[0:33] But you know
[0:40] passed me by
[0:45] passed me by
laughed at me.
[0:49] All right, guys. It's 6 6 pm on August
27th. Let's like to call this meeting of
[0:56] Rome City Council to order. Uh we have a
quorum of council members at this time.
[1:01] So, if you don't mind, let's rise for
the invocation and the pledges.
[1:07] Father, we thank you again for this day,
for chance to self-governance. We ask
[1:11] your leadership, your guidance and
direction, and make sure we do what is
[1:15] good in your sight. Father, we ask this
in Jesus name.
[1:18] » Amen. Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[1:23] United States of America to the republic
which it stands. One nation under God,
[1:29] indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all
[1:34] the Texas flagged
[1:38] state.
[1:43] » Thank you both.
[1:47] » All right. At this time, do we have any
public comments?
[1:50] » No, sir.
>> All right. Moving on. Announcements from
[1:53] the mayor and city council. Uh, the only
announcement I got so far will be the
[1:57] next council meeting will be September
the 10th, 6 p.m. Uh, if there any
[2:03] announcements from council.
All right, moving on to the consent
[2:08] agenda. At this time, unless there's any
question, do I have a motion to approve
[2:13] the consent agenda?
[2:20] I'll make a motion to approve the
consent agenda.
[2:23] » Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[2:25] » All in favor?
>> I I
[2:29] » Thank you.
Uh do we have any other than what we
[2:34] have?
>> No, sir.
[2:36] » All right. At this time, we will conduct
a public hearing for the Rome City
[2:41] Council is to conduct a public hearing
to consider request for a change in
[2:44] zoning of legal description being acres
A743 Smith CSL 5.666 acres as is located
[2:52] in Ellis Homestead. What this uh public
hearing will address will be to change
[2:59] the zoning of some property donated to
the city in Ellis Homestead and to to
[3:04] change it to park status so that it
could if any changes ever come or it
[3:08] cannot be sold without a public vote. So
the time is now 602. We'll open the
[3:13] floor for any public comments.
>> Yes, ma'am.
[3:16] » I just wanted to know a little bit about
the uh park. I live right across from
[3:21] the property and for us to say, "Yeah,
let's zone in a park."
[3:29] What's to say you're not going to come
in and put a city park there? I don't
[3:32] want a bunch of people coming into my
small neighborhood.
[3:37] » So, one of the things the council has
talked about with that particular piece
[3:40] of property is it was donated to us as a
dedicated land from when that
[3:46] development was originally put together
back in I think it's 1980 somewhere in
[3:52] there. And the owner of said property
was either looking to develop it
[3:57] potentially into some additional housing
lots if at all possible or to sell it
[4:01] for development and or donate it to the
city. By donating it to the city and us
[4:06] marking it as parkland doesn't
necessarily mean that the city's looking
[4:09] to put a park like we have over here
with the family park, but we are trying
[4:13] to keep it so that it's not developable
in the future. So by donating it as
[4:18] parkland or zoning it as such, it has to
be voted on by the entirety of the city
[4:22] residents for it to ever be sold or used
for any other purpose than that. Right
[4:27] now with the amount of drainage that
goes along that particular area, it's
[4:31] not really suited for a park of any
size. And I I can't tell you in 20 years
[4:38] that a council won't decide to put a
walking trail through there or something
[4:42] to that end. I can't tell you that. But
there are no immediate plans to do
[4:45] anything other than maintain it and mow
it as it currently sits and then try and
[4:50] protect it from future development. So
if we vote
[4:54] yes, reszone it, do we have any power
down the line to say no, no, no, I don't
[5:01] want a parking lot in front of my house
and a city at some point in time.
[5:05] Absolutely.
>> Will we get to you'll present the plans
[5:08] and we can vote on that part?
>> Yes, ma'am. It has to come through
[5:11] council just like anything else if if
they decide to change it from the use
[5:15] that is currently in. You'll see it on
an agenda or you'll see it in some of
[5:19] the posts that the city puts out. I
don't know if I'll be here at that time.
[5:23] So, I don't know what a previous or next
city manager might do. Um, but I would
[5:27] hope they'd send out notice to the
residents to say, especially of the ones
[5:30] that have bounded. If there was a zoning
change, then you do get a notification
[5:36] if you live within 200 feet. That's
required by law. If not, it's not a
[5:41] zoning change, then it will depend upon
the council at that particular juncture.
