probably have to be in agenda. >> Yes.
» Time of now 6 p.m. will call us meeting to work.
» You can all join me in prayer. >> Heavenly Father, please be with us.
Surround us in your love and your grace. Guide us through this meeting and
through each day. Lead us to see what is in the best interest of this city. We
ask for your protection for our citizens and especially our children. Please be
with our police, our firefighters, and all first responders that give of
themselves to keep us safe. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
» Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Texas
one state under God one and indivisible
reflect one mayor.
» Okay. >> Are you
» Thank you, sir. >> Yes, sir.
» Okay.
Well, he does not want to do this.
» Did you want to get a photo? >> Yeah, sure.
» Certificate with you. >> We'll give them the opportunity to put a
photo on. Thank goodness. >> So, because of possible forum issues, we
went ahead and swore Mr. Denon this before the meeting. So, we're going to
do just a ceremonial photo with the certificate
» or anything? No, I had I had a jacket in the suit,
but I took it off. Too hot.
» Thank you very much.
» Can't believe you put them rabbit ears up.
really interest.
» Okay, welcome aboard, Mr. Dun. Glad to have you here. Thanks for having me.
Okay, we're going to move on to public comments. Looks like Mr. Terry
want you to wait for your item or you want to do it first?
» It's up to you. >> We can wait for your item.
» Okay. And Mr. page. Okay. You want to wait for your item as
well? >> Yeah, I've got one.
» Okay. >> Unfortunately,
man, you're not killing me. I was planning on getting up here tonight.
Okay. And that being said, I think the first thing I want to
suggest here tonight considering how big how many how many
items we've got on the agenda at least one item possibly
could be moved to the next meeting. I think the most logical item would be
since uh the uh fire chief isn't here tonight to uh kind of you know ask
questions. Uh the one concerning the uh item concerning uh paper uh
uh that that that would be uh postpone to the next meeting. It looks like it's
over here all nightless. But that being said, uh
first thing I want to hit on is first thanks
on the uh cracking down on the solicitation permits.
But I'd kind of like y'all consider one little thing as even
above us from the old uh stone age days. Remember the old uh do not call this
don't don't exist at cell phones checking the visibility of uh when they
issue a permit for solicitation. Uh maybe they could include a uh
uh street address list. Uh people that you know don't want to uh you know a do
not knock list and even if it expanded to time of the day like my my schedule
sometimes I'm there from I'm in bed from 8 till around 11:00.
I to the point where I had to just I had to disconnect my ring or uh bail because
even if they don't knock and see it off uh got that one
social media stuff that I hit up with I just knocked one off the list but
you know I these people are perfectly good place to send it in on the internet
web page. So, a couple we have to look at. How
much time? >> 50 seconds.
uh the idea of looking into the idea I think it's a good idea of uh possibility
of a uh writing up an ordinance I work on one uh for uh something relatively
new these days electric bicycles and scooters there's a lot of chatter on
that and what I'm seeing here the major part is that section
uh from the front of the uh dollar store all the way down to in that area.
So a little bit
Okay, looks like that wraps up the public comments in that section. Right.
Move on to consent agenda. A budget report June 2026.
» I have a motion to approve consent agenda.
» Second. All in favor? >> Reflect. The motion carries.
Move on to fiscal year 2027 budget workshop.
» No. >> I believe the floor is yours.
» Floor is mine. >> That's it.
» I'll make it quick. >> Should only be an hour or two. We
» only have three minutes. >> Three minutes. Okay.
Um, I've prepared a slideshow. Finished it about 10 minutes ago.
» Maybe an hour ago. Um,
you see the little
one.
That's it. That's my budget. >> It's going to the every page on my
screen.
» Oh, there it goes. Okay. I just had to click it.
» Okay. So, um this page is everyone that is tasked with making decisions on this
budget. On the right hand side are the city staff. Um every one of these people
presents a budget request um for their department and um they are discussed
with myself with the finance or I'm the finance with the city manager and then
we now are bringing it to you. Um this is a fluid document tonight is to give
you guys just a kind of a snapshot of where we are now. This is not a
presentation of the budget at this point, but we're all key decision makers
in that.
Um, so these are the things I'm going to cover. Just an overview of our budget
approach, our budget calendar. Um, we're going to talk a little bit about tax
rate. It could be a very preliminary discussion. Uh, we're going to talk
about our general fund and we're going to talk about our enterprise fund which
runs our utilities. We have other funds that will be in the budget document, but
these are our operating funds. So, that's what we're going to talk about
tonight.
So, we're um as we've been preparing this budget, um we are running we are we
are setting the budget at a level of actual cost to run the city. We're not
putting in fluff. I'm not a budget or a finance director that says put in you
know, pie in the sky figure. I want them to justify what they're putting into
each line item. I'm also not one that says, "Okay, it's September. We better
spend all the money in this budget line. If you don't need it, don't spend it."
