[0:14] town, Texas will be held due the 25th
day of August 2026 at 6 p.m. South Texas
[0:22] 501 West Texas 100 Texas 78578 pursuant
to Texas government code section 551.127
[0:30] members of the town council may attend
and participate in the video conference
[0:34] at quorum of the town council visit the
president of the above meeting location
[0:37] item to be discussed
meeting to order at
[0:44] the
[0:48] heavenly father we thank Thank you for
the opportunity to serve our community.
[0:52] Please be with us as we make decisions
that will help our community. Watch over
[0:59] those in need. Be with those who need
you most. In your name we pray. Amen.
[1:04] Amen.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[1:08] United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
[1:14] under God, indivisible with liberty and
justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I
[1:20] pledge allegiance to thee Texas. One
state under God, one indivisible.
[1:28] [clears throat]
[1:38] » [snorts]
[1:43] » Item two, open form. The public is
allowed three minutes for person to
[1:46] address the council on any topic. There
will be no discussion. I'm sorry. Roll
[1:50] call. [laughter]
[clears throat]
[1:53] » Council member Gan
>> here.
[1:55] » Council member Howard. Council member
Parker
[1:58] » here. Council member Cornelius
>> here.
[2:01] » Council member Bryant
>> here.
[2:03] » Council member Hernandez
>> here. Mayor Carter
[2:06] » here. Item two, the public is allowed
three minutes per person to address the
[2:11] council on any topic. There'll be no
discussion or formal hear agenda item
[2:16] speaker identify themselves prior to
before speaking. Speaker requested the
[2:21] city secretary prior to the meeting.
We have one Selena McCauley. Selena
[2:27] McCaulay, who has final responsibility
and authority for authorizing,
[2:32] approving, and signing expenditures for
each town fund? If that cannot be
[2:38] answered publicly tonight
for a formal response, will council
[2:43] place the question on the agenda with
supporting documents identifying the
[2:48] authority. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
[2:54] Item three, discussion and action on
approval of minutes for the council
[2:59] meeting regular council meeting
[3:03] January 26, 2026. Regular council
meeting August 11, 2026 and special
[3:08] council meeting August 196.
[clears throat]
[3:19] [clears throat]
>> I know it's okay.
[3:22] Yes.
>> Yes.
[3:25] » So, I'll make a motion that we approve
the council meeting minutes from January
[3:29] 26, 2026, August 11th, 2026, and August
19th, 2026.
[3:37] Second motion by council Bryant,
seconded by Council Parker to approve
[3:42] the
approval of the minutes of the town
[3:45] council meeting on January 26, 2026,
August 11, 2026, August 19th, 2026.
[3:50] Council
member,
[3:53] » no.
>> Council member Howard,
[3:56] » yes.
>> Council member Parker,
[3:58] » yes.
>> Council member Pelius,
[4:00] » yes.
>> Council member Bryant,
[4:02] » yes.
>> Council member Hernandez,
[4:04] » yes.
>> Mayor,
[4:06] » I have a point of order that I would
like to make. I believe in the brother's
[4:10] rules of order that you're not able to
say no on voting on the minutes without
[4:16] a correction that's supposed to be made.
So if there's something wrong in the
[4:21] minutes that you disagree with, you need
to correct [laughter] it.
[4:26] » I wasn't here in January, so
[clears throat] I wouldn't know.
[4:31] » So
then just noting you guys made a motion
[4:36] to get them all together.
[4:40] » Yes.
[4:46] Item four is best possible action on
selection of a bank depository proposal.
[4:51] Mayor members of council uh we uh so
this is the RP
[4:58] services uh we send we publicized it we
send it to various banking institutions
[5:04] in the area. uh we have [clears throat]
received two proposals and what we found
[5:10] is that uh in a way looks like right now
we're comparing apples and oranges
[5:15] instead of apples so forth uh we really
would like to meet with the
[5:20] [clears throat] two banks uh and clarify
their also and then we would be able to
[5:27] make a an informed decision as to which
would recommend uh to the council. But
[5:32] right now we we just need more
information or clarification
[5:37] from the two institutions. So therefor
you have any questions we recommend the
[5:43] items.
[5:52] If there's no motion made just go on to
next
[5:58] two ladies.
>> Okay. So we'll be calling
[6:06] [clears throat]
>> item five discussion possible action on
[6:09] selection of an auditor to conduct the
city's annual audit for fiscal year
[6:12] audit October 1st 2025 through September
30th 2026 again uh we solicit this audit
[6:20] proposals for conducting the audit for
the current fiscal year and uh we send
[6:26] it to those I promise send it to various
auditing firms
[6:30] Uh in this case, we only received one
proposal uh from Cosmos and Associates.
[6:36] Uh [clears throat] they've been doing
the audit for quite some time. Uh
[6:40] there's I mean they're very very well
qualified. Uh it's up to the council if
[6:45] you want to just consider one proposal
or or if you want us to solicit
[6:49] additional ones. Although I don't know
if we will I mean we we made it pretty
[6:55] and that's the only one we received. You
sent it to all the big firms in the
[6:59] valley. [clears throat]
>> Yes, we about two three in the valley.
[7:03] Yes. All the big firms in the valley.
[clears throat]
[7:11] » Want to make sure that you didn't send
it to all the big
[7:14] [snorts]
advertise.
[7:16] » Yeah, exactly.
So, and if they didn't pick up on it, it
[7:20] is what it is.
So,
[7:32] I'll make a motion that we um select
um Costos, sorry, Costos and Associates
[7:41] to conduct the city's annual audit for
fiscal year October 1st, 2025 to
[7:45] September 30th, 2026.
