Nov 04, 2025 City Council

Port Arthur, TX · 2025-11-04 · More Port Arthur, TX meetings · More Texas meetings

Agenda

[0:06] I. INVOCATION, PLEDGE & ROLL CALL

[3:03] III.B.(1) Arnon Bazemore Of The US Army Corps Of Engineers – Galveston District, Regarding An Update Of The Port Arthur Project

[28:35] III.F.(1) A Discussion And Take Possible Action Regarding Conduct Of A Forensic Audit (Requested By Mayor Pro Tem Doucet)

[1:17:10] V. REPORTS / ITEMS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST (LIMITED TO A TOTAL OF TWO ( 2) MINUTES PER COUNCILMEMBER)

[1:20:25] VII. CONSENT AGENDA

[1:22:04] VII.C.(4) P.R. No. 24574 – A Resolution Approving A Technical Assistance Agreement Between The Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation And The National Council For Community Development, Inc. DBA Grow America, For The Period Of One (1) Year Upon PAEDC's Execution Of The Agreement, In An Amount Not To Exceed $75,000.00; Funds Available In EDC Account Number 120-80-625-5420-00-00-000 (Professional Services)

[1:36:29] VII.C.(5) P.R. No. 24581 – A Resolution Authorizing The Contract Extension For The 25th Street Bridge Repair Project With Woolpert, Inc. Of Houston, Texas. There Is No Funding Impact For The Contract Extension

[1:40:08] VIII.A.(1) P.R. No. 24519 – A Resolution Appointing A Member Or Members To The Construction Board Of Adjustments And Appeals

[1:40:48] VIII.A.(2) P.R. No. 24547 – A Resolution Authorizing The Approval Of Quarterly Payments Of Solid Waste Permit Fees For The Landfill To The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality (TCEQ) With A Projected Budgetary Impact Amount Of $148,000.00. Funding Is Available In Account No. 403-50-320-5471-00-00-000

[1:41:33] VIII.A.(3) P.R. No. 24560 – A Resolution Appointing And/Or Reappointing Member(s) To The Zoning Board Of Adjustment Pursuant To Appendix A: Zoning, Section 5.04 Of The City Of Port Arthur Code Of Ordinances

[1:54:43] VIII.A.(4) P.R. No. 24561 – A Resolution Appointing And/Or Reappointing Member(s) To The Historical Landmark Commission

[1:55:48] VIII.A.(5) P.R. No. 24563 – A Resolution Authorizing The City Manager To Contract With SCS Engineers Of Houston, Texas, For Groundwater, Landfill Gas, And Air Quality Monitoring At The Landfill From November 2025 To August 2026 For $171,500.00. Funds Are Available In Public Works Department Landfill Division – Professional Services Account Number 403-50-320-5420-00-00-000

[1:56:42] VIII.A.(6) P.R. No. 24564 – A Resolution Granting Consent To The Assignment Of The Industrial District Agreement (IDA), Between The City Of Port Arthur And BASF Corporation (2018-2027), Approved By Resolution No. 17-351, To BASF Agricultural Solutions US LLC

[1:59:07] VIII.A.(7) P.R. No. 24584 – A Resolution Authorizing The Purchase Of Twelve (12) Portable Radios And Ten (10) Mobile Radios With Accessories For The Fire Department From Motorola Solutions Of Houston, Texas Through HGAC Contract 17724-HGAC (TX) RA05-21, In The Amount Of $142,845.24; Funding Is Available In Equipment Account Number 625-19-047-8522-00-10-000

[1:59:59] VIII.A.(8) P.R. No. 24585 – A Resolution Authorizing The Port Arthur Fire Department To Purchase Eleven (11) Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) From Casco Industries, Inc. Of Laporte, Texas Under BuyBoard Contract No. 698-23, With A Projected Capital Budgetary Impact Of $106,095.00; Funding Is Available In Account No. 626-19-047-8522-00-30-000

[2:00:55] VIII.A.(9) P.R. No. 24589 – A Resolution Amending Resolution No. 24-455 In Response To The Office Of The Governor’s Request For Additional Language Affirming The City Of Port Arthur’s Obligations Under Its Acceptance Of The Fiscal Year 2025 Body-Worn Camera Grant From The Office Of The Governor – Public Safety Division, In The Amount Of $132,381.60

[2:01:42] VIII.A.(10) P.R. No. 24597 – A Resolution Casting Votes For The Board Of Directors Of The Jefferson Central Appraisal District For The 2026- 2029 Term

[2:02:59] VIII.A.(11) P.R. No. 24601 – A Resolution Authorizing The City Manager To Purchase One (1) Aljon ADV500 Compactor From Aljon By C&C Manufacturing, Of Ottumwa, Iowa, To Compact And Spread Waste In The Landfill In Compliance With State Regulations Through The Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) Cooperative Purchasing Program, Contract Number PW10-25, With A Projected Amount Of $950,000.00. Funds Are Available In The Capital Improvement Program Account, Account Number 403-50-320-8523-00-00-000

[2:04:05] VIII.A.(12) P.R. No. 24603 – A Resolution Authorizing The City Manager To Enter Into A Contract Between The City Of Port Arthur And Freese And Nichols, Inc., For The Review, Analysis, And Revision Of Chapter 98 – Subdivision Of The City Of Port Arthur Code Of Ordinances In An Amount Not To Exceed $164,800.00; Funding Available In The Planning Professional Services Account Number: 001-13-031-5420- 00-10-000

[2:14:01] VIII.A.(13) P.R. No. 24615 – A Resolution Appointing And/Or Reappointing A Member Or Member(s) To The Port Arthur Youth Advisory Council (YAC) (Requested By Councilmember Hamilton Everfield)

[2:16:43] VIII.A.(14) P.R. No. 24616 – A Resolution Appointing And/Or Reappointing A Member Or Members To The Port Arthur Police Chief Advisory Committee (Requested By Mayor Moses)

[2:18:14] VIII.A.(15) P.R. No. 24617 – A Resolution Casting Votes For The Board Of Directors Of The Orange County Appraisal District For The 2026- 2029 Term

[2:19:03] VIII.A.(16) P.R. No. 24620 – A Resolution Authorizing The City Manager To Negotiate And Execute A Contract, Or Contracts, With The Most Qualified Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Provider(s) Identified Through The City’s Request For Qualifications (RFQ) Process, To Ensure Continued Provision Of Emergency Medical And Ambulance Services Upon Expiration Of The Current Agreement On November 30, 2025 (Part 1 of 2)

[2:20:34] VIII.A.(17) P.R. No. 24621 – A Resolution Appointing And/Or Reappointing A Member Or Members To The Citizen's Pipeline Advisory Committee (Requested By Councilmember Hamilton Everfield)

[2:21:29] VIII.B.(1) P.O. No. 7371 – An Ordinance Amending Appendix A – Zoning, Of The Code Of Ordinances Of The City Of Port Arthur, Texas, By Granting A Zoning Map Amendment For Approximately .481 Acre Of Land Consisting Of Lots 15-20, Block 23, Rosemont Addition, Jefferson County, Texas, From Planned Development District – 30 (PD-30) To Medium Density Residential District (MDR) To Allow Residential Development; (Violation Of Any Provision Of This Ordinance Shall Be Guilty Of A Misdemeanor And Shall Be Punished By A Fine Not Exceeding $2,000.00, As Provided In Chapter 1, Section 1-13 Of The Code Of Ordinances And Each Day Which Violation Is Permitted To Exist Shall Constitute A Separate And Distinct Offense); And Providing For Publication In The Official Newspaper Of The City Of Port Arthur And Effective Immediately After Publication Date. Z25- 04 – Kode Properties, LLC

[2:22:51] IX. *CLOSED MEETING (EXECUTIVE SESSION)

[2:25:57] VIII.A.(16) P.R. No. 24620 – A Resolution Authorizing The City Manager To Negotiate And Execute A Contract, Or Contracts, With The Most Qualified Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Provider(s) Identified Through The City’s Request For Qualifications (RFQ) Process, To Ensure Continued Provision Of Emergency Medical And Ambulance Services Upon Expiration Of The Current Agreement On November 30, 2025 (Part 2 of 2)

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[0:06] Good morning. Good morning. We are going to, uh, begin our meeting. It's

[0:10] 9:30 am good morning, and welcome to

[0:14] our city council meeting, our regularly scheduled meeting on tuesday,

[0:18] november 4th, 2025 at 9:30 am

[0:22] you may join our meeting by telephonic and or by video conference

[0:28] by calling in to 8 7 7 8 5 3 5 2 4 7,

[0:34] or 8 8 8 7 8 8 0 0 9 9.

[0:39] you may enter the meeting id of 8 5 8 9 3 0 5 6 8 2 6

[0:46] and enter the passcode, 9 0 1 9 0 2.

[0:52] you, you are also welcome, and we want to make sure that we're in compliance with american

[0:56] disabilities act. We want to make sure we're accommodating you. You can

[1:00] do that by calling in 24 hours in advance to our city secretary's

[1:05] office at 4 0 9 9 8 3 8 1 1 5.

[1:09] at this time, we're going to have, first of all, I'm gonna ask that we

[1:13] all would mute our cell, uh, cell phones or any devices, mobile devices that

[1:17] we may have at this time, and then we're going to have our invocation,

[1:22] our pledge, and our roll call. I am going to ask a

[1:26] council member, frank, to lead us in prayer.

[1:33] good morning, let us bow all wise in eternal god, our

[1:37] father, how grateful we are for yet again, giving us a wonderful and beautiful day

[1:41] in the city of port arthur. How grateful we are, god, that you've awakened us

[1:45] and allowed us to come into this meeting where we can make, uh, decisions

[1:50] based upon your wise counsel and your gracious kindness and mercy.

[1:54] we pray blessings today upon all who are here and upon our city

[1:59] and upon our nation as well. Blessing keep us is our prayer and the

[2:03] powerful and precious name of jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.

[2:09] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america

[2:14] and to the republic from which it stands, one nation under

[2:18] god, indivisible, with liberty and justice. All

[2:28] city secretary, would you establish a quorum, please? Yes, ma'am.

[2:32] mayor moses. Here, mayor proti

[2:37] ett. Here. Council member lewis.

[2:42] council member hamilton, ever field council

[2:46] member beckham. Here. Council member ken law here.

[2:51] council member frank, present. You have a court mayor.

[2:56] awesome. Thank you so much, city secretary. This time, item two.

[3:00] we have no proclamations this morning. We're gonna move to item

[3:04] three, petitions and communications speakers. We have no

[3:08] speakers at this time. We have, um, presenters,

[3:13] uh, presentations, and we'd like for, uh, aranon

[3:17] baysmore of the us army corps of engineers to come forth

[3:22] and present what you have in your presentation. Thank

[3:26] you for being here this morning. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

[3:37] good morning, mayor moses, uh, distinguished members of the port arthur city council.

[3:41] my name is arne basmore and I am the sabine to project manager for

[3:45] the sabbe bay to galveston port arthur project. With

[3:49] me today are other members from the united states army corps engineers. Uh, ms.

[3:53] tony addison, a mega projects division chief, mr. Charles wheeler,

[3:59] mega, um, projects, division s two g project. Galveston,

[4:03] sabine to galveston, um, project manager.

[4:07] and we also have, um, whitney today as well. Mr. Bobby petty, our

[4:11] outreach specialist. We also have with us our non-federal sponsor,

[4:16] uh, jefferson county drainage district, and mr. Um, allen sims,

[4:20] the general manager

[4:30] today. Um, we'll be discussing a port arthur project and we'll follow the agenda as

[4:34] such. Um, we have a public house announcement that we'll go over

[4:39] a project overview, the project funding, the, um, the key

[4:43] features, the schedule overview, and the construction overview for the port arthur project.

[4:53] we like to take this time to announce the public opening, which, uh, public open

[4:58] house, which has been scheduled for thursday, november 20th from

[5:02] 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the st. Joseph's catholic church.

[5:06] um, the point of discussion will be the port arthur and the

[5:10] vicinity contract, pav oh four. We

[5:15] invite all to attend. That can,

[5:19] just a quick clarification. That is the project. You have to come up alan.

[5:23] sorry, excuse me. Honor, just quick clarification. For those of you who,

[5:27] uh, don't understand, port arthur, pa v oh four is a contract from, uh,

[5:32] rose hill acres to lakeview pump station. The end of proctor street north.

[5:36] the end of proctor street.

[5:40] thank you, allen. Okay.

[5:48] the sabine, the sabine passed. The galveston project is part, is

[5:52] we abbreviated as s two g is part of the upper texas coast, uh,

[5:56] regional approach. This bean, the

[6:00] bean that gotton bay project is comprised of two elements, the port arthur element

[6:05] and the orange element. In addition to

[6:09] the, uh, those two projects, the sa the te upper texas regional approach

[6:13] is comprised of eight additional projects

[6:21] shown in orange. In the upper right corner is the orange project, which will be a new protected levee

[6:25] system shown in blue. You have the port arthur project and highlighted

[6:29] enc circle. In red is the port arthur project that's followed by the sabina

[6:33] natures waterway,

[6:38] the jefferson county ecosystem restoration.

[6:43] the mcfadden sought by you do

[6:47] dune stabilization, the coast, the

[6:51] texas coastal project, which is the largest project authorized with the corps

[6:55] engineers to date at $34 billion. And then you also

[6:59] have the houston ship channel as well as the, the texas

[7:03] city hurricane protection system.

[7:08] the focus for today's presentation will be the port arthur project.

[7:13] excuse me. Allow me to, uh, reiterate as well. The overall

[7:17] objective for the upper texas coast is to reduce the risk of human life,

[7:22] of storm surge, reduce economic damages to,

[7:26] uh, residents and businesses structure, enhance

[7:30] the energy security by reducing the storm surge and providing protection

[7:35] around the petrochemical facilities and reduce the, uh,

[7:39] adverse physical impacts of waterways for commercial and, and, and our recreational

[7:43] use to collectively these projects on the upper texas

[7:48] regional approach provide that, uh, protection.

[7:56] the focus for today, the focus for today's discussion will be the port arthur project.

[8:04] the port arthur project is in existing, uh, levee system that was built

[8:09] from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s by

[8:13] the core of engineers. It has since been turned over to our now federal sponsor, dd seven,

[8:17] who operates and maintains it, uh, who's been operated and maintaining it ever since.

[8:23] our goal is to improve the resiliency of this system by

[8:27] providing a greater level of protection in what this system currently does.

[8:40] the focus of the polar arthur project, the key elements of that

[8:44] system are 14.3 miles of earth and levee raises

[8:48] of 14.3 miles of, of earth and levee improvements

[8:53] of which 10 will be 10 miles of earth and levee raises, and 4.3

[8:57] miles of new earth and levee construction. This project will also

[9:01] include 6.2 miles of concrete flood wall improvements.

[9:05] ie they will be likely replacing existing ie uh, eye walls with t

[9:10] walls, finding protection at the 11 existing

[9:14] pump stations in port arthur insulation of 20

[9:18] new road and railroad closure gates along the levee

[9:22] system. Insulation of erosion controls at the levee flood

[9:26] sides, as well as construction of a new pump

[9:30] station in a roll gully, uh, location.

[9:38] the port arthur project is comprised of three 11 contracts, 11 port

[9:42] arthur, and vicinity contracts. The focus of this presentation will be the discussion

[9:46] of three of those pav oh one, which is completed, pav

[9:51] oh three a, which is currently underway, and pav oh four, which

[9:55] was recently awarded

[10:05] to accomplish the delivery of the port arthur project. We've partnered with, uh, jefferson

[10:09] county drainage district seven, our non-federal sponsor partner. The project was

[10:14] appropriated appropriated in the bipartisan act of 20 20 20 18,

[10:18] excuse me, and it was fully funded. It was fully funded for $3.9 billion

[10:24] of which 863 million will have gone and been allocated

[10:28] to port arthur. Since 2018. We are seeing significant

[10:32] cost increases and we are working to obtain documentation and

[10:36] obtain an approval for additional, uh, costs.

[10:46] the army corps of engineers and and jefferson county journalist

[10:50] district seven have signed a project partnership agreement where

[10:54] you say army corps engineers fund 65% of the project costs

[10:58] with d dd seven on now federal sponsor funding the remaining 35%.

[11:10] the key features of this project include earth and levees

[11:15] and concrete flood walls.

[11:20] the scope of the earth and levees will be raising the existing earth and earth and levees

[11:24] provided metal protection, and then installing, um, new earth levees progress,

[11:28] installing new earth and levees at segments as well to provide that protection

[11:32] required. Here you'll see to the left is the existing

[11:36] eye wall, and to the right you see what's going to be replacing it. The t wall.

[11:41] we found out through lessons learned from prior weather events such

[11:45] as hurricane katrina, that over time the storm surge from

[11:49] storm events will allow for, uh, uh, will allow for

[11:53] over tapping and a rolling of, uh, eyebrow foundations. As

[11:58] such, the t wall concrete wall provides a better design

[12:02] with a more robust foundation as well as additional battery piles to provide

[12:06] for additional structural stability. That's the sense. What's the concrete replace?

[12:10] the concrete fo replacement will be

[12:16] another key feature of this project will be the fronting protection that will

[12:20] be installed in front of all the, um, existing pump stations.

[12:24] the fronting protection helps, helps mitigate storm surge impacts on the pump

[12:28] station itself.

[12:38] also with the pull arthur project installation of road

[12:42] railroad and roadway closure, gates were being stored walls and roadways

[12:46] intersect the levee system providing more, uh, protection

[12:51] from storm surge throughout the port arthur area.