Um, so we've been doing this, this is the sixth budget year, and we're going
to continue that. Um, within this budget discussion, um, one of the proposals is
a 4% pay raise for staff. Um, what I do is I pull the social security number
from the prior October and see what Social Security determined. Last October
it was 2.8 and that took effect for Social Security recipients on January
1st of this year. Um, but they're already putting out numbers where
they're predicting where they're going to be and with the higher than normal
um, inflation they're saying it's going to be 3.9 to 4.2% this coming October.
Um we are uh proposing a 4%. One of the things that um we want to
incur or encourage is to keep our staff because we have good staff. Um these are
brought every year. The cost of living increases are brought every year and
then on the odd years we do a merit increase based on evaluations.
Um I'm also proposing utility rates. Um, we'll get into that. It's It's not a fun
thing to to come up with utility rates because nobody wants to pay them. But
I'm going to show you what we need for to uh reach our goals. And then we're
just going to continue. Um, as most of you know, six to seven years ago, we had
no reserves. Um, and now we do, but they are not yet at adequate levels um to do
what we want to do. So, we're going to talk about that, too, because we do not
want to incur debt if you can help it. Okay.
Our budget calendar, um, this is is dictated both by the county and by our
own um, schedule for meetings. So, on August 1st, I will receive numbers from
the county that are certified taxable numbers. I don't have those yet. So, the
numbers I'm going to give you for adorum tax and general fund revenue from that
um are very preliminary. They gave us a preliminary number in April and they
don't certify the number until August 1st. Um so, please remember that as I'm
going through this. On August 10th at our regular meeting, we'll have a public
hearing on the CCPD budget and we're going to take a record vote on tax. Um
that record vote is often confusing.
What we're doing is telling the county and our residents, this is the highest
rate we will possibly ask for. You are not setting the rate at that meeting.
You are just saying we're not going to go past this. So when I bring you a
rate, no, it's not carved in stone. Um that isn't until the September meeting.
Um, but it it's just confusing the way the wording is. So, I just wanted to
give you the heads up. Um, and then we'll set the dates for the public
hearing for tax and budget. And that will then be held on September 14th.
We'll have public hearings at the beginning of the meeting on tax rate and
on the budget. And then the council will vote first on the tax rate and then on
the budget that's pre proposed. And then we have until the 29th to get it to
Okay. So, as I've probably already said five
times, the numbers in this presentation tonight are preliminary. I don't want
anybody to leave here saying this is the tax rate that Richwood's going after or
this is the bottom line that Richwood's going to see in their budget. These are
numbers given to you to give you an idea of where we are. It's my rudimentary
calculations. It's not the C county's calculation. and they put a lot more
into it. So, um just remember that we also don't have all of our information
for our expenses. We haven't yet to get our insurance
um premiums for either property and liability or for health insurance. Those
are a big chunk of our budget. We don't have those yet. So, we have no idea if
they're going up, down, whatever. So tonight, what we're doing is we're
meeting so that I, as the finance director, along with
Kirsten, the city manager, can give council and the citizens insight into
how the budget is looking as of right now.
And then we're asking for insight from council on your goals and your opinions
on things. So that next month I'll bring you more information on where the budget
is. We won't have a full-blown workshop, but it'll incorporate what you've told
us you want to see. Okay.
So, um we are a small city um under 30,000 by
quite a bit. So, um, the state allows us to go up 8%
on our revenues on properties that were on the tax roles last year. So, for uh a
bigger city, they can only go up three and a half. And the reason the state
does this is because they realize smaller cities are more reliant on
property tax than bigger cities that have sales tax and other forms of
revenue. um property tax makes up over 72% of our
budget. So we are very dependent on it. So every year I come and I tell you what
that maximum rate is going to be. Again, this is my very rudimentary calculation.
Um but if you look at the two columns, it shows where we're at right now. Our
total rate is 0.557993. That was an increase from the year prior
last year due to um lower appraised values. Appraised values are coming back
up. So our rate is going to go a little lower. So my calculation is 0.539
358. And the bottom line there is showing you that we'll go up about
$220,000 in revenue based on these numbers.
Again, that's rough estimate. So, and in case I haven't said it enough time, in
the red box tells you this is just preliminary.
These are just some graphs to give you a visual. The top one is our assessed
values um since 2022. Um and you can see um they've gone up
every year, but last was a slight drop, but this year they're up. Um the bottom
chart, the dark blue, is our debt rate, which is a portion of our uh tax rate
that we have no say in. It's calculated based on the taxable value of properties
to give us the requirements to satisfy our debt requirements for the calendar
year or fiscal year. The lighter green teal is the portion of
the tax rate that will go to the general fund for maintenance and operation of
the city. And then that bottom number is the total tax rate. Does anybody have
any questions? Yling.