[clears throat]
[7:50] Motion by council second by council
Hernandez to accept classes and
[7:54] associates as a group October 1225
through September 30 2026.
[8:01] » Yes.
>> Council member,
[8:04] » yes.
>> Council member Fern,
[8:06] » yes.
>> Council member Bryant,
[8:08] » yes.
>> Council member Hernandez,
[8:10] » yes.
>> Mayor Carter,
[8:11] » yes.
Item six, consideration of possible
[8:15] action to authorize the Munista public
library participate in talker
[8:19] foundation library transformation grant
process and provide a preliminary
[8:24] commitment to securing the funding for
eligible project the foundation grant
[8:29] award
council. Do you have the information in
[8:33] your packet [clears throat] but the
director is here if you have any
[8:36] questions and I don't know if you want
to address the council. If you have any
[8:40] questions down here, um the grant the
grant process with Tucker is quite
[8:44] expensive. They ask you to go through
all the steps before you even apply for
[8:47] the grant because they want to make sure
that you are committed to the grant and
[8:51] everything is in order. Essentially, you
fill out the grant and you're approved.
[8:54] Um the only thing is the city would have
to commit to funding whatever goes above
[8:59] the grant amount of 100,000. There are
two additional foundations that are
[9:03] willing to grant up to $30,000. So we
would have a total of $130,000.
[9:08] And so what [laughter] the city would
have to come up with either the city or
[9:11] another grant for fundraising to
whatever
[9:15] » but at this time we're unaware
of how much we're committed to.
[9:20] » Correct. Correct. Um tonight we can get
a preliminary for me to go forward. I
[9:24] can speak with the project manager
tomorrow and see how extensive or how
[9:29] much into the process we can go before.
Um, I don't want to say that we're going
[9:34] to do it and then we don't and then we
back out the last minute and then a
[9:37] library with us loses that. So, I can
talk to her tomorrow if we can be given
[9:41] approval to move forward as far as
speaking to her and giving a time for uh
[9:47] when we can back
>> the letter. It just seems like it's kind
[9:52] of holding check and it's
[clears throat] just it's it's a little
[9:56] nerve-wracking when we're in the middle
of budget season.
[9:59] » Correct. and
we kind of ask them for an open check
[10:04] which it's a great idea. I mean I love
what it is, right? You know, and so
[10:11] hoping it won't be too much.
>> Well, no. When I spoke to Karen and I
[10:15] asked her during the meeting I had with
Mr. Trevino and Pat, we had a
[10:18] conversation about our size library and
the things that we're looking to enhance
[10:22] and she said that other libraries in our
situation our similar size have never
[10:27] gone over 150. And with the 130
potential that's on the table, the city
[10:33] would have to fund the other 20. But
there's always fundraising and another
[10:37] opportunity to balance back this
foundation.
[10:39] » I'm just trying to find the worst case
scenario.
[10:41] » The worst case scenario is I talked to
her tomorrow and she says, "No, you have
[10:45] to make the commitment and we say,
"Okay, let's pass it to somebody else."
[10:48] » Okay. And
when they start talking about all the
[10:51] planning
and and all that stuff, who pays for all
[10:55] that?
>> They do. They they pay for all of the
[10:58] planning. They pay for the architect.
The $100,000 never comes into the city.
[11:02] The Tucker Foundation oversees all of
the money. The only thing we'll get at
[11:05] the end is the equipment to install the
library. And then they pay for
[11:10] [clears throat]
the grant. It does. You know, and when I
[11:15] talked to Karen and we talked about what
the library potentially do with this
[11:18] money, she says, "We have the ability to
go through with the architect and say,
[11:22] "No, we want to keep this, this, and
this, and we want to focus the money on
[11:26] these things." So, we can even reduce
the costs that we're going to end up
[11:29] spending by reusing some of the things
that we already have, which we have
[11:33] right in front of the library. The
children's department has recently been
[11:36] done by the front of the library, so I I
can see us saving some of there. Anybody
[11:49] more questions?
>> Any more questions, concerns?
[11:53] Is this a project that we could bring up
to the CDC and have them? We're talking
[11:56] about budget and there there was no
projects for lined up for the CDC. Is
[12:00] this would this qualify?
[12:04] I'm not sure what the CDC covers, but
there there we're not limited on the
[12:09] amount of grant applications we can do
in conjunction with we can fund it.
[12:14] However,
>> you're going to say something.
[12:21] Uh that that would be no.
>> Let's see.
[12:25] » One of the things that we can do is if
if the council wishes to approve it
[12:29] today, as long as you meet on the
condition that as we finish our budget,
[12:34] there is something that we can afford to
[clears throat] the budget after we go
[12:39] through the process. If we come out of
our budget, we come out of uh balance
[12:44] fund balance. Yes.
>> Which is uh which we save for for the
[12:48] last many years and we have a very
healthy fund balance. Yes,
[12:51] » which is kind of right down the alley.
It's kind of
[12:54] » so
[12:59] it's approved. I hope we don't get stuck
a few months,
[13:02] » but also really good opportunity for us
to address our ADA issues. Yes,
[13:06] » the library currently is not suitable
for people in wheelchairs or walkers. We
[13:11] have issues when people try to come into
the library and need assistance. Um and
[13:16] so this would give us opportunity to
address some of those issues and come up
[13:19] to code. That'd be great.
>> I I'll make a motion that we give the li
[13:26] library director preliminary commitment
[13:31] » to secure the funding for the talker
foundation grant. I'll second council
[13:36] member motion made by council member
Bryce second by council
[13:40] [clears throat] to approve the prel prel
[13:42] prel prel prel prel prel prel prel prel
preliminary fun project coser foundation
[13:49] » council member
>> yes
[13:52] » council member
>> yes
[13:53] » council member
>> yes
[13:55] » council member
>> yes
[13:57] » council member Hernandez
>> yes
[13:59] » mayor
>> yes
[14:01] » thank you guys
>> thank you for all you
[14:06] We would like to see some more flags out
there and maybe&M flag.