[12:58] here is the project timeline for the port arthur project in 2017. The feasibility

[13:03] study for this project was completed

[13:07] 2018. We received, uh, srg received the authorization and funding from

[13:11] congress for this project, which allowed us to award the first contract in

[13:15] 2019 for a construction start in 2020.

[13:19] we anticipate final design being completed 2032, and we

[13:23] are also anticipating the project itself to be overall completed in 2036.

[13:35] the first contract in the port arthur project is pavo one.

[13:40] this project was completed. This project was awarded march 30th, 2020

[13:45] and was completed july 28th, 2022. The

[13:49] scope of this project, excuse me, for $25 million

[13:54] contract value, the scope of this project is a deep, deep soil mix to earth

[13:58] and levy raised.

[14:05] the next project, which is currently in construction, is contract pav oh three

[14:10] a. This contract was awarded september 8th, 2023

[14:15] for a contract value of $97 million. We anticipate the

[14:19] estimate duration for the contract to be 5.5 years.

[14:26] key elements for this project are foundation supports, concrete

[14:30] flood walls, front end protection, as well as, uh, erosion controls

[14:35] on on flood side of levees, which

[14:58] contract three will focus on three contract. Three a will focus on three zones,

[15:04] zone five alligator pump station improvements, zone six

[15:08] lakeside pump station improvements, and zone seven port acres pump

[15:12] station improvements.

[15:20] key elements for this contract include roughly in

[15:24] addition to the pumps, the the front end protection at the pump station's mentioned.

[15:28] in these three zones, we'll have concrete roughly 1200

[15:32] manual feet of concrete flood wall improvements, insulation

[15:36] of the t walls, taking out insulation of t walls, replacing the existing

[15:40] eyewall 320 miles of earth and levee raises,

[15:45] as well as insulation of the sheet pile, color walls and batter piles required for the

[15:49] installation of foundation for the concrete flood walls.

[15:57] the next series of photos will show the construction progression in the various zones,

[16:01] zones five, six, and seven. Basically, the work,

[16:05] the work is going concurrent and it's fairly similar in process where you have the

[16:09] installation of the batter piles, sheet pile cutoff walls in preparation

[16:14] for the concrete flat work for the foundations. The t wall foundations

[16:21] seen here is a picture of the alligator pump stations. You have

[16:25] the t wall work that is in progress and probably, uh, what's uh,

[16:29] critical is the, uh, foundation system, the battered piles, which are angle piles to

[16:33] provide a structural stability for the concrete t wall itself.

[16:41] zone six is the lakeside pump station site improvement work, which is fairly similar

[16:45] to what's going on at the alligator pump station.

[16:51] sheep, all cutoff walls and piles.

[16:58] zone seven is the lakeside pump station and site improve, uh, pump station improvement

[17:02] works as well. Similar scope foundation installation for

[17:06] t walls and front end protections.

[17:12] the last of the three con, the last of the three contracts discussed in the port arthur project is

[17:17] pv oh four.

[17:26] the pre oh four contract was recently awarded april of this year

[17:30] for a contract value of $404 million with an estimated

[17:35] contract, uh, completion, estimated contract duration

[17:39] of 4.5 years. The project is currently at

[17:43] 30 35% design stage and it is a design built contract,

[17:47] excuse me. Currently, field surveys and geotechnical

[17:52] investigations are underway for this project. We

[17:56] anticipate construction start for contract four to be

[18:00] late summer of 2026.

[18:07] major elements for the pa oh four contract include

[18:13] roughly 11,000 limit feet of new concrete flood wall shown

[18:18] in red. This will be where we are replacing the existing eyewall

[18:22] with the more robust t wall foundation t wall of flood wall

[18:26] foundation, concrete flood wall system. We'll also have roughly

[18:30] about 2200 lineal feet of earth and levee raise raises shown

[18:34] in green. And similar to what's going on in

[18:38] contract three a, we'll have fronting protection installed at the existing three pump stations.

[18:43] lakeview stadium road in delmar.

[18:49] of note construction activities will likely take place on the flood side on,

[18:53] uh, on this contract. So we understand that there'll be, um, critical care

[18:57] taken to preserving on what's out, what's out there, and providing the proper measures taking

[19:02] place, tfp, temporary flood protection and so forth.

[19:13] additional information can be found for not just the sg

[19:17] port arthur project, but also the orange project, the two elements

[19:22] that form this being the galveston bay projects by accessing

[19:26] these qr codes. And we'll take you into the storyboard and you can have,

[19:30] uh, additional information as to understanding of project history as well as any other announcements

[19:37] with this. Uh, this concludes the presentation, and I would like to, uh, leave

[19:41] time to open up the floor for any questions. Uh, city council mayor,

[19:45] thank you so much. Um, let's see if I have any questions.

[19:49] council members, I don't

[19:53] have any lights, but thank you for your presentation. Yes, ma'am. Um,

[19:58] last time I saw this, it was about 2019, or I mean 2020.

[20:03] and so you really progressed. Um, well in the project.

[20:07] I was just thinking, alan, the, he said 2036 up. My, my, I heard, I know

[20:11] the mic. You guys heard me in the mic. I was like, ooh, how old am I gonna be in 2036? That's

[20:15] been a common question. , everybody has kind of is, uh, like, you know, awakening.

[20:20] but thank you so much. Um, I have city manager has his light on

[20:24] mayor in terms of disseminating information, especially to the

[20:29] residents in the proctor street area for the public, um,

[20:33] hearing to be held. Um, if alan, you could share that

[20:37] information with us so that we could post it on our website as well. You

[20:41] know, we would be happy to do that. Mayor, yes. The, uh, yes we would, the public hearing

[20:45] or the public open house will be november 20th at, uh, the church. We were

[20:49] talking the catholic church down in proctor. I will, uh, we are planning to

[20:53] have that published in the newspaper. We'll put it on our website. We'll send it to you for your website.

[20:58] we'll also go out the week before and hang door hangers on all the doors in the neighborhood,

[21:03] uh, to make sure everybody knows. Uh, normally we've held our public meetings

[21:07] like this, like at bob bowers, right down here at the, uh, carl parker center. But

[21:11] we chose to do this one as close as we could. That was the largest venue we could find

[21:15] in the middle of that neighborhood. So that's where we went to, uh, talked with

[21:19] the, uh, catholic church in, uh, past and

[21:24] father mcright, I thinks the guy that's down there now, uh, I

[21:28] remember him when he was in winnie when I used to live there, uh, but went and met with him and uh,

[21:33] they were gonna give us the big hall they have there so we can get everybody. And like I said, I

[21:37] wanted to do something centralized for everybody to make it easier for people in that neighborhood.

[21:41] uh, it goes from rose hill to lakeview. I know there's

[21:45] gonna be a lot of concerns right now. The intended plan is we do not purchase

[21:49] any property from any private landowners. We'll build on what we have currently

[21:53] or out towards the navigation channel. There'll be some who will move about

[21:58] five feet out and towards navigation or so. It's not gonna be a whole lot. We're

[22:02] trying to do our best to do minimal impacts. I guarantee you there will be

[22:06] some. Okay. There's no way we can build this project without some traffic

[22:10] and some issues in there. And that's the reason we want ahead and go ahead and get this started right

[22:14] now. You're not gonna see a whole lot of impacts in that area for the next six months to

[22:18] nine months. I'd probably gonna do another open house

[22:23] and probably sometime mid-summer, late summer. Depends on when they start

[22:27] construction. When you start seeing trucks running on the streets, that's when we're gonna try to have another open house.

[22:32] probably. I'm gonna try to plan, set it to where, as you

[22:36] guys know, we did it the week before. They're not going. Nobody's gonna notice.

[22:40] we do it a month after they start seeing trucks and everybody's gonna show up to complaint and that's when we

[22:44] want to have it. Okay. Um, just be honest with you guys, we're going to try to keep everybody

[22:49] informed, you guys as well as the general public, uh, trying to be good

[22:53] neighbors. Thank you. If there's anything y'all need, if you just let us know. I have a couple of

[22:57] lights. I have council member doucette.

[23:01] yes. Allen. Yes, sir. The lakeside. I didn't have no

[23:05] questions about the presentation, but since you talk about the having meetings

[23:10] yes, sir. The lakeside project. You know, I stay on

[23:14] cambridge. Yes. All the trucks not only go up

[23:18] there, but they be parked right there in front of my house. I can't even get out

[23:23] without being careful 'cause they all lined up there. But that's not a problem because it's,

[23:27] it worked. Our contractors are parked near your house. No, I said in the, the street

[23:31] in front my home. Cambridge. Okay. Our contractors

[23:36] are parked over there? No, the people that are carrying the material. Alan. Oh,

[23:40] okay. Yes, sir. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry. People who are carrying that's 18 wheelers. Yes, sir. Like five

[23:44] or six of 'em along the road. And I don't have a problem with it,

[23:48] you know, the progress of them, the pounding. So

[23:52] basically it is, when is that project is going

[23:57] to be completed and how far we going with that? And if you're

[24:01] doing it, we're about a year, year and a half into a five year project

[24:05] there. Just in the, just for the lakeside pump

[24:09] station? Well, it's all three of 'em together. Uh, and I, they're

[24:14] probably 25% complete. They're about, so they're probably got another three years would be my guess

[24:18] on the lakeside. Oh, okay. Because that's what I was saying. When you

[24:22] start talking about a central location, st. Joseph.

[24:26] but then again, we doing that one out there, and when I tell you I could

[24:30] walk out, I could stand in my front yard and that's, that's no more than about three

[24:34] or 400. Yes, sir. Um, yards from my house. I,

[24:39] and I hear it. And they don't work at night, so that's not a problem. It's

[24:43] only during hours of operation, but it should be a good idea on

[24:47] knowing that thing going in. So really that's a long time. Tell you what, ,

[24:52] that's a mistake on my part. I'll take, I'll own that completely. My thoughts were those

[24:57] three projects were so far isolated. I didn't think they were going

[25:01] to impact the neighborhoods that much. I'll tell you what. We'll, we'll try to schedule something.

[25:05] it probably, it'll probably take us about two or three months to put something together. Mm-hmm. Maybe we do something

[25:09] there in the pa in the, what's it called? Palomar lakeside. Right. You know we have have community

[25:13] center there. Yes sir. But everything that comes in to go back there

[25:17] at counts down cambridge. Yes, sir. And for three years it's

[25:22] gonna be and 18 wheel carrying some heavy stuff.

[25:26] so that kind of, let me check on that also, because that was,

[25:30] they were supposed to be coming in and out of jade through the county

[25:35] yard. No, no, no. You're talking, you're talking, uh, the, the roll

[25:39] ga road air gully. You talking about all 365? No, I'm talking where

[25:43] the, uh, parks and wildlife office is and the county barn, the road that comes up

[25:47] on the left, they were supposed to be using that for access. They weren't to, to go to the lakeside.

[25:52] yeah. So, you know, between uh, parks and wildlife, there's a road right. That

[25:56] actually goes up, like where people go over, like they're gonna go to the, uh, boat launch at parks and

[26:00] wildlife. Right. They're supposed to be going up there and going down that I weren't supposed to be going to cambridge.

[26:04] what you talking about? Cambridge 18 willis care and all that stuff. Yeah. They were not supposed to be going through cambridge. Lemme

[26:08] tell you. They've been, they've been coming down cambridge. Okay, let me check on

[26:12] that. They've been coming down cambridge. That is not what I understood. The

[26:16] whole time. They be parked five or six 18 willers. Okay.

[26:21] this is news to me. Thank you very much. Deep, you know.

[26:25] okay. Thank you allen. And you guys know where I am. You're welcome to call me anytime. Alright.

[26:30] I'm available. Council member lewis. Yeah. I appreciate

[26:34] y'all's presentation. Uh, and also

[26:38] I'm glad that you're going to start holding meetings on the west side. The district one. That's all my,

[26:42] my area. I got from sabine pass stadium to state some paul stadium

[26:47] road from 19th street to 19th street to inter coastal con.

[26:51] I gotta have the city. Okay. Now, west side is very important. They're gonna

[26:55] be very concerned. And if you, and I'm glad you're gonna be putting out flyers

[26:59] and what have they. You got the community room over there where you can meet with 'em and explain to 'em

[27:03] ahead of time. You know, I would like for you to schedule something,

[27:07] uh, as soon as possible to get them softened up to and

[27:11] acceptable to as to what, you know, just so much that they can, uh,

[27:15] get out of this presentation, you know? Right. So

[27:20] let me know when you're going to do it. And uh, right now we're scheduled for november 20th.

[27:24] november the 20th. Yes, sir. For the community room on west side. Uh,

[27:29] that was st. Joseph. That's at st. Joseph's church. St. Joseph catholic church. It's catholic church. St. James.

[27:34] st. James. I'm sorry, my mistake. Are you on proctor? The one

[27:38] proctor? It's st. Joseph. It's st. Joseph's live, right next proctor

[27:43] st. Joseph. But I'm talking about west of houston avenue. Okay. That's community room

[27:47] over there. And I'd appreciate if y'all schedule something there. Okay. So keep on the west

[27:51] side to be up to. We're probably about two years out from starting construction in that area.

[27:55] yeah. So, uh, I was gonna wait till we got closer to construction,

[28:00] but if you think we need to do something sooner, we can do that. Yeah, we'll, I appreciate you do

[28:04] something sooner, okay? Okay. Yeah. I mean, around building

[28:08] around your schedule. Okay. And you're two years out, so yeah. Yeah. We're about two years out for

[28:12] being over in that area, doing construction. So I understand we can, we'll do something.

[28:16] do something. I appreciate it. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all so much. We

[28:20] really appreciate the update. Thank you so very much, mayor. Council members. Appreciate y'all.

[28:24] okay. This time we have, uh, city manager staff reports.

[28:29] we have none. Employee recognition, we have none correspondence.

[28:34] we have none. We're gonna move to petitions and communications.

[28:38] um, f discussions number one, we'll have a discussion

[28:43] and take possible action regarding conduct of a forensic audit.

[28:47] and this is requested by mayor pro tem ett. Yes. Thank you, mayor.

[28:51] uh, I put out information. I've been talking about the forensic

[28:55] audit. Uh, some people have taken it as, uh, we

[28:59] don't need one because we had one almost a decade ago

[29:03] and stuff. And indu in calling for this. I also

[29:08] referred to, uh, codes and ordinances that we haven't been following

[29:12] it most of the time. I've talked about those at previous council meeting. In

[29:16] fact, I talked about 'em, I read 'em verbatim when

[29:20] the topic actually came before council and council take

[29:24] action. So, about four months ago, I talked with council and I let

[29:28] council know that, uh, these ordinance and codes

[29:32] and stuff, you know, we are the ones that's here to ensure that they, uh,

[29:37] are upheld. We take an oath for that. You know, we all

[29:41] different council members, and I don't take anything personal. We all think different.

[29:46] I have a, I'm by the book.

[29:50] I leave my opinion outside the dough, my thoughts outside the dough.

[29:55] I read what is written. And when we do not follow what's written,

[29:59] we have issues. If we recognize 'em, we can fix them.

[30:03] my theory is always, first of all, we need to police ourselves. And we don't need nobody to

[30:07] police us. But after two years, I've come to the conclusion that we

[30:11] actually need someone to come in, take a look at it and tell us

[30:16] what we are doing that we shouldn't be doing, and

[30:21] how we can do it better. Forensic audit, some people always

[30:25] talk about, uh, criminal, well forensic audit

[30:29] is one that you order. When you feel it is something, is wrongdoing.

[30:34] wrongdoing mean you're not doing what's right. It doesn't mean it's

[30:38] criminal. It can result into that. But the fact of the matter

[30:43] is, we need to do things as written.

[30:47] and after two years, us policing ourselves, I

[30:52] just don't feel, uh, is going that way because

[30:57] there are some issues that we should have resolved and we should have addressed.

[31:01] but instead, we, uh, don't do it. You know, it's

[31:05] like, okay, we gonna continue to operate in

[31:09] the way we operate and we can't continue to operate the way we operate. 'cause look at

[31:13] the city and some of the things that, uh, I feel we have now

[31:17] followed is a result of that. I'm not gonna discuss those. I've talked enough

[31:21] about 'em, but it's on the, uh, agenda here to let

[31:25] people understand what it's about. And whenever

[31:30] I say I would like to see one, I put

[31:35] examples. I write down the code, the ordinance,

[31:39] I feel that we are not following. Then I give example what we

[31:43] doing. And I let citizens decide. I don't try to tell

[31:48] citizens we need it. We don't need it. I think

[31:52] that we got more intelligent citizens than we have non-intelligent, so

[31:57] citizens decide. But we need to make sure that everything's transparent

[32:02] and that we're doing things right. And if we're doing things right, we'll

[32:06] spend money properly and we'll be transparent.

[32:11] and those are two things right now. There's a big issue with citizens.

[32:16] forensic audit will say, you're doing this wrong.

[32:21] this is what we recommend you do in order to fix this.

[32:26] it's better to fix it than to let it continue the way it is.

[32:31] and it also has the opportunity for someone to take a look at our

[32:35] books where we don't get to look at it . We get to see what they're

[32:40] giving. And, uh, when I say forensic audit and stuff, I want to

[32:44] make sure I throw this in at the end. Our finance director,

[32:48] uh, got here, I guess about a year now,

[32:52] but I've been working and talking with her. She is

[32:57] standing. She has really done

[33:01] things that are amazing. You know, our,

[33:06] uh, audits, annual audits, we are like two years behind. She came in

[33:10] in one year, she done those two plus hers. That's the kind of thing we

[33:14] need done, but we need to go back

[33:19] and fix this not following ordinance and local government

[33:23] codes. So after, if anybody else got any comments, I'll even comment.

