. So back in
[1:05:16] the 18 hundreds, um, burning specifically,
[1:05:20] this piece of land property was striving in the agriculture world.
[1:05:24] uh, we had a lot of cattle, corn, oats, uh,
[1:05:29] but we were really heavy in sheep. Now I'm just gonna share a really quick
[1:05:33] fun fact. Um, in 1880, kendall county had a
[1:05:37] sheep population of over 16,000, which produced more than 65
[1:05:41] pounds of wool. I just thought that was a interesting fact.
[1:05:46] um, we're gonna move on to property owners. We are the 14th
[1:05:50] property owner. The very first owner was the state of texas. The
[1:05:54] state of texas granted the land to a female resident
[1:05:58] in 1837. Since then, again,
[1:06:02] we are now the 14th owner, but before us, um, was
[1:06:07] ernest and rosa presler and were farmers. They had
[1:06:11] the land in 1942 all the way to 2008 when the city purchased
[1:06:15] the land. Now let's talk briefly about the
[1:06:19] historic features of the property and surrounding area
[1:06:24] as of today, and hopefully in the future, we have no desire to relocate it or remove it,
[1:06:28] but the ice house is still on the property. The ice house
[1:06:32] lived behind the pressler home. Um,
[1:06:36] and if you're curious, we still use that ice house. It is currently
[1:06:40] vacant because of the construction, but before that it was our it room. It's where we had our,
[1:06:44] uh, wifi set up for the cameras. Um, so we're still using
[1:06:49] it . Um, and then the land next to it,
[1:06:53] um, it was a ranch. It was the adler ranch, hence
[1:06:57] adler road. And the adler ranch eventually became a boarding house with
[1:07:01] eventually became a nursing home slash hospital. That hospital
[1:07:05] was called the wynonna home. Hence the photo there.
[1:07:09] it is also the land that has a really adorable pig if you drive by
[1:07:13] adler. Um, okay, so now you've got a little bit of
[1:07:18] history on the land, the culture, um, the area,
[1:07:23] which leads us into our city naming policy. Highlights. Typically
[1:07:27] a city owned property should generally reflect geographical.
[1:07:32] so any names tied to the location, um, or surrounding areas.
[1:07:36] culture names that reflect bernie's identity, um,
[1:07:40] or community character. Historical names
[1:07:44] connected to the property's past ecological significance, highlighting
[1:07:49] the natural resources and landscaping features. That land has
[1:07:53] a lot of trees. Um, and then recognition. This one
[1:07:58] we have not spoken about until right now on purpose. So the recognition based names
[1:08:02] honors an individual who significantly provides
[1:08:07] contribution sustained service and substantially advance the
[1:08:11] advancement of the recreational opportunity. In bernie.
[1:08:16] we actually have an individual who speaks to this, this
[1:08:20] criteria perfectly. Um, maybe some of
[1:08:25] y'all knew her, uh, but she was the very first
[1:08:29] director of bernie parks and recreation. She's also the one that
[1:08:33] per that proposed the land to be purchased for future
[1:08:37] park development, which is how we actually have the park. And if you're
[1:08:42] curious, her name is linda cornelius. She also served as
[1:08:46] a director in five other cities across the state. But most impressively,
[1:08:51] she is the f most impressively, she has one
[1:08:55] of the most accomplished female athletes at texas a and m.