[5:46] This council cannot bind future councils
for what they do, which is why we're
[5:50] trying to preserve it as best we can in
its current state.
[5:53] » Okay. So, basically, it's probably
costing you too much money as uh just
[6:00] and then paying taxes on.
>> This was apparently the widow of the man
[6:05] who developed that area. This was part
of the original plan when the city
[6:08] agreed to the development agreement back
in the 80s or 90s whenever that was
[6:12] inked. I don't have it with me. And this
was always meant to be donated to the
[6:16] city in some form or fashion, but she
realized that she was still paying the
[6:22] taxes on that property and no longer
wanted to do so. So, she donated it to
[6:26] the city and we'd accepted said donation
earlier this year or later last year and
[6:31] now we're just trying to protect it so
that it's not in the future sold off for
[6:36] something and a a 7-Eleven or a two or
three houses are put in there. That's
[6:41] what we're trying to avoid.
>> Trying to keep it the way it is. I live
[6:44] there, too. So, [laughter]
so we're we're trying to keep that land
[6:49] because that's about all it's good for
right now. It's just for it's mostly
[6:53] drainage land.
But I just wondered if we've not seen
[6:58] any plans. I know that
premature to want us to vote on
[7:04] something. We don't know what you're
going to do with it.
[7:06] » The reason to put it in land is because
then it it kind of restricts the usage
[7:12] and you cannot take it out of parkland
and zone it as commercial or residential
[7:16] without a formal vote of the residents.
That's
[7:23] » it. It's zoned. I'd have to look at the
zoning map that I
[7:26] » I believe it is.
>> It's in Homestead.
[7:29] » Yes. I don't know if that part was ever
zoned differently.
[7:34] » It looked like it was.
>> It's possible, but we would prefer even
[7:38] not to have residential put through
there. From that angle, we'd like to
[7:40] keep it in its current state, which is
to put it as parkland is the best way
[7:45] for the city to protect.
>> I hadn't heard anything about it. Then I
[7:50] got that vote in the mail.
>> I sure don't want public.
[7:54] » There are any plans for that at this
time.
[7:58] » Okay. Thank you so much.
>> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Do I have any
[8:02] other public comments?
[8:06] Unheard. We'll close this public hearing
at 6:07.
[8:10] Moving on.
uh the Rome city council to conduct a
[8:14] public hearing to consider request for
change of zoning of legal frontage or
[8:18] legal acres being lot five and six block
for original town Rome and is located
[8:25] 101 South Front Street in Rome Texas. I
believe this is a the vacant lots by the
[8:31] city park that is two separate lots and
wants to change it wants to combine it
[8:36] into one lot.
It is now 608. We will open this to the
[8:42] floor to the public for any comments.
[8:49] Uh nothing heard. So I'll close the
public hearing 608.
[8:54] All right. Moving on to the regular
agenda. Uh we will discuss the reszoning
[8:59] of Acres Lots 5 and 6 original Oldtown
Rome and is located 101 Front Street in
[9:05] Rome, Texas. Uh do I have discussion
from council?
[9:09] I do have the map up if anyone wants to
see kind of the general area of where
[9:13] these lots are. And just to refresh
council's memory, if you can see the the
[9:17] little cursor moving. It wasn't too many
months ago that we combined lots in this
[9:21] area which were uh lots in block 19 and
20 so that the person who owned those
[9:26] could build on it. We do have a certain
square footage requirement in these in
[9:30] the Oldtown overlay for someone to come
in and put a residential structure.
[9:35] There are several four or five very very
thin and rectangular lots in this area.
[9:41] Uh structure builder group is under
contract with another developer to
[9:46] combine those and build a residential
unit on that. They are going to look for
[9:50] zoning also in the 6,000 foot
size versus what we currently have at
[9:57] 7.2 two for Oldtown Overlay because it's
just you're not going to get enough
[10:03] critical mass on a lot or three of these
in order to buy. So that's what we're
[10:08] looking to do is combine these into two
which will give them about 6,400 square
[10:12] ft and that does meet the threshold for
our yellow or excuse me our orange
[10:17] colored zoning which is single family
residential at 6,000 square feet.
[10:25] Uh, questions from council.
[10:29] If not, I will enter open the floor for
a motion to approve the re the zoning
[10:34] change.
[10:39] » If you're looking for any documentation
behind 7A in your packet is where you
[10:44] will find all of those documents there.
I move that we approve the zoning
[10:51] request change on the front street for
the two lots mentioned to combine them.