[33:27] if not, I wanna make a motion.

[33:31] I have several lights. Uh, council member, frank.

[33:36] yes. Um, I've heard, um,

[33:41] I don't stand to talk or, um, have

[33:45] my light on to talk, uh, um, against, uh,

[33:49] an audit, um, a forensic audit. I'm simply,

[33:54] uh, raising, uh, some concerns about, um, how do

[33:58] we arrive at the issue of,

[34:02] uh, a forensic audit. I don't know. I don't know in any

[34:06] specificity exactly what, um,

[34:10] those concerns are that have driven us to

[34:15] this pointed place where we have,

[34:19] um, that type of concern, uh, from council or

[34:23] from our citizens. I have not heard, uh, from

[34:27] citizens. I am an at large, uh, councilman. I don't represent any

[34:31] districts, but I've not heard any council. I've not heard any

[34:36] citizens come to me, uh, and raise any concerns, uh, with

[34:40] me about the, uh, financial, uh, discharge

[34:44] of our duties here on council that would warrant,

[34:49] um, uh, a forensic audit. Um, councilman doucette

[34:53] has made the comment, um, used the word wrongdoings,

[34:58] um, uh, and has said that, uh, he is not

[35:03] specifically referring to malfeasance. That is the misappropriation of

[35:07] funds or embezzlement or any of those types of situations.

[35:12] our internal controls are audited, um, with

[35:16] our audit. And we have received, uh, great audits,

[35:20] uh, here, uh, to four. Um, they've

[35:24] looked at our internal controls. They've looked at the way in

[35:28] which we carry out our budgets, the way in which, uh, we pay our

[35:32] debts. Uh, we have a, a credit rating of a plus

[35:37] plus. Um, our finances are in order.

[35:41] uh, we've looked at situations and circumstances, uh, and

[35:45] I don't know exactly, again, as I said, with specificity,

[35:49] what is warranting, um, uh, the concern

[35:53] about a financial audit. Uh, one of the things that I do

[35:57] have a concern about is, is that the payment of the, uh,

[36:02] of this audit, we're talking about an expenditure of about,

[36:06] oh, anywhere from 200 to $400,000.

[36:10] we just concluded. If you're talking about a, a forensic

[36:15] audit, we're talking about $200,000

[36:19] plus. So we've not, we've not budgeted

[36:23] for that. So we're talking about making an amendment. And so,

[36:28] as the councilman's talking about making a motion, how are we

[36:32] going to fund this forensic audit if we've

[36:36] not budgeted for this forensic audit? And the councilman is always

[36:40] talking about budget, budget. We've just come out of our budget hearing. Uh,

[36:44] we've, we've, we've talked about expenditures. We went through the budget, and we all

[36:49] raised our concerns. So how are we going to fund

[36:53] this, uh, forensic audit? One of the things that we do is

[36:57] he, you know, we can say, well, we can, we've

[37:02] got money in the fund balance and all of those things when we amend the budget,

[37:06] uh, for something of an emergency, if you will.

[37:10] um, one of the things, it is about public health and safety.

[37:15] uh, and so, uh, this is not about public health and safety.

[37:19] uh, this is about, um, uh, a concern,

[37:24] uh, that the council or the councilman has, uh,

[37:28] concerning our internal controls, I believe, or whether or not,

[37:32] I don't know exactly. Again, I don't know what is covered

[37:36] by this word, wrong doings. Um,

[37:41] I, I did some research and I looked and found that when we talk about

[37:45] a forensic audit, there's some things that you look at, some things that

[37:49] you, uh, understand. You talk about, uh, a response

[37:53] to su suspected fraud, or you talk about resolving

[37:57] disputes. Uh, you talk about, uh, all of those types

[38:01] of things that can happen, uh, as we address

[38:06] some conflict or, or whatever. I think that we

[38:10] can try to talk about those things and try to address those concerns

[38:14] without making that type of expenditure at this particular time.

[38:19] if we want to have a, uh, if we want to have an, uh,

[38:23] a forensic audit, let's put it on the agenda for next year

[38:27] when we can budget for it. Uh, and that way we don't have

[38:31] to make that kind of a withdrawal. But I don't believe, and

[38:35] I'll, I'll yield to our attorney and to all of those who are in council,

[38:40] but I don't think that we are able to vote on this on today,

[38:45] um, uh, because of that fact, uh, that we don't have a method of

[38:49] funding it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Council member frank, council

[38:53] member ken law. Thank you, mayor. Um, I'm, I'm kinda

[38:57] like in the gray area as well. Uh, if we are talking about, uh, and the councilman made

[39:02] some, uh, comments. Uh, councilman deuce made comments about, uh, fraud

[39:06] and abuse and also wrongful, uh, doing

[39:11] policing ourselves. Uh, you know, as council members, it's our job

[39:15] to ensure that we protect the citizens at all costs, especially

[39:19] with the financial aspect of it. Our financial director, uh, in

[39:23] the last year completed three audits that would kind

[39:27] of give us some better directions on our finances and how we,

[39:32] uh, we pay our bills and how we accept, uh, payments.

[39:36] so, um, I thought about this when he brought it up last meeting, two meetings

[39:40] ago, and, uh, made reference to policing

[39:45] ourselves. So I have no directions understanding of where he's going with, uh,

[39:49] with this, um, what department, uh, if we are talking about

[39:53] financial, uh, uh, abuse, of course that every

[39:57] council member that's up here would have some concerns about that. We don't want that to happen in

[40:01] our city. But, you know, without having, uh, uh,

[40:05] a clarity on what direction, uh, what department, uh,

[40:10] who's doing it, how much are they doing? I mean, he may have some information

[40:14] I may not be aware of that I'm surely, uh, is, uh, wanting

[40:18] to understand his point of view, but just to do that. And I've

[40:22] been, uh, privy to be on a forensic audit before, and

[40:26] it's, it's very tedious and it's very expensive. And they look at all

[40:30] the departments, all your financials, all your expenditures. Uh,

[40:34] they even look at, uh, the policy procedures that you have in place to sustain that.

[40:39] so it's, it is a stretch for me without having,

[40:44] uh, detail of where he wants to go or where the forensic audit wants to

[40:48] go, uh, in my opinion. But, you know,

[40:52] not having clarity on what department who's doing it, surely

[40:56] it's not council. Uh, I mean, but at the same time, the

[41:00] finances coming from, uh, city manager and the financial

[41:05] director and how we do our business. You know, I, I need more clarity

[41:09] on how, where, when, and how much. So before I can get on

[41:13] board with this, because, you know, at the end of the day, you know, if, if

[41:17] we have zero findings, the taxpayers coughed up anywhere between

[41:22] 200, $400,000 and is that fair to the tax citizens? No,

[41:26] that's not. But if you have some evidence, uh, councilman do said to sustain

[41:30] that, I would be more than willing to under the, to, you know,

[41:35] have an open eye, open ear to find out exactly, uh, what

[41:39] are those things are. But just to, you know, this just came outta the blue within

[41:43] the last month or so about having a forensic audit. So if

[41:47] you have more detail, I mean, please share what your cohorts and let me know personally,

[41:52] uh, some of the things that, because just to vote for that and have that on

[41:56] the agenda, uh, that's kind of a stretch for me. Thank you, mayor.

[42:00] uh, thank you. Um, councilman mcken, law council member doucette?

[42:05] yes. Okay. Uh, in reference to the

[42:09] comments made by councilman frank and councilman king, and

[42:14] both of them were good comments. I agree with some of what you both

[42:18] said in reference to funding for councilman

[42:22] frank's, uh, answer to his concerns.

[42:26] uh, if we were to decide we needed a forensic audit

[42:30] that would come under municipal purposes, which is

[42:34] one of the things allowed for amendment of a budget,

[42:39] okay? A lot of what I've said and what I'm saying count

[42:43] in now in respond to councilman kinlaw. I've been saying it for the

[42:47] last two years. I've been saying we are violating the streets

[42:51] program. I've been saying we're violating,

[42:55] uh, section two dash 31, which we do often,

[42:59] and which we put items on the agenda, and we do not have it funded

[43:04] in the budget, and

[43:08] we don't have an amendment at the meeting. I just threw out a

[43:12] few of those things and some posting I had on social media to answer citizens'

[43:16] questions. And I can sit here and

[43:20] start going through a whole, out a whole lot of specifics,

[43:25] but every specific I will name, if you go back

[43:29] to that council meeting, I read a ordinance

[43:34] or a local government code that says why we

[43:38] should not do it. And when I finished, the council voted

[43:43] anyway to approve it, and

[43:47] I talked about this, about four months with council, without this

[43:52] being just thrown out there. Today, when you do a

[43:56] forensic audit, you do not do all departments

[44:01] if you do not have to. A forensic audit

[44:05] is a audit that you have specific

[44:10] what they want to look at, where the area

[44:14] that you feel there's wrongdoings are there are issues.

[44:19] the cost of a forensic audit is determined

[44:24] by your scope, is

[44:28] how much you want them to look at, because they will determine

[44:34] how many people they will need, how long it will take them.

[44:38] that is where the cost of a forensic audit comes from. So really, you can't

[44:42] determine a cost until we de determine the scope. Uh,

[44:48] as far as citizens, not saying I'm to this

[44:52] point, because I hear citizens ask where the money is going.

[44:57] I hear citizens says, look at the streets, why we don't have this.

[45:01] and I look at what we are doing, and I've been doing this for two

[45:05] years and for two years when I said,

[45:11] it's nothing done. And like I said, it's not person. I'm not gonna question counsel.

[45:17] if counsel doesn't want to either consider what is said.

[45:23] I understand that. But the fact of the matter is,

[45:28] we have to at some point understand why we in these seats, we took

[45:32] a oath to be in these seats. And if it's something written,

[45:36] let's talk about what's written. Everybody say, I don't see anything.

[45:41] I've been reading it. I've been saying it for two years.

[45:45] if you don't want to listen or you don't, or you think is my way,

[45:50] go and check. If you read the code and

[45:54] you read the ordinance, be specific. There's

[45:59] so many things we doing, we could still do those things,

[46:04] but there's a certain way we need to do 'em. And

[46:08] it's written, we don't do it because we have

[46:12] votes. That's, that's the point I'm making. So,

[46:17] and no one can deny that I did not talk about this

[46:21] with counsel are my concerns about these ordinance

[46:26] and these codes of violations. This is not nothing new.

[46:31] and for two years, I've, I've worked with the council,

[46:36] I've learned to work with people, but

[46:41] for the two years I've heard doucette won't do it his way. Mm-hmm

[46:45] . Doucette knows everything. Doucette, but doucette

[46:49] reading in black and white. So it is not that it

[46:53] is me, I read it in black and white. If you don't

[46:59] understand what's read, didn't ask somebody who can explain to you, because I'm

[47:03] not going to do that because I'm reading citizens read the same thing.

[47:07] so, you know, I'm not here

[47:14] to fight and work against this council,

[47:19] but let's look in the mirror and understand

[47:24] what citizens want. We have an approval rating

[47:29] from the people we paid to do this plan that said,

[47:35] citizens got approval rating. That's 6% for this council of confidence.

[47:39] and the citizens are saying, what are you doing with our money? You putting it in your

[47:44] pocket, you putting the money on this and it, and it

[47:48] shouldn't go on that. If citizens are saying this and we are truly for

[47:52] citizens, then where

[47:56] do we get them to get the trust and confidence?

[48:00] we talking about $200,000, $300,000

[48:04] this council, and this is the last thing I'm gonna say, because

[48:08] this could go on all day. And I, and, and I've done this for two years, I'm not doing it,

[48:12] but this is the last thing I want to say. Someone's

[48:16] talking about $200,000. This council

[48:22] approved $395,000

[48:30] for a design and a study of an

[48:34] extension of a street,

[48:39] whereby the same council we

[48:44] setting up here disapprove

[48:48] that project. We disapproved it,

[48:52] it's in the records for $395,000

[48:57] and came right back and approved it. So we got

[49:02] the same resolution in the book,

[49:06] one approved and one disapproved.

[49:11] so that's an example of what we need to fix. And we could have fixed that

[49:15] by following the procedures. And the procedure says if we disapproved

[49:19] something, I don't care if it's five years later, we need to bring it back

[49:24] for reconsideration because we need to take the one, we disapproved off the records

[49:29] and now approve one. So you one example, I

[49:33] could be here all day. Don't, don't, don't go there with me. I've been doing that for two years.

[49:38] tell me why you think we should have now. Well, and y'all stated that and

[49:42] I respect it. Okay. Okay. So

[49:46] that's the way it is. Council members, let's be mindful

[49:50] we have two times to speak on a topic. You will have 10 minutes each time. 2, 2, 2

[49:55] minutes. I'm sorry. Two minutes to speak on each time you speak. So right

[50:00] now, I have lights that are tiffany, you have, uh, council member merrifield, you

[50:04] may speak now. Council member kinlaw, you'll be able to

[50:08] speak next and council member frank. But you guys will have two minutes to do that. Okay? Thank you.

[50:12] and no hope you've spoken twice. You cannot speak again. Thank you.

[50:17] thank you, mayor. Um, mr. Doucette,

[50:22] I recognize that you have over these last two years repeatedly

[50:26] mentioned things that you did not, um, agree with.

[50:31] and over those last two years, this information now is,

[50:35] I wanted to acknowledge that mr. Du said, but now this information is for the citizens.

[50:40] often when not just often. I can't say every time

[50:44] 'cause there is no such thing as the absolute. But most of the time

[50:49] a letter has been provided either from the texas municipal

[50:53] league, from the attorney general or from our city

[50:57] attorney, confirming what action we took

[51:03] was legal and the times that it

[51:07] was out of place, then those are the times that we had to make corrections.

[51:12] but there have never been a time that we just

[51:16] purposefully, purposefully went

[51:20] out of line according to the definition of a forensic audit.

[51:25] and so if there are specific times in a specific scope,

[51:30] I would ask, has a specific scope been

[51:35] proposed that is asking us

[51:40] to use a specialized in investigative

[51:44] techniques, investigative techniques to uncover fraud, embezzlement,

[51:49] corruption, or other financial irregular irregularities

[51:53] that our officer has, not our financial

[51:57] officer hasn't already helped us to correct.

[52:02] so I just wanna be clear that we have taken

[52:07] the opportunities to make sure that we are in order

[52:11] from our legal authorities.

[52:17] councilman mckinley? Thank you, mayor. Uh, uh, I asked a

[52:21] question, uh, for my colleague, uh, councilman doucette. Um, um,

[52:25] what are some of those allegations? He mentioned items on the agenda,

[52:29] not funded. He also mentioned streets. I was here when we started the street program,

[52:33] uh, a couple years ago. And, um, I was on a

[52:37] district three. And at the time that, uh, we did that, uh, we wanted

[52:42] to kind of take the politics out of the play.

[52:46] so we got a x-ray machine, went through the city, spent about $90,000

[52:51] on there, and, and they gave us the,

[52:55] the report that, um, how streets,

[53:00] uh, the capacity streets level of, uh, damage to those streets and

[53:04] council members at the time, the four district council members supposed to take that data

[53:08] and work with, uh, the city manager and the staff and come up with the solution and how we were gonna attack

[53:13] those streets. And then we started that because of the percentage of damaged,

[53:17] uh, streets as well as, uh, the capacity of the district. And councilman

[53:21] ett at the time, along with councilman, uh, district one, were the

[53:25] two largest areas that, uh, got the largest monies by percentages.

[53:30] now since then, councilman ett and district one, uh,

[53:35] uh, percentages of completion of streets have

[53:40] increased. Now he's, that district, district four is

[53:44] at the bottom. So I'm not understanding when we talk

[53:48] about, you know, fraud, abuse,

[53:52] taking money outta street program. At no time since I've been on

[53:56] this council, we've stopped working on streets

[54:01] in the history of port arthur. We've, this council, or the

[54:05] previous council has put more money into streets, into history.

[54:11] so I'm not understanding the question of if, you

[54:15] know, if fraud or abuse or negligence is happening

[54:19] because we continuously work on streets.

[54:23] and that's what we're supposed to do as council members, is to work on more than one thing.

[54:28] we could do more than one thing. However, he, you know, my councilman, my

[54:32] colleague, I respect his opinion, but I totally disagree with him.

[54:36] you know, he had more streets done in the last five,

[54:40] six years than any other district. So how has it been

[54:44] abuse? So my question, you know, now I'm at a, at

[54:48] large, so I look out, uh, for the entire city. Everyone has damaged

[54:53] streets. Everyone up here gets the phone calls about they need they street

[54:57] repair. So we have to come up with some type of

[55:01] auto merit, but at no time, don't be mis

[55:06] misguided that these streets programs are

[55:10] continuously. The one thing that we have an issue with is finding contractors

[55:15] to come and do these streets. Because again, it's

[55:19] hard for contractors because they got many jobs to come in port arthur and to work

[55:23] on the streets. But when we get these contractors here at city manager, we need to hold 'em down.

[55:28] we have, we need to make sure that we hold them down and continue doing the projects that port arthur

[55:32] has. So, you know, those two things that I asked, I asked it bluntly.

[55:36] I mean, what is your directions? What's clarification on the things that you're saying

[55:41] that this city is, uh, actually doing that would cause

[55:45] for a forensic audit? I need more clarity in just those things

[55:49] because streets program, that's at the will of the council to make those

[55:53] determination, just like we started it in the beginning. So if it's something more

[55:57] than just those two and those things that you said when I asked the question, you said street program.