[14:12] We don't want [laughter] we don't want
flag up there.
[14:16] » We'll start with American flag.
>> Put
[14:20] make sure it's a half staff this week
because you know poor dollies.
[14:27] » Discussion of possible action. An
amendment to the board commission's
[14:31] handbook. Uh [clears throat] mayor,
members of the council, this item is
[14:35] maybe for you a couple of times before
uh taken all the input that the council
[14:42] individually [clears throat] with the
council has provided. Uh this final
[14:45] draft uh basically includes all of that.
So unless you have any questions, but
[14:50] it's uh recommended the amend amendments
to the handle be approved
[14:56] as presented.
[15:00] But of course, we'll answer any
questions you may have.
[15:07] » So,
my comment just kind of editing on two
[15:13] 2.2 A is parks and on 2.3A is library.
So, they don't match up. It's more like
[15:22] an an editing kind of thing. If you look
on page, [laughter]
[15:27] won't they use it on if you look on page
five?
[15:31] the table of contents don't match up
with
[15:33] » and and it says the advisory boards A is
parks and recreation but if you look on
[15:37] page six A is the library
>> we'll we'll make those corrections
[15:42] » it's just a it's just an edit
I see it. Okay.
[15:51] [laughter]
[16:00] [snorts]
[16:06] Any questions, concerns, changes like to
see
[16:12] on the uh
[16:30] » [clears throat]
[16:47] » I'll make a motion to approve the
amendment to the board of commission
[16:50] hand
[16:57] approve the amendment to the board of
commission handles.
[17:03] » Council member,
>> yes.
[17:05] » Council member,
>> yes. Council member Priz,
[17:09] » yes.
>> Council member Bryant,
[17:10] » yes.
>> Council member Hernandez,
[17:13] » yes.
>> Mayor,
[17:14] » yes.
I make discussion of possible action
[17:18] authorizing mayor and her design to
execute documents related to the GL
[17:22] resilient program.
>> Yes, members of the council, this week
[17:27] [clears throat]
once you receive a grant uh so that you
[17:30] have individual physically signs off
[clears throat] the paperwork, etc. Uh
[17:35] this one is is kind of a second time
around uh because [clears throat]
[17:40] you all got the grant maybe a couple of
years ago and uh and there is just a
[17:45] clear move and so now that we actually
have another consultant uh that you all
[17:50] approve uh that is going to implement
the program. We're having to have new
[17:55] forms to be signed and that's
cooperation you as the mayor and myself
[17:59] as a city manager to execute those
forms. So move to your battery which we
[18:03] recommended be approved.
[18:10] This is the comprehensive plan project.
[18:15] [clears throat]
[snorts]
[18:22] » Yes.
>> Probably doesn't matter. But so it says
[18:26] authorization for the mayor and our
design. Does it just say specifically
[18:30] the city manager?
in the motion.
[18:33] » In the motion. Okay. Then I'll make a
motion that we authorize the mayor and
[18:39] city manager to execute documents
relating to the GLO. Uh committees
[18:48] by council member Hernandez to authorize
the mayor and city manager document GL
[18:54] communities program.
>> Council member.
[18:58] » Yes.
>> Council member Parker. Yes. Council
[19:01] member Ka.
>> Yes.
[19:03] » Council member Bryant.
>> Yes.
[19:04] » Council member Hernandez.
>> Yes.
[19:06] » Mayor Per.
>> Yes.
[19:09] [laughter]
>> Item nine. Discussion and action on
[19:11] approval of the community development
appropriations. CDC revised
[19:16] [clears throat] annual budget for fiscal
year October 1, 2025 and September.
[19:21] That's wrong. October 1, 2026 through
September 30th, 2027.
[19:27] there because members, you have the
budget in your packet. Uh this budget of
[19:32] course was approved by the uh board of
the community [clears throat]
[19:35] corporation. Uh they had a workshop and
then they approved it. uh in case you
[19:41] have any questions, but basically uh the
projected revenues $710,000
[19:46] from sales tax [clears throat] that the
uh CDC
[19:52] $1,000 for interest earns for a total
revenue for the year of $111,000.
[19:57] U administration stays the same $10,000
that the CDC thanks the the the city for
[20:07] administering their program. uh off
supply unit again at 1,500
[20:13] uh and and so on down the line. Uh
but this this year we're proposing 29
[20:20] they [clears throat] approved $29,500
uh for total operating expenditures.
[20:26] This is one different thing in the
budget that people were able to solve
[20:29] them together. Here we're separating out
the operating expenditures as the CDC
[20:34] board wanted to see it. Uh then we have
the improved projects. You can see the
[20:39] ones that are currently in place. But as
far as for next year, the only thing
[20:43] that would be that was obligated was the
$45,000. That's the annual lease pay uh
[20:49] payment [clears throat] to the landlord
for the clinic. Uh that's an ongoing
[20:53] thing at least for another couple years.
And the amount for this coming year is
[20:58] $45,000. Another [laughter] thing that
the the board decided to do is that uh
[21:04] [clears throat] uh they wanted to be
more pro uh assertive in terms of uh how
[21:10] much money they really want to allocate
that those those funds would be funding
[21:15] projects uh eligible projects uh during
the fiscal year. and they took two three
[21:20] line items, put them together and
basically called it discretionary funds
[21:25] for $100,000 which is the same it when
it was uh divided but now it's put
[21:31] together and so that's what it is. U
with that the budget expenditure for the
[21:37] year will be $174,500.