[10:59] This is future construction site.
>> Do I have a second?
[11:05] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[11:07] » I I
thank you. Moving to our next item on
[11:12] the agenda. Reszoning of acres A 743
Smith CSL P 666 acres and is located
[11:19] Nellis Homestead. Uh this is the one we
just talked about from our public
[11:23] comments. Do I have any questions for
council
[11:29] questions? I'll open the floor for a
motion to approve or disapprove.
[11:40] I move that we approve the zoning change
request uh for Ellis Homestead
[11:48] to
public park area.
[11:56] » All right. [clears throat] Do I have a
second?
[11:58] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[12:00] » I I
>> All right. Thank you. On item number C.
[12:06] Uh uh council member Loftus has agreed
to table this till we have the full
[12:10] council seated.
>> Yeah, I did have a few comments. So
[12:13] » uh go ahead.
>> Yeah, and this is about topic of vacant
[12:17] a vacant structure registry
and uh I just want to let the public
[12:23] know how this came about. Um, apparently
in Paris, Texas several years ago, they
[12:29] had suddenly had a an established family
business in their downtown area that
[12:35] just up and left. And then they came
back uh to the city council at a later
[12:41] time and told them why they left, which
was because they had vacant and
[12:47] abandoned buildings where
all sorts of things were going on right
[12:51] next to their business and they just
couldn't uh exist like that. So, as a
[12:57] result, Paris, Texas has an abandoned
property program and uh that's we have
[13:06] vacant and abandoned properties in our
in our midst here in Rome. So, um I
[13:11] thought it was appropriate that we
possibly take similar action, but we'll
[13:15] talk about it next meeting.
>> All right. Thank you.
[13:19] Anybody else?
Okay. All right. Let's move to item D on
[13:24] the agenda. budget amendment to purchase
or replace trucks for public works
[13:29] department.
>> Thank you, mayor.
[13:33] » This over to you.
>> Mr. Dominguez is going to move over to
[13:35] the microphone and I'll let him update
council.
[13:43] » Good evening, Mayor and Council.
>> Everybody's doing good. So, um I'm up
[13:49] here on a topic we've had before with uh
public works equipment that we have had
[13:54] for a long time and um recently two of
the vehicles we have discussed in the
[14:00] past, a 2013 Chevy 2500 and a Chevy
1500, a 2018,
[14:06] the 2013 Chevy has a electrical issue of
some sort and it has become to it has
[14:13] come to the point where it's no longer
safe to drive. you hit the brakes, the
[14:17] AC goes off and you have other power
issues inside which concerns me for for
[14:22] the safety of our employees. So, I
parked it to the side. I had a F250, but
[14:28] in the fleet it's more important, more
productive and efficient. Um, the 2018
[14:34] Chevy, Mr. Johnson brought this up last
time. Uh, we could use it for other
[14:38] stuff and it has transmission issues. It
still runs fine. short-term uh decater
[14:45] void, you know, the local area to appear
to hassle it maybe. But the concern is
[14:51] on the fleet ground with the guys when
we haul trailers, when we haul heavy
[14:55] equipment, it's not rated for the stuff
we're doing. So, I have came tonight to
[15:00] ask for a F-150.
The sense of for my vehicle as I do a
[15:08] lot of public engagement and I have been
using my personal car and uh I get some
[15:13] stairs and some some frowns and uh I
understand it's not a marked vehicle.
[15:17] So, I think it's it's proper to show up
in a vehicle that's um that's you know
[15:23] some uh has the right emblems and
everything from the city. And then the
[15:26] F3 uh a 350 or one ton doesn't matter
what brand would be the replacement of
[15:34] one of the vehicles in public works
which is the 2013 that's having
[15:38] electrical. So that would leave in the
in the work field it would leave three
[15:44] F250s a F350 and then the admin for mine
which would be a F-150. I'm not going to
[15:52] I don't tow trailers. I don't tow truck
or, you know, heavy equipment. When I
[15:56] do, I'm going to borrow one of their
trucks. It's not an everyday thing. It's
[16:00] an emergency. So, I have came forward to
ask for uh for two trucks, and I have
[16:07] looked around, got pricings, and I have
came up with the price of
[16:15] if you'll look behind 7D, you'll find
the documents that serve me. This is
[16:20] referencing
[16:23] it would be not to exceed $131,000 some
odd dollars.