[56:02] and then you also stated that items on the agendas on the agenda

[56:07] not funded. So if it's something more than that, and instead of the definition

[56:11] of a forensic audit, I'd be, you got my ears and my eyes open.

[56:15] thank you, mayor. Alright, thank you councilman. Uh, can, uh, councilman lewis?

[56:20] yes. Finance director. Got a minute.

[56:29] thank you, lynn. Good morning,

[56:33] mayor. Council members, what is our good morning? What is our

[56:37] total budget for this year? The total budget is, is over $400 million.

[56:43] okay, thank you. When I first

[56:47] came to council, we had a budget of $100 million.

[56:51] now we have a budget of $400 million. And every

[56:56] city manager I've been to conferences and everything, they always say I talk with a

[57:00] spend time with different city manager. They, you know what they say, watch

[57:04] the money. Watch your money, find out

[57:08] where your money is going. Watch your money. $400 million

[57:13] and y'all nitpicking about a brown bag sandwich or, or oh,

[57:18] 200 some thousand dollars and you got a $400 million,

[57:22] you got a $400 million budget. It's taxpayer's money. A 400

[57:27] tax bill's money of $400 million. That's not good money. Tax

[57:31] bill's money. Yeah, they want it. They've been talking to me.

[57:35] I don't know where you all been, but they'll, they'll accuse of, we get accused

[57:39] every day, every time I talk with I I go to the grocery store. What?

[57:44] and, and, and about violations.

[57:48] mouthfeel, if you violate a bond, covenant is malfeasance.

[57:53] look it up. He talking you, you violate those. That

[57:58] is malfeasance. We

[58:02] have to be mindful of the money that we'll spend

[58:06] $400 million and you are talking about not spending 200

[58:11] thou, uh, less than $300,000 to find out where the money is going. We

[58:15] are we doing around, we got a baseline, we have a baseline, we have a baseline.

[58:20] the previous, the previous, uh,

[58:24] forensic audit. Let's compare. That's a reference,

[58:28] that's a baseline. Let's find out how, how have we improved?

[58:33] what have we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing better?

[58:39] and we gonna have some more discussions on this. And I don't have a problem with budgeting the money,

[58:43] uh, for, for a forensic audit. I have no problem with that. But we need to

[58:48] take a look. We need to look and see where our money is

[58:52] going. And I've heard, and I've witnessed plenty of malfeasance,

[58:58] council member frank one who I follow

[59:02] and serve, said that there's a tendency we have to,

[59:07] uh, gag at a maggot and swallow a camel.

[59:12] um, simply said, I've seen this council

[59:16] argue over whether or not we ought to have a $15 lunch

[59:21] as a council. And so now we going. And so now wait,

[59:25] hold up, hold up, hold up. Wait, we are not gonna sleep at time. Lemme do it. Lemme do what I do.

[59:29] hold up, hold up. We're going argue. We argue over a $15 lunch right

[59:33] now, council member frank is speaking and we else, we, we,

[59:38] we have, we have argued over a fif whether we ought to have a $15 lunch.

[59:43] and we acquiesce to those wishes of councilmen who feel as though

[59:47] we should not have a $15 lunch. But then we come right back and

[59:51] say, it's okay to have $200,000 spent anyway,

[59:55] you know, $200,000 spent. And it's no big deal.

[1:00:00] I, I understand, I understand how important public trust

[1:00:05] is and as a, a public official, but when we get down

[1:00:09] to the point where, where these discussions are being held

[1:00:13] over ideology, where the, and and

[1:00:17] we are talking about whether or not, um, we see

[1:00:21] something a different way. And that's what we're really, that's what

[1:00:25] brought this about. What brought this about was whether or not

[1:00:30] we violated the bond covenant when we had

[1:00:34] the project on, um, on woodworth boulevard.

[1:00:39] let's just be, let's put it out there. Let's just talk about it and say it.

[1:00:44] we had our bond attorney come, we had people

[1:00:48] come, we got an opinion from the, uh, da,

[1:00:52] we got an opinion from texas municipal lead over whether

[1:00:56] or not we had done anything wrong as a council

[1:01:01] by utilizing those funds. We checked, we

[1:01:05] looked, we asked, we got, um, we got,

[1:01:10] uh, all of the things necessary to see whether or not

[1:01:14] we had violated. And whether or not there was malfeasance

[1:01:18] and there was not, but dogmatically,

[1:01:23] it won't be let go. That's where we are. That's why we

[1:01:27] are here. Because you won't let it go

[1:01:32] because you, because four individuals on the council

[1:01:37] voted and allowed it to happen and transpire because they

[1:01:41] believed that we could walk and chew gum at the same time. And the project is

[1:01:45] a beautiful project on the gateway to downtown port arthur.

[1:01:49] it's not finished yet. It's not completed, but it looks beautiful. And,

[1:01:54] and individuals on council dared to believe that port arthur ought

[1:01:58] to have something nice, a gateway to downtown. Okay? That's

[1:02:02] why we are here. That's what happened. That's what transpired.

[1:02:06] let it go. Let it go.

[1:02:11] thank, thank, let it go. Thank you council member frank. Council member lewis.

[1:02:15] and the,

[1:02:20] the bond covenant is in place. And I talked, and I, I called

[1:02:24] the bond, uh, agent from the city

[1:02:28] attorney's, the previous city attorney's office with the staff sitting in there

[1:02:33] and he called it a violation.

[1:02:37] oh wait, he, he said, councilman, I know where you're going with this.

[1:02:42] I know where you're going with this, but I'm willing to hold my

[1:02:46] nose. That's council member. No, no, no.

[1:02:50] that's, I'm I I I'm, I'm in the meeting. I called you and the city

[1:02:54] attorney was there. You was not there. I will get, I will determine you was not there. Who gets

[1:02:58] what time to talk now? We said two minutes. I've let everybody go over that and

[1:03:03] I'll let I talking. I'll determine that. Okay. Thank you. No,

[1:03:07] sir. You've already spoken. I got a motion to make if everybody spoken,

[1:03:11] if he's still speaking and you got people in the audience that's asking to speak as well, but

[1:03:15] anytime, so I'll call it up the meeting anytime and I'll say again, what I need to do. It can

[1:03:19] finish anytime. That bond issue was strictly for infrastructure,

[1:03:25] not $7 million for landscaping a boulevard. It was for

[1:03:29] you can, you can fix a, a water and sewer lines if it's,

[1:03:33] if it's a problem. That was not the issue. They went down there and

[1:03:37] moved $14 million to move $14 million.

[1:03:41] and then, and people complaining about what are y'all, I can leave my house

[1:03:45] and go in any direction and blow a tire, but y'all

[1:03:49] spending, I didn't have a problem with land doing what? But

[1:03:53] you had to budget for that, uh, the next time around. Okay. You don't just take it

[1:03:58] out of a $50 million budget. You don't just do

[1:04:02] that. It is malfeasance. When you're violated an ordinance,

[1:04:06] it is, look it up and also look

[1:04:10] up the definition of male feas and violating the city ordinance.

[1:04:14] it'll tell you. And all in addition to that.

[1:04:18] okay. Other. Thank you, mr. Thank you councilman lewis. Appreciate it. I have some people from

[1:04:22] the audience that would like to speak. You'll have a, um, three minutes to speak.

[1:04:27] sure. Thank you holland. Okay. Hello counsel. My name's holland hoffer. I live at

[1:04:31] 37 10. Dr. Martin luther king highway out on pleasure, highland.

[1:04:35] um, to me, I detect fear in this room right now. It's like we're discussing

[1:04:39] a forensic audit and everyone is shape-shifting, uh, trying to get away.

[1:04:43] doesn't wanna discuss it, is doing everything to avoid it. Um,

[1:04:48] council member, frank, you said that citizens aren't concerned and it's just,

[1:04:52] um, council member doucette that was really interested in this. I know that you're

[1:04:56] online and there are hundreds of citizens right now

[1:05:00] making comments about this. This has been the hot topic for the last several months.

[1:05:05] it was not even started by council member disette. It was brought up by several other

[1:05:09] people and it, it, the ball got rolling and people have tons of

[1:05:14] questions about all sorts of things going on. So to say that the city is not interested

[1:05:18] in this is really a false statement because okay,

[1:05:22] I'm sorry. I'm sorry to say that citizens are not fully interested. Those

[1:05:26] that is who is driving this issue right now? Um, there's hundreds of 'em.

[1:05:31] you know, we waste, I'm not sorry, we don't waste. We spend a lot of money

[1:05:35] on what I would consider frivol frivolous projects around the city. Um, I'm

[1:05:39] gonna refer back to the sign on port arthur. It was $264,000.

[1:05:44] this audit will cost around the same amount. And we're looking at

[1:05:48] taking a look at hundreds of millions of dollars that hopefully

[1:05:52] nothing happened to. But if someone's misappropriated, it's gonna certainly pay

[1:05:57] for that audit really quickly. Um, councilor hamilton,

[1:06:01] I understand that the last time there was a forensic audit, nothing was done. That

[1:06:05] is not to say that this time nothing will be done. Um, there's a lot of

[1:06:09] people pushing for it now. There's a lot of effort behind it. And for

[1:06:13] the cost it takes to do one, I think it would really benefit the city. And moving forward,

[1:06:17] I think the citizens I speak on behalf of, a lot of them that are probably not here right now. Some, some are.

[1:06:22] um, we'd like to do this. So thank you very much. Okay.

[1:06:26] um, I think I saw another hand, gloria's.

[1:06:31] okay, we have three minutes. Good morning,

[1:06:36] mayor and consul. Gloria sanchez, 6 6 2 5 jade avenue.

[1:06:41] uh, I have been watching meetings for over 18 years,

[1:06:46] all the time. I have been watching cons. I in the budget

[1:06:50] every time that they want to. Last year we amend

[1:06:54] the budget to do, um, bonus for the employees. They

[1:06:58] wasn't on the on, I'm sorry,

[1:07:03] it wasn't on, on budget.

[1:07:08] and we did it because you want to do it.

[1:07:12] you concerned about 200, $400, but I see you

[1:07:17] asking for $32 million week. We gonna spend over

[1:07:21] 30 million on interest. It's lost money,

[1:07:25] money that we paying for. And it's just interesting. We

[1:07:29] have to pay on the loan. But now you're concerned about

[1:07:33] 200 or $400. I think every single one of you need

[1:07:37] to be concerned and be sure that whatever the 2017

[1:07:43] for nz audit recommendations are followed and fix it.

[1:07:47] that we no have any more longer employees be sending like a vendors,

[1:07:52] the council are doing the things right. That every recommendation,

[1:07:57] because it was a recommendation. I was here when the forensic

[1:08:01] audit was, uh, reporting to council and

[1:08:05] they was very clear and said, we are nobody to do accusation.

[1:08:10] but you must follow the red flags.

[1:08:15] the explanation, the cons gave it to me was the employees who did this

[1:08:19] to the city are no longer here. Some of these employees are

[1:08:23] back, are back. And just to be sure

[1:08:27] that everything that happened 10 years ago is not happening now,

[1:08:31] I think it's worth to spend this money on it.

[1:08:36] and just to be sure that you have been no violated anything and you are doing

[1:08:40] the things right. I think it's worth to spend this kind of money.

[1:08:44] and like I said, you amend the budget three, four times, five times a

[1:08:48] year. And now this is the excuse. It's not

[1:08:52] on the budget. Really?

[1:08:58] give me something better than that, please. Thank you,

[1:09:02] ms. Joanne.

[1:09:08] ms. Jones. Joanne jones. I speak as

[1:09:12] a citizen, a port arthur. You all have some

[1:09:17] parents. I understand that, but I can't go along with

[1:09:21] it. Even in a team of four, when you all were voting,

[1:09:25] I just don't think it was right when you all were carrying on business.

[1:09:29] y'all had a team of four that was done and it wasn't legal.

[1:09:34] and it, you know, that you all the way you

[1:09:38] voted took to get what you all wanted. And here we, 75 million

[1:09:43] is missing, uh, unappropriate. And here we asked for two

[1:09:48] the citizens of port arthur, our own personal money.

[1:09:52] and you do not give us credit to use it,

[1:09:56] but you use it when you wanna use it, when it to benefit you, you're

[1:10:00] not supposed to be. I mean, it's not about you all being benefited. It's about us.

[1:10:04] and all we ask for is this little,

[1:10:09] few dollars, you know, compared to what we have and work to

[1:10:13] put it there and build our, uh, city. And you says, no,

[1:10:18] give us some credit, give us some lean, you know, that we have since enough

[1:10:22] too common sense, if not books says,

[1:10:26] you know, that we are able to use our money the way we see fit. Sometimes

[1:10:30] just sometime the traveling last year was, was real

[1:10:35] outta order. You know, some of the council members took advantage of a lot

[1:10:39] of traveling. And that's, it's, it's

[1:10:43] just time. Give us some benefit. Give us some benefit. It's not gonna hurt

[1:10:47] you. If it hurt anybody, it's gonna hurt us. Thank you.

[1:10:52] thank you. Council member josette, you call in for, we need to call for them and

[1:10:56] it, oh, I'm sorry. You'll

[1:11:00] come up. I'm sorry. And I should have had everybody state their name and address and I apologize. I missed that.

[1:11:05] okay. Mm-hmm. Hello, everyone. Linda baker. I live at

[1:11:09] 27 10 evergreen drive. Um, I would like to say

[1:11:13] on behalf of the citizens who are concerned and would agree to having a

[1:11:17] forensic audit, having been a former forensic auditor for the government,

[1:11:21] um, I think there's a lot of questions that need to be answered. I also believe that,

[1:11:26] um, having been an investor in a company called lift tech

[1:11:30] that some of you may be aware of, we were awarded before I moved here

[1:11:34] from central texas. We were actually awarded to be able to repay proctor.

[1:11:38] and then whenever they got approved by texdot to be able to utilize the formula

[1:11:42] that they came up with, they were told that the city didn't have the money.

[1:11:46] I just would like to know what happened. That's all. I would also like

[1:11:51] to know with many other questions that I have. Um, just

[1:11:55] maybe what, maybe there's no malfeasance. Maybe it's just the way in which the financials are written.

[1:11:59] maybe there's just not enough granular deri, uh, description

[1:12:04] for where the money has gone. But I say that we do this audit,

[1:12:08] and if nothing's going on, then fantastic. Thank you for your time.

[1:12:14] thank you. Council member hamilton. Ever feel. Thank you, mayor.

[1:12:18] is there an opportunity for, um,

[1:12:23] ms. Ms? Oh my god, ms. Lynn,

[1:12:28] our finance director to this would be a

[1:12:32] question to city manager, actually host a workshop on the audits that have already

[1:12:36] been done. Our audit is public information. It's readily

[1:12:40] available on this city website. So I understand that people have questions

[1:12:44] and they deserve to be answered, but a forensic audit is not the

[1:12:48] only way that these questions can be answered. So is there an opportunity

[1:12:53] that, and we, we had public hearings. Mayor added public

[1:12:57] hearings during our budget, and they were very

[1:13:01] extensive. We had some that were in the morning, some

[1:13:05] were that were in the evening for the public to be able to come and ask

[1:13:09] questions before we even approved our annual budget. So we have the opportunity

[1:13:14] to ask these questions, but maybe the, the

[1:13:18] methods that we previously used were not as effective that, that

[1:13:23] needs to be for citizens to know that they can actually ask those questions.

[1:13:29] okay. Uh, city manager, you had your light all. Yeah. Mayor. Mayor and council.

[1:13:33] um, with reference to council women's ever

[1:13:37] filled question, we do have all the audits posted on

[1:13:42] our website. All the current audits being posted on the website.

[1:13:46] um, I have asked staff to prepare a chronological

[1:13:52] report of the past forensic audits. Um, I do have it with

[1:13:56] me. Um, I'm prepared to post this on the website after

[1:14:01] it has been vetted by the city attorney to make sure that the information

[1:14:05] that we have compiled is very much accurate and it goes

[1:14:09] back as far as 2005. Oh, okay.

[1:14:13] you know, so with all the audits and all the resolutions and all the outcomes

[1:14:17] and all the discussions and all the dates, um,

[1:14:22] very detailed and I'll be very much prepared to put it on the website, um,

[1:14:27] for the edification of the public as well, um, with one

[1:14:31] of the, I think one of the learner gentlemen made the, the, the comment

[1:14:35] that we have used city money for signs. The money

[1:14:39] came from hot tax and council voted on several occasions,

[1:14:44] hotel tax of proving the hot tax for the city signs

[1:14:48] all over the city, mayor. So this money was appropriately,

[1:14:53] it was the it, this money was appropriately spent

[1:14:58] according to state and, um, state law and city ordinances,

[1:15:03] all the ordinances, all the signs who finance

[1:15:08] from hog tax. All the city of port arthur alpha signs.

[1:15:12] yeah. All the city of port arthur signs

[1:15:18] that was donated. That was money that was donated, um,

[1:15:23] from a company money. Okay. Wait, we're gonna have order

[1:15:27] in here. Okay. So we're not gonna speak from the audience, ma'am, right now, you've

[1:15:31] already spoken. City manager is speaking, and so, um, city manager

[1:15:35] will move forward with yes, I will move forward website. No one else is

[1:15:39] allowed to speak. I'll promise you I will have you removed.

[1:15:45] I will. So may, I will have the information vetted and posted on the website.

[1:15:49] thank you. I appreciate that. At this time, we're gonna entertain the motion

[1:15:54] and we'll take a roll call vote.