[1:09:00] um, she also is the first female student
[1:09:04] athlete induced, induce inducted into
[1:09:08] the school's hall of fame. She's also the first female track
[1:09:13] and field, all american four years. And she qualified for
[1:09:17] the 1980 us olympic team. But if you recall, in 1980,
[1:09:21] we did not, uh, we did not attend the olympics on purpose. Um, so
[1:09:25] she left quite a reputation, um, professionally
[1:09:30] and, and on the track. So just wanted to throw that out there because
[1:09:34] it's rare that we have a name, um, that hits every
[1:09:39] criteria. Now, from here, we still have opportunities
[1:09:43] for park amenity names. So if down the road we have a very generous donor, we
[1:09:47] can name the basketball court after them ghost briscoe. Um,
[1:09:51] we can name the dog park fuels after them. We're leaving that opportunity available
[1:09:55] for the future. Uh, and then the final
[1:09:59] naming decision really it it comes down to to use city council
[1:10:03] mayor. So this will, so we have four options that y'all can
[1:10:08] consider that we hope that you consider. Option one is staff develops the
[1:10:12] name. Option two, we take it out to the community and ask for their
[1:10:16] feedback. Option three, it's a council led nomination process.
[1:10:20] option four, it's a hybrid process combining what staff has
[1:10:25] researched. We take it out to the public and we ask for their feedback, their input.
[1:10:30] we believe that these are four solid options, but again, we need your
[1:10:34] feedback and your guidance. So it takes us to our last slide for tonight on this particular
[1:10:38] topic. First step was to come here tonight.
[1:10:43] next step, depending on your guidance, we take it out to,
[1:10:47] we take it to only staff or we take it to, we take it out to the public and we
[1:10:52] rely on our communication department. We lean on them to help us get the word out.
[1:10:56] and then by the time we meet again in june, we will have a staff
[1:11:01] recommendation. And then we will formally ask for counsel, um,
[1:11:05] to accept that name for the park. So now I leave it up to
[1:11:09] you and ask for your feedback on which way you would like us to go.
[1:11:14] well, alright, well thank you those that, um, I mean my,
[1:11:18] my personal thoughts on this, I think first of all, great presentation, great job. Um, you
[1:11:22] kind of gave us too many options, honestly, . Um, my
[1:11:26] personal thought process is I like the hybrid process combined, the staff research and then the public
[1:11:30] input. Um, it is slash right now we call it the community park.
[1:11:34] so I think it should have some community input. Um, maybe
[1:11:39] communication goes out there and says possible names. Here's basically this presentation
[1:11:43] out to the community. 'cause if they don't have the history, they're gonna say, we should name it, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[1:11:47] exactly. You know what I mean? So if we give them some history, some background of the park and
[1:11:51] the people there, kinda like what you just did now, um, that might narrow
[1:11:56] down the, the process. Um, and have staff go through, through that
[1:12:00] process plus what your recommendations. Um, and then bring that back to council with hear
[1:12:04] the top five choices that from what the community has said, staff agrees
[1:12:08] with and something like that. And then have that discussion. And then council has a final decision.
[1:12:12] but that's just my 2 cents. So I'll open it up to anyone on the council.
[1:12:16] I think, you know, we're billings with tax dollars from our community. So I think community
[1:12:20] input has to happen, right? I mean, whether absolutely. Um, I do think
[1:12:24] that, uh, we do limit ourselves there. We don't
[1:12:28] allow the community to propose names. I think there needs to be
[1:12:32] a process. 'cause there may be somebody out there that we have. I mean, you had me at aggie,
[1:12:36] uh, so I was of that name. But, uh, it will not be, there
[1:12:41] may be someone else out there that, that the community, uh, that we're missing.
[1:12:45] just because you just have a, so, uh, that's possible. And
[1:12:49] know, I I, so I like the idea of as long as the community
[1:12:53] recommendations meet those guidelines and then the filter through staff, not
[1:12:57] just, you know, I don't want parking park face, but you know, something
[1:13:01] you no legitimate. I, I like the idea of the committee to be able to propose
[1:13:06] names as well. Not just getting a list of let's vote on
[1:13:10] these names. And I don't think it should end up with a straight vote to the city either.
[1:13:14] I mean, it's, I think we should limit it and then we can decide on a name.
[1:13:19] that's just my thoughts. Okay. Council macaluso.
[1:13:24] well, I have a very different point of view than you might expect. I don't
[1:13:28] really like naming civic structures after people.