[21:42] uh that will uh
uh [clears throat] decrease the the fund
[21:47] balance by $63, uh500
and uh when you uh consider the the fun
[21:56] balance the uh existing uh 384. So that
fun balance will come down to $329,460.
[22:05] So, it's still even though you're
budgeting for the projects,
[22:10] [clears throat] uh, very progressive, at
the same time, the city that CDC still
[22:16] will have a $321,000
balance
[22:22] two years.
So unless you have any questions, uh
[22:26] this is kind of a not routine but
required that once the CDC approves the
[22:31] budget, then the council will approve it
or obviously the council will change it.
[22:36] But uh the recommendation from the board
is that this budget be approved.
[22:46] Yeah. Um before any motions make it on
the agenda, it is on it say October 1st
[22:52] 2025 to September 30th 2026 and you're
looking for right on the agenda
[22:58] but you can make the motion based on the
the year that we're in not the year that
[23:03] says on the agenda.
[23:07] [clears throat]
[23:10] I'll make a motion that we approve the
CDC budget for fiscal year October 1st,
[23:15] 2026 to September 30th, 2027.
>> I'll second council Bryant by council
[23:23] member Hernandez to approve the CDC
budget for the next fiscal year.
[23:29] » Council member,
>> yes.
[23:31] » Council member [laughter] Parker,
>> yes.
[23:33] » Council member Corning,
>> yes.
[23:35] » Council member Bryant,
>> yes. Council member Hernandez,
[23:38] » yes.
>> Mayor Bard,
[23:40] » yes.
>> Item 10, the second budget workshop
[23:45] discussion the proposed budget for
fiscal year October 1,6 September 30th
[23:49] 7.
Uh you were just presented with the
[23:54] draft of the budgets by department. Uh
this is the process that we are taking
[23:58] this year and really that's already
having enough uh workshops. Uh the the
[24:05] budget itself we're we're planning on
having it ready by the first public
[24:10] hearing which will be on September 8th.
Uh but the last possible date for the
[24:14] council to approve this budget is
actually September 22nd. Uh what
[24:20] obviously you all approved the tax rate
already uh pretty much approved the
[24:25] personnel cost uh for the city. Uh and
now this the pages that were presented
[24:32] to you they're basically the graph
[clears throat] of the expenditures the
[24:36] general expenditures by department
uh and [clears throat] I would like to
[24:40] basically go down the budget of each
one. uh we have the department head for
[24:46] the respective department and he or she
will also participate answer any
[24:50] questions you may have but they also
have the opportunity to advocate for
[24:55] whatever line item they feel is
important for for their department um
[25:00] we'll start off with first of all
[clears throat] the administration
[25:03] budget
uh one of the things that I want to say
[25:07] is that that we're correcting this in
this budget process [snorts] is that for
[25:12] example office supplies
where you see those deficits,
[25:16] uh
the communications,
[25:20] uh auto insurance, things like that.
What's been happening is that uh
[25:25] [clears throat] the total amount of the
premiums have been charged to the
[25:29] administration and and [clears throat]
what we're going to be doing differently
[25:31] in this budget is that we will be
corrating according to the departments.
[25:36] So you'll that's how we're able to
decrease the amounts that we're we're
[25:40] proposing for for the fiscal year. Uh
and the reason that's the reason for the
[25:44] deficit because the other departmenties
didn't pay or they didn't charge the the
[25:49] their share. Um but as you can see on
the bottom total the current budget is
[25:55] for $486,296.
[25:59] We're proposing at this point a budget
that is 418,245
[26:05] and that [clears throat] that figure
will decrease even more. Uh so
[26:09] essentially [clears throat] on the uh
administration uh we're reducing and
[26:14] that uh that quarantine will be
decreased even some more. Uh but if you
[26:19] have any questions on any of the
aligning items uh obviously we will
[26:22] answer those questions.
>> I have a question.
[26:24] » Yes.
>> So I understand what you just said about
[26:27] office supplies. So my question is why
did you raise the proposed amount of
[26:34] office supplies when if you look at the
other department it was not used. So
[26:40] » that the other department takes care of
that right. So whether we raise that or
[26:46] not
>> and well the the other thing too is that
[26:49] uh that that figure is going to change
it will go down as we go through the
[26:53] process but if if it comes to the point
that if the department uh based on the
[26:59] budget that they have couldn't afford it
uh in the end we would do we would
[27:03] actually have to subsidize it from the
administration but but you're right that
[27:08] 75 would be a lot less.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[27:16] And this budget is being uh processed
completed [clears throat]
[27:20] uh without even factoring in the revenue
that is projected to be generated this
[27:26] year because we want the budget to be
done based on uh what the actual costs
[27:33] are and not just reflecting the revenue.
[27:39] the I mean you see the the attorneys we
just to [laughter] No saying that the
[27:46] the attorney budget went down by $25,000
because we use the attorney much less
[27:52] now than we ever have in the past.
>> Yeah.
[27:54] » And so with the $25,000 savings that
we're going to see which is a fantastic
[27:58] thing.
>> Yeah. So I feel bad, but you know
[28:04] situation. [laughter]
[28:07] [snorts]
>> I'd rather see a lot of these questions
[28:10] not get asked.
>> Exactly.
[28:11] » I have one question. Sorry.
The election budget. Did we move that to
[28:17] contract services? Is that why the
>> the expense was not there for the
[28:24] election that occurred this year? Oh, we
got that changed today [laughter]
[28:28] because we received a a letter from the
county that they they're the ones that
[28:34] charge they run the election and they
charged us uh actually was 12,000
[28:39] something [clears throat] which we pay
for the uh sec election,
[28:44] » right?