Okay. So, um, right now with calculations I've
done, um, this is where we're looking at revenue for the general fund. Um, the
last column is showing a change from 26 to 27, but the bolded column um is our
proposed budget. Um, revenues are not budgeted, they're projected. Um, so this
is just my best guess as of right now. um some things um have gone down or are
expected to go down because they've gone down this year and I I project based on
trends and on history our sales tax has declined for two years our building
permits are going down and our court revenue is going down. So, um, even
though I look to see the property tax going up with those other things going
down, our revenue is only going up about 18,000 as it looks right now.
» One of you at the end, is there something since we're at a good spot, I
could ask you a question about >> Sure.
» Uh, one thing I've noticed here is you mentioned licenses and permits
» are down. Mhm. >> Uh, one thing I've noticed since I've
moved here is, uh, we probably need to get the city
war involved, police department, uh, our, uh, code enforcement, police
officers. Uh, if you see something, say something.
Uh I on more than one occasion when I first moved here, I had a neighbor
had for a month had a dumpster out front uh had a big remodel.
I went over talked to them one day. They never got a permit before
» and that does happen. >> Um and that's one of the tasks of our
code enforcement officer. um four years ago maybe is when we added that position
for that reason as well as for uh the appearance of the city. So thank you.
Any questions on the revenue?
The next page. Uh this shows our expenditures by
department. And
um in the last column, if it's green, that means we have cut expenses.
Um if it's red, it's gone up. The only one that's gone up right now is the fire
department. In my budget right now, I have the paper call included.
It doesn't mean it's in there in concrete. I just included in the show or
scenario. Um, but we'll discuss that later and it's up to what to what's
decided if that stays there or not. Okay. But otherwise, as you can see,
we've cut our expenditures in every department.
Um, so some small ones that show zero because they were zero before. Any
questions on that?
Okay, the next page just some items of note on this budget as it sits now. As I
mentioned earlier, this includes >> we haven't gotten our mad
to go back. >> It should say general fund expenditures
items of note. >> You're giving away all my even
forward.
» She showed all my secrets early.
Yes.
» Bring it back in the lower right hand corner.
» But it'll
Okay. I'm sorry.
» Thank you. Um, so as I mentioned earlier, we don't have our insurance
premiums yet. So, um, I've increased what we paid in fiscal year 26 by 10%.
To put in a buffer for that. Um there have been years that have exceeded that
10% and there have been years that have been less than that. So right now it
includes the 10%. Um it also as I mentioned earlier includes the 4% cola
for all employees. On the general fund side there are 19 employees and that
increase uh totals $50,381.
Um the same as with property and liability, our health benefits, we don't
have those yet. I've left those the same. We're hoping they stay the same.
We've gotten some of our uh small policies like long-term disability and
dental and things and they've remained the same. So, we're hoping um and that
should be coming soon. And then I had a discussion with CCPD. Since fiscal year
23, CCPD has been transferring an amount to our general fund to cover um a
portion of the PD's overtime. Um,
and we I talked with Jeremy first and I told him this is not a carved in stone
thing. It's not required of the CCP. It was instilled or I don't know if that's
a word was implemented at the beginning because there were some
uh patrols above and beyond what's normal um that the then chief wanted to
do, but it was going to incur additional um overtime. So CCPD wanted to cover
those additional controls. It then became kind of expected every year um
with a new city manager, a new chief. I thought this was the time to address
that. So, at the CCPD meeting, we talked about it and what we came up with was
that we would not do an automatic transfer, but as we watched the budget,
if they go over the budgeted amount, then CCPD will kick in or if the chief
sees that there's a need. So, right now there's no transfer in, but that doesn't
mean there won't be. Um and then um the fire department request for paper call.
As I said, it's included in the budget right now just because I wanted to show
complete of everything I know right now. Um but we'll discuss it later and it
will be removed from the budget if it's not approved.
Any questions on any of that?
So the next page,
» go back. Go back to the fire department. I do have a question about that.
» The fire department has a >> The city is putting money in the fire
department. >> The fire department is a department of
this general fund. >> Okay. They're we're we're putting money
into the the state retirement program for the fire department.
» Yes. >> Yes.
» Yes. >> Okay.
» Right now we're paying water the water bill for people that
have a house. >> Yes.
» Okay. >> Don't put in
» We're not We're not paying for the people that live in the apartment. And I
don't understand that. >> Yeah. And that was um the free water
bills for the fire department was set long before I came. Um and that is just
something that probably at that time everybody had a house. Now some live in
in apartments and so as we discussed that paper call that'll be part of our
» sounds like it's more for the next item. >> Yeah.