[1:13:33] I do not like it. And the reason I don't like it is over time
[1:13:37] history changes and you end up wanting to change the name of the structure or
[1:13:41] the event, or the statue or whatever. I would prefer it to be a bernie park, if
[1:13:45] you wanna call it bernie northside park, bernie central park. I don't care. You listed
[1:13:50] a whole list of great things that I can see as
[1:13:54] educational, informational signage throughout the park. You went through all the
[1:13:58] history of the land. I think that's fabulous signage. I can see that throughout the park
[1:14:02] giving people the history of the land. I just don't like picking out an name. The,
[1:14:06] the person you mentioned, ms. Cornelius, I think that's fabulous as an information
[1:14:10] piece. I just, that's just my opinion. I have seen it so many times. They name
[1:14:15] things for people, which is great. I understand why.
[1:14:19] it just, it's just my personal bias. I, I don't particularly like it. So my answer is,
[1:14:24] it doesn't matter which process you put in here because my personal view is it should be a very simple
[1:14:28] name. Bernie, northside park, bernie central park.
[1:14:32] we already have a city park, so it can't be city park. Uh, it's
[1:14:36] gotta be some other name. I would prefer bernie to be front and center because bernie and
[1:14:40] the citizens of bernie are paying for this. And the people that come there, majority of
[1:14:45] which are not gonna be from bernie, should know that bernie is where they're coming.
[1:14:49] and I just think you have so many great ideas you put out there that I can just
[1:14:53] see all these informational signs all over the park, giving people information about the
[1:14:57] history, about the whatever, you know, all the different things you put out there. That's,
[1:15:01] that's just my, my view. So we, because otherwise, otherwise you get
[1:15:06] into this list of names, right? And well, I like this name and I don't like
[1:15:10] that anymore. It's, that's just my perspective. So
[1:15:15] I think the conversation next time is gonna be great. Um, so I am most
[1:15:19] supportive option for the hybrid process and getting community feedback. 'cause I think more
[1:15:23] input is better than less, right? And then collectively to come back in that next
[1:15:27] conversation I think will be lively because we'll have community input and we'll
[1:15:31] have some of our own ideas and that's why we're here to make those decisions. So I think
[1:15:35] option four would be what I would support. Okay. Kyle?
[1:15:39] I, I support option four as well. I think definitely get, uh, community
[1:15:43] feedback. Yeah, I think, um, community input.
[1:15:48] I think you, I would hesitate to give the community
[1:15:52] the names. I think it's better to let them choose because
[1:15:56] as someone who went through the branding process, um, even
[1:16:00] though you might get silly names, it doesn't really matter.
[1:16:05] you just get the names. Um, and then maybe staff looks,
[1:16:10] gets rid of the ones that were obviously silly and then, uh, brings forward the ones that are
[1:16:14] more realistic. Um, and then council as, uh,
[1:16:18] councilman bateman pointed out can then discuss that. I mean, I tend to lean
[1:16:22] towards what joe said as well. I think kinder park was a great name leaning
[1:16:26] towards the german heritage. It's simple. It's not one person or indoor a
[1:16:30] something that's more poignant towards just northside.
[1:16:34] um, I think, uh, connecting it to a person
[1:16:39] isn't, kind of, doesn't really go with any of our other parks. So I don't know why we would start
[1:16:43] now, but, um, I know we're not debating that at this point, so
[1:16:47] I won't go further into that. So I think the hybrid process is the way to go. Okay.