[1:16:01] I make a motion that we'll prove

[1:16:08] the conduct of a forensic audit.

[1:16:14] second, there's been a motion and a second.

[1:16:19] any discussions? I think they've all taken place. We're gonna do a

[1:16:23] roll call vote at this time. City secretary

[1:16:27] council member beckham. Yes.

[1:16:31] mayor pro. Tim ett. Yes. Council member frank?

[1:16:36] yes. Council member hamilton. Ever field?

[1:16:42] no. Council member. Ken long? Yes.

[1:16:48] council member lewis? Yes. Mayor moses.

[1:16:53] no. Motion passes, mayor.

[1:16:57] thank you. Thank you. Okay.

[1:17:02] put it on facebook. Put it on. At this time, we're going to move to

[1:17:06] public hearings. We have none at the number

[1:17:10] item number five, reports of, uh, uh, items of community interest.

[1:17:14] limited to a total of two minutes per council member. If there's

[1:17:19] anything council members you'd like to announce at this time, you may do so.

[1:17:23] uh, put on your lights. I have council member beckham. Yes. Thank you, mayor. Uh,

[1:17:27] I would like to announce that on thursday, november 13th,

[1:17:31] from nine to 12 at the port arthur public library, uh, there

[1:17:35] will be a workshop for citizens who need

[1:17:39] help in applying for the discount for the,

[1:17:44] uh, water bill. And I'm pulling up the flyer right now so that I can give specific information.

[1:17:50] um, water, utilities, and the library will host a senior water

[1:17:54] discount workshop. This has been posted online. Uh, it's on my council member

[1:17:58] page on social media, and it's also been posted by, uh, the library and

[1:18:02] also by the city. Uh, again, it will be at the port arthur public library. That's at

[1:18:06] 46 15 ninth avenue. That's in district three. That's my

[1:18:11] district. Um, thursday, november 13th from 9:00 am to 12.

[1:18:15] uh, citizens who are 65 years of age or older that reside within the port

[1:18:19] arthur city limits and a single family residence, uh,

[1:18:23] that holds the water service account in their own name and have a current

[1:18:28] homestead exemption or a lease agreement for the property also in your name.

[1:18:32] so you've gotta bring those things with you, uh, to show that you do qualify

[1:18:36] for this discount. There will be a presentation by the water department,

[1:18:40] uh, question and answer period and application help. Uh, and I will be

[1:18:44] there to assist also. So, uh, this is posted on social media. If you see it, please

[1:18:49] share it and share this information with your friends and family members that, uh, qualify

[1:18:53] for that senior citizen discount on the water bill. Thank you, mayor.

[1:18:57] council member, uh, everfi. Thank you, ma'am.

[1:19:02] the city of port arthur has a youth advisory council,

[1:19:07] a city of port arthur youth advisory council, and one of the annual

[1:19:11] projects that yak youth advisory council will host is

[1:19:15] providing supplies such as toiletries, um,

[1:19:20] socks, white towels, large towels, and small

[1:19:24] hand towels to port city's rescue mission to support

[1:19:28] the homeless in our community and surrounding areas. You'll

[1:19:32] see boxes in city buildings throughout the community

[1:19:36] and at some of these schools in order to place those items

[1:19:41] into these boxes. And the port arthur youth advisory council

[1:19:45] will deliver them, um, about a week before

[1:19:50] christmas. So, again, this will be the, um, the first time that we're

[1:19:54] doing this project, but it will be an annual project. And port city's rescue mission

[1:19:58] is very grateful. Um, as you know,

[1:20:03] homeless will be with us all the days of our life. And so I'm

[1:20:07] just asking for anyone that may want to offer, um, those donations.

[1:20:12] please feel free to add the items in the box. Thank you very much.

[1:20:17] all right, we're going to move now to, um,

[1:20:21] item six, unfinished business. We have none. Um,

[1:20:25] we're going to move to item seven, our consent agenda. Council

[1:20:29] members, if you have some items that you'd like to withhold, please put your light on and

[1:20:34] I'll acknowledge you so that we can hold those items. Council member everfi.

[1:20:38] sorry, mayor. Council member doucette?

[1:20:43] yes. Mayor. Item number three on page

[1:20:47] four. Okay,

[1:20:52] that's council member frank. Um, item number four

[1:20:57] on page four.

[1:21:03] council member doucette. Yes. Mayor, I, I need to correct that.

[1:21:07] I'm sorry. It's item number five on page four.

[1:21:12] okay. So not item three, right? Not three. It's five.

[1:21:16] okay. Alright.

[1:21:20] can I get a motion for approval for the consent agenda?

[1:21:25] second. It's been moved. And second, any discussions?

[1:21:30] oh, I'm sorry. Let me start over. Um, I

[1:21:35] want to move that we approve the consent agenda with the exceptions of item

[1:21:39] four and item five on page four. And I'd like to

[1:21:43] get a motion for approval for the consent agenda with those items being withheld,

[1:21:48] it's been moved and properly. Second. Any discussions? All in

[1:21:52] favor say aye. Aye. Any nos?

[1:21:56] the ayes have it. The consent agenda passes with the exception

[1:22:00] of item number four and number five on page four.

[1:22:04] we will now, um, go to number four on page four,

[1:22:10] pr number 2, 4 5 7 4. A resolution approving

[1:22:14] a technical assistance agreement between the port arthur economic development

[1:22:18] corporation and the national council, uh, for community development

[1:22:22] incorporated, dba, uh, grow america for the

[1:22:27] period of one year upon pr pa edcs, execution of

[1:22:31] the agreement in an amount not to exceed $75,000

[1:22:35] funds available in edc. Account number 1 2 0

[1:22:39] dash 8 6 2 5 dash 5 4 2 0 0 0

[1:22:48] professional services. Can I get a motion for approval? So moved. Second.

[1:22:52] it's been moved and properly. Second. Moved by council member frank and

[1:22:57] second by council member lewis, any

[1:23:01] questions? Yes. Okay. Council member, frank. Thank you. Mayor.

[1:23:05] propositions are, are on our minds. The edc is on our minds right

[1:23:09] now because we have a proposition that is, that has been on the ballot and is

[1:23:13] on the ballot right now. Uh, because we are asking as a council for

[1:23:17] the authority, uh, to do projects, uh, here in our city

[1:23:21] with a hybrid a and b, uh, edc.

[1:23:26] and so, uh, I want to be sure that individuals are,

[1:23:30] uh, taking an opportunity to have their voices heard, uh,

[1:23:34] on that proposition, if you have not already done so. Uh, so that we can help

[1:23:39] our city grow. We believe that it will help. But I want

[1:23:43] to ask a question concerning this because we have allowed

[1:23:47] you can come please. Uh, you, because we did

[1:23:51] approve this, because economic development is always on the forefront

[1:23:55] of our minds here in the city, uh, as we're watching projects,

[1:24:00] uh, come about. So I wanted to know exactly what,

[1:24:04] um, what has been going on with this company? What is,

[1:24:09] uh, what has been approved, what has been put in place? How

[1:24:13] is it progressing, and why do you believe that is

[1:24:17] necessary that we continue this contract? You know, what has been

[1:24:21] the fruit of our efforts with this contract? Yes, councilman?

[1:24:25] so, uh, grow america, formerly known as the national development

[1:24:29] council, has been our technical advisor for, uh, more than

[1:24:33] 10 years, I'd say annually. We come to you all to renew their contract,

[1:24:38] their technical services, um, include professional services such

[1:24:42] as, um, financial review and analysis of

[1:24:46] our projects, as well as incentive agreements or incentive recipients

[1:24:51] and applicants. They do all of that, those number running for us

[1:24:55] so that we can make good decisions on the projects that we invest in.

[1:24:59] um, uh, also they manage our grow port arthur fund, which is

[1:25:03] an sba backed small business loan for, um, small businesses

[1:25:07] in port arthur. So they are the, the, uh,

[1:25:12] entity that matches that fund and manages it for us

[1:25:16] amongst other technical advisory advising that they do for us. How many

[1:25:20] small businesses are, have been loaned money, say in the last

[1:25:24] year or, um, in the last year? In, in,

[1:25:28] in our city, we have not had any loans processed through groveport

[1:25:32] arthur fund. Um, in the last year, we do have one current applicant that

[1:25:36] is going through, uh, the application phase right now. How many have

[1:25:41] we seen over the, over, over the last five years, would you say?

[1:25:46] I believe we have two open loans. Two open loans

[1:25:50] over five years. Yes. So you believe that this,

[1:25:54] so you believe that this con I'm sorry. So you believe

[1:25:58] that this contract should continue and then we we're getting banged for the buck,

[1:26:03] um, out of this? Yes, sir. Because not only, um,

[1:26:07] do they manage that grove port arthur fund for us, they provide technical advising for

[1:26:11] us that, uh, we can't do in-house. So they, they are

[1:26:15] a, a very necessary resource for us. Okay. Alright.

[1:26:20] thank you so much. I have, uh, council member ettes light on.

[1:26:24] yes. A couple of things. Comments. First one being

[1:26:29] we don't have a hybrid. The state of texas does not have hybrid

[1:26:34] edcs. All edcs is gonna be a a or b,

[1:26:39] no hybrid. The second thing, ndc,

[1:26:44] I've served on e-e-d-c-n-d-c

[1:26:50] due the financials for them. If you apply for incentives

[1:26:54] for the edc, you apply for,

[1:26:58] uh, assistance. You have to submit

[1:27:03] your financials to the edc, who in turns

[1:27:08] pass it on to ndc. Ndc goes through it

[1:27:12] like banks do. Can't they let ddc know, hey,

[1:27:16] that's a risk. That's not a risk.

[1:27:20] that is why the a dc has so far

[1:27:25] been able to use money that was not wasted

[1:27:29] because they do not listen to what somebody say they have

[1:27:34] or what they bring to 'em. They actually send it to them and they

[1:27:38] do the same thing when they run a financial check. So it's been protected in the edc

[1:27:43] for years. And if you go back and look at that track record, you're not gonna find

[1:27:47] that they, uh, invested or they gave money to any clients

[1:27:52] where it was a waste or it was funded. You know, I think in the 11 years I've

[1:27:57] been involved in understanding edc and everything, I think, uh,

[1:28:01] there's only one project that I know folded under the whole thing.

[1:28:06] but when they ran the financials, it was good, but it folded. But

[1:28:10] whenever you do something of that magnitude, you are protecting

[1:28:14] citizens tax dollars. And it has nothing to do with anybody

[1:28:18] work there. So even if you talk to people, work there

[1:28:23] and they like you, and now it still goes to n-d-c-n-d-c is gonna look at it,

[1:28:27] they're gonna say, risk,

[1:28:31] high risk, no risk, or we think it's the good deal.

[1:28:36] now did I explain that exactly what happens over there? ?

[1:28:40] yes. I thought that. Thank you. Okay, thank you. That's what I just wanted to add.

[1:28:46] okay. Council member lewis. Yes. Appreciate your

[1:28:51] look. Ed's the economic development corporation

[1:28:55] when it was in place, put in place in

[1:28:59] 1996. Up until now, have there ever been any

[1:29:03] grants for small businesses?

[1:29:09] we provide incentives rather than grants. Um, and

[1:29:14] small business, it'll depend on, on how you, uh, classify small

[1:29:18] business. Some of the businesses that we do, we have provided incentives for which

[1:29:22] are industrial business can be classified as a small business. Oh, I'm saying have,

[1:29:26] have small, have have the edc board ever done any

[1:29:30] give they give away, they give away tons of money

[1:29:34] since 1996 okay.

[1:29:38] for infrastructure and whatever, helping, helping, uh, other businesses.

[1:29:43] but when it come down to now, I've sent 'em to the edc and hoping that board

[1:29:47] members would do something, put it on the ballot, and he, councilman

[1:29:51] deuce said, said he served twice down there, never done nothing. Small business

[1:29:55] grants. Once they had the, the a corporation set up,

[1:29:59] you never had to voted in place. They never had to go back. They just give

[1:30:04] away money. Give away money. Yes. You know, you qualifi the backgrounds and everything,

[1:30:08] but they have never took the time to help a

[1:30:12] small business with a grant to put a roof on, on the house, on,

[1:30:16] on, on their business. All of those small

[1:30:20] businesses I have sent to economic development corporation, they wanted to give 'em

[1:30:24] a loan. Small businesses do not need a loan.

[1:30:30] they need grants. Something that they don't have to pay back. All the other businesses,

[1:30:34] 1996 have been getting grants, never pay 'em back.

[1:30:39] but when it come down to small businesses, oh, well, they gotta pay the background check.

[1:30:43] and all this suppose a small grove, for example, small businesses

[1:30:47] that was reimbursed for putting a roof on the, on the building or

[1:30:51] for an adding extension. Okay. You know, I mean,

[1:30:55] they, they, the city, it is on the front page of port arthur news. They helped

[1:30:59] their small businesses, but port arthur has not. Now we got an opportunity

[1:31:04] to do something with the hybrid. And there is a hybrid program. The regulation talks

[1:31:08] about the hybrid 2023. It was the hybrid program

[1:31:12] passed. You could read the regulations. Okay. Uh,

[1:31:17] we need to continue to help small men. I'm urging everybody, when you go to oppose

[1:31:22] today, be sure to vote for the proposition eight.

[1:31:26] you can't do that council, lord, you can't do that. You,

[1:31:30] you know. Okay. Okay. Y'all, we already know. Let's

[1:31:34] stop this. Okay. We know, sir.

[1:31:38] sir, you cannot do that in here. We cannot endorse as public officials

[1:31:43] of a proposition. No, we cannot. Okay. I'm done with that city manager.

[1:31:48] yeah. Mayor crystal, I hope I

[1:31:52] did not miss it. Um, you explained that grow

[1:31:56] america was formally the ndc. You did, did you?

[1:32:00] yes, sir. They're formerly national development council. Yeah. And, and technically they still are

[1:32:04] the national right development council, but they're doing business now as grow america. Yes. Yeah.

[1:32:08] and the other thing that in response to, um, councilman frank's

[1:32:12] question, one of the most significant projects that they have undertaken in the last five

[1:32:17] years with the edc is the renaissance apartments. Mm-hmm. Correct.

[1:32:21] yes. So, and that was a significant achievement both for the ed

[1:32:25] c and for the city. Mm-hmm . You. Absolutely. So that's 30 odd million dollars

[1:32:30] at the time when we did it. Mm-hmm. Okay. So it has been a significant

[1:32:34] achievement. Yeah. Yes. Alright. All. Are we done?

[1:32:40] I have no more councilman you said? Yes. Yes. I just wanted to add that, uh,

[1:32:45] the reason you can't do grants and stuff for small b, it's a type

[1:32:49] a corporation. Type a corporation,

[1:32:53] all it. What we want to do and who we want to help

[1:32:58] is a type a corporation. There's things they can do. There's

[1:33:02] a way to do it. It's all written in the regulations. The

[1:33:06] local government codes. The local government code has two

[1:33:12] government code that identified types of corporations

[1:33:17] in the state of texas. 5 0 4. 5 0 3. Anything

[1:33:21] else you read is not written and

[1:33:25] approved by the legislature. 5 0 4 and not 5 0 5

[1:33:29] was approved by the texas legislature. And if there's any amendments or changes to

[1:33:33] them, that's who will do it. And that's what I'm talking about. We need to follow is

[1:33:37] written. Okay. Uh, council member frank,

[1:33:42] I just wanted to add in my second time of going around, councilman deuce

[1:33:46] is correct, but five years ago I came

[1:33:50] on this council and I began to ask questions. I'd gone to the edc,

[1:33:55] sat down with the director at that particular time and talked to them about the

[1:33:59] conversion from a type a to a type bedc.

[1:34:03] needling has a type b, uh, ed, c. Most of the,

[1:34:07] most of the cities with our demographics and in our state

[1:34:12] have a type b, ed, c, which affords them the opportunity to

[1:34:16] do type a and type b projects without going to the voters

[1:34:20] every time that they do it. And so there was a,

[1:34:25] um, there was, um, there was no will,

[1:34:30] there was no desire, uh, to change from a type a,

[1:34:34] edc to go to a type bedc that would help businesses

[1:34:39] because there was a concern, um, because of a type

[1:34:43] bedc that council members could sit on the, on

[1:34:47] the council or whatever. We weren't trying to take over the edc

[1:34:52] at that particular time. And that was, um, the whole,

[1:34:56] um, that was the whole, uh, scare

[1:35:00] tactic to us moving to a type bedc at that particular

[1:35:05] time that, that the council wanted to take over, uh, the edc.

[1:35:09] that was not it. We were simply trying to do what councilman lewis was saying

[1:35:13] to help small businesses to help, um, the engine,

[1:35:18] uh, drive small businesses in our community so that we could do

[1:35:23] downtown. And we have a tour zone and all of those things to help our city,

[1:35:27] uh, as well, uh, to be revitalized. But we need projects,

[1:35:32] um, like the waterpark. We need projects that bring

[1:35:37] a quality of life in our city. And that's what that proposition

[1:35:41] is all about. On the council today, city attorney's asking to speak

[1:35:45] city attorney, if we could redirect back to the agenda item. I think we're getting off scope.

[1:35:50] yes. We okay. We we're gonna be back on task. Okay. So

[1:35:54] at this point, we're going to, uh, move for our vote

[1:35:58] on the, uh, item that's here, which is approving a technical assistance agreement

[1:36:03] between the city of port arthur economic development corporation and national council of,

[1:36:07] uh, community development, known before as, um,

[1:36:12] ndc, but now doing business as grow america for the period of one year.

