Ready? All right. Good evening everyone.
our computer clock just flipped over to six 30, so it's time to start
this irregular, uh, city council meeting at city of meadows place.
it is tuesday, march 26th, 2024, and we are starting at
six 30. On the dot I, item a
is a call to order. So this meeting is call to order, and it
is, uh, we have a quorum. In fact, we have everyone here on council tonight,
and I'm thrilled to see it. Uh, I'm gonna ask everybody to stand for the pledge
of allegiance. Remain standing for the invocation, and the pledge
tonight will be led by a yak member. That's youth
action council member, uh, camden miller. And then jimmy hemp finnick
will do the invocations. So please remain, gimme a second
flag of the united states of america and in
public, which one nation under
god in liberty,
all you are doing.
thank for all of our volunteers, our first responders,
everybody this time.
and you
ask, you go before us .
all right, we're gonna move on to audit b. And I want remind by
that these meetings are two, uh, here to, uh, take care of
business for the city meadows place. And we're getting ready to take care of some
business called an audit, which is something that we do every
year. And, um, so presenting our audit, uh,
is the representative from, um,
da da, the auditor's report from belt
harris and
pat ic. Ic. All right, thank you.
here we go. I always like to tell people that, uh, it's staff's job to do
10,000 things, right? All year long to stay in compliance with rules and regulations and everything
that's required of them. And I get to come in and kind of nitpick at the end and send a bunch of
emails. And, uh, I really appreciate anna maria and all the help, uh, that she's been in getting
this in front of you. So instrumental, uh, thank you to her. Uh, so
I'm gonna go through a couple of things in the book tonight, reference some page numbers, go over some high level information,
and then I'll take any questions you all might have at the end. Uh, I'll start on page number
one. Page number one is our independent auditor's report, otherwise
known as an opinion letter. I am pleased to say we have issued an unmodified opinion
on the city's financial statements. That is the highest level of assurance that we as
independent auditors can give, that the city's financial statements are materially correct
and that all of the required disclosures under the generally accepted accounting principles in the
united states have been made. In other words, it's a clean opinion. That's what you want
to hear. If you'll flip back with me to page number 15.
page number 15 is our statement of net position, otherwise known as a balance sheet. This
is a government-wide financial statement presented on a full accrual basis of accounting.
all that means is that the long-term items of the city, such as any, uh, capital assets or long-term
liabilities are presented on this financial statement here. I'll just point out that in total,
between your governmental and business type activities, the city ended the year with $40 million
in total assets, about $5.7 million in total liabilities,
and overall ending net position of about $35.9 million.
if we go back to page number 19, we'll see that same type of financial statement
of balance sheet, however, this is presented on a modified accrual basis of
accounting. So those long-term items are not included here. This is much more akin to
the basis of accounting on which you would adopt your budget here. I'll just point out that the general
fund, the main operating fund of the city ended the year with total assets of about 7.2 million.
total liabilities of about 518,000, and an overall
ending fund balance of about $6.4 million. And then if
we go back to page number 23, we can see how we got there. This is
our statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance, otherwise known as an income
statement, again, presented on that modified accrual basis of accounting. This should look
very similar to what you would see on your budget
here. Again, I'll just point out that the general fund, that main operating fund of the city ended, ended the
year with total revenues of about 7.8 million. Total expenditures of about
7.6 million, leading to a slight increase in that general fund fund balance
to leave you with that ending fund balance of $6.4 million.
as a general indicator of financial health bond rating agencies and the like, typically look at
that ending fund balance number and like to see at least three months worth of operating expenditures contained
in that fund balance. So that 6.4 million represents almost 84% of your
overall operating expenditures are about 10 months. So again, very, very healthy fund balance there.
the last page I'll take you back to is page number 29. Uh,
in fiscal year 2022, we made a change in our financial reporting to sort of separate
out the utility activity and kind of present it on its own. Uh, so this is the first
year where we kind of have this financial statement that's got this full year of activity presented.
uh, as we, as we changed it last year, uh, overall we had good total operating
revenues and expenses. A small operating loss in the utility fund ending, uh, net position of
that utility fund increased slightly, uh, leaving you with about $8.6 million
in net position. One thing I always like to point out on this statement, uh, to kinda make sure that
our utility rates are in line with service and that we're, um, being sure that we're
charging enough, uh, is to look at our total operating revenues in
relation to our operating expenses. However, there's one key point here that, that ending,
that last expense line item for depreciation is not a cash outflow,
right? That's something that's charged every year. We're recognizing that expense for the use of our
assets, but that's not truly a cash outflow. So if we take that $500,000
in depreciation expense out, we end up at about 1.5 million in overall,
uh, cash outflow or cash expenses to the utility fund. So obviously that represents
really well in relation to the amount that we're charging or bringing in, in that utility fund.
so again, all looks good there. With that, I can
conclude my presentation and I'd love to take any questions you might have. Counsel,
any questions? I
have one. The, uh, you mentioned the operating reserve three month
on the, uh, general fund side. What about on the utility side? What's, what's
your guideline there and where are we there? So, um, the utility fund side typically
is a, is a, a little bit different, uh, of a beast because again, in that respect, we're
charging for some type of service that we're providing naturally. We're not necessarily
in a for-profit business in order to generate a bunch of profit, but we wanna make sure that
we're charging enough to recuperate all of the costs of the service that we're providing, right?
and so, um, that, that ending net position is also
a little different and that this is carried on a full accrual basis. So all of those long-term
assets, things like your capital assets, any long-term liabilities associated with that is included in
that number. So it's a little bit difficult to use that ending net position number in the same
type of way you would look at your fund balance for the general fund. That's why I like to typically compare those
operating revenues and expenditures as kind of how that looks on a year by year basis. That's
what litmus test versus the yeah, but that just looks at operation. That
doesn't look at setting aside a sinking fund doesn't set aside
a sinking fund to repair or replace long-term assets.
yeah, that would be, that would be a mechanic that ultimately city council can decide to
do. And, and as you generate, if you generate continually operating revenues over
expenditures and that net position continues to increase, that typically is an indicator
that there may be some reserve out there to start setting aside towards those capital, which we're
about to spend. So, yep, I have been informed.
anyone else, counsel ann maria,
questions, comments, or input?
I just wanted to make satisfied with the .
I wanna say I'm impressed with the presentation. David and rick understood it, and
I'm impressed. All right. With that, we will take,
and we will call, we will have a motion to accept the auditor's financial
report for 2022. 2023. I move.
motion. Motion by david. Second. Second by kurt. Thank you, kurt.
all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.
we have received the presentation.
I do mean it. I appreciate your presentation. Um,
yes, thank you. Alright, now we have reports, um,
starting off with a police report. Um, our police chief,
uh, gary stewart is, uh, down on
the beach, uh, at
a conference on how to become a better cop and
how to become a better police chief. And there's folks all over. So
he's going to school all day and stuck assistant
chief ashton with the report. Yes. Thank
you, mr. Mayor. Counsel, citizens, thank y'all for coming.
we'll, in your packet, we'll start off with the spreadsheet that gives us our
general numbers for the month number of reportable accidents. We had
eight number of arrests. We had seven calls for service, which are
any activity. 2,688. Number of
reports taken for criminal offenses. 49
citations issued 302 for 651 charges.
citations issued for city ordinances violations. We had two warnings
issued for traffic. 143 for 168
charges, and then warnings issued for city ordinance violations. We had
11. Gave us a total activity count, 3,584.
moving down to the next section, to give a little more detail, assaults. We
had one burglary motor vehicles. We had four burglary
businesses. We had two, uh, burglary of residence.
we had zero. The city ordinance contacts. We had a total of
13 criminal mischief. We had zero fraud. We
had two robberies, zero our property checks,
which include the businesses, close patrol, house watch, and school checks.