[1:16:51] yeah, I agree. I I think the, um, with what everybody said up here, joe, I, to your point,
[1:16:55] I, I agree. I mean, putting bernie out there for sure, um, but from someone
[1:17:00] who travels almost every weekend to a soccer tournament, and when you go to austin community park
[1:17:04] and austin community park, and they're 17 miles apart, you
[1:17:08] know, someone coming to the community goes, I was, I'm going to burning city park. Well, I'm going to burning
[1:17:12] city park too. I don't wanna call it city park. I know, but, but I'm just saying,
[1:17:16] um, I did just for the, the the heck. But I looked, the ice house had my,
[1:17:20] my, my attention. So I looked up the german name for doss ice house,
[1:17:24] and it's a doss ice house, right? Just spelled with an e, right? So, um, that's
[1:17:28] not very original there. So free thinkers park. Free thinkers park. There you go. Um,
[1:17:32] but I agree, I think the hybrid process is probably the consensus for the counselor to,
[1:17:36] to move forward. Um, but like I said, going out to the community, like here's,
[1:17:41] we could just say open up to everything, but these are some of the top ideas
[1:17:45] and then bring it back and, um, we can do that through email conversations
[1:17:49] and stuff like that. So why, why don't we do this? I think we've got a good consensus to pursue
[1:17:53] option four. We'll get with staff, we'll come up with a plan, we'll get you that plan
[1:17:57] as soon as possible, and the tool in which we're gonna get public input and,
[1:18:01] um, there's a good chance we probably won't have our next meeting,
[1:18:06] the second meeting in may. So that gives us enough time to, to get back and get something
[1:18:10] to you for the first meeting in june. Okay. I
[1:18:14] would try to get the survey out before oh, before school's out?
[1:18:19] absolutely correct. Yeah. We'll, we'll, we'll convene tomorrow and start working on the otherwise people
[1:18:23] correct say we tried to do it. Well, they're gonna say that no matter what.
[1:18:29] all right, great. Thank you counsel. All right, thank you lizette. Uh,
[1:18:33] before we move on to, oh no, we're going to 10 b uh, 2026
[1:18:37] dash 1 36 discussion regarding the proposed gas rate update.
[1:18:41] sarah, good evening. Again,
[1:18:46] I feel like we need a stretch break or something. . That was fun. .
[1:18:51] um, the purpose of tonight's presentation is to review the results of the recent gas
[1:18:56] rate, um, study, as well as the proposed changes
[1:19:00] to the rate structure. The this agenda item is just a presentation
[1:19:04] and discussion only. There's no action item being proposed tonight.
[1:19:09] this item aligns with several of the items on our strategy map.
[1:19:15] so over the past many months, uh, city staff has worked very closely with
[1:19:19] schneider engineering to review the finances and the rate structure of the gas utility.
[1:19:23] and that involved, um, projecting and looking at the utilities
[1:19:27] operational and infrastructure needs over the next five years and developing
[1:19:32] a proposed funding plan. Additionally, um, as part of that study, there were
[1:19:36] some rate structure changes that, uh, came to light that we'll
[1:19:40] wanna discuss. So tonight we'll go over the purpose of the gas rate review,
[1:19:45] review, uh, future infrastructure projects, the funding plan for those projects and
[1:19:49] the overall gas rate study results.
[1:19:53] so why now? Why are we looking at gas rates now? Um,
[1:19:58] the overall purpose of this rate study and really any rate study for a utility
[1:20:02] is to develop a financial plan that supports the long-term
[1:20:07] sustainability of your system. And the last time we did one of
[1:20:11] these comprehensive rate studies was back in 2014, and a lot has changed
[1:20:15] since then. Our system has really, really grown. It's seen some tremendous growth.
[1:20:19] and so with any growing utility, there's really a need to continue
[1:20:23] upgrading the operational support and infrastructure to,
[1:20:27] for that increased capacity. At that same time, we have
[1:20:32] existing infrastructure that's aging, and with any system, you need to continue to
[1:20:36] invest in that infrastructure to maintain your reliable and safe operations.
[1:20:41] um, additionally, as part of this study, we wanted to really
[1:20:46] look at whether our existing rate structure was aligned with individual
[1:20:50] customer demand. And what I mean by that is that there are some
[1:20:54] customers that create a greater demand on the system simply by the types
[1:20:59] of appliances they're using, the new technological advances in those appliances.