>> Well, it turns out they only
[28:45] [clears throat] charged us 3,000
something.
[28:48] » Okay.
>> So, we had a a windfall there, a
[28:50] savings. So, that's that. So that that's
uh why that went down significantly cuz
[28:57] the total cost ended up being only less
than $4,000.
[29:01] » Okay. Thank you.
[29:05] » Any other questions on the uh
administration budget
[29:10] [clears throat] with your permission?
We'll go to the now to the uh budget
[29:16] the tax collections of Cameron County
there.
[29:21] Yeah. Well, we're we're we're still
working to finding out [laughter] a
[29:26] better estimate amount from that.
>> Yeah.
[29:32] Okay.
>> On the court, uh I will I will let the
[29:37] our finance [clears throat] person and
and our court director answer the only
[29:42] deficit we hear that we have there which
is really not a deficit because I don't
[29:46] [clears throat] know you
would explain where we ended up on that
[29:51] one. [laughter]
>> Okay. Now the contract services um I
[29:57] realized that um we had paid um for the
target technology which is through the
[30:02] software for the court. Um it was paid
paid we were invoiced twice for the
[30:08] annual fees. So we have we have to put
it as a prepaid for for this.
[30:13] » So we got to remove that
>> or put it as a price for
[30:18] » Yeah. by the next year.
Uh, [clears throat] okay. Now, in this
[30:22] budget, the the approved budget, the
current year is $163,60
[30:29] right now. And we're still working on on
our intentions for the we bring each
[30:35] budget, department budget to an even
amount or possibly less than what was
[30:41] budgeted for this year. But but we still
got to work with that one because it's
[30:45] going right now at this point it will go
up from 16360
[30:49] to 175,250.
Uh but again uh by the time you get the
[30:54] final budget uh we're [clears throat]
pretty certain that it's going to be at
[30:58] hopefully no more than that 163.
[clears throat] But again you have any
[31:03] questions on the any of the other line
items?
[31:07] So, so that $50,000 in contract services
should it be zero since this already pay
[31:16] next year?
>> Oh, uh
[31:20] yes, that that will reflect it. Yeah,
because what happened is that uh yeah,
[31:25] it's it's uh we we put the figure 50,000
because it was including the deficit,
[31:30] but that go away
[31:35] instead of the the two of the the total
amount it will be just one payment. She
[31:39] was saying that that 50 will be decrease
accordingly.
[31:44] » So it will be 50,000 be 35,000. Yeah, 35
>> pay one. We still need to budget it
[31:52] though.
>> And then the 105,000 for it cost across
[31:56] the state. That's that's just an offset.
We receive that money from the people
[32:02] that pay their tickets and then we we
then we send that money to the state. So
[32:07] it's that's just a wash number.
[32:12] Any questions on that?
[32:16] The next one is the library budget. Uh
and this one basically again and the
[32:22] process has been we provide the the
first budget to the department head.
[32:26] They get a chance [clears throat] to
then respond, add, delete, change and
[32:30] what have been going back and forth.
Some department heads [laughter] heads
[32:34] have met with us uh on this one again in
the and trying to stay within the same
[32:41] amount for the previous year for the
current year and that's 28,750.
[32:46] uh we're down to 50,000, but we still
have to work with the library director
[32:51] uh to make sure that that this increases
will uh be [clears throat] properly
[32:58] observed by the by by the library and
not that we're just cutting for the sake
[33:02] of cutting, but at the same token, we
want to make sure that every dollar that
[33:07] we budget is a realistic dollar. And
that's what we're doing with all the
[33:11] departments.
So this one look we still is still in in
[33:15] in the in the process.
[33:22] [snorts]
[33:31] Next one is a building [clears throat]
budget.
[33:36] Th this one is actually also
[clears throat] going down 28,350
[33:42] to 20,700.
And we still want to look a lot closer
[33:47] on the uh contract services and and
mobile app [clears throat]
[33:51] as well.
So it probably it could decrease even
[33:56] more.
[34:03] is uh
health human uh human budget basically
[34:09] uh contract services. Uh do we uh why
don't we explain those two line items?
[34:17] » The contract services uh the the
[clears throat] contract services is for
[34:20] whenever we have to call uh Cameron
County to pick up an animal or transport
[34:27] an animal. Uh or if we do if we
transport the animal to the Cameron
[34:32] County shelter, they charge us per day
to keep the animal there. And if no one
[34:39] picks it up, unfortunately, if the dog
or cat or whatever it is, they
[34:43] euthanize, we still get milk for it.
>> And the pest control,
[34:48] » the pest control is going to be uh
that's going to be for the vector.
[34:51] That's going to that is uh it's the
mosquito spray 55 uh gallon mosquito
[34:59] spray and then then we also buy the
vioide and then we buy a rotational
[35:04] spray as well. And the our main our our
main spray our main chemical that we use
[35:14] it's cost about $4,000 for 55 gallons.
The uh the larger side is it's a briette
[35:23] and it's $700
for 300.
[35:29] And then uh we get a rotational spray.
It's about another $1,900
[35:34] as well. So, and that's it. It it
usually lasts us it'll last us up until
[35:40] about May. We have to start ordering
again.
[35:44] » We had a good reprieve last spring
summer.
[35:47] » Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. We also we also Cameron County
[35:51] was nice enough to also um loan us for
this season loan as a second machine.
[35:56] So, we run or two machines at a time
whenever we spray.
[36:00] » Uh looking for Mr. [clears throat] L. I
think uh I'm sorry. Do you have any
[36:06] comments? [clears throat]
>> I do. I've just received this budget
[36:08] this afternoon when I'm sitting here and
I have a lot of questions as I've sent
[36:13] forward to you about the actual
expenditures from the library. And I
[36:17] question some of the spending being
applied to the library as well.