2,399 thefts. We had three
unauthorized use of motor vehicle. We had one. And the tlc
program, we had 22 to pass, six to fail for a total of 28
contacts. Uh, the city ordinance breakdown
below that, uh, warnings issued
that, uh, I think that first number is not correct for solicitors.
we had a total of six contacts. Loud noise. We had three
loose dog, we had two. Then the citations for city ordinances.
we issued two for solicitors. There were no reportable accidents
in the, uh, roundabouts or that immediate area.
and the other accidents that were reported were throughout the city.
there were no, uh, specific trends for the reporting period.
moving on to the packet, I believe chief stewart,
uh, flips to the flock section. So trying
to follow his lead,
we will go to page five. And
for the flock hits, we had 79, which was up from the
previous month. The breakdown is we had nine for stolen vehicles,
37 were for sex offenders. But as you can see there, that,
uh, three of the vehicles were recorded eight times. Uh,
it just means they passed through the city. Yes, sir. Several times.
uh, stolen plate alerts. We had 14 gang su,
excuse me, suspected terrorist. We had one missing person alerts. We
had two, uh, outstanding warrants. We had nine
protection orders. We had seven, uh, zero for other agency
hot list and zero for violent persons. Uh,
down below are, uh, uh, activity.
the very first one, officer duran, received a flock hit, uh,
kind of coincides with us discussing the flock as a
stolen vehicle out of katy. It shows that, uh, the driver was
arrested and transported to fort bend county jail.
uh, going to the next page on page six is
our arrest breakdown. So we have total of
seven arrest. Two of those were juveniles, five were adults.
to your right, you see the charge categories. Evading arrest two.
theft was one warrant from another. Jurisdiction was one.
the qumv was one. Criminal trespassed, evading
one, and then evading with possession of a controlled
substance was one.
moving on to the additional
notes on page eight,
uh, mesa and the tennis court project
is moving slowly, but it is moving that,
uh, annamarie will be glad to hear that. We did finally receive our
router from t-mobile that we are setting up to use
for the back haul from the tennis courts to here where the access server's located.
uh, wright technologies actually has that and started working on the
setup with t-mobile and mesa for the,
uh, technical specifications needed.
excuse me. Moving down to the grants, the radio
recorder has been installed that as of friday,
this past friday. We consider that, uh, project to be complete,
that it is operational, that the
dispatchers and cid now have immediate access
to, uh, the archives and seems to be working very well. So
we're pleased with that. Uh, the dispatch
console that, uh, jerry brownley and myself attended a
zoom meeting last wednesday with
the governing powers to confirm our,
uh, radio selection. And our
need was still there. I was quite happy that they just confirmed
ours, that sugarland was on there asking for portable radios.
and my question session was about a minute and a half. Theirs was
about 20 that, uh, so I feel a
bit relieved, but also feel optimistic because they did mention that this is our
third submission for the same thing. And they were happy to see that
we had moved to the avtec console. So I think maybe
we've got everything, uh, in line this time.
uh, the portable radio grant, of course, has been awarded.
we have started receiving the accessories that come with the portable
radios. Not sure of the actual delivery date for the,
uh, portable radios. And then, uh, we're still working
on, jerry is working on a couple of different funding sources, uh, for
the in-car camera and body camera dilemma that we
are in for this and is looking at maybe treating it
as the radio console and splitting it between two different
grant sources that, uh, I think the amount is,
is kind of hindering us. Uh,
the legal update training, uh, continues as you know, we're
always excited when we can do in-house training, but also when we can partner
with our neighbors, stafford sugarland, missouri city. And as
you see there, we're still working with dps. I think they like
coming to our training facility. And, uh, our hospitality,
uh, liam, our evening shift, full-time
dispatcher has accepted a position with stafford police department,
but will remain on as a part-time
dispatcher. So, and courtney, thank you very much
for helping us to get it posted. And thank you, cameron, for our recruiting
video. Uh, the camp out, I'm just gonna
say as far as the pd goes, that it went well. I believe
cole's excited to report on that. And that
also we are completing our ieps, the incident
action plans for some of our upcoming events, such as the kickoff,
the summer and old town meadows. Uh, which is also
for those of us that have been here a while known as the school carnival.
and then lastly, uh, unfortunately yesterday we had
an aggravated robbery at aldi. And aggravated means
that a strong arm or weapon was used. In this
case, it was a handgun that a young lady
was coming out of aldi car pulls up, uh, gets
out and tells her to give 'em their, her money or
whatever she has on her. And she had just cashed
her paycheck and had cash in her pocket. So that's,
uh, very disappointing. As you know, aldi does not
have, uh, any video surveillance, but the detectives
were able to take the vehicle description and go back into the flock
system and find a matching card that, uh,
fits the timeframe as well. And they are trying
to contact the owner to determine whether they're the suspect or if the car
was stolen. Uh, as of four o'clock today, the, uh,
detectives have not been able to contact the registered owner of the vehicle.
and that concludes the, the report.
all right. Uh, counsel, any questions, comments? So if,
if she had just cashed her check, had she just come from the bank? Is this like a jugging
type incident? That was our, uh, initial
thought, but no, she had actually cashed the check the day
before and was doing her shopping. Uh,
and I take it that she was a cash type person.
and then I have a question on page six,
the business that declined prosecution. Mm-hmm.
. Was there a reason given for that? Or do
we need to have some discussions with a manager?
to my knowledge, I, I did see that. And, uh,
I think it was just the circumstance because we've not run into
that with them. If you remember, about a week ago,
we had the fellow that went in and took the, uh, laundry detergent
and went outside and put it in his shopping cart. And as he was making his
getaway, the officers were able to catch him pushing it down, uh,
west airport towards the feeder road. And, uh, have, have no issues
that when we've had a, we're able to catch a suspect. We've never
had any pushback, but something for us to follow up
on to make sure there wasn't, uh, an extenuating circumstance
or a new manager, I'm assuming
that is, uh, of concern to, uh, alderman staley.
if, if we have businesses that don't or decline prosecution, they're
inviting this type of activity into our city. Mm-hmm. , I feel the same
way. And, and so I would appreciate a follow up on that. Definitely.
uh, so, because it concerned me too. Well, if we go to
all that time in trouble and they just go, well, nevermind,
uh, they can move back to san francisco or something,
we need to arrest them. I have a question. Um, so yes, the
business that was mentioned, uh, and then you had mentioned aldi not having
surveillance. It seems like there are several businesses that do not have some sort
of a surveillance system in place. Is that,
unfortunately that is correct. Is that, uh, as,
as we, I know the chief has mentioned several times that video is our
friend. Mm-hmm. And, uh, our residents more and more taking
to that. But, uh, yes, we have a few
businesses who have nothing when we bring it
up to them. What is the, is it just the cost? They just don't care or
curious? I it's usually a corporate decision. Yeah.
and for some it's cost. And for some they don't want
to be in the middle. I mean, there are some businesses that refuse to prosecute. There
are some that will tell their employees, you do not attempt to stop anyone doing
shoplifting, be fired for various reasons,
you know, but, and I can understand not stopping them having an employees
stop them, but just to have a camera, just to have it have surveillance.
I just, well, if you take a look at a national chain mm-hmm. , look at how
much it would equip one store, multiply that out,
I think it would be probably prohibitive. And that is a corporate decision. Yeah.
and so there's nothing that the city, um,
can do to require it. Yes. We can strongly encourage it.
and when we have talked to management at aldi,
it was, they were polite and essentially as they
said that we'll send it up the chain. And
here we are years later. One,
one thing I wanna throw out there, um, would it be,
is is it possible to put a pole in the easement, put a camera on
it, and it's one that we monitor, not necessarily monitor, but go back
to, uh, I know there's been a lot of just smashing grabs on windows
and, and all these parking lot. It's gotten a little more serious with this one yesterday.
uh, is that a possibility? Uh, well, possibility
is, yes. The, but we run into a couple of things with that.
first of all, the placement and then what we're actually capturing, if we
put one camera up, what are we focused on? And the detail.
but then also the maintenance, uh, as we have on the agenda that flock
cameras are coming up and with our city cameras that we
currently have, you know, there's, uh, an annual maintenance
for keeping the system up and going. But then also the update and upgrade cost,
uh, you know, a couple of years. And we're cycling through cameras.
so there's many things. I I think the chief and
I have talked about this before, and I think one of the concerns
though is if we're putting a camera up that's monitoring
a private business, what do we run into with that as
well? I mean, is that acceptable? Do we need their permission?