[1:21:04] and so what we wanted to do was determine whether
[1:21:08] or not the funding plan that we could come up with would, um, be able to
[1:21:12] be, um, equitably allocated consistently between the customer
[1:21:16] groups depending on that demand.
[1:21:21] so this is a service map of our, um, of our system, and it
[1:21:25] shows kind of the bubbles of the emerging growth areas on our system.
[1:21:29] um, this next map shows the upcoming infrastructure needs
[1:21:33] in our system, and over the next five years, our gas utility
[1:21:38] capital improvement plan, um, has about 9.3 million
[1:21:43] of infrastructure needs that we're planning for. Um,
[1:21:48] the cip plan is the primary driver really for this rate study. The need for the rate
[1:21:52] study and is also the biggest impact on potential future rate changes.
[1:21:58] the goal, uh, for to fund this infrastructure is to issue debt
[1:22:02] for a portion of it. And so our, um, new rates would
[1:22:06] need to be able to, um, support that new debt service for that
[1:22:10] infrastructure. I mentioned that the need for this infrastructure
[1:22:15] is, um, driven largely by the new appliance technology
[1:22:19] that's evolved in the past decade or so. And, um, what
[1:22:24] I'm talking about specifically, one of the biggest culprits is the tankless water heaters.
[1:22:28] they were developed to be more efficient. You're not needing to
[1:22:32] heat a whole tank of water all day waiting for when you need it to
[1:22:37] take your hot shower, but what it does require is it requires that,
[1:22:41] um, immediate burst of energy in order to give you that hot water on demand.
[1:22:45] and when you have bubbles of customers that are all wanting to take their hot shower
[1:22:49] at the same time with tankless water heaters, what that creates is,
[1:22:53] um, a system capacity issue during that, that peaking hour.
[1:22:58] and so it just creates this additional strain on the system that makes
[1:23:02] it more difficult to maintain that consistent pressure and system reliability.
[1:23:07] and that was just an unintended consequence of the new technology
[1:23:11] and something that our original system wasn't, wasn't built for. So that's
[1:23:15] kind of the need for our increased, um, infrastructure. So one
[1:23:19] of the goals was really to evaluate whether this
[1:23:24] our current structure or a new structure could be adopted to better
[1:23:28] reflect the differences in system demand and infrastructure costs across
[1:23:32] the customer classes. So what what we're
[1:23:37] proposing is, um, currently, um, surprisingly we just have a single
[1:23:41] tier for each residential and commercial. And so I have a breakout there
[1:23:45] of our current rate structure broken up between the number of customers
[1:23:49] in the residential class and the commercial class. And this is actually a little bit unusual.
[1:23:53] it's more common, um, that our peers have tier, um, I didn't
[1:23:57] mean to rhyme, but I just did. Our peers have tiers. And so what we're
[1:24:02] recommending is a three tier approach, um, to break our customers
[1:24:06] each class into three tiers. And so small residential
[1:24:10] is by large our biggest, um, customer tier, and
[1:24:14] they're the ones that would see the least impact on this new,
[1:24:19] um, bill or the new rate structure. Um,
[1:24:23] in the past, what we've noticed is that if you look at the
[1:24:27] average residential bills, it's really those small customers that they're,
[1:24:32] they're not the ones that are driving this demand for the increased infrastructure, but they're paying the higher bills.
[1:24:36] and so what we wanted to do is create those incremental
[1:24:40] tiers so that the cost of this infrastructure is, um, pushed
[1:24:45] more to the, the medium and the larger customers that are have that appliance
[1:24:49] technology. So this slide
[1:24:53] shows the, um, the projected average
[1:24:58] bill impact to the three different tiers of customers. Of course,
[1:25:02] the largest, um, the largest group is residential small, and they
[1:25:06] would see an average of about $9 a month, um, increase on their bill.