[1:36:16] can I, um, all in favor say aye. Aye.

[1:36:20] the ayes have it. Let me make sure we have no anyone against this

[1:36:25] nos. Any nos? No. So the ayes have it. The resolution passes.

[1:36:29] we're gonna go to pr number 2 4 5 8 1 a

[1:36:33] resolution authorizing the contract extension for the 25th

[1:36:38] street bridge repair project with wool pert incorporated

[1:36:42] of houston, texas. There is no funding intact for the contract extension.

[1:36:47] can I get a motion for approval? Motion for approval? Second. It's been motioned.

[1:36:51] and second motioned, uh, by council member lewis, and second by council member

[1:36:55] frank. Um, any questions? Council member ett? Yes.

[1:36:59] thank you, mayor. When looking at the background information

[1:37:04] for, for this particular item, it's something that caught my attention.

[1:37:09] it said that the delay was

[1:37:13] be from deliberating, you know,

[1:37:18] and, and I've always, that's something that, that I keep talking about is

[1:37:22] we do not moves. There

[1:37:27] are sometimes things can happen that will cause a delay

[1:37:31] that is unforeseen and you can't help. So, my question here,

[1:37:36] what was this delay that stopped us

[1:37:40] from moving when we first took action? Action. What

[1:37:44] was the delay there? There were several. The delay was,

[1:37:49] the delay was, there was a discussion where the city

[1:37:53] manager was seeking information from motiva at the time

[1:37:57] that was interested in 25th street. And, um, whether we

[1:38:01] were going to undertake the investment of repairing the bridge

[1:38:06] at that time. And, um, the monies at that time was not in

[1:38:10] the budget for us to repair the street. For the bri yes. Excuse me.

[1:38:14] for the bri yes. No money in the budget for the bridge. That's right. That's right. There was no

[1:38:18] money. It's only this year that we have placed the money and counselor approved the

[1:38:22] repairs of both 25th street and ninth avenue.

[1:38:27] in, in spite of that, we are going to get the report, which is a good thing,

[1:38:32] which is the delay is a good thing because the, the reports

[1:38:36] will indicate to us whether, as I've, in my discussion

[1:38:40] with my city engineer, the current city engineer, whether

[1:38:44] it would be much more valuable to undertake the repairs or to just replace the bridge.

[1:38:49] we will get an idea, a much more solid idea of that when we do, when

[1:38:53] we continue with this. Well that's good. 'cause basically what we're saying is really,

[1:38:58] we really wasn't moving into talking about

[1:39:02] design and replacement at the time. It just came to

[1:39:07] us and everything. Yes. But then

[1:39:11] instead of talking about bridge, we went into looking at it. If we going to give up the bridge,

[1:39:16] uh, if we gonna give up the street, so then that's what yes. Yes. So you went from here to

[1:39:20] here. That's right. And then now we decided to come back here. Yes. And then now, you know, one of

[1:39:24] the things that I took into consideration and in my discussion with the public

[1:39:28] works department at the time was if we were to do anything, I would've rather

[1:39:33] attempted the bridge on ninth avenue because we have the two high schools

[1:39:37] out there. Yeah. You know, and then close it during the summer season when

[1:39:41] it, you know, it is been less traverse, you know, that sort of thing. That's,

[1:39:46] that's good. I just needed to know because we, we, we say it in the background,

[1:39:50] it was deliberation, but it wasn't no explanation of why

[1:39:55] we deliberating. So thank you city man. That's a good, I'll accept that one.

[1:39:59] that's a good one. Mm-hmm . All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:40:04] any nos? The eyes have it. The resolution passes. We're gonna move

[1:40:08] on to page number five. Well, um, item eight

[1:40:12] items require an individual action, non-consent.

[1:40:17] a number one, a p pr number 2 4 5 1 9.

[1:40:22] a resolution of appointing a member or members to the construction board

[1:40:26] of adjustments and appeals. Can I get a motion for approval? So moved. Second.

[1:40:30] it's been moved by council member kinlaw and second by council member. Ever

[1:40:34] feel, uh, any questions? All in

[1:40:39] favor say aye. Aye. Any nose?

[1:40:43] the eyes have it. The resolution passes

[1:40:48] pr number 2 4 5 4 7 a resolution

[1:40:52] authorizing the approval of the quarterly payments of solid waste permit fees for

[1:40:56] the landfill to the texas commission on environmental quality tceq

[1:41:01] with a projected budgetary impact amount of $148,000.

[1:41:05] funding is available in account number 4 0 3 5 0 3 2 0 5 4 7.

[1:41:16] can I get a motion for approval? Motion approval. Second. It's been motion

[1:41:20] for approval by council member lewis and second by council member doucette.

[1:41:25] any questions? All in favor say aye. Aye.

[1:41:30] any nos? The ayes have it. The resolution passes pr

[1:41:34] number 2 4 5 6 0 a resolution, appointing and or

[1:41:38] reappointing members to the zoning board of adjustment pursuant to appendix a

[1:41:42] zoning section 5.04 of the city of port arthur code of ordinances.

[1:41:47] can I get a motion for approval? There has been a motion

[1:41:51] by council member lewis, second by council member doucette, any questions?

[1:41:57] all in favor say I. Wait, wait. , I wanna make sure I'm not missing

[1:42:01] something here. And this is, this is number three. Councilman

[1:42:05] beckham, you can speak. Yes, it's number three. Okay. I have a

[1:42:09] name. Okay. Lemme make sure I'm

[1:42:13] on the right one. Zoning, board of adjustments.

[1:42:17] zoning. Board of adjustments? Yes.

[1:42:22] I would like to appoint for district three. Holland hoffer.

[1:42:28] okay. Council members. Any other appointments to this board

[1:42:32] or do you already have the names? Um, let me ask, have we given our

[1:42:37] city secretary the names by, by pam? By way of

[1:42:43] how many on that board? There are some names on in the resolution. That's

[1:42:47] my understanding. Yes. I wasn't given the

[1:42:51] names to call out. Okay. Um, assistant city

[1:42:55] manager. You take the podium for me please.

[1:43:02] good morning, mayor and council. Um, at one of the previous council members,

[1:43:06] mayor, you appointed kareem, nelson and councilwoman ever

[1:43:11] feel appointed, um, or reappointed? Chris lopez mm-hmm . Um,

[1:43:15] but I am still needing an appointment from the remainder of council for

[1:43:19] the zoning board. And so member beckham just made hers, which

[1:43:23] is holly hoffer howard. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So all other council members need

[1:43:27] to appoint someone, their terms expired or can you? They are expired.

[1:43:31] they're expired. Okay. How many do I have? Question. Okay, I have lights.

[1:43:36] council members, seven members. How many is on that board? Seven members an

[1:43:40] appointment from each, um, council seat. What's district one's appointment? Has

[1:43:45] it expired? It has all, um, appointments have expired. Okay. What's the name?

[1:43:49] let's see.

[1:44:05] previous appointment was langston adams. Who? Langston adams.

[1:44:09] langston adams. Yes sir. I'll check with him. Okay, mayor.

[1:44:14] okay. Council member doucette? Yes. I I need clarification, mayor.

[1:44:18] yes, sir. On, on these boards. Okay.

[1:44:22] which one are we talking about? We're talking about the zoning board of adjustments.

[1:44:27] that's number three. Yes sir. Okay. The zoning adjustment,

[1:44:32] the board of adjustment in the fields, right? Yes sir.

[1:44:36] is that one that we each have an appointee

[1:44:40] or is that one where we had the yes sir. The planning and zoning commission is

[1:44:45] the only five member board that we oversee. Um, but the

[1:44:49] zoning board and construction board have seven members. Um, that each

[1:44:53] council gets an appointment to that board, those boards. Okay. Then

[1:44:57] my next question is, uh, you have no names

[1:45:02] in that. Can't we, can't we

[1:45:06] get to a point whereby the city secretary

[1:45:11] keeps record, but whoever is in charge of

[1:45:15] these boards, right? Yes sir. We have a, a staff

[1:45:20] yes sir. That oversees all our boards. Okay. Yes sir.

[1:45:25] the staff that oversees all our boards. If council appoints

[1:45:29] a member and that member doesn't attend meetings or that member's,

[1:45:34] uh, counter

[1:45:38] obstructive of something, you know, why don't that

[1:45:42] person that's oversee this mm-hmm .

[1:45:47] give them information to the city secretary. The city secretary, work with the council

[1:45:51] member. Mm-hmm . Okay. If we need to replace somebody,

[1:45:56] whoever oversee the board, notify the city secretary. Mm-hmm

[1:46:01] . And the city secretary by secretary notify us

[1:46:05] individually mm-hmm . To seem like we keep talking these name,

[1:46:10] these names and stuff. Because once we give the

[1:46:14] name to the city secretary, then when we get these things on

[1:46:18] resolutions, we won't be asking for names. 'cause I noticed when

[1:46:22] we did it that way before, whenever we had this on the item

[1:46:27] on the agenda mm-hmm . She would say, well, the mayor read

[1:46:31] the thing, then the city secretary would say, we'd like to

[1:46:36] include this name. Yes sir. Instead of asking

[1:46:40] and going through this, who got names and all this, why don't we go back to doing that? That way

[1:46:44] it was pretty, there's definitely not an issue with that. Um, I do wanna note

[1:46:48] that communication was sent to council prior to today's meeting. So the information

[1:46:52] could be provided to the city secretary. I, I received the information,

[1:46:57] I received the information in the agenda when I read the background.

[1:47:02] yes, there were emails as well. I read all this thing. What I'm saying is

[1:47:07] sometimes we doing this and it's one mm-hmm

[1:47:12] . So that's why I said before it was simple. You

[1:47:16] know, we got notified individually that either

[1:47:21] somebody will point not attending meetings and needs to be removed.

[1:47:25] and that she asked us. Yes, sir. So then we provided that information

[1:47:29] back to her. Yes, sir. Then when it came to the resolution,

[1:47:33] instead of asking for names, we read the resolution.

[1:47:38] the mayor said, okay, do we have a name? See the secretary say yes, so and

[1:47:42] so, yes sir, we won't. And said, will the name, who's in it now?

[1:47:47] that's all I'm saying, why can't we go back to doing it that way? It was pretty simple. Not

[1:47:51] a problem. Let me, I'm sorry. Um, you

[1:47:55] said these terms expired, these are all, all of our person's

[1:47:59] terms expired? That is correct. Okay. Nope. Okay.

[1:48:03] okay. You see, mayor, but that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Because we should never be in this

[1:48:07] point in our old system. Because what would've happened was,

[1:48:12] I think that, go ahead counsel. What just said, let me go ahead.

[1:48:18] we would have known that

[1:48:22] they expired and I've never seen an incident where all of

[1:48:26] them expired the same time. That never,

[1:48:31] I ain't never seen this pro promote, I mean, put anybody on the board all at one time.

[1:48:35] so yes sir. Evidently, and when I looked at the years that they expired right.

[1:48:39] it was way back there right. In the background. So,

[1:48:44] so, so we really behind on that one. Yes. And that's why we at where

[1:48:48] we are. And that's the kinda I ask, you know, if the person in charge

[1:48:53] of overseeing these board and committee that we appoint people to

[1:48:58] will just get on it more and make sure that we as council

[1:49:02] members are aware of somebody who's

[1:49:06] coming up for an expiration or someone who's not attending the meetings

[1:49:10] and they should be replaced. Because I, for one, once I appoint

[1:49:15] somebody, I don't communicate with 'em. 'cause they have to work with that board of commissioner or

[1:49:19] whatever it is. And that's, I'll appoint them to work with them, not me. Yes, sir.

[1:49:23] but if they're not attending or they're not contributing,

[1:49:28] then if the sec secretary says, councilman de said you got

[1:49:32] this person, I call 'em up, say, hey, came a to vi

[1:49:36] put somebody else. Yes sir. Okay. But I think we can, I

[1:49:40] mean, that's the way it used to be. So we stayed on top of it rather

[1:49:44] than falling behind. Yes sir. Mayor, thank

[1:49:48] you. Um, thank you. I appreciate that. But I think the city secretary

[1:49:52] should be tracking all of our appointments. Thank you for being here

[1:49:56] as assistant city manager. Yes. That is not your job. Right.

[1:50:01] but we appreciate you. But I do believe that all of our appointees, 'cause I have

[1:50:05] lights, but I'm gonna speak yes ma'am. Um, should, um, should be

[1:50:09] followed through and given us updates when a, an available time. That's the duty of the

[1:50:13] city secretary. And I think that, um, we've made new appointments, we need

[1:50:17] updated sheets, um, from council on all of our boards as to who needs

[1:50:21] to be appointed because there are meetings that are trying to take place

[1:50:26] in different, uh, for instance, in the construction board of adjustments and appeals

[1:50:30] that my person wasn't really showing up and so I had to appoint someone

[1:50:34] else. But I, I asked for a list of who all I needed to appoint for

[1:50:38] the year and I got that. Now that needs to be updated so that the council

[1:50:42] as a whole in its entirety will know what positions need to be

[1:50:46] updated and who they need to reappoint and what's expiring. And I think

[1:50:51] that's contingent upon our, the office in which we, um, and that's the

[1:50:55] city secretary? Yes, ma'am. When you got an update, we, that

[1:50:59] was sent out to all the council, the update that I gave you. So you emailed it

[1:51:03] to everybody mm-hmm . Yes. I, okay. Alright. Thank you. Appreciate that. Council member lewis?

[1:51:08] yes. On your list, do you have we, we have a,

[1:51:12] a rule over the years, we just allows

[1:51:18] citizens to serve on individual boards, not multiple boards.

[1:51:22] is there, is there any duplications?

[1:51:26] would like this kind of spread? Spread, spread? I wouldn't have that information.

[1:51:31] I can only speak for the boards and commissions in which we oversee. Right? Yes. Uh,

[1:51:37] have the state law have anything changed far as, uh, adjustment

[1:51:41] boards in appeal? Um, that board still have

[1:51:45] the authority to overrule the council. Right. Um, well, items that go

[1:51:49] to the zoning board of adjustments because they're quasi judicial or

[1:51:54] challenged in district court, it's not an item that comes to counsel for approval

[1:51:58] or denial. So they have the final

[1:52:02] decision. Yeah. Right. That's, that's the point. They have, they have the final

[1:52:06] decision because I have sent, uh, people that wanted to have

[1:52:10] some, uh, health, health conditions want to move, uh, the parents

[1:52:15] in on their property temporarily until, and, uh,

[1:52:19] they, they had the authority to hoo it. That is correct. But there is specific

[1:52:24] criteria that they must follow that they must follow that's in accordance with state

[1:52:28] law. But we provide them with that criteria. Good. Councilor mcken law,

[1:52:32] uh, pam? Yes, sir. Did you also, maybe I missed this. Are you saying that you're not

[1:52:36] getting a quorum for the board? Because if my appointee, uh, um,

[1:52:41] mr. Abt, I mean is your, this is just a matter where the,

[1:52:45] um, terms for the board had expired. We actually have not met. Okay.

[1:52:49] alright. Um, in quite some time. Again, there's specific criteria when you bring an

[1:52:53] item to the zoning board of adjustments. Yes ma'am. So there have not been a need. Yes, ma'am.

[1:52:57] um, but to make sure that we were up in current, and it was based on the

[1:53:02] mayor's inquiry, we discovered that the board had their

[1:53:06] terms had expired. So we are just cleaning everything up. Cleaning it up. Yeah. Hey, well

[1:53:10] if you don't mind, uh, pam, uh, sherry, uh, anthony albert? Uh,

[1:53:14] yes, but he was, uh, I had him, that was when I was in district three. So now we're

[1:53:18] gonna have to move him to, uh, uh, position at large five. Absolutely. Thank you so

[1:53:22] much. Mm-hmm . Council member frank? Yes. I wanna submit

[1:53:27] the name of alice washington to the list.

[1:53:33] okay. Council member gisette? Yes.

[1:53:38] uh, uh, I'm gonna go back and look at this list

[1:53:42] and anybody that, uh, I do not have a name. Yes sir. I

[1:53:46] will submit it to the se secretary yes sir. This week and

[1:53:50] I'll get that done. Sure. Anybody that I have serving on any

[1:53:54] boards or commission that I've appointed? Yes, sir. If

[1:53:58] that term come up for reappointment

[1:54:03] or another appointment, I don't ever remove

[1:54:08] anybody. So if it's district four yes, sir. And you see that

[1:54:12] the term is about to expire? Yes sir. Whoever oversees it

[1:54:16] need to just let the person go and see the city secretary

[1:54:20] so that she can understand they're gonna be in it. I don't, I don't change. Yes,

[1:54:25] sir. Okay. And we'll coordinate with the city secretary's office. Right. I, I got

[1:54:29] pretty understanding of where it's going now. I think I can get her the names and do

[1:54:33] that. Yes, sir. Alright. Thank you pam. All in favor say aye. Aye.

[1:54:37] aye. Any nos? The ayes have it. The resolution passes. We're

[1:54:41] gonna move to page number six. Number four, a resolution appointing and

[1:54:46] reappointing members for the historical landmark commission. Can I get a motion for approval?

[1:54:50] so moved. So's been moved by councilman mcken law, second by council member

[1:54:54] beckham. Um, any discussions? Do we have na do we need

[1:54:58] names here maam? I do have names for those. You have names for those? Okay.

[1:55:02] yes. Awesome. All in favor say aye. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I have a, I have

[1:55:06] a question. Um, so my appointee

[1:55:10] term out in august of 2025, sherry, um, do you have

[1:55:14] her name as reappointed for district three? Pat holmes? Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. I

[1:55:18] have the mayor zulema escobido. Mm-hmm for council member beckham

[1:55:23] pat holmes for council member hamilton ever field and twin freeman.