uh, there's, uh, uh, a myriad of things to, to
consider, but is it possible? Yes, it
is. And then you'd mentioned that while we have cameras and they're in dispatch,
that uh, and they routinely look at 'em, they're not camera
monitors. Now, of course, with everything recording, 'cause that's
what we get out of this is we're always able to go back and review
video. I wonder if that would help, you know, be a deterrent. Even just
someone pulls into the aldi parking lot, they see a camera looking over the parking
lot. Maybe a sign that says you're being recorded. I, I don't
know if, if we were talking about this, and this is jack's opinion,
if we were talking about this 10 years ago, I'd say yes, but the
today's bad guy, they expect it. They,
it's no longer, it is kind of like the daytime burglary that
no longer is that an obstacle to them that, uh,
so, but yes, we would love to and love to work with
aldi and go over, especially some of the new technology that we're learning about
that, uh, to offer solutions. More than
likely it would require permission from the, the property owner.
um, otherwise you get into a probable cause in
incidents, um, at the county, we are actually prohibited from using
drones for investigation type purposes without a
search warrant.
well, I agree with that rule for the camp, for them, not for us.
maybe this incident will help all the, uh, management change
their mind. We'll see. Yeah. Jack, I have one thing
I'd like to ask. And that is on, um, on the fraud.
like, we had two incidents of fraud last month. And I just
got the doing some research on, uh,
a scam that's going on by folks
upon praying mostly upon elderly people or folks that have had,
uh, timeshares for a long time. And they go in and they talk to
'em and they come up with this big plan about how to get outta your timeshare
since you're gonna cro in 10 years and you're gonna be a burden to your kids.
why not get rid of it now type of thing. And, um,
people getting cleaned for thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.
have you heard anything about that in this region?
no, sir. Not that, but I hear the commercials on the am radio all the time
about we get you out of that. And I'm making a note because I want to look into
that and some of the research
that I was looking at, and I'm, I'm not a huge researcher.
I'm scamming skin, skin articles, scanning articles
that, uh, some of these are tied to the drug cartels
down in mexico. The, what's the w arena,
cartel or whatever it is, um, are big into this.
so that's a little scary in and of itself. So if you would
kind of check into it. Yes, sir. And I'll get, give with me and if you ever
need to and I'll throw you what I got. Okay. Okay. Because that might be a,
a good newsletter article as well. Um, yeah. Alright.
and anything else? Good
questions, good comments, counsel, and great report, jack. Thank you very much. Yes sir.
alright, item two, uh, parks and recreation.
well, you already took care of part of parks and recreation, didn't you? Oh yeah, he
did. He certainly did. Good evening council mayor. Um, this report
will cover parks and rec activities, actually from
december of 2023 to march of 24. Since I
wasn't able to participate last month. Um, now we get a four month review.
I'm also gonna do it a little bit out of, um, order tonight because we have
some special guests in the audience and I'd like to get them up here and back home
'cause it's a school night. Um, so I'm gonna first discuss some of our
upcoming events. And so our next events coming up will be concerts in
the park. And those are friday nights in april. So april 5th,
12th, and 26th. And as you guys know, we've been doing these for many years
now. We bring in a live band, food trucks, kids
and families are out there playing cornhole and just relaxing and
having a good time. Um, but on april 26th, that's
gonna be a special one for us. And I'm gonna bring my ya kids up
here to talk about what we're doing. Um, you guys can start making
your way up here and carolyn as well. Um, and that
night we are calling light the night. And if y'all recall, um, many
years ago we did a light the night, um, where we have the,
uh, chinese lanterns that participants would purchase and
then they would light them and put 'em a float out on the lake. So I'm gonna let yak
step, step up now and tell you about the event and why they're doing it and
who's involved.
hello council, I am carolyn whitlow. I'm the recreation coordinator
for the parks department in the city. Um, part of my job is running,
um, a bunch of the city programs. One of those programs is yak our
youth action council. Um, our council currently
holds 10 consistent high school students. Um, the goal
is that it would promote leadership in them. Um, we have participated at
every, I think every event this year, um,
from the august start of the august school year until now. Um, our
yacht kids have been been at every single one of them. Um, one of our yacht kids
is charlotte, and then we have camden miller as well. Um,
currently, um, we have decided to fundraise for
make a wish. I know many of you have probably passed by the make-a-wish offices
just up the street. Um, but they actually grant wishes throughout our area.
there is a handful of wishes in fort bend county that, um,
are needing to be granted. Um, there is one wish in particular that is
the one that I, we got the closest one to meadows place.
um, she's a 17-year-old girl named michelle who has
lymphoma and her wish is to go to disney world. Um,
so our yak council will be raising money. Um, and
our first event, as colleen said, is on april 26th.
so charlotte's gonna talk about it.
hi. Um, you can bend that down, . Yeah.
um, so our event will be on the last concert in the park, which is
april 26th. Um, it will be from seven to 9:00 pm
um, so we're gonna release lanterns into the lake, um,
and families can write wishes, dreams, and encouraging notes on the lanterns
before releasing them. Um, it'll be $5 per lantern.
um, and then there will also be a silent auction with tons of fun items, um,
for folks to bid on. Um, and if you feel led to donate
more, there's a qr code, um, to an online donation link.
um, and yeah, will be at every concert in the park. So come see us at
those events. Okay.
thank you. That is all we had. You didn't get to talk.
he, he gave the pledge of allegiance. I have a question real quick, I
just want to confirm. Now, yak,
y'all have 10 members currently, is that correct?
yes. Currently we have 10 consistent members. Um, our
biggest event this year, we had 20 high schoolers at, and that was in
february. For those who don't know are follow yak, that's phenomenal
for city our sides. Congratulations on that. Thank you. I know y'all are
excited and I also wanna make sure that I, that the yak
in meadows place is still as a self-governing body.
is that correct? Yes sir. It is. This year we, our goal
was to, um, elect after the fall semester,
but we had, didn't have enough attendees. Um, but now we have a consistent amount
and most of our students are freshmen or sophomore. So they will be older
and will be elected come the next school year. Outstanding.
and that's, that's kind of place and, and things
that build leaders and their leaders for this city. I'm real excited and I thank
y'all very much. And if you have never been to
the, uh, what is it called, uh, lantern light
or light tonight out on that lake,
it is beautiful. It truly is beautiful. And, uh, I,
I can't tell you how excited I am. So thank y'all very much. Thank you.
and council for the ya kids?
nope. Just thank you very much. 'cause kurt says thanks. I'm agree.
get your parts director back up there so she can take the eight here. .
thank you. Thank
you again, yak. And then also, I just wanna reiterate, um, cameron
will be posting on social media and, and other, um, avenues
the qr codes so that if individuals would like to make a donation anytime
between now and, um, through june, I believe is it carolyn, through
june, they can continue to make donations. Um, they could do that online. It
directly links 'em to make-a-wish, uh, foundation for this in particular.
um, wish. So we're looking forward to that. We'll also be doing the live auction
on that night. Some of the items that we'll have will be stop signs, street
signs from meadow's place. Um, and then I'm still working on
a partnership through healthman ford for some sports memorabilia. So
be sure to be there the 26th. Um, kurt, I know that we can count on
you. Alright, so moving forward, um, the
next event after that is our summer kickoff, and that's gonna be scheduled
for june 7th this year. I know the calendars that
we sent out, um, for city of meadows place, it had it
for may 24th, but we realized that is graduation night for fort bend, isd.
so we moved it, uh, to the following month, june 7th. Um,
counsel, that's the night that we need you. We need your assistance
to help flip burgers and, um, we'll bring in staff
of obviously to clean up and help serve. But we need you guys there
to, um, cook. So that's june 7th. If y'all want to
email me and let me know who's available. I'll also send out a reminder email,
um, for your help as well. So, event
recap, this is going back to december, um, which is a
weird thing for me to talk about as I'm planning for summer pool and,
and hot weather. But christmas memories is, as you all know,
was a big success. Um, that is an event that was funded
by edc and our general fund. Um, we had many
partners for that event that helped made it possible. Um, meadows
elementary, choir meadows elementary, um,
national honor society, virtue, tattoo meadows, marlins, and of course the
yt kids were there to help run the event. Uh, we believe that
that was our largest christmas event that we have had. Um,
jack, I don't even remember the numbers. Um, it's been, it's been too
many months, but 873 , I think it was even
more than that. But we had quite a few. It was a great turnout, great weather.
um, and again, so many departments come together to help support that
and we really couldn't do it without, um, the, the help and support of everyone
within the city. So, looking forward to this year's
christmas memories, it's always bigger and better each year. So I'm not sure what we're gonna do.