[36:23] Another I would like to know why the
library book is being cut down to
[36:27] $4,000.
Here it says the current balance we have
[36:30] $1,300 left of last year's book. But
that's also not accurate because we have
[36:36] a payment to Ingram for over $400. We
still have two purchases to make for
[36:42] July for August and September, which
will take us right up to our five jobs.
[36:46] With the increased price of books and
shipping, $4,000 is not going to be
[36:50] enough money for books for many years.
>> Also, [laughter]
[36:54] this janitorial supplies, it says that
we've spent 0 in this fiscal year, which
[36:59] is also not accurate. The last time I
saw I bought Jennif
[37:04] was $500
and the office supplies at $1,700 is
[37:09] also not accurate because I spent about
$400.
[37:15] So I just I'm just trying to figure out
why my budget request was slashed by
[37:20] $7,000.
The biggest hit for the community though
[37:23] is the books. That's the one of the main
reasons that the library that the
[37:27] library is open is to provide to provide
books to patrons. And if we're cutting
[37:31] the budget, how are we supposed to bud?
>> And then also the questions about the
[37:37] contracted services. What did we spend
$10,360
[37:40] on the FY26
on when public works did majority of the
[37:45] the work from the library for free?
Well, not for free, but they're not
[37:50] charging the library for that for those
services.
[37:54] And this also the $7,713.
What What is that? Or yeah, for weekly
[37:59] maintenance, what is that? It's really
hard to come up with an accurate
[38:04] proposal for what the library actually
spends in the fiscal year if I don't
[38:07] know what we're spending it for. And
I've been asking those questions for
[38:11] several weeks and I've received no
response. So, [laughter]
[38:15] » I have a lot of questions about what I
was just giving.
[38:18] » We'll we'll we'll sit down with you and
look at that. uh one of the things that
[38:21] uh that we tried to do also to you know
at least [clears throat] hopefully more
[38:25] realistic is we taken what has been
spent for the first 10 months of the
[38:30] year divided by 10 and then multiply
that time 12 I know it's a very simple
[38:35] uh not necessarily foolproof way but
that's one of the ways that we can sort
[38:40] of project you know you spend so much
per month for the first 10 months and
[38:44] then you annualize it and then you put
the amount that would be for the annual
[38:50] that's probably
>> I do understand that. But what I'm
[38:53] saying that question whether or not some
of these things actually belong to
[38:57] » Yeah. And and what I recommend is that
basically and you're [clears throat]
[39:00] right. I mean we just finished this
afternoon. Uh but if you're returning
[39:05] your page, be sure and ask. And as a
matter of fact, you can come to the
[39:09] office. The other department heads come
in and and they
[39:12] » it's real hard for me to come into
>> send it to us. So if you want
[39:16] » and I I do I I sent numerous emails
which I received no response.
[39:20] » Yeah. And but again, it's going to be
what we can afford and especially uh
[39:26] based on making sure that the budget all
budgets are within you know the the at
[39:32] this point we're not even looking at how
much money we're going to have. We want
[39:35] to justify that whatever we budget we
come up with is because that's what's
[39:40] needed. And of course there's going to
be differences of opinion, but we will
[39:44] continue working with you on that. I
understand that everybody has to have
[39:47] cuts in their department to make things,
but I don't I don't think
[39:56] Okay, thank you. U [snorts]
[clears throat] now parks at this point,
[40:03] but in reality, the budget wasn't cut
overall. Your budget was actually
[40:07] increased
by
[40:10] almost $2,000. So I just want to make
sure that everyone that [clears throat]
[40:14] understands that your budget was not cut
overall but maybe line by line there may
[40:20] be some differences. Okay, but the
overall budget was not cut
[40:24] » considerable considerable interest is in
contracted services. What are we
[40:28] spending $12,000?
>> And I think that's what you need to get
[40:32] with administration about and to
understand what those things are. Okay.
[40:37] And and hopefully we can come to the
bottom line on it.
[40:41] » Okay. So I just want to make sure
everyone's under the impression that we
[40:44] did not cut the the the budget for the
park and for the library. We actually
[40:49] increased it by a little bit. So
>> we known contracted services
[40:53] [clears throat]
and electric services.
[40:56] » I am aware but when he says they
increased the budget but they increased
[41:00] the you increase the budget on
contracted services. So what those not
[41:04] so yeah contract services
uh building maintenance
[41:09] » and electric services
and here's the other thing too as the
[41:13] mayor was saying the current budget is
48,750
[41:18] the budget at this point recommending is
$50,450.
[41:22] Now, it may force us is that to
rearrange those figures so that we spend
[41:28] the money where we need to spend it and
not just simply because we have $5,000
[41:32] in this line item, we're going to put
$5,000 again or $6,000. We need to
[41:37] justify it and and the way it works is
that by the time I get to the point that
[41:43] all of us together that I recommend a
budget to them, we [clears throat] you
[41:46] and I, every department, we will be
going through this process. But the
[41:50] mayor is correct. the budget overall for
the library is actually increasing.
[41:55] Might not be by the amount that you
would like, but it is increasing.
[42:00] » No, I I mean I agree and I see that. But
so I think the answer of what we're
[42:05] spending $12,000 on, it just doesn't
make sense to me to increase contract
[42:10] services
>> and you definitely need you need you
[42:11] definitely need to sit down with
>> staff. Justice is contract services, not
[42:17] contractor service.
>> Okay. Contracting.