[1:55:28] that's the names that we were given in honor. Okay. All in

[1:55:32] favor say aye. Aye. I didn't get all in favor, say aye.

[1:55:37] aye. Can I, can I get y'all's? Aye. Yes ma'am. Aye.

[1:55:44] and he knows the ayes have it. The resolution passes

[1:55:48] pr number 2, 4, 5, 6 3 resolution authorized in the city

[1:55:53] manager to contract with scs engineers

[1:55:57] of houston, texas for groundwater, landfill gas and

[1:56:01] air quality monitoring at the landfill from november, 2025 to august, 2026

[1:56:06] for $171,500. Funds are available in

[1:56:10] public works department. Landfill division, professional services. Account number 4 0 3

[1:56:15] dash five zero dash 3 2 0 dash 5 4 0 0 0.

[1:56:23] no, that's 2 0 0 0 0 0. Can I get a motion for approval?

[1:56:27] so moved. Mary. It's been, uh, moved and second moved by councilman

[1:56:32] kinlaw and second by councilwoman. Ever feel, uh, any discussions?

[1:56:36] all in favor say aye. Aye. The ayes have

[1:56:40] it. The resolution passes pr number 2, 4 5, 6 4

[1:56:46] resolution granting consent to the assignment of the industrial district agreement

[1:56:50] ida between the city of port arthur and basf corporation

[1:56:55] 2018 to 2027 approved by resolution number

[1:56:59] one seven dash 3 51 to basf agricultural

[1:57:04] solutions u-s-l-l-c. Can I get a motion for approval? So

[1:57:08] moved. Second. It's been moved. My council member doucette and

[1:57:12] mayor pro tem ett. And second by council member beckham.

[1:57:17] any questions? All in favor? Yes. Say aye.

[1:57:21] okay. Oh, council member lewis, you have your light on? Yes. Sorry. Uh,

[1:57:25] city manager. Uh, this basf,

[1:57:30] how the employment, those kind of things.

[1:57:35] what, what standing are they? Are they supporting our

[1:57:39] port alto residents? Are

[1:57:43] they in compliance or outta compliance or what? I would have city manager. I would've

[1:57:47] to check the reports. They're still submitting reports, um, to us. They're

[1:57:51] still support submitting the reports based on the requirements?

[1:57:56] yes, they still do. I'll have to check with huey, our compliance guy.

[1:58:00] um, I could provide you with an update on that. Okay. Where is huey?

[1:58:04] our compliance office? Huh? Wait, I was hoping he'd be here when I saw that. Okay.

[1:58:09] did city manager, are you done? No, I'm done.

[1:58:13] could you get hug? Could we skip this and get hug up here? Okay.

[1:58:17] wait, I got a comment. Hold on. I have council member ett. Yes.

[1:58:22] this, this is a consent to just

[1:58:26] reassign it because it's going under another name. This contract

[1:58:30] is not okay. This contract is not being altered

[1:58:35] and is not up to agreement right now. It just, I understand being

[1:58:39] reassigned. I understand that. Okay, so I'm, but I want to find out if they in compliance

[1:58:43] it well we could do that later on since it's not right. That's what I said. Yeah. I wanna find out if

[1:58:47] they're in compliance. See the manager. That's what I said. Provide you with the information. Yeah,

[1:58:52] that's what I said. Said he said he could provide you with the information later. That's what he said.

[1:58:56] okay. Alright. Okay.

[1:59:00] all in favor say aye. Aye. Any nos?

[1:59:04] the ayes have it. The resolution passes. P number seven, pr

[1:59:08] number 2 4 5 8 4 resolution authorizing the purchase

[1:59:12] of 12 portable radios and 10 mobile radios with accessories

[1:59:17] for the fire department for motorola, solutions of houston, texas through

[1:59:21] hgac contract 1 7 7 2 4 dash hgac

[1:59:26] tx ra oh five dash 21 and the amount of 142,845.

[1:59:32] $845,000 and 24 cents. Funding is

[1:59:36] available in equipment account number 6 2 5 1 9 4 7

[1:59:41] dash 8 5 22 dash 0 0 0.

[1:59:47] so moved. Ms. Been moved. And second.

[1:59:51] any questions? All in favor say aye. Aye.

[1:59:56] any nos? The a's have it. The resolution passes

[2:00:00] pr number 2 4 5 85 a resolution authorizing

[2:00:04] the port arthur fire department to purchase 11 self-contained breathing

[2:00:09] apparatus, scba from casco industries

[2:00:13] of laporte, texas under by board contract number

[2:00:17] 6 9 8 dash two three with a projected capital budgetary impact

[2:00:21] of $106,095. Funding is available

[2:00:26] in account number 6 2 6 dash nine dash 0 4 7

[2:00:30] dash 8 5 2 2 dash 3 0 0.

[2:00:36] can I get a motion for approval? It's

[2:00:40] been moved by council member lewis and second by council member woman councilman. Ever

[2:00:44] feel any discussions? All in favor

[2:00:48] say aye. A aye. Any nos?

[2:00:52] the ayes have it. The resolution passes number nine, pr

[2:00:57] number 2 4 5 8 9 a resolution amending resolution number

[2:01:01] two four dash 4 55 and the response to the office of the

[2:01:05] governor's request for additional language affirming the city of port arthur's

[2:01:10] obligations under its acceptance of the fiscal year 2025

[2:01:14] body-worn camera grant from the office of the governor public safety

[2:01:18] division in the amount of $132,381

[2:01:22] and 60 cents. Can I get a motion for approval?

[2:01:27] it's been moved by council member beckham and council member beckham and

[2:01:31] second by councilwoman. Ever feel any questions? All in favor

[2:01:35] say aye. Aye. Any nos? The ayes have

[2:01:39] it. The resolution passes pr, I'm sorry. Number page

[2:01:43] seven. Pr number two. 4 5 9 7.

[2:01:47] a resolution. A resolution casting votes for the board of directors for

[2:01:52] the jefferson central appraisal district for the 20 26 29

[2:01:56] term. Can I get a motion for approval? It's moved second. It's

[2:02:00] been moved in second. Any discussions

[2:02:05] at this time? We have to say, I think state where we're casting our votes

[2:02:09] and we have, um, our, uh, own council member, donald frank,

[2:02:14] who's on the ballot. So I'd like to know, I'm making sure that we are very

[2:02:18] clear that those votes will be cast, uh, uh, uh, the

[2:02:22] council's in agreement to cast those votes for our council member. Or do we have five

[2:02:27] names on the ballot? So,

[2:02:31] okay. Just wanna make sure I have to have to put it out there. So

[2:02:35] we are voting, um, our votes. Mm-hmm. It's already a motion in here. It's in here. His

[2:02:39] name has been selected. Donald frank. Um, as

[2:02:43] our, um, our votes will go, all of our votes will

[2:02:47] go toward council member frank for this jefferson county appraisal district.

[2:02:52] all in favor say aye. A any nos? The

[2:02:56] ayes have it and the resolution passes. Pr number

[2:03:00] 2 4 6 0 1 a resolution authorizing the city manager

[2:03:04] to purchase one. Alan allon, a dv 500

[2:03:09] compactor from al john by c and c manufacturing

[2:03:13] of ottaway, iowa to compact and spread waste in

[2:03:17] the landfill. In compliance with the state regulations through the houston galveston

[2:03:22] area council, hgac cooperative purchasing program.

[2:03:26] contract number pw 10 dash 25 with a projected amount

[2:03:30] of $950,000 funds are available in the capital improvement

[2:03:35] program. Account account number 4 0 3 dash 5 0 3 2 8 5 2 3

[2:03:43] dash 0 0 0 dash zero zero. Can I get

[2:03:47] a motion for approval? It's motion for approval. It's been moved. And second

[2:03:52] moved by council member frank and second by council member lewis.

[2:03:56] any discussions? All in favor say aye. Aye.

[2:04:00] any nos? The ayes have it. The resolution passes

[2:04:05] pr number 2 4 6 0 3. A resolution authorizing

[2:04:09] city manager to enter into a contract between the city of port arthur

[2:04:14] and freeze and nichols incorporated for the review, analysis and revision of

[2:04:18] chapter 98. Subdivision of the city of port arthur code of

[2:04:22] ordinances, and an amount not to exceed $164,800

[2:04:28] funding available in planning professional services. Account

[2:04:32] number 0 0 1 dash one three dash 0 3 1 dash

[2:04:36] 5 4 2 0 dash zero zero dash 0 0 0.

[2:04:41] can we get a motion for approval? It's so moved. Second. It got motion

[2:04:45] and a second. Any questions? Yes. Council member de

[2:04:49] said, yes. City manager.

[2:04:53] most of our code and ordinance here in the city are

[2:04:58] direct in compliance with state ordinance and stuff.

[2:05:04] and then we get into our uniqueness here in the city. Being a home rule,

[2:05:09] we have here $164,800

[2:05:13] for somebody to come in one review

[2:05:18] this chapter two analysis

[2:05:23] and three revision of the chapter. We've

[2:05:27] been getting, we've been getting these contracts for people to come in and do that.

[2:05:33] most of our codes and stuff we have to conform

[2:05:37] with the state of texas.

[2:05:43] do we have, we looked at chapter 98 and

[2:05:47] we cannot look at it and

[2:05:52] see what we need to revise for

[2:05:56] our city. I mean, let's look at the chapter.

[2:06:01] take a look at what we have in place. If it's not sufficient,

[2:06:07] should we know what we need to do to make it effective

[2:06:11] in our city instead of paying somebody $165,000?

[2:06:21] I just need to know why we gotta pay

[2:06:25] somebody for this. I mean, what does this this entail that we can't do this? Yes.

[2:06:33] is he through, uh, council member? I'm sorry. City manager.

[2:06:38] go ahead. Yeah. Um, council member, the

[2:06:42] subdivision regulation is a very, chapter

[2:06:46] 60 is a very technical document

[2:06:51] that has and, and, and I'm, I'm not questioning the

[2:06:55] ability of our city attorney here or any member of the,

[2:06:59] um, the, the legal department, but it's a highly technical

[2:07:03] document that needs input from both engineering

[2:07:08] and planning professionals in order to put the document together.

[2:07:13] the subdivision re regulation is also an

[2:07:17] arm of the comprehensive plan. Um, freezer nichols

[2:07:21] years ago provided us, um, um, after some 25

[2:07:26] years with the new comprehensive plan for the city of po arthur

[2:07:30] detect the, the subdivision regulation has to read

[2:07:34] arm in arm with the comprehensive plan. And so part of the

[2:07:38] subdivision regulation are highly designed sketches,

[2:07:43] which I'm sure the city attorney's officer, no member of staff has the ability

[2:07:47] to produce as well. The ab the, the, the technical expertise

[2:07:52] is just not in-house. What a hundred percent of cities

[2:07:56] that I've ever worked with as a planner has always worked

[2:08:01] with agencies that provide that professional

[2:08:06] services to them to make sure that it's

[2:08:10] accurate at all times. Because you provide that information

[2:08:15] to developers who come here and that information

[2:08:19] has to be very much accurate and

[2:08:23] concise both in its presentation and in and

[2:08:27] in its design. So we wanna make sure that the information

[2:08:32] we provide to our developers is very accurately done

[2:08:36] and very professionally done as well. That is why we

[2:08:40] have had the assistant to the manager and the planning staff

[2:08:45] to go out there and to see which organization

[2:08:49] or which vendor can provide us with the best tailored

[2:08:54] technical assistance that would work in compliance

[2:08:59] with our comprehensive plan and other development

[2:09:04] and other development policy documents

[2:09:08] that we have in place. That is why we are going out, um, um, for, um,

[2:09:12] a request for proposal and we have awarded a, the, the con we have worked with

[2:09:16] fries nichols and awarded that to them. In a nutshell. In a nutshell, well,

[2:09:20] you know, that's, that's, that's my concern too because seems, seems like every time I turn

[2:09:24] around we, during consulting contract for review and it's

[2:09:28] freezer, nichols or somebody else. And that's why you say technical, technical,

[2:09:33] technical. You keep saying to, I understand,

[2:09:37] I understand it should be done.

[2:09:42] but when you start saying, our

[2:09:47] engineer or our attorney ain't

[2:09:53] knowledgeable or not, that's why

[2:09:57] they have others places we could go to find out and ask

[2:10:01] questions to help us to do it. Right. You know,

[2:10:06] somewhere down the line, they got other type

[2:10:10] of subdivision plans in other

[2:10:14] cities, a lot of times they competent enough to get with

[2:10:18] other cities and look at their plan and see if their plan fit, our plan to fit

[2:10:22] into our ma uh, master plan

[2:10:26] or our plan. So they may not

[2:10:31] know, but you could reach out

[2:10:35] to cities who have one that probably could fit into yours.

[2:10:42] these contracts is my big

[2:10:47] question. Why aren't we doing it? And not that,

[2:10:51] but I think our staff will get knowledgeable and

[2:10:55] more knowledgeable, uh, uh, trying to go out with this. But at some point in

[2:10:59] time, just like you keep saying technical, technical, technical,

[2:11:04] when I look at this, I look at what I want, 165,000

[2:11:08] it says to review. I don't need them to review.

[2:11:13] our staff may not be technical, but they sure could look at it, analyze,

[2:11:20] they could see what we have

[2:11:25] revise. So really they're

[2:11:29] not getting it, they're not starting it for us. They just going to revise it.

[2:11:33] well, we could go out and seek information from other cities

[2:11:38] and stuff before we just give $165,000

[2:11:42] and stuff. And, and, and, and, and you hit the nail

[2:11:47] on the head when you said you have turned to them for I I have seen

[2:11:51] a number of contracts. I've seen us have them to redo

[2:11:56] a code, a code of ordinance. And when I looked at what was changed,

[2:12:00] very few things were changed. It just rewrote what we had.

[2:12:05] okay. Thank you though, manager. I got it. Yeah. Let, let me also share with you

[2:12:09] the, um, councilman, when I was director of development service, I did a diagnostic

[2:12:14] analysis of the subdivision regulations. They could, this could have been much

[2:12:18] more expensive, but I did it in house, remember? Remember that pam?

[2:12:23] and that was the basis for doing this right now, which is much, which came

[2:12:27] out much cheaper. So we, we gave them that document that they could work as

[2:12:31] a template from, you know, because the, the subdivision

[2:12:35] regulation haven't been re-reviewed in what, 30 years? Longer

[2:12:40] or longer than that. In what? In 30. In 30 years. And then

[2:12:44] in order to assist us to continue over the last few years. Well, well

[2:12:48] it had to be reviewed 'cause you said you reviewed it and you worked on it, so yeah. So

[2:12:52] you need to gimme that time from when you looked at it. Okay. Yes. , you know,

[2:12:56] uh, and everything. Yeah. Council member lewis,

[2:13:01] pam, what'll be the turnaround time on getting this done?

[2:13:05] the, um, consultant, um, has estimated

[2:13:09] a timeframe of 12 months. Um, however, due to the

[2:13:14] upcoming holidays with thanksgiving, christmas, um, we have, I believe,

[2:13:18] as part of the contract, extended it to insure. So what you, so what you are saying,

[2:13:22] if it was done in house, it would, along with your regular

[2:13:26] work. Oh, it would take much longer. Huh? It would take much longer. That's absolutely.

[2:13:30] so, so now you're shortening this span of time by getting

[2:13:35] the consultants in here. That is correct. That turnaround time so

[2:13:39] we can get this plan implemented. Council member frank, turnaround time is important to me. Oh,

[2:13:43] yes. I'm oh, you wanna call for question? Okay,

[2:13:47] well, we're gonna call for question. Ready to vote. Alright. At this time we

[2:13:52] have, um, we're gonna move on. All in favor say

[2:13:56] aye. Aye. Any nos? The ayes have that the

[2:14:00] resolution passes. We're gonna move to item number, um, 13 pr number

[2:14:04] 2 4 6 1 5 a resolution appointed and are reappointed

[2:14:08] a member of members or members to the port arthur youth advisory council.

[2:14:13] yak requested by council member hamilton ever field.

[2:14:17] thank you mayor. I am adding, can

[2:14:21] I get a motion for approval? Motion? Second. I had a motion and a second. Any

[2:14:25] discussions? I'm sorry guys. Thank you. You can have a floor

[2:14:32] it. I already feel like it's a long day. Yeah, yeah. Um,

[2:14:36] for, I need to replace an appointment. Okay.

[2:14:40] uh, city secretary, I will email you that information.

[2:14:45] um, but for the record, it would be replacing

[2:14:49] ms. Estella torres. She has, uh, not participated,

[2:14:54] so I'm replacing her with kaylyn gardner jr.

[2:15:01] and I'm also asking for, um, mr. Lewis,

[2:15:05] for your appointment, can we please get updated contact information

[2:15:10] for them so we can reach out to reach out to them again to

[2:15:15] okay, we, okay. We need their, their contact information.

[2:15:19] um, for councilwoman beckham, may we please have

[2:15:23] the information for, um, cut birth asher cut birth.

[2:15:28] that the what information? Phone numbers

[2:15:33] for actually for all three phone numbers. For all three. But I was under the

[2:15:37] impression that you had provided it before, but they didn't, um, they hadn't responded.