maybe we'll actually have it really snow, but we'll see.
so moving forward, uh, we are
got my notes outta order here.
okay. And we had the family camp out this past saturday. Two of our council member
families were there and slept in tents, so I appreciate you guys coming
out and supporting. Uh, it was a good time. We had
155 participants on site. Um,
pd obviously was there as well to help, um, keep us safe throughout
the night. We had one of our staff members that spent the night on site.
uh, we had a great time. There were 26 tents out on the field.
not everyone who participates actually stays the night. Many families will come out for
the whole day, experience the activities, have dinner, roast
s'mores, watch a movie, and then walk home. And that's the other great
advantage of, um, our small town, is that you can walk to an event
and you can walk home and not have to fight traffic and parking spaces.
um, so that's always a, a really neat thing. But we had a great time. Um, some
of the new things that we brought in were ax throwing and the,
um, rock climbing wall, and then the movie. Um, at night
we, we showed a evening movie to try to help wind the kids down, get 'em ready for,
uh, tents. Kurt, I heard you and some of the adults were a little loud
and rowdy though, so next year you need to remember 10 o'clock
is quiet time . There was a specific
table over there I heard. No, but it was a great time.
and, um, jack, again, if you can tell your officers thank you for their support and assistance
at that event. Projects completed, uh, we
completed the memorial program, council approved doing the
bench and tree donation. Um, so thank you for that. Our new
rental options for half day use, um, was approved by council
as well. Our dorrance pender fence that was
replaced last week, if you haven't seen it, looks great. Nice, sturdy and,
uh, ready to go. Another 25, 30 years. We also
laser graded and did fill work on both ball fields.
um, that was supported by edc
also, I meant to say that the fence replacement was also funding was provided
by edc. We also worked on the ball fields, uh,
with new improved irrigation. That was also funded by edc.
and when I say new improved, this is specific to a ball field.
there were some issues with the way that the irrigation was laid out. Um, it
was overwatering and under watering in some areas, and then
also creating some big ruts and divots in the infield. So
our irrigator came out, he redesigned it, moved some things around,
and, um, hopefully, uh, we haven't had any negative reports since that's
occurred. So hopefully that that took care of the issue. We also stock
the lake with 1200 trout, and that was provided
by texas park 'cause of wildlife. It's a partnership. We pay for half, they
pay for half. Um, so if we order 700 fish, we end
up with 1400 fish. So it's a great program. Um, again,
they brought them in this year. They did a little different, they brought it in in two batches,
which is actually smart. They let the first batch come in, get acclimated.
um, two weeks later they came with the second half and got those rea acclimated.
and it also, um, lengthens the fishing season for the trout because we've
got some pretty hardy fishermen that come out, um, especially after
that first release. So this extends it a little bit longer, and we had nice cool
weather to be able to maintain that.
uh, we also inve, uh, investigated a self-service
kayak rental kiosk. I had mentioned that to you guys that we'd be looking into
that. And we have realized it's really not something that, um,
we want to do here. It comes with a cost of $18,000
just to put it in and then they share 50% of
the profits. So that's not something that we really want to do.
um, so we moved on, but I just wanted to update y'all because we were looking at that
upcoming projects. Jack had already mentioned the tennis court, um, access conversion.
so we are looking forward to that project being completed.
uh, our pool reception desk, I had mentioned to you guys that we will have a new area
as the pool season opens up, folks will come into a very professional
looking, um, area to be able to get their wristbands,
make purchases, ask questions, things of that nature. So we'll be installing that
over the next three weeks. Turf
installation in the sensory park that's gonna be going in this week.
so by the end of the week, we should see some movement out there. That project
was pushed a little bit, um, with all the rain that we've had. Um,
so we're not their first project in line, but a few down
seasonal landscaping now that we know we're past free season. Um,
it is time now for us to replant in some of the areas that were hit by
the freeze. Many of our plants are coming back on their own, which we're
excited about that. It doesn't always look that beautiful at this point because
they're so small and they still have to grow to maturity. But in other areas that
are highly visible, uh, we will be putting in the, the larger
plants as they come in. That's the other difficulty is
getting 'em from the nursery because everyone's trying to get them. And the nurseries were
hit too during the freeze. Uh, but you will see some of that going
in over the next couple of weeks. Um, and then our last project we're
working on at this moment is preparing the pool complex for summer. So we're doing
extensive cleaning repairs, um, on the benches, the slides,
the pool, the lights, the fans, um, the lifeguard chairs,
um, on and on. So it's just getting it ready. So it'll be, um, good to go for
the marlins when they start, which is in the end of april
actually. Um, mayor's pointing that he has his, uh, marlin's
tie on. Thank you mayor. Um, and then also the, then the pool season
will begin, um, at the end of may. So may 24th,
if that's a saturday. I don't have my calendar in front of me will be the first day that the pool opens.
that's memorial weekend. So staffing,
I wanted to update you guys a little bit about that. Um,
we had six of our staff, which is all of our parks and rec staff,
participate in the traps conference. That's texas rec and parks
society. And this conference was down in galveston, um, during february.
it is a statewide conference. Um, we all went,
participated. Um, it was a three to four day conference,
depending upon your education track, great time to
network. Um, get up on our latest trends in the park and rec
field, um, troubleshoot with other folks. One of our staff
attended a specialized summer camp training while she was there. It was carolyn
who was here earlier. And then our park staff specifically.
um, they attended, it's called an equipment rodeo. It's actually
kind of fun team building. And it's where the different parks departments
utilize, um, some of their maintenance equipment that they're always on, whether it
be tractors, um, weed whackers blowers, irrigation.
and they do obstacle courses and events with them. And it's a competition between
cities. So our staff had never seen that before. So they are geared
up for next year. They're pretty excited. Um, they saw
all of it and they, they said that already that they can do better. So we're gonna hold
it to 'em. But it was a great time, um, and especially for my staff to
go out and participate in a, an event like that to see the bigger
picture, the connection across the board, what other cities are doing.
um, and again, like I said, a lot of problem solving happens at these events.
so thank you for letting us go. We all appreciate that, that, that y'all supported
us in that effort. My last item is that we are currently
hiring seasonal staff for the pool and summer camp. I do
wanna let you know we are struggling with no low numbers of applicants.
um, there is a, an action item tonight that we will be talking about here.
and I'll, I'll discuss that in further detail and answer questions in regards to that.
but I just want you to know that this is the season it closed march 22nd.
by this time we already have more than what we need
typically this year. We do not. We are way under what
we need to run a standard program. So
that's all I have. Are there any questions?
I have one, colleen. Yes, sir. Um, where is the traps
conference next year? Oh, good question. I'm not sure.
tell me tomorrow. Just hope it's not dallas. I'm sorry, say that again.
I said I'm, I tell me tomorrow and I just hope it's not dallas
. Um, anyway,
anything else? Nope. Thank you very much. Thank you
carolyn. Thank you. And, um, I'm excited to seem like you're
grow growing trap or growing the yak into a very
viable organization. I'm gonna say thank you for that. Alright,
next report is the monthly fire report,
um, which I give
and I can't find my little tad. Sorry. Uh, I know we had 40,
yeah, here was, we had 40 engagements last, last month in
the last reporting period. Uh, we were called out, uh,
in numerous different ways. Um, some of the police matters,
some rescue and ems. There was one of those,
uh, one motor si or one motor vehicle accident with injuries that they,
that they responded to. Uh, they had, uh, the fire
department responded to 3m ms calls, um,
and 25 medical assists with the ms crew.
and a lot of those take place over at me, senior village and with the hamptons
up there. Uh, so I'm glad that they are here to
be, um, be a part of our, our
city. And they're so close by, um, our fire marshal inspection.
uh, our inspectors working with our building inspectors provide a valuable
asset to city of meadows place. And I think we're in really good shape
on that. And they work closely with our permits department, uh, as well.
so I think we're in really, really good shape is from a fire department
point of view. And that's all I got to say about that.
seat administrators. You're up. Thanks, mayor. Uh,
a few items for tonight. Uh, first I want to, uh, uh,
point out, they're on the second row, uh, a familiar face. Angie hernandez,
oh, I want to introduce her as our new code enforcement employee. Uh,
angie is on the job now. Um, just a quick, uh,
quick resume for angie. She has almost five years here at the city as our permit technician.