[42:20] » Yes. Anything that's under contract
time
[42:25] like this is something that we can
discuss later when you guys are
[42:29] » we have you guys
>> have you have the the exact numbers in
[42:35] front of you and everybody can hash it
out then
[42:38] » okay
>> the next one uh the director of uh
[42:45] public works which includes the parks uh
that one at this point we still need to
[42:50] do a lot more work on it because uh it's
it's still higher. Of course, Mr. Wales
[42:56] is uh basically trying to justify the
figures, but obviously they're going to
[43:01] have to [clears throat] decrease uh uh
and some of the what's happening as well
[43:05] as remember I said in the the the
administration budget is being prrated
[43:11] so that the other departments uh pay
their fair share. Uh and and this is one
[43:15] of the things that happens with with
these two budgets, parks and and public
[43:19] works. Uh [clears throat] and so those
those figures or their budgets will
[43:25] actually [clears throat] increase
because their expenses will be placed on
[43:31] the administration budget. And so when
we move more to the respective budgets,
[43:35] in their case, it would increase not
because they're increasing the budget.
[43:38] It's just now they're being credited for
for the amount that they actually need.
[43:46] So that's that's what you [laughter]
have in in those two budgets, the parks,
[43:50] recreation uh and public works uh budget
as well.
[43:55] » I had a question.
>> So there was no contract services for
[44:01] parks before and now now it's 25,000. Is
there something new that has come up?
[44:11] Oh,
[44:15] [clears throat]
>> yeah.
[44:18] » Thank you.
>> See, and that was in the administration
[44:22] budget and we moved it over. So, that's
said their budget is increasing, but not
[44:27] because they're increasing the money.
They're we're just we're paying that
[44:32] we're paying that cost from the right
[clears throat] department.
[44:36] » Thank you.
Any [laughter]
[44:40] questions on the public works budget?
Basically the same situation.
[44:44] [clears throat]
[44:49] Uh the next one is the prior uh budget.
uh and [clears throat]
[44:54] uh as you can see the totals uh the
current budget has 90,8613
[45:01] while the the in working in progress but
this uh is down to this $56,500.
[45:08] There's still a lot more work that needs
to be done with our director of public
[45:13] safety. Uh but one of the things that it
it does is increasing and and what deal
[45:19] we can talk about the the contract that
we have with those spread is EMS which
[45:23] is the next question as well.
[45:28] » Yeah.
>> So the only significant increase on the
[45:32] EMS budget came from Los Fresno uh EMS
contract for ambulance services. They're
[45:38] going from $80,000 a year for the
ambulance service to $100,000.
[45:43] They didn't go up last year and our call
volume has increased significantly. Uh
[45:49] we're at about 440 calls for this year.
It's going to put us around 640.
[45:55] Five, six years ago we were around 218.
So this call volume's going crazy. This
[45:59] is just an increase in service price to
reflect that increase in call volume.
[46:05] But you're saying we've had a
[clears throat] increase of three times
[46:08] the amount of calls since we started the
EMS program since since I started in
[46:13] 2021. Uh I would have to go back and
look at those figures. But in 2021, but
[46:18] my first year here we ran 218 calls uh
for service EMS and fire. This year
[46:24] we're already at around the 440 mark. We
should hit around 640. So we're pretty
[46:29] much tripled what we were
>> exactly. Have I started the the call
[46:33] volume? This is going through the roof.
We have a good program. Thanks.
[46:40] » Great job.
[46:45] » Any questions?
We'll we'll have more time to talk about
[46:49] the prior budget.
>> Go for it. Right now, go for it. Go
[46:53] ahead. So
[46:58] the reduction is 38% and the total from
our current budget to proposed budget.
[47:05] If my records are right, if I look the
right numbers, the fire budget by line
[47:09] item hasn't gone up since 2020 since
2021. Every line item stayed the same.
[47:15] We just do we work harder to do more
with less every year. Just just to stay
[47:20] fair,
some of the
[47:24] um janitorial from 500 to 150 for
janitorial. When you go to the store,
[47:30] what are you going to get for $150 when
talking about cleaning supplies? It's
[47:35] not a lie.
Building [clears throat] supplies also
[47:38] down. Motor fuel the same. Fire
suppressant supplies that went up was
[47:42] they're through the roof. Medical
supplies from 8,500 to 3,000. about 90%
[47:47] of our call lighting is EMS
medical supplies took a drastic hit. So
[47:53] if we could just like talk about later
when we do
[47:57] » no and again uh what we did there what I
did we basically use the procedure of
[48:02] how much you have spent and and the
figures themselves could be uh corrected
[48:07] but how much you have spent for the 10
months and then annualize the amount.
[48:14] Uh last but not least, we have the
police department budget. Of course, the
[48:18] police chief is here. Uh
you want to go ahead and uh on that one,
[48:23] there's still work to be done, but we're
getting close to the amount that we
[48:27] would like.
Uh good council. Uh I know they made
[48:33] some changes here on our contract
services. Uh we're going to talk with
[48:38] his boat about our jail communications
and uh dispatching for fire and uh our
[48:44] contract in was May 2019
and we had spent $25,000.
[48:50] Uh since then it's stayed the same and
this year uh they're raising it to
[48:56] 16,000 6. Um [clears throat] and that's
being that it's providing one dispatcher
[49:01] shot which is 51,000 that they provide
for us saying that they the 10 to 12
[49:06] months they're they're providing us
communications
[49:09] u the jail for 8,000 and then we uh
share the [clears throat] the triage for
[49:16] 2,000.
So that was their that's their um that's
[49:21] what they were going off of. $60,000 for
everything. So, um we went up there. Uh
[49:29] we did add some line items with the
prisoner care. Usually that was being
[49:34] it's like the prisoner meals. So, we
have a contract with Arbor
[49:39] does it and uh we only get them as we
have our arrest, right? Uh it's a
[49:45] special price for us like the school
like their school bills. Um but instead
[49:50] of it being out of contact services, we
moved it to uh prison.