[16:26] » 675. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[16:28] » And I will still go out and try to
negotiate to prices down because that's
[16:34] just how we do it. It's got to work our
prices down and uh I have came up with
[16:38] the the highest quotes so far have added
to that. But I do not expect to to get
[16:43] to that price range. I want to stay
under that.
[16:46] The other thing that we're hoping to do
with this
[16:50] modification to the current fleet that
we have, you'll recall that council
[16:53] approved code enforcement duties for one
of our internal department heads. Right
[16:59] now, that person does not have a vehicle
from which to go out and do said code
[17:04] enforcement. It's certainly not safe for
them to go in their own personal car to
[17:08] do that because we have had folks in the
community not as receptive as you would
[17:13] want for code enforcement type
discussions. So, they need to be
[17:17] officially marked and branded as a city
of Rome employee so that they're not
[17:20] mistaken for some other person coming up
to someone's personal home. So the the
[17:26] vehicle that we're talking about, the
2018 truck that has the transmission
[17:29] issues, we feel like that that is still
serviceable to the point that we could
[17:33] use that for the code enforcement
position so that we don't necessarily
[17:38] need to sell that one. We could just
move it down and then sell the other one
[17:43] and then purchase two for public works.
So just giving you a rounded picture of
[17:47] how we're hoping to kind of maximize our
return on those
[17:56] going to trade in those other trucks.
>> We're going to auction off the 2013 uh
[18:02] Chevy just cuz we're
I've noticed we get a lot more money on
[18:08] the auction side than versus the dealer.
And then the 20 the 2018 is just going
[18:12] to get pushed into admin for code
enforcement or even the other staff up
[18:17] front. They run to the post office and
their vehicle. they run to the bank in
[18:21] their vehicle that gives them a vehicle
where they're not paying the gas and
[18:25] they're not they're technically not
getting reimbursed in a sense it's their
[18:30] mileage their vehicle and I think it's
it's a good way to approach of of being
[18:35] efficient across the board for
everybody.
[18:37] » Yeah, I'm assuming that these u the
admin folks that are using their
[18:42] personal cars, what kind of insurance
issues does that create?
[18:46] Well, if if we had a problem, then I
think the city is going to be liable for
[18:50] anything if they're in an accident that
is because it would be considered
[18:54] workrelated and that could put us at
some risk. Um, the other issue I think
[18:59] that Mr. Dominguez is alluding to is
that a lot of these people will run said
[19:03] errands and not claim for any mileage or
anything which would kind of admify
[19:07] further the city because they would have
turned in for said mileage.
[19:11] for a mile back and forth to the post
office, it the paperwork is not worth
[19:15] it. So, they just don't do it. Uh we
also have folks who will run down to
[19:19] Sam's and buy things in bulk if somebody
needs that. So, to use an older vehicle
[19:25] that's still serviceable for code
enforcement and then secondarily for
[19:30] administration is just a much better uh
bang for our buck, if you will, on what
[19:35] we're trying to do for the city and the
services we're trying to provide.
[19:45] Have you looked into a lease on these?
I did not look into a lease. Um I kind
[19:52] of got the pricing for the the purchase
because
[19:56] I don't
I don't know the full details of a lease
[20:00] and I didn't want to
we're kind of in the middle. We have
[20:04] three already. Do we wait to do five way
down the road and make it a thing or?
[20:10] » So some of that, Mr. Johnson, when we
run into a lease, we like to get them on
[20:14] a rotational basis where we've got maybe
two a year that's coming out of service
[20:18] and two new ones because in the past we
have bought in bulk. That puts us at a
[20:24] disadvantage at the moment. We're going
to have a conversation about this with
[20:27] police vehicles in a few months because
most of the police fleet needs to be
[20:31] replaced at this juncture and we still
have one payment to make on those. I'd
[20:36] like to get us on some sort of a vehicle
replacement policy that council has
[20:40] given for staff to follow that we can
plug into the budget so that we have
[20:44] some predictable numbers into the
future. And I'd love to get us on a
[20:47] lease concept where we're rotating them
out and we don't have this issue. But
[20:52] right now, we're not mature enough as a
city and we've kind of gotten oursel
[20:57] into some locked in purchases that I
need a couple more years to phase that
[21:01] in.
Does that make sense?
[21:05] » Yes and no. I mean, you've got to start
at some point.
[21:08] » You do. We just haven't looked. Now we
can certainly check for leases and if it
[21:12] doesn't exceed this then we can
certainly look at that from
[21:17] that particular approach and see if we
can just look into it.