uh, before that she worked for the city of pasadena for 13 years, uh,
12 of which she actually did code enforcement, um, in, in, in that town. And so
we're happy to have her on board here. Um, she is right now doing a little bit
of double duty on both desks, both permit tech and code enforcement until
we can, uh, uh, plug in that position. In fact, we actually have, uh, I
guess two interviews scheduled, uh, tomorrow, uh, for that job. So we're hoping for good
results with that. Um, right now, you know, we're working with angie, um,
reviewing that code book, um, getting a good understanding of our
codes, uh, hitting the big ones first. Um, you know, understanding process.
uh, there's a lot to code enforcement. Uh, everything from, you know, violations and
citations to warrants and making sure that everything's in line because ultimately,
um, you know, these types of cases can end up in municipal court. So documentation is key
for these things. So there's a lot of orientation, a lot of training going on right now. Uh, we
know there's a lot of high grass in town right now. Uh, many of those high grass cases
have already had, uh, door tags or letters been sent out. Um,
but we're starting to exercise those muscles on the big things, the obvious things, and then getting
comfortable with that before we move on to some of the, uh, the other, uh, code
enforcement issues that we have, uh, uh, that we pay attention to here in town.
so we're glad to have angie on board. Um, the other thing I wanna mention is,
um, not long ago on the 15th of this, uh, month, uh, we did
some maintenance on our lift station. Uh, rod and public works brought a vacuum truck
out there to help, uh, vacuum out the lift station. And one of the things that,
uh, that we noticed is that we did have quite a buildup of grease.
uh, and so it's a good opportunity. You may have noticed in the most recent newsletter,
um, we put something out there, uh, called fog, which stands for flats,
oils, and grease. Uh, we want to emphasize to the community, once again, it's
very important that you don't, uh, uh, dump any, uh, grease oils
down your drain. That does end up eventually in our wastewater treatment plant and in our lift station.
and it does create problems, uh, for us in any community. Um,
and so just wanna emphasize, um, you know, to be careful what you poured on
that drain. Um, and what are, what are the effects of that?
nothing lessen, lessens the ability to be effective and
cost us money to clean and repair. Well, it certainly costs us, costs us money to, to,
to degrease, so to speak, our facilities. Um, but,
um, all that stuff is, is, uh, uh,
is harmful to our, uh, to our equipment. Um,
do we, so that's, that's the impact on our side.
what we really need to tell the owners is that also impacts their
store, their pipes and can clog their pipes and
cost some pretty costly plumber co expenses.
um, that'll probably get their more attention more than what it costs. The city.
not a good thing. Um,
I'm, I'm not gonna tell that story. Okay. Um, ,
it's important. Um, the final thing I wanna mention
tonight is that, uh, we are gonna be making some improvements out in front of city hall here pretty soon.
one of the things that we need to get a handle on is, uh, when we do get a heavy rain right now,
we have some water seepage, particularly through those front doors coming down, those, uh, coming down the
brick wall. Uh, it interferes with our bulletin board. It also interferes with our doors and our
new locking mechanism, uh, floors, sheet rock, et cetera. Uh,
we're gonna be spending some money to putting in some new flashing out front in order to,
um, to help mitigate that. Um, but that really speaks to a larger issue, which
is obviously facilities, maintenance, maintenance. And I just wanna put on your radar,
um, you know, from time to time, we need to look at these things. We're gonna be spending about $6,800
on this fix. Uh, one of the things when we did that was we just got a quote to see
what it would cost to go ahead and, and repair and maintain the, uh, the awning that
portico out front with those kind of plexiglass bubbles. Um, those are
beginning to show a lot of where they're probably original of the building. Um, we're
not ready to tackle that expense yet, because that would be in front of you if we had to. Um,
but, you know, the lobby, uh, something we're starting to kind of talk about is
looking a little tired. Um, and so in the next few years, I, I expect that
we're gonna talk to council about, uh, investing in some of the renovations and some of the maintenance
of our facilities. And so this is just been a very small, uh,
a part of it, but I think it, it represents making sure that we keep on top, on top
of these things. Um, finally, I wanna remind counsel that a week
from today, we have a joint public hearing scheduled for two specific use permits.
so if we can put on the calendar, we're gonna post for that this week. Um, so
just be reminded that a week from today, hopefully we'll see you here. Once again,
that concludes my reports. It's a nightmare.
moving on to my council or mayor council comments.
now the time with the thing on.
I wanna say thank you to everyone from meadows place who showed up tonight.
I'm really, really pleased that you're here. And all those in meadow, texas that watch us
are welcome to y'all too. Um,
first mayor's comment I have is regarding business
activity that may affect our future. Um, I just wanna
say that there's a lot going on. People are looking at different things.
uh, we've got potential activity on the corner of west airport
and kirkwood at that pad site. Uh,
supposedly the owner of the site, uh, has, um,
has somebody he's working with to come in there and a couple
more inside his center once
they get sprinkler system and somes other stuff done, which they're working
on, which, uh, angela will be working from start to finish on that
one, huh. Um, but it's exciting,
uh, because these types of businesses will bring life, bring activity
into that center and maybe bring us a little bit of money, not a whole lot,
but better than poking now with a hot stick.
but, uh, I want to say that, uh, edc
uh, has been working diligently to try to, uh, get
business in here. And our, and one of the things we do is visit with
our owners. And when we visit with our owners and we remind
them that we want them to develop this property, 'cause many times they have
properties elsewhere and they kind of forget about us a little bit.
'cause in case they didn't know, we're only one square mile here. Uh, so we,
we do work with 'em to get 'em on. And we, I think that, I think that it's fine.
uh, we're doing a fine job. And I think that we've got a backup plan to the
9.4 acres that's gonna be discussed at the next,
uh, meeting at, uh, public, uh, planning, the public hearing.
and I urge everybody to be here at that public hearing.
if you want your voice heard, you need
to be here. If you're not, please complain
to somebody else. 'cause this is your chance to stand
up and let this council be heard and they want
you to come up and speak. So please do. Uh,
my next comment is on, uh, may election and local
activity. Um, I just wanna say that
this is our city. We
turned out a 26.9% of
our registered voters last time. Unfortunately,
what happens is when it's just a local election, sometimes we have
a drop off in attendance or, and, and we, we can't have that. We
really need you to step up and get out there, get your neighbors out there, encourage
'em to come out there. I encourage you to please attend any meet
and greets that, uh, any of the mayoral, or
I guess you could have one too, if you're running for council, even though you're unopposed.
uh, hint, hint. Uh, but I intend, I urge
you to in attend all of those type of functions. And
if there's a, uh, function that gets together for, uh,
uh, in a community, uh, driven
type activity, uh, please at attend
those. And I know right now we have one that is lined up by
the, uh, fort bend chamber of commerce. They
were asked to put one together and they have cameron, can you remind me that date?
I believe it's the 10th. The 10th I believe. Okay. It's the 10th.
uh, so put that on your calendars. Uh, please
attend. You're gonna have an opportunity to visit with your, uh,
visit with your candidates. And that's important 'cause they're gonna
be representing you for the next two years and representing this city. So that's
all I have to say. This is real important. Uh,
it doesn't matter whether you're young or old, as long as you're registered
to vote, please come out and vote.
all right. And that it moves on to council comments.
um, no significant updates this month, um,
on the bike path. Um, we probably will have a
contract change in front of us next week. As with
the, uh, public hearings that we're gonna do, I've asked nick to probably put that on
the agenda. If the engineer gets the proposal into us,
think they work, uh, they, they should. Um,
and then the, for dorrance, the interlocal agreement has been submitted
to the county and hopefully that can work through the legal process
fairly quickly.
with that, we'll move on to the, uh, who keeps turning it off.
. Um, we'll move on to item
e, the regular agenda. Uh, this is discussion consideration
of resolution 2 0 24 dash one zero,
accepting the auditor's engagement letter from belt harrison,
pik, whatever it is. Now we need to, uh,
to engage these folks again, we need to
pass resolution 2024 dash one zero. Do
I have such a motion? If not,
we're not gonna have an auditor.
I will move to approve for the 2320.
which, which year, which fight or which budget is this?