[1:25:12] um, there's this, uh, one time differential that we're
[1:25:16] creating in order to set up the tiers. So you see the incremental increases
[1:25:21] from small to large. Um, it
[1:25:25] you that sets up the, the tier structure that we need to, um,
[1:25:29] the small residential customers would see the smallest overall increase of
[1:25:33] all the bills and their bills are not forecasted, and our rate structure
[1:25:37] forecast to increase in the next three years. So this would be the one time increase
[1:25:42] for them. They wouldn't see any additional increase. This
[1:25:46] next slide shows the estimated average commercial bill impacts
[1:25:50] commercial customers with the larger meters and higher system demand would see the
[1:25:54] larger increases under the proposed tier structure, um, same as the residential.
[1:26:02] so next steps after, after we have discussion and obtain feedback from
[1:26:06] counsel, we would bring forward the first reading of the gas rate ordinance on
[1:26:10] june 9th. The second reading of the ordinance would come june 23rd.
[1:26:15] it would take approximately two months to set up the billing system. It takes a little bit of time
[1:26:19] to set up those tiers in the billing system, and during that time, we plan
[1:26:23] to work, um, the, the customer service department plans to work
[1:26:27] with the communications department to send out proactive customer communications.
[1:26:33] so the new right rates could become effective as early as august 1st consumption,
[1:26:37] which would show up on september. Bills.
[1:26:44] um, councilman wilson may remember, I rem I know that this is
[1:26:48] something that you've brought up in past, uh, rate studies that
[1:26:52] for customers that are needing assistance, we do have a fantastic partnership with
[1:26:56] the hill country family services called the good neighbors fund. And it is funded
[1:27:01] by contributions by existing city utility, uh, customers who either round
[1:27:05] up their bill or donate a dollar or so a month. And that fund goes to hill country family
[1:27:10] services for folks that are needing assistance. Um, they can sign up with an application
[1:27:14] through hill country family services for help. So,
[1:27:20] any questions? Questions or feedback? Council macusa,
[1:27:24] just to comment, um, you said the average looked like the average bill based
[1:27:28] on the 2016 rate was about $50 a month. Am I recalling that correctly?
[1:27:34] uh, so, uh, yes. Most of our customers residential are
[1:27:38] about $50. So just with the inflation calculation index, that's over $70
[1:27:43] a month now, right? That's with nothing else.
[1:27:47] that's just inflation and gas. Gas service is,
[1:27:51] um, not only critical, but it's dangerous. So maintaining the infrastructure
[1:27:55] is extremely important. You get gas leaks or explosions, you hear about
[1:28:00] 'em over the country, and that can be devastating to neighborhoods, homes, individuals lives.
[1:28:04] so, I mean, I think it's, it's obvious it's gonna have to be a rate increase. Um, the
[1:28:09] 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
[1:28:13] have city gas propane's expensive, so I did the calculation
[1:28:17] even at the new rate. I mean, it's $750 a year on average for gas, for, for,
[1:28:22] based on the average rates you're showing. I mean, I can tell you what it costs to put in a
[1:28:26] propane tank and to fill it up, up twice a year. It's a lot more than that. So I'm just saying
[1:28:30] the city customers are on natural. I wish I was on natural gas getting a really good
[1:28:35] deal overall compared to what the options are. Say if you lived outside of the
[1:28:39] city or even within the city, but don't have, but don't have gas system.
[1:28:44] thank any comments council? No.
[1:28:48] okay, great. Thank you sarah.
[1:28:53] all right. Moving on to before we head in to agenda item number 11, comments from council. I'm gonna
[1:28:57] turn it over to city manager, uh, uh, thatcher. Uh, we don't have a
[1:29:01] two mayor's report tonight, but he does have a prepared statement he wants to talk about today. So,
[1:29:05] ben, uh, mayor counsel, thank you very much. I do have a couple items. First off,
[1:29:09] as I mentioned earlier, the second meeting in may, there's not a lot of items in
[1:29:14] the queue. It's the day after memorial day. I think one or two of you might even be gone. So
[1:29:18] we're aiming to not have that meeting. I'll confirm that and let you know, but
[1:29:22] it looks like that probably will happen. Also, today, uh, began the
[1:29:26] installation of the america two 50 decor around city hall. It's gonna be going
[1:29:30] on at the, uh, at the, the town square park, the gazebo.