[49:55] Uh that went up $5,000 roughly depending
on that's not including we don't so the
[50:00] the portable jail doesn't provide um I
don't know if you call it the proper
[50:06] name but the paper suits for people you
know trying to hurt themselves and stuff
[50:11] like that which has been an issue there
lately. uh we had that issue and so
[50:16] we've been having to pay out of
different items for uh other offices
[50:20] like for that type of stuff. So we moved
it down there um
[50:26] and then we added a line for storage.
The storage units we are planning on
[50:30] with um public works they're still
coming up. We did get a herea
[50:36] the storage unit is for the ATVs that we
got on the operation HB and TV. We don't
[50:40] have room at the firehouse right now.
Kind of we had them in his bay and uh
[50:45] we've taken them out, but now we're
trying just for the longevity of the
[50:50] usage of it, right? want to have it
secured and uh the storage unit would
[50:54] would help out public works cover up the
the u some trackers that they have out
[51:00] and so that I think it was $214 $214 a
month and we decided to split it between
[51:06] both of us and we both be sharing it um
if that's approved
[51:17] uh now in both cases
It's going to increase because going
[51:23] back to the the uh administration budget
uh auto insurance
[51:30] we uh [clears throat] spend on
administration 25,000 yet we don't have
[51:36] a single vehicle that's for
administration.
[51:39] So their budgets are correspondently
going to increase when we give them that
[51:43] share of the cost. [laughter] And that's
just one example.
[51:51] So in some cases you will see the
budgets going up not because they're
[51:56] increasing is that we're just allocating
the expenses accordingly.
[52:01] If I don't want you the numbers that we
do have here you have to take in account
[52:05] that we were short staff for almost 6
months you know so like our fuel charges
[52:10] uh uniform clothing we didn't have a
personnel to fill in that staff. Now
[52:14] that we're fully staffed, of course,
vehicle maintenance is going to go up.
[52:18] Fuel the fuel usage is going to go up.
Uh rehab responded a lot more on the on
[52:23] the vessel and that itself, it's just to
fill it up. It's expensive. You know,
[52:28] getting marine fuel is expensive.
[clears throat] Um the maintenance on
[52:31] the boat, I just got a quote to do some
maintenance. It's about $1,600 for a
[52:36] full maintenance year, right? And that's
just to say that we're we are actually
[52:41] uh
probably the only vessel in the area
[52:46] that is functional. Poris has one in the
shop has one. They don't have a captain
[52:51] for it or they're not in the area. So
they call us and even if we're
[52:56] are uh I don't live too far from here.
So we do come out and we have responded
[53:02] very frequent out on the boat. So it's
been Why don't you talk about the one
[53:06] you just did the other day? Yes.
>> Yeah. We just had one uh like Tuesday.
[53:13] » Yeah. We um we got a call. It was a call
that a gentleman had out of Sappire
[53:20] Island. Uh 18-year-old
male. He was on a kayak and it was just
[53:26] not his day. The motor went out, his
pedal broke, his board broke, his sail
[53:31] was just taking him and he ended up
somewhere past that portal and uh sun
[53:36] was coming down. Coast Guard couldn't
get in. It was very very shallow. Uh
[53:40] their boats weren't able to make it in.
And again, us being the emergency vessel
[53:43] in there. We decided to go out and we
end up looking, you know, uh dark or ran
[53:49] a floor by our work. And uh we brought
back slowly moving back. We didn't get
[53:55] back until like 9:30 at night. But
[clears throat] that's fantastic.
[54:00] [applause]
[54:06] Okay. Uh any questions on the police
budget?
[54:10] Uh your last page is the capital outlet
expenses. It's pretty much just the
[54:15] current year uh for the next year. We're
basically not budgeting anything but
[54:20] whatever we end up spending because this
is where we pay emergencies, unforeseen
[54:25] emergencies, etc. Uh but we'll probably
need money to finish the city hall
[54:32] police station expansion.
uh and also the part of the roll park in
[54:39] some cases that we want to do some
additional things beyond the grant. Uh
[54:43] but as the notes indicates uh any any
expenditure under capital expenses the
[54:50] tradition and we will continue with that
tradition will come out of a fun
[54:53] balance. It will not be part of the
operating expenses budget.
[55:01] That's all we have for you today and we
really plan to have you having
[55:06] [clears throat] for you a final draft
because of course at the first public
[55:11] hearing September the 8th but please any
of you would like to come by sit down
[55:17] with us give us your feedback your your
recommendations so by time you get there
[55:23] we got everybody's input and of course
oh once again we're going to be feed you
[55:28] with each department head giving them
each the opportunity to make a case with
[55:33] their budget.
>> I just want to thank all the department
[55:36] heads and I know it's not easy but
[clears throat] last year we we
[55:41] increased our fund balance by $284,000.
Okay, we we have close to $3 million
[55:50] added all together in fund balance.
Okay, we keep increasing. So there's no
[55:54] way that we can't keep within a balanced
budget this year and [clears throat]
[55:58] make, you know, use our taxpayer dollars
and be the be the stewards for the
[56:03] taxpayers that we should be and wipe out
all the waste and make sure that we're
[56:08] spending each dollar the right way. And
hopefully next year we can keep lowering
[56:13] or keep the taxes the same way. So thank
you guys again. I appreciate it.
[56:23] Thank you for your attention.
[56:29] » Item 13
[56:32] [sighs]
[56:38] to all in favor.
>> Thank you.
[56:43] The king.
>> [clears throat]