24. 25 through 26. Right.
so it'll be the fiscal year 24 audit.
correct. Okay.
so I've had a motion. Second. Do I have a second? Second,
I thank you very much. Now if we can get out and get on down
the program. And all in favor? Aye. Aye.
any opposed? None. Motion carries unanimously. Thank
you, man. That's what was throwing me.
okay. Um, item number two.
uh, this is, um, I'm gonna ask kevin to stand up in case
she anybody has any questions they can ask right there. Um,
stepping up to the podium, uh, it's kevin atkinson,
um, owner and seer and knowall
for texas pride, who is, uh, our garbage carrier.
um, as you look in your backup, uh, they recently
sent some correspondence to the city, uh, talking about fuel
benefit and trying to offset some problems that they're having
with funding, uh, matching what's going on.
um, so this, this is gonna be a discussion consideration regarding
resolution 2 0 2 4 dash 11 authorized
mayor to execute a contract amendment to the residential
solid waste collection contract with texas pride disposal,
implementing what they're calling a variable energy charge for fuel.
and, uh, just to catch us up, we signed the, the last contract, what in 2022.
so with that, basically they're asking for
1% up every time it pops over $3 25 cents
a gallon. Uh, so we will see an increase. Kevin, do
you have anything to say or anything you want to add or, yeah, ab absolutely.
I appreciate it. Um, we've, uh, been out here since 2016.
uh, texas pride has been in business since 2013. Um,
really until this year we've had the benefit of very stable fuel. Um, from
july of 2013 through december of 20, we averaged $2. Is
that speaker on? Okay, you getting? Yes. Uh, we
averaged $2 80 cents per gallon through that, uh, window.
we hedged our fuel, uh, 21 through 23, and then coming into
this year that hedge expired and just with where fuel's at, uh,
not beneficial to renew a hedge. Um, and it's also not in a position that we had
previously budgeted for or, or modeled for. And so with the,
uh, proposal in front of you, we actually started this conversation. We had 1200
contracts we had to go touch to get this in front of. Started with our hoas, uh,
in september, uh, our muds in november, december, and then wrapping it
up now with our, our cities um, the proposals you mentioned
essentially for every, uh, 25 cents, that fuel is
above $3 and 25 cents per gallon. Uh, it's a 1% adjustment.
um, so using last month's data, uh, it was $3 and 79 cents.
so it'd be the equivalent of 3%, I think for you guys. That's right. About 20 cents
per, uh, percentage. So about 60 cents last month should be 2%
based on where fuel's been this month. Um, but just trying to
offset, uh, the fuel cost when it's, uh, elevated there.
one thing we learned through the pandemic, uh, we don't like coming to our customers and asking for
increases when things go crazy. So we felt that this was a transparent
and, uh, I guess simple way to approach
a fuel adjustment, um, on a go forward that, uh, assists
us when fuel's elevated. Uh, and then obviously falls off when uh, it
comes back down. Alright, counsel,
I'm assuming everybody heard and understood that, kevin, you're too tall for a microphone,
. Um, so our options are say yes,
say no or say heck no. And rebid it.
we can't, we, we can't rebid it. Mayor. Um, we, we we're in, we're in a three
year agreement lockdown. We can't, we could cancel the contract.
uh, well, there's some, yeah, I mean, there, I'm just putting it out there.
we could, there, there has to be written notice. I understand. Yeah, I can write it. We're, we're
in the check code and we're done. We're in a, okay, so
do y'all have any, does council have any questions? If kevin wally's up here, so there's
all this talk about percentages and, and whatnot.
so if it, if it's a 1% cost, I think we're at,
what, 18 something now a month per household? 1750.
um, well, yeah, I thought we were at 18.
um, so what's 1% mean? What's 2%
mean? That's what, is that on the
fuel cost or on the overall cost? Yeah, so, good, good question. So,
uh, on the base cost for service, so if the base cost is that 18 and
change, it's 1% on that it 18 and change.
so 18 cents.
okay. Because remember counsel, we're not, we're not gonna send out variable
utility charges. No. So whatever this increase is, is
gonna come out of what we're charging the residents
and what, and some of that cost is put in there and we're tight anyway.
we can, I mean, we can make adjustments as necessary, um, but ultimately the
invoice comes in, but we're not gonna do it month one month up and down, not month to month. No.
I've been basically satisfied with the service
though, so I will go ahead and make the motion to approve.
okay. We have a motion to approve.
have a second. It sounds like the, the fee would end up being what,
270 bucks a month extra if it's roughly 1500
homes? That's about right. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's not gonna break
us. We've, we're charging enough in there to cover that.
um, well a 1%, you know, if we start getting into the 3% number,
then we're probably gonna have to sit down and look at the rates. But then
the question will become, is this a a short term issue with with gas
prices or a long term issue? Exactly. And I don't like it, but I'm
gonna recommend that we do. And so we've got a motion a second. All in favor real quick.
when is our contract up? It's a three year agreement that began in 2022.
uh, 25 signed in june of 2022. So yeah,
there is an option for an automatic three year renewal if we don't give 60 day notice.
so it's sort of a, kind of, sort of an evergreen, but there's a 60 day, that's what we did
last time. Fair? Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, so we have a motion. Second.
all in favor? Oh, david, the question I have, uh, how, how do we, uh,
how is this gonna get communicated to the city? How, how will we see this on our bill and
how do we track it? Yeah, absolutely. Uh, another great question. So it'll show up as a separate line item,
uh, as that vec charge when it's applicable. Uh,
we can, uh, as backups send you guys, uh, just a letter that
says, hey, last month fuel was an average of $3 and 68 cents.
uh, therefore it's 2%. Okay. Um, we're doing that for our utility district, so we can add that. Alright.
as you guys say that last, thank you. Yep. And, and we would've to rely on our accounting
department to kinda look that over. I feel pretty confident
that she'll do it, . Okay. That was a
good question, david. Thank you. Anybody else? Where was all in
favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. That motion
carries unanimously. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.
as we come into an election, uh, cycle, we hope that this is not gonna be an issue for
some time. So . Okay.
moving on to what item three. Um,
which is has to do with, uh,
resolution 2024 dash 12 authorized mayor and city secretary
to execute an interlocal cooperation contract with department
of public safety for the state texas to failure to appear program.
courtney, would you give us a brief overview of that and what this will do?
yeah, so currently this, the city participates in this, this allows us
to issue the failure to appear, put the hold on the driver's license.
um, this is just cleaning up some language in the agreement due
to changes in legislature. This is cleaning up legislative
changes. Mm-hmm. , is that basically it? Yes. Okay.
and I'll make a motion. We approve. Motion to approve by david. Second.
second by tia. Any further discussion? All in favor,
aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously
and I'm assuming we'll take care of that. Okay. This is discussion
item number four is discussion in consideration regarding
resolution 2 0 2 4 dash one three ratifying
the emergency repair of the wastewater treatment plant blower number three
in the amount of $38,506. Counsel, you
remember this came before you and we approved the expenditure
and we heard, we heard about the expenditure. This is approving the expenditure,
ratifying them.
motion by rick second by kurt. Any
further discussion? Nothing. Right, please. With,
well, at least he woke up and smiled back there. That is true.
okay.
and I know he's looking forward to getting new
blower mowers and control panels and that whole thing back there.
um, item number five, this is a $7,500,
is that correct? Oh, we
didn't vote on this. 38,000. You're right rick. Uh, nothing is
cheap, but we still need to vote on, I'm told, so. Okay.
all in favor of the, uh, ratification on, on the
38,506. Aye, aye.
any opposed? Motion carries unanimously, whoever said that. Thank
you very much. Now we're move on to five,
uh, which is a $7,500 budget amendment for flock
camera, annual subscription and maintenance.
uh, jack, would you step up and give us an
overview? I think we've all got a handle on it, but just in case.
yes sir. These are the three cameras that the city
approved to finish our coverage of all of the entrances
into the city. And we've just
never actually funded the annual renewal
of that. And that's where we're, we have a total of 11 cameras.
the the other ones were on the grant, which is coming, uh, quickly
to a close. So this, the, the council
recommended three cameras in discussion with police department
finish out basically the, the perimeter of the city. Yes, sir. That
we have all access points covered with lot cameras. And this is the maintenance fee to
cover 'em for the, for a year. Yes, sir.
okay. Counsel, any questions? Well, I'll
move to approve. Second. I have a motion by rick, second by
david. Any, any discussion? I have a question. Is the,
uh, is the money for one full year or is it just the remainder
of the year? It, it's a full year. Okay. Oh,
what a good question. So I don't remember where the three additional
were. I believe it was the blair meadow entrance.
blair we, blair meadow, ainsworth, and,
uh, do at montecito. I mean, uh,
montecito at dairy ashford. So I mean those,
the rest of 'em we had grants for. We wanted to add those three
because basically that's our houston border.
um, and then obviously I think we're seeing
the value for it based on the reports every month,
the, um, stolen vehicles that we're chasing down and everything
else. Well, a comment to that, and
I may have not mentioned this earlier in talking about aldi, that we were
able to use the flock system to develop a suspect
in this. But it's also been entered into our hot list
that if that vehicle comes into the city, we will get an alert. But also
any of the other flock cameras that our neighbor have, they will be alerted to the vehicle
and their area as well, along with the information that
they're suspects in an aggravated robbery. So there's, it, it is quite
deep the use of it. It's not just a stolen vehicle coming into the city,
but we also have a lot of investigative and our neighbors are, you know, we
all reach out to each other when we get flock information.
question. Um, yeah. Is there opportunity for, uh, reestablishing
ano another grant on these? Or is it a, was it a one once and done type?