[1:29:34] you'll see some things. Those decorations will be out until
[1:29:39] we start, uh, decorating for, uh, for dickens. Um,
[1:29:44] so as you are all aware, many of those in the, in the community of
[1:29:48] major network television network made a big announcement yesterday that impacts
[1:29:52] bernie. And I've received a significant amount of questions,
[1:29:57] concerns, just curiosities about how this all came about.
[1:30:01] so I, I would like to read a statement that kind of answers a lot of those
[1:30:05] questions. I did provide you a copy of it so you can have that.
[1:30:10] basically, the city learned about this project at essentially the same time as the community
[1:30:14] did, and that was when the, uh, the network made their public announcement.
[1:30:18] I wanna be clear that the city of bernie is not producing, sponsoring, endorsing,
[1:30:23] casting, or otherwise partnering in this television production.
[1:30:28] following the announcement, a production manager did contact our parks department about
[1:30:32] a, uh, potential inquiry. And based on that initial conversation,
[1:30:36] staff understands that the production currently anticipates filming primarily
[1:30:40] at residential homes with possible occasional filming involving
[1:30:44] cast members, exiting vehicles, walking in the downtown area or
[1:30:48] dining at local restaurants. The production manager indicated that
[1:30:53] they do not anticipate needing to close streets.
[1:30:57] that is the extent of the city's direct communication. At this point, no formal
[1:31:01] formal permit application has been submitted, and no street closures, park
[1:31:05] closures, or use of city property have been approved by the city for this production.
[1:31:11] uh, I do want to acknowledge the concern we have heard from residents. We
[1:31:15] understand that concern because so little is known about this project at this time.
[1:31:20] what we do know is that our neighbors care deeply about bernie its character
[1:31:24] and the way our name is used. We take immense pride in our community and what
[1:31:28] it represents, bernie is far more than just a storyline.
[1:31:34] bernie is a real community made up of families, neighborhoods, small businesses,
[1:31:38] churches, volunteers, public servants, and people who work hard every day
[1:31:42] to make this a special place. That is the bernie, our residents know
[1:31:47] value and help sustain every day.
[1:31:51] I also wanna clarify the city's role. Bernie is a film friendly texas
[1:31:55] community as certified by the texas film commission in the office
[1:31:59] of the governor in 2021, the city council adopted
[1:32:03] filming guidelines to manage filming activity in a way that protects residents,
[1:32:09] businesses, public property, public property, and public health,
[1:32:13] safety and welfare. That certification and those guidelines
[1:32:17] should not be understood as an endorsement of any particular production.
[1:32:21] they are reg regulatory framework only. Private
[1:32:25] filming on private property does not generally require the city's permission. Simply
[1:32:30] because a production company is filming, the city becomes involved when
[1:32:34] filming activity requires the use of public property, public streets,
[1:32:38] rights of way parks, public facilities, city
[1:32:42] equipment or personnel traffic control, or creates impacts that
[1:32:46] fall under city ordinances and policies. If formal requests
[1:32:51] are submitted, they will be reviewed through the city's normal processes and
[1:32:55] in accordance with applicable law. The city's review must be based
[1:32:59] on the operational and legal standards in our ordinances and policies,
[1:33:03] not on the viewpoint, storyline or editorial choices of a production.