[21:21] » It might not even be feasible. Please
look into
[21:28] » we can do that. Absolutely.
[21:35] Actually, if we could get a vote on this
that gives us some direction not to
[21:38] exceed this number as shown here in the
motion, then we would have the leeway to
[21:43] either execute a lease or we would have
the leeway to make a purchase. And
[21:47] because it the lead time sometimes on
getting these vehicles can be a few
[21:51] months,
>> I make a motion to approve the purchase
[21:55] or lease of two new trucks for public
works not to exceed $131,675.
[22:03] » Is there a second? Second.
>> All in favor?
[22:07] » I
>> I I thank you, council.
[22:10] » We will certainly we're pretty good at
negotiating down and and getting as much
[22:15] out of a dollar as we can. So, we will
certainly look for every avenue.
[22:18] » Yeah. You know, I understand you might
not be able to lease it right now, but
[22:23] just got to start somewhere. If you look
now, you know what kind of direct
[22:28] letter?
>> Maybe this is the first two in that
[22:31] particular rotation. So, we can
certainly take a look.
[22:34] Thank you, mayor and council.
>> Thank you much. On item number E, the
[22:40] FY2526 and FY 2627 budget.
>> Thank you, mayor. I don't have much to
[22:45] update you all on the budget for the
coming fiscal year. As the mayor has
[22:49] stated at our previous meeting, but
we're we're pretty much holding steady
[22:52] on the numbers for the coming fiscal
year that we had for the previous fiscal
[22:56] year. Until we get the 25 audit
completed, we are not in a position to
[23:02] make a recommendation on any salary
changes or colas or any particular cost
[23:07] escalations other than those that are
mandated by law. So, we are going to
[23:11] hold off on anything until probably the
December time frame for that discussion
[23:14] once we get the 25 audit done. We've
done an internal audit in 25, but I want
[23:19] to make sure that all is verified and I
have accurate numbers from which to
[23:23] discuss this with council before you all
make a decision that may not have all
[23:26] the information that you need. Uh, we do
need the motions that I have listed in
[23:31] your agenda commentaries read into the
record. I received direction at the last
[23:35] meeting as to which way to go. So, we
have posted said items in the paper, but
[23:40] we need to go ahead and make a formal
motion to set the tax rate and set the
[23:44] public hearing for September 10th. So,
this is a little bit of housekeeping for
[23:48] this evening,
[23:52] sir.
[23:56] » Got one.
[24:05] If you'll look behind tab E, you'll see
the agenda commentary that I put for
[24:09] there. You can also see the notice that
we're required legally to publish that
[24:14] was created in conjunction with the Wise
County Appraisal District. We have a
[24:17] fantastic partner in Laura Vaughn who
has been very helpful to the city to
[24:21] understand all of these numbers and
these different tables. And so if you
[24:24] need to see that, that is what was
posted in the paper from the standpoint
[24:28] or used to post in the paper for our
notification to our residents.
[24:36] Is there any more discussion from
council?
[24:43] I'll open the floor for a motion. I make
a motion set the tax rate for the 2026
[24:50] 20227 fiscal year at the vote approval
rate of.781147
[24:57] per 100 valuation and hold the public
hearing and vote for the next council
[25:03] meeting on September 10th 2026 at 6 p.m.
at 261 school road Texas
[25:10] » a second.
[25:14] All in favor?
>> I I
[25:17] » Thank you. I know that's a mouthful.
It's just sadly required by law. So, we
[25:21] have to make sure we get all of our tees
crossed and our eyes dotted.
[25:26] » Item F is the FY 2627 adorum tax rate.
>> Yes, sir. And this is the same issue
[25:32] that we had with the budget. I just need
a motion to formalize the public hearing
[25:36] and get all of our um legal requirements
met.
[25:44] Make a motion to schedule the public
hearing for September 10th, 2026 at 6 PM
[25:49] at 261 School Road, Hope, Texas.
>> Do I have a second?
[25:56] » I
a second.
[25:59] » Yes. Sorry.
>> Got it. Motion to second. All in favor?
[26:03] » I I
>> I.
[26:05] » Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. I
believe that. Do we have any uh topics
[26:11] for further or future agenda items?
[26:17] Nothing hurt. So at this point, I
believe we completed what we need. At
[26:22] this point, I'll take a motion to
adjurnn.
[26:25] » I make the motion to adjurnn.
>> Second. Second.
[26:29] » All in favor? I I
>> Thank you.journed.