I know we have 10 under grant now five, originally five. We added total
of 13 cameras. But can we get grants to renew? Jerry is looking into
it, but I'm afraid with flock's popularity that, that
has kind of hindered us. Uh, the funding source that he originally
had, which we went to twice as not funding this project.
but yes, we are constantly looking at doing that since we have had some
success, they're, they're looking to expand
their kingdom, not re-up the ones they have
. So, heads up, uh, as the next budget cycle hits, uh, we're
gonna have to talk about absorbing those maintenance costs into our fiscal year budget. Um,
you know, if and when we, uh, probably fiscal year,
they're not all, they're not all rolling off at the same time. So we'll have to talk about that for fiscal year 25.
alright, so we have a motion and we had a second. All
in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.
I don't. Thank you. Thank you jack. Thank you so much. And uh,
I know I've seen your officers, kevin, take care. Um,
I've seen your officers react, react some days where they hit that
door running and I know it's 'cause they had a flock call and you know,
and they just, I love it. So thank you. Uh, item
number six and seven are kind of back to back.
um, these are the meadows place. Uh, police department received
a grant from the texas comptroller and uh,
for $22,661 and 47 cents.
and, um, then the next one they have $2,661
and 47 cents where they're gonna spend it. Uh,
so basically I'm looking for, uh, a motion to
consider and pass ordinance number 2024 dash
17 amending the general fund revenue budget
to the amount of 26 61 47 for police
training motion
by david second by kurt.
any further discussion? All in favor, aye. Aye.
any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.
now we've got assistant chief ashton back there
all excited about getting that 2,600 c $200 'cause he wants
to spend it. Uh, item number seven is discussion and consideration of
ordinance 2024 dash 18 amending the general fund
budget for fiscal year ending september 30th, 2024.
increasing line item 1 0 0 dash 0 5 5 4 2
for grant funded training. 26 61 47.
do I have a motion to, uh, pass ordinance 2024 dash
18 motion? Yes. T
motion made the motion. Who made the second down over here somewhere.
was kurt. Okay. Got a motion by tia. Kurt has
second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion
carries unanimously. What was
that already spent? Is that what the deal? Okay,
item number eight. Um, you might as well head up
ms. Parks director,
um, this discussion in consideration regarding a pay increase for
summer slash seasonal staff. Um,
she touched base on it a little earlier saying that we don't
quite have the staff we need and
we're bind. Why don't you give us an overview, please, colleen?
um, yes. As I stated earlier, at this point in the hiring season,
we already historically have had more than
we have needed, um, in regards to applicants for lifeguards
and camp counselors. Um, this year we have, um,
five lifeguard apps and we usually need 18 to 20.
we have seven camp counselors and we usually need about 15.
so we are behind, um, extremely. And some
of the conversations that we've had with past, um, staff from
last year, they have mentioned it's due to what we pay, that they can go
somewhere else and and get more. Um, did you include in the packet for them
to look at? Okay, so I gave you comparisons of the cities around
us, the competitive salaries. If you see we are, um,
for our lifeguards in particular, we're paying nine 50 an hour, um,
which is well below, um, the average of 1275.
uh, surrounding cities are paying anywhere from 11 up to
I think $16 for a lifeguard. So
we're trying to hit the sweet spot on that of 1275. So that'd be
an increase of 5 cents. Um, same thing with the
pool supervisor. We're paying $12 and 75 cents. The average is $20
and 50 cents. Uh, so again, we are well below the
average in the area. So we are hopeful to, um, increase
their salaries. Again, this is for the summer, um, to entice,
um, more employees to come and work for us again. Um, we do have
an option and the option's not mentioned on here. The other option is if we
don't increase the rates, we can reduce the number of our bather
loads and the numbers of hours that we operate the pool. So that's the other option
is that we can reduce our, our operating hours and days of the week and also
control the numbers coming in. So instead of a hundred bather load, it
might be anywhere from 25 to 50 based off how many lifeguards
we actually have to be able to go out there and maintain the pool
. So really
on tonight's agenda item, really all we're asking is for permission to make
these adjustments. This is gonna have to be followed up with a ba, a budget adjustment later on in
a year. We don't wanna do this quite yet because we want some time to have a better idea of exactly
what it's gonna be. I'd rather bring one ba to you guys as opposed, opposed to two. So
we know this is obviously gonna have a budget impact, um, but there's
a lot of factors that'll help us know exactly what to bring. So this is just asking permission, then
it'll be followed up with a basically a check or a, an invoice to you guys, so
to speak, an opportunity to spend to, to amend the budget. As someone
who's at the pool a lot with my kids and, and, uh, with swim,
et cetera, our lifeguards are awesome. Uh, we truly have the best of the
best and, and I think we need to continue to recruit the best.
and if we're not doing that, it's a no brainer to me.
uh, we we've gotta I'd go with the recommendations you put
on here. I like it. Are do
we need a motion here? The form of motion? Yeah. So, uh, we have a motion to
motion to, uh, adjust the lifeguard and pool supervisor
to the suggested to the suggested increased, uh, per hour amount that
you have here in the packet. Okay. We have a, we have a, a motion. Do I have a
second? Second, second by to, yeah, I also had
a comment. Um, I, I agree with you. Um, I think we need,
um, we need staff and we need, um, as
top level staff as possible. We saw that last summer. Yes. Obviously we had,
um, we had a scare and your staff was there and trained and ready.
um, and, and they were amazing. And this is a problem all over.
I'm, I'm hearing different cities and, and areas they're having the same issues
when it comes to lifeguards. Um, so yes, I completely
think that we should do this. I support it. Thank you. And I, and I
want to clarify, this is also for our camp counselor staff as well.
um, but those we're not asking for funding for that because the registration
fees for camp will offset the increase for the counselors.
well I was, you know, somebody might say, geez, $10 to just
sit at the pool and, and have fun. But we do put a lot of
pressure on these kids and they're required to do a lot of training and
that's gonna need to be recognized as tia said with, we had an event last year
and if we wouldn't have had trained lifeguards, we could have lost a child on that.
mm-hmm. . So, um, I don't think the community
is gonna be very interested in having the pool open three days a week.
so I think we're gonna need to make this adjustment. I would also
like to add to that is
lifeguards maintain most of that pool.
they do. They check, check the chemicals, clean, clean the grounds, they cleaned the
equipment. Mm-hmm. , they cleaned the bathrooms. I
was so shocked when I found out my kid cleaned the bathroom every day
and never seen him clean the bathroom at home. .
but we are currently with red cross as our training agency
who is the standard bearer in this industry.
our city takes this seriously and that's why
I tell you you're comfortable with them up there. You're comfortable
with 'em up there. As someone who lost whose
child turned blue and died and they brought 'em back because
of their training, I'm comfortable with them up there and I'm
thrilled to see pragmatic mind saying, hey,
the pool is an important part of our community.
you look up there some days that things packed and those are nothing but laughs and
love going on at that pool. And I appreciate it a lot. So we have a motion,
we have a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
hearing none. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you council
mayor. And you go back with rod and smile. . Okay.