[1:33:08] it is also important to remember that the greater bernie community exp extends well
[1:33:13] beyond the municipal boundaries of the city limits of bernie. As I have shared
[1:33:17] on multiple occasions, the city of bernie covers approximately 12 square miles,
[1:33:22] while the greater burn area associated with the two bernie zip codes covers
[1:33:26] more than 150 square miles. Because bernie is the primary
[1:33:30] incorporated city and kendall county, many activities and public conversations
[1:33:34] in the broader area are often associated with bernie, even when
[1:33:38] they occur outside the city's corporate limits. Based on the limited information
[1:33:43] shared with staff, it appears likely that a significant portion of this production
[1:33:47] activity may fall into that same category and occur outside the city's
[1:33:51] jurisdiction. Now, bernie remains open to responsible film,
[1:33:55] media and creative projects that are respectful of all residents, businesses, neighborhoods,
[1:34:00] and public spaces. At the same time, the city does not control how
[1:34:04] our private television network markets or edits a program. What we
[1:34:08] do control is how we protect the public interest and how we continue to tell the true story
[1:34:13] of bernie. We will continue to monitor the situation, respond
[1:34:17] appropriately to resident questions, and keep the counsel informed if any
[1:34:21] formal permit applications or operational requests are submitted.
[1:34:25] most importantly, we will continue doing the work that actually defines bernie as you
[1:34:29] recognized earlier, mayor with your proclamation. And that is providing excellent public service,
[1:34:34] supporting our neighborhoods and businesses, protecting our quality of life, and
[1:34:38] preserving the community character that our residents value.
[1:34:43] absolutely. Thank you, ben. I couldn't have said it better myself.
[1:34:48] moving on to, uh, gentleman river, comments from council. Do we have any other comments from
[1:34:52] council this evening? I would say
[1:34:56] no. We got three more days of ap testing and then finals next week. So good luck to
[1:35:00] all the kids that are testing and finish strong next thursday. Then you can forget
[1:35:04] everything. When's graduations? Uh,
[1:35:08] friday next. Next friday. Okay.
[1:35:12] uh, chargers baseball. Mm-hmm . Doing great. So good luck to them in the
[1:35:16] playoffs. Um, and then thank y'all to council for, um,
[1:35:21] mayor pro tem again. And then thank you to, um, bernie
[1:35:25] for trusting me for another now three years now that we have three year terms. So appreciate that.
[1:35:29] look forward to working with all of staff again. Um, stuck with me for
[1:35:33] three more years, so, um, that'll be fun. Um, look forward to it. Um,
[1:35:38] you know, bernie's a great community. I look forward to, um, seeing
[1:35:42] through many of the projects we still have in the, in our radar. Um,
[1:35:46] excited to still be a part of the bonds that we still have going forward.
[1:35:51] so I'm, I'm glad to be here for that part as well as other projects.
[1:35:55] so again, thank you all to everyone. Alright, thank you. Time,
[1:36:00] joe. Good? Yep. Uh, yeah, I just wanna say, uh, appreciate, uh,
[1:36:04] the trust again, and, and it's been a pleasure working with you guys briefly and, uh,
[1:36:08] look forward to another three years and continue to learn and serve. So appreciate it.
[1:36:12] yeah, thanks kyle. Absolutely. Just, uh, thank you guys for willing to step up as
[1:36:16] a public servant once again. Um, you know, it pays so well and, uh,
[1:36:21] we got a big pay raise. Yeah, you guys do get a pay raise this year. So, um, but thank
[1:36:25] you tha for stepping up as mayor pro tem. Uh, again, just hats off to, uh,
[1:36:29] our community, uh, public servants, uh, our staff across the
[1:36:33] board. I mean, you guys are top-notch. It is the best, it's the best community.
[1:36:38] um, ben, thank you for, for the statement for what's going on in our community.
[1:36:43] um, bernie's bernie, and we love bernie. Um, so no matter
[1:36:47] what the media wants to portray or whatever we want to think about it, this is a wonderful place
[1:36:51] to live, work, play, and, and be a part of. So, and that's because of the public servants,
[1:36:56] um, the community members, and then all those that take care of one another. So thank
[1:37:00] you guys and have a great, uh, great rest of your week. And we will officially adjourn at 7:36 pm.