[2:15:43] so if they are interested, we want to continue to, to reach out

[2:15:47] to them. And

[2:15:51] for, um,

[2:15:58] kinlaw, I did reach out to mickey about kennedy and she did say that

[2:16:02] she still wanted to participate. Okay. Um,

[2:16:07] that was it. Thank y'all. I will keep you updated on the, the

[2:16:11] activity of the appointments. Okay. Uh, council member lewis, have your light on. Yes,

[2:16:15] I'm trying to get the chief's attention, but anyway, I think my appointee's, uh,

[2:16:20] term have expired trainer and, uh, mrs. Jones. And

[2:16:24] I need to go ahead with train for the police. Where, where on for the police?

[2:16:28] oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we're on the youth advisory council.

[2:16:32] ,

[2:16:37] all in favor say aye. A any nos?

[2:16:41] the ayes have it. The resolution passes. Pr number 2 4 6 1 6

[2:16:47] a resolution appointing and a reappointing a member or members to the port arthur

[2:16:52] police chief advisory committee. This, um, can I get a motion for

[2:16:56] approval? So moved. Motion for, okay. Second has been moved. And second. Any

[2:17:00] discussions? This was requested by mayor moses. I wanted to reappoint

[2:17:05] my two people. Persons for, um, their terms

[2:17:09] will expire november 28th. So you have, uh, mrs. Sparks,

[2:17:13] mary sparks, and mr. Alfred cuomo jr. Okay. Um,

[2:17:17] I don't know. Council members, do you have any other names? Council member lewis?

[2:17:23] yes, I want, I got two appointments. I think they both have expired,

[2:17:27] uh, trainer and mrs. Jones, but I got the hold up on ms. Jones.

[2:17:31] she hasn't given me a, given me a, an answer yet because she was kind

[2:17:36] of hedging. She done disappeared when I need her. But go ahead with

[2:17:40] trainer for now. Okay.

[2:17:44] okay. Um, council member ken law. Thank you mayor. Uh, she, you have my

[2:17:48] names right? Uh, there's those gonna be reappointments adams in. Uh, yes sir. Thank

[2:17:52] you. Council member doucette? Yes,

[2:17:56] I'm, I'm ms. Same reappointment. My two individuals also. Sherry. Thank you mayor.

[2:18:01] okay, thank you. Okay. Alright.

[2:18:07] all in favor say aye. A aye. Any nos? The

[2:18:11] ayes have it. The resolution passes pr number 2 4 6 1 7

[2:18:17] a resolution casting votes for the board of directors for the orange county appraisal

[2:18:21] district for the 20 26 20 29 term. Can I get a

[2:18:25] motion for approval? Second, it's been moved. And second,

[2:18:30] um, any discussions in the discussions? I think, uh, uh, council member ever had

[2:18:34] presented a name to us a couple of months ago in september. And is

[2:18:38] that marqueta? Legette? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And so, uh, we,

[2:18:43] at this point, we can all vote with the name that she's given us

[2:18:47] as we did with council member, uh, frank, and move from there.

[2:18:51] so, all in favor of giving all of our votes toward marqueta ladette for

[2:18:55] the orange county appraisal district. We're gonna say aye aye. Aye.

[2:19:00] any nos the ayes have at the resolution passes, we're gonna go

[2:19:04] to number 16, a resolution,

[2:19:09] uh, pr number 2 4 6 2 0 a resolution authorizing

[2:19:13] city manager to negotiate and execute a contract, uh, contracts

[2:19:17] with the most qualified emergency medical service ems provider

[2:19:22] or providers identified through the city's request for qualifications

[2:19:27] rfq process to ensure continued provision of emergency medical

[2:19:31] and ambulance services upon expiration of the current agreement on november 30th, 2025.

[2:19:36] can I get a motion for approval? So moved. Second. It's been moved. And second.

[2:19:41] um, any discussion? Yes, ma'am. Council member, ken law. Mayor, I, I'm

[2:19:45] gonna ask my cohorts, uh, can we hold this until we go to executive and then bring it back up

[2:19:49] after, uh, a little brief discussion. Is that okay? Are we, are

[2:19:53] we good with that? Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. We're gonna, um, hold this. Do

[2:19:57] I need a motion to hold? No, no. Okay, we're good. We're gonna hold this until after executive

[2:20:01] session and then we will come back with, um, after executive

[2:20:06] session. Just to clarify, mayor, council member kimmel, are you asking for that

[2:20:10] in executive session to seek legal advice? Yes, ma'am. Alright, mayor, so

[2:20:14] when we go into executive session, if you can list that under 5 5 1 0.0 7 1 5 5 1

[2:20:19] 0.071. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. Let me make sure

[2:20:24] that I don't forget that. Okay. It's already, we have

[2:20:28] something there already. Okay, perfect. Um,

[2:20:34] moving to number 17, pr number 2 4 6 2 1

[2:20:39] a resolution, appointing and or reappointed a member or members

[2:20:43] to the citizens pipeline advisory committee. We

[2:20:47] get a motion for approval. So move second. It's moved in second. This is requested

[2:20:51] by council member hamilton. Ever feel, um, at this time we have a motion and

[2:20:55] a second. Any discussion? The names or the names have

[2:21:00] already been submitted? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Names are submitted. All in favor

[2:21:04] say aye. Aye. Any nos? The ayes haven't.

[2:21:08] the resolution passes. I'm gonna move to ordinance.

[2:21:12] I'm sorry.

[2:21:17] yes, council, it's going. It is going be downstairs. Mayor pro tim,

[2:21:21] it's going downstairs. What number? 16. We'll be going downstairs,

[2:21:25] okay? Mm-hmm . But we gonna go to ordinances. Okay. Ordinance

[2:21:30] non-consent number one, po number 7 3 7 1. An

[2:21:34] ordinance amending appendix. A zoning of the code of ordinances

[2:21:39] of the city of port arthur, texas by granting a zoning map amendment

[2:21:43] for approximately 0.4181 acre of land consisting

[2:21:47] of lot 15 dash 20 block 23 rosemont

[2:21:52] edition, jefferson county, texas from plan development

[2:21:56] district 30, pd 30 to medium density residential

[2:22:00] district mdr to allow residential development. Violation of

[2:22:04] any provision of this ordinance shall be guilt of a misdemeanor and shall be punished

[2:22:09] by a five, not exceeding $2,000 as

[2:22:13] provided in chapter one. Section one through one 13 of

[2:22:17] the code of ordinances in each day, which violations permitted to exist shall constitute

[2:22:22] a separate and distinct offense and providing for publication in the

[2:22:26] official newspaper of the city of port arthur and effective immediately after publication

[2:22:30] date z two five dash oh four dash code

[2:22:34] properties. Llc. Can I get a motion for approval? So moved, mayor, it's been moved.

[2:22:38] and second. Any discussions? All in favor say aye.

[2:22:43] aye. Any nos I need? All in favor say aye. Aye.

[2:22:47] any nos? The ayes have it. The ordinance passes at this

[2:22:51] time, we're going to go into a closed executive session. We will

[2:22:56] see the follow. Um, listen, have the following thing items. Section 5 5 1 0 7 1.

[2:23:02] brian johnson versus city of port arthur john do and calvin matthews.

[2:23:06] matthews in the individual capacity, civil action number one,

[2:23:11] uh, dash two five dash cv dash 0 0 4 2 1 in the

[2:23:15] us district court of eastern district of of texas beaumont division.

[2:23:20] um, section 5 5 1 0 7 1. Litigation, bon bon,

[2:23:24] uh, bonita brown versus city of port arthur. Calls number 8 2 1 1 1 4 9

[2:23:29] and 58. District court of jefferson county, texas. And number 3, 5 5 1 0 7 1.

[2:23:35] legal advice provisions authorizing deliberations and closed meeting

[2:23:39] requested by mayor moses. I'm gonna get a motion to go into

[2:23:43] executive session if you would also call under section five five one

[2:23:48] 0.071 pr number 2 4 6 2 0. I will, I will. Thank you.

[2:23:52] thank you mayor. I also, we will, um, get legal advice on pr

[2:23:56] number 2 4 6 2 0 a resolution authorizing the city manager

[2:24:00] to negotiate and execute a contract or contracts with the most qualified emergency

[2:24:05] medical service ems providers identified through the city's request

[2:24:09] for qualifications rfq process to ensure continued

[2:24:13] provision of emergency medical and ambulance services upon expiration of the current

[2:24:18] agreement on november 30th, 2025. I'm gonna ask for a motion for

[2:24:22] approval to go into executive session. Move second. Can I get a second? Any

[2:24:26] discussions? Is, is there anything that we're gonna have an executive

[2:24:30] session that you would not want to be held in executive session?

[2:24:35] okay. All of us are in agreement. I would like to have a vote. How

[2:24:39] all in favor say aye? Aye. The ayes have it. And

[2:24:43] any nos. Okay, we're gonna move now to go into our closed

[2:24:48] session at 11:55 am thank you.

[2:24:56] okay, so the secretary, would you establish a quorum please? Recording in

[2:25:00] progress. I'm sorry. Mayor moses? Here.

[2:25:05] mayor pro. Tem ett. Here. Council member

[2:25:10] lewis. Here. Council member hamilton. Ever

[2:25:14] field present. Council member

[2:25:18] beckham. Here. Council member kinlaw. Here. Council member

[2:25:22] frank on his way? Yeah. Quo. Mayor. Great,

[2:25:26] thank you. This time we are going to, uh, we're back in regular

[2:25:30] session and it is 1:39 pm I

[2:25:34] will, sorry, sorry. Okay,

[2:25:38] so we'll just close out the executive session first and then go back into open

[2:25:43] session. Uh, I can't close out. We have an item coming out of executive

[2:25:47] session. You're correct. Mayor I stand correct. I cannot close it out. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

[2:25:52] at this time we have an item coming out of executive session that we need to, um,

[2:25:57] consider. It's gonna, we're gonna go back to pr number 2 4 6 2 0

[2:26:01] a resolution authorizing a city manager to negotiate and execute a contract or

[2:26:06] contracts with the most qualified emergency medical services ems providers

[2:26:11] identified through the city's request for qualifications rfq process to

[2:26:15] ensure continued provision of emergency medical and ambulance services

[2:26:19] upon expiration of the current agreement on november 30th, 2025.

[2:26:23] can I get a motion for approval? So moved. So moved. It's been moved. And

[2:26:28] second by council member, uh, ever feel any discussion

[2:26:34] at this time? We're going, oh, council member hamilton? Mm-hmm . I do,

[2:26:38] um, my question, well not question, but comments

[2:26:42] about this, um, this proposed resolution

[2:26:47] is to our deputy chief, he was looking up some information

[2:26:51] for me regarding the council of governments.

[2:27:10] is it on

[2:27:15] ready? Okay. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So my, my

[2:27:19] cons, my question and a concern is for,

[2:27:24] um, any of the providers, it doesn't,

[2:27:28] um, I don't have a dog in the fight as to which one, but in one

[2:27:33] of, in some of the information we've been provided is that, um,

[2:27:38] that the, in our ordinance is that

[2:27:42] the provider we choose is required to be, um, to

[2:27:46] have the dispatch center in the city of, I mean, I'm sorry, the

[2:27:51] council of governments, the cog. So I want to confirm

[2:27:55] that if all of the providers that were that submitted,

[2:28:00] um, proposals are all of them in the

[2:28:04] cog. So if you're saying located in the cog yes, ma'am. Uh,

[2:28:08] for having a district, lemme be clear. Dispatch dispatch center within the call. Okay,

[2:28:12] hold on. Which is a part of our ordinance. Uh, yes ma'am, it is.

[2:28:17] um, that is part of our ordinance. Um, currently we, um,

[2:28:22] two of the providers do have dispatch centers in all call. And, um, far

[2:28:26] as I'm aware of only one does not. Okay. And the one that

[2:28:30] does not, why do they not? And

[2:28:34] will they, uh, that would be a question for them. Um, I don't mind

[2:28:38] reaching out to them asking 'em that question, but that would be more of a question for them on why they don't have one.

[2:28:43] um, and if they're able to do that or come up to that standard, uh, that would also

[2:28:47] be a question for them as well. Okay. So, um, again,

[2:28:51] as, as I mentioned before to um, to my

[2:28:56] cohorts that in, for whatever

[2:29:00] company that we choose as a provider, we need to

[2:29:04] hold our providers accountable for following our

[2:29:08] ordinances. Or if we want some things to change and some things have to change, but

[2:29:12] we shouldn't be changing our ordinances to meet the need of a certain

[2:29:16] provider, our providers should be meeting the qualifications that we

[2:29:21] set in place for, for our ordinances. So again,

[2:29:25] city manager, how will we hold, what will we need to do

[2:29:30] to make sure that, again, majority rules. So whichever

[2:29:35] my cohorts choose, um, for or

[2:29:39] we choose for a provider, how in the world are

[2:29:43] we gonna choose a provider who already is not meeting the standards

[2:29:48] of the ordinances, the laws that we set in place? Um, uh,

[2:29:52] city manager, uh, you, she's asking that question. City manager, but I do have

[2:29:56] a couple of lights. Um, but she's, I speak to

[2:30:00] speaker before I ask. Okay. Council member ette.

[2:30:05] yes. Not we had got that any requirements we

[2:30:10] have is the responsibility of the fire

[2:30:14] department, whether that's the fire chief or the deputy,

[2:30:18] whoever given that responsibility to, uh, check

[2:30:22] compliance of our ordinance with any ems

[2:30:26] that have contracted for us. That's how we mantra

[2:30:31] it. That's how we get to ensure that it's being

[2:30:35] done. So if someone find out it is not done,

[2:30:39] then it should be brought to the attention of whoever is

[2:30:43] responsible and that person there will ensure that the people come in line.

[2:30:47] that's what anything that we do. So that's how we

[2:30:51] assure everything by having them to come to us and tell

[2:30:55] us when somebody's not in compliance. Councilman

[2:31:00] mcken law. Yeah. Thank you mayor. And, uh, you know, my thing is just, uh, you know,

[2:31:04] um, that may be a situation, but I look at response time and

[2:31:08] look at exactly what, uh, what was being offered to us in the previous,

[2:31:12] uh, uh, company. And

[2:31:16] now we at this decision. So, uh, I'll wait to make my

[2:31:20] motion or read my motion after all the, uh, council members of gi

[2:31:25] see we got lights over there, mayor. So, uh, I, I just read the motion

[2:31:29] after, uh, yeah, we, we, we, yeah, we got the motion on the table. Yeah.

[2:31:33] okay. So we're good. Council member lewis? Yes.

[2:31:37] are you, you the going to be the compliance officer or are you going to have someone else

[2:31:42] to monitor compliance? Um, I would be monitoring, but, um, how

[2:31:46] the city ordinance set up is just the fire chief. Okay. The fire chief is ultimately responsible

[2:31:50] for that, uh, action. But I will be against, uh, at the direction

[2:31:55] of the city manager. So when someone is out, when, when the company is outta compliance, you,

[2:31:59] you're not gonna wait until they come in and come comply. You're gonna notify us right away that you are notify

[2:32:03] them that they outta compliance. We don't want to wait and

[2:32:07] see if they're gonna comply. We need to know. I need to know.

[2:32:12] I I'll bring that to council's attention. Yes. Bring it to council. Okay. City

[2:32:16] manager. Yeah. So, um,

[2:32:21] my advice is that we follow the ordinance. Absolutely. If the ordinance clearly states that the,

[2:32:25] uh, the fire chief is the one that provides the direction, he's

[2:32:29] the compliance officer. Okay. And if we tend to defer from that or move

[2:32:33] away from that, then we need to amend the ordinance mm-hmm . So that we don't get into trouble. You know,

[2:32:38] let's, yeah, let's just stick with the ordinance. That's the safest thing to do.

[2:32:43] absolutely. Alright. Um, we are ready to go to a vote. Um,

[2:32:48] the recommendation from the, uh, council is to

[2:32:52] move to go with one ambulance service. Um, city ambulance

[2:32:56] at this time, we're gonna, uh, get a motion. Uh, need a vote. All in favor

[2:33:01] say aye. Aye. Any nos? No

[2:33:06] one? No. Let the record state we have one. No, the ayes

[2:33:10] have it. The resolution passes for city ambulance.

[2:33:18] oh, the ayes have it. You didn't vote, you didn't vote

[2:33:22] on the vendor. You voted on whether or not it was gonna be one provider.

[2:33:26] it's, well that's what you said. One provider. I read the ordinance that stated one

[2:33:31] provider. Okay. But in the motion language, did you say city ambulance?

[2:33:35] yes, I did. I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.

[2:33:40] wait a minute, what am I missing? It's saying one

[2:33:44] provider. Provider. That provider to be city or

[2:33:48] I mean city ambulance. That was and we, they all voted. I had one. No. Am

[2:33:52] I correct the record speak? I let the record speak. We have one. No. Yes ma'am. You did say city ambulance

[2:33:57] and I said city ambulance one. No. Yes. Okay, now we're gonna move because

[2:34:01] the, um, our council member frank, asked us to bring up something for

[2:34:05] reconsideration and that is the motion to have a forensic audit. Am I right? No.

[2:34:09] not doing that. Okay. Alright. We are going to move at,

[2:34:13] uh, 1 48 to close this meeting. All in favor

[2:34:17] say aye. Aye. Did I do that right? I need a motion, y'all.

[2:34:22] I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm sorry. I apologize. I'll a motion. I need a mo.

[2:34:27] I make a motion. A motion and a second. Any discussions? I make a motion that we adjourn the meeting at

[2:34:31] 1 47. Second. Any discussions? All in

[2:34:35] favor say aye. Aye. Any nos? The ayes have it. Our meeting is

[2:34:39] adjourned at 1:48 pm have a great day.