okay. Item, uh, what, where did I flipped it
too far? Discussion and consideration regarding council
comments and agenda items. I wanted to bring this up because
we're getting ready to have a changeover pretty soon.
and, um, we've been following a format that
was handed to me 22 years ago as a member
of council and about 17 years plus
as mayor, where we
sit down and we have council comments or mayor count comments, then
council comments. But somebody actually read
what was on the sheet and I, and said, hey, we can do
all this other stuff. And I went, oh, I
never read it. Well, let me say I read it 20 years ago, I'm sure
if it was on here. But we're gonna have a,
uh, a new program in place, come the next meeting
or the meeting in may. And
when you're sitting right here at this desk, there's a little bit of, um,
anxiety of trying to get the meeting to run right? And when
somebody talks in all of a sudden and it kinda interrupts, it throws you off.
and I've taken a lot of pride in the way our meetings in meadows
place have run and I've watched meetings in other cities
and they fall short of the professionalism and the pride that I
have in these meetings. So I'm asking to
counsel, do y'all make sure we all get together, y'all all get together with the
new mayor, whoever that may be, and come
up with some sort of process on, on how
this meeting goes. I'm gonna con, um,
consider rec, uh, taking a recommendation, uh,
or not I'm, it was a suggestion or just a comment by rick staley
saying that the county judge before each
meeting, before he starts in, says
this comment that, are there any comments by commissioner's
court, which could be easily turned around to, are
there any comments by city council?
and we could plug that in place to where it's a routine and I think,
you know, whoever comes in here, it'll take three or four weeks to figure out.
so after a couple of months it'll be a routine. But
whatever that is going forward, I'm just gonna say, please remember you're
gonna have a new mayor sitting here and, uh,
maybe they're not used to being made fun of, uh, that type of thing. So,
uh, that's what my comment is on that because
it's gonna be very important for mayor and council
to discuss and, and handle the mayor's comments, the
council comments and all the agenda items together. And I'm looking
forward to watching on the thing. 'cause I'm gonna have
a comfy spot, uh, to watch these, uh, proceedings
on and, uh, remind you that, uh, we are being watched.
but more importantly, the decorum of these proceedings
have always been outstanding. I want to commend
this particular council. Um,
it's probably the, the overall best that I've sat with and I've
sat with some really good councils and, uh, there's one of 'em back, well,
I don't count terry as one, but, uh, his friends david,
uh, we've had some really strong counsels through, through the years.
and even when there was strong disagreement, difference of
opinion, questions, concerns,
it was handled very professionally and
there's never any, I guess, angst
caused by those types of ugly comments or things that you hear
all over fort bend county. And I just,
I'm encouraging this council to continue that so
we can continue to be proud of it. And that's what I have to say about that.
and that should take us on to the next item,
which would be consent agenda motion
by rick. Second. By by david. That's
quick. All in favor? Any opposed?
motion carries unanimous. And my, my
favorite part is for item g audience, uh, comments for items
not on the agenda and uh, people get three
minutes to come up here. Let me get my stopwatch going.
please state your name and your address. Okay. Terry
henley 1 2 2 0 3 austin drive. Um,
this has to do with the uh, board meeting we had in, uh,
february in austin, the tml on tml board of directors past president.
and, uh, I got two or three comments here. Uh,
number one is, uh, they've introduced a new financial
services department. I don't know where this needs to go to courtney or to nick.
uh, that, uh, helped small cities from a financial
services standpoint and it looks like it's very good. So
you have that available to you through tml now in
addition to the legal services and that sort of stuff. So if you get in a
bind from a financial statement standpoint, they can
help you out. The lady is marty simpson
and she's been involved in many public entities and putting budgets
together and financial statements and all that stuff. So it's gonna be a
good addition to tml. Uh, item
two had to do with house bill 4 71. There's
a lot of discussion on it from a legal standpoint. Has to do with
mandatory requirements for sick leave that's now, uh, for police
firefighters and ems municipal employees. And
the way it's written, the employee can get paid
for time off for being sick as well as being paid
for, uh, under workman's comp. So it's a double dipping so to speak.
and they could get up to 175% of their pay while they're
off sick. Just something to keep in mind. In our particular case,
it might, I don't know, affect the police department. I don't know. Yeah,
yeah. , is that, is that what it is? Jack ?
okay. Anyway, okay. That's just something to be aware of. Okay.
item three is, uh, it's no longer called the tml building
change of ownership. It's now called the texas municipal center.
it's 100% owned by the tml risk pool
and it has been 50% vacant for some number of
years. And uh, we've had many discussions in
the board and I've discussed it many times with the board of director and
sir, 30 seconds. 30 seconds. Okay. But
anyway, it's gonna be some many improvements on it and tml is gonna start holding a lot of their uh,
uh, training sessions there. And the last item is atm l. It's
called the texas health benefits pool. Not, not tml. Uh,
they're in good shape, uh, financially, uh,
it's looking good. Their member equity has increased six to $8 million
and financially, I think if the trends continue through the
rest of this year, you may see uh, stabilization
of rates are maybe a little bit lower rate, which is good. Okay,
so let's from that standpoint, let's see it
and uh, I see it.
chuck, did you have anything to say other than go
cos all he needs to say
congratulations on your win , that's best game of
the tournament.
uh, chuck mcclar in 1 1 9 4 7 brighton lane.
there's a lot of parking spaces out front of the, uh,
along the freeway and I heard something about,
uh, somebody wants to rent some of those spaces to park
rvs and cars and stuff there like a
used car lot. Is that true or false? Chuck, are you talking about
beside northern tool and equipment? Maybe. Oh, count long dorrance
rather than, than the freeway. Hmm. It's a long dorrance rather
than the freeway. And I would suggest to you and anybody else that's listening
to be at the public hearing next week okay. And get all of your
questions. This is what I wanted to hear is april 2nd at 6, 6 30.
april, april 2nd at six 30. Get here early and get a seat and
write your questions down. 'cause you usually have good ones. And this is at 2 36 36 30,
okay. Okay. And chuck, this is something that we want the public
to be here and asking those very same questions because
I promise you there's a lot of confusion on what they may or may
not do. And I'm one of those people that's confused, so I wanna see
what they propose. Okay. Okay. And just anything else,
just as a reminder to everyone watching, they
have put in their application for a special use permit. They have paid
their fee and by our process they get their hearing
period. That does not mean that counsel is in favor of this, that p and
z is in favor of this. They get to come, make their presentation
and then p and z planning and zoning will make a recommendation to
council and then council will make the final determination.
so your, your input is important during that public hearing
process. Um, and we do want to hear from you as what
is appropriate for the city and what is not. So we'll have
two public hearings that night. One is for the, the
boat and rv storage as it's been proposed. The other one is
for a vape store, I believe. Correct. Smoke shop. Smoke shop.
and that one would go into one of the strip centers on west airport.
so there are a couple pretty big, um,
things to, for us to consider next week and, and
I want to point out that councils in the past have
worked hard to get zoning on these areas so that we can have
these very type of public hearings. Don't
let 'em down by not showing up.
anything else chuck? That's what I need to know. And, uh, go cougs. Go
cougs. Friday night. Well so far the, I still
haven't recovered from sunday night so far. The u of h aggie
game is the best game of the tournament. That was a blood band.
. Alright, thank you chuck. That was tough. Anyone else like
to step up? Yes. Kelly mills 1 2 1 2 3
scottsdale, uh, I will, we will be working our, the
snack shack during the first concert in the park. Mainly to give
uh, provide food for the youth in our neighborhood. 'cause a lot of the parents
have requested that we do corn dogs and hot dogs and stuff like
that. So come out and support the snack shack.
are you telling me come by supper over at the snack shack? Is that what you're doing?
trucks. But the kids real food.
corn dogs are real food. Okay, thank you kelly.
so the, the, there, there is a benefit to the fundraising
aspect of it. It stays in the city of meadows and benefits the
baseball league, which offsets scholarships and fixing the field or
whatever they do with that. Thank you very much for that announcement. Well thank you to colline
for letting us try it for the first time. It's just simple food.
I'm not doing the hamburgers, cheeseburgers or chicken sandwiches. Cheeseburgers, just hot
dogs and corn. Dogs and snacks. Drinks. Make it a combo.
alright, thank you. Anyone else?
going once, going twice. Go cos
item with that, unless there's any objections, this meeting is adjourned.