» I've had a conversation with the uh the fire chief earlier today that might have
some input here. >> Yes sir. We I mean we've also talked
with them too. >> Ideally, you know the same thing I know,
right? >> Um and we can all be blinded out in the
next item. >> Yeah, it's on the next
question. >> You're not going to let me put in my
concern here. >> Well, the more on the next
» If it's about fire department paper call,
» regarding the paper call, we need to wait.
» Yeah. >> Um I just want people to know that that
is included in here. I'm not discussing the pros or cons of it right now. So,
this is um the bottom portion of our budget on the general fund and this is
where transfers happen. Um since 2021,
we have put 10% of uh general fund expenditures into the contingency fund.
Before that, we had no contingency fund. So, we're going to talk about that on
the next screen, but that is included in here. 10% contingency fund transfer. I
have also taken it upon myself to propose that we increase transfers to
our replacement fund. We have three categories. One for vehicles, one for
equipment, and one for the fire department. Um I've increased those
here. Um, and again, nothing is carved in stone, and we'll talk about that a
little bit more, but we've our replacement fund, as we discussed at the
last meeting, is is way underfunded right now. We couldn't buy anything
really with what's in there. So when all that comes in, our change in
fund balance is 126,869.
Which means when you take the revenue, you take out the expenses, and you net
out the transfers, our fund balance will go up by $126,000
800$1268$ 869 as it sits right now. Again, these
are not firm numbers, but that is a a good positive number.
Any question?
Okay. So, now turn the page. Now, let's talk
replacement fund. Um, so as I said, I I I am proposing and
I believe the city manager agreed with me. I just kind of told her I did it.
Um, vehicles. Um, last year we put in 30,000
which was an increase from prior years. I've doubled that equipment
um because it's terribly underfunded. I've gone from five to 20. And fire
department um it had gone from 20 to 30 and now it's seeming to go to 50. Um our
goal for the fire department is that they can buy an engine someday without
having to go out. Um so that's that's what we're looking at for replacement
fund. um the contingency fund as I said um 10% of general fund expenditures are
normally transferred into the contingency fund and that money can be
allocated for unexpected or emergency needs. Right now or as of the beginning
of this fiscal year our fund balance there was 1.8 million.
So, this um this discussion I'm going to have on the next slide, if we um if you
were to set a limit on the contingency fund of how much we're socking away to 2
million, we would put in 174,871 and then that would leave 154,000 that
we could invest somewhere else. So, keep that in mind as you turn the page.
So, um, with our contingency plan, what should be our maximum balance? You know,
that's like saying, what are we going to need for the next hurricane? And nobody
knows. But with Barrel, um, we took out $966,935
out of the contingency fund to pay for debris removal. At that time, we had
about 1.3 million. We were so glad we had that so that we could pay for that
debris removal without going out for debt or robbing Peter to pay Paul. Um
that was reimbursed by the government but that took months.
As I said earlier, the current balance is 1.825 million. Now that when I say
current, that's the fund balance at the beginning of the fiscal year. Um we then
or no that's beginning of the fiscal year plus our 10% that we put in. We've
also earned $44,297 through the end of May um in interest
because we have all this money invested in a state pool.
So if I extrapolate the average out through the
end of the year, we're looking at 1.891 8.91
million in there at the end of the year with all the interest.
Um so what I am asking what staff is proposing is that we have a discussion
about what where council sees that we should have this contingency fund
limited to. Now one of the reasons is because this money is not earmarked for
anything specific. It can be used at an emergency
without council permission just like the barrel cut costs were or it can be used
for unexpected costs with council approval.
If we keep putting in that we're kind of neglecting some other
things and so that we're going to talk about on the next page. So let's go over
that and then we'll come back to this discussion and hear what you guys want.
But what we're proposing is of course interest is going to continue
to acrue because it's invested. But we we would what we were thinking is take
that 10% maximum of expenditures which this year is 300
300 and some thousand. We would take the contingency fund up to
whatever limit you sent. So if you set 10 million, we would take it up to 2
million with a transfer. Anything between that 10% of expenditures and
what we actually put in contingency, we would put into capital improvements,
which would be a general fund fund set aside to help build up so we can do some
capital improvements. Let's turn the page and we'll go more in
depth with that.
You're too far.
» So, the general fund is responsible for streets, sidewalks, drainage, buildings,
and parks. In fiscal year 26,
council approved that we spend I can't remember how much money it was
um to have master plans done for streets and parks.
Now we know what we need to do, what our citizens want us to do.
Citizens were offered surveys that they could answer to get input on what they
would like to see. Um the streets portion is taken care of primarily in
our transportation fund. Uh several years back they switched all the costs
and revenues for the for street sidewalks and drainage to the
transportation fund which is kind of a sub fund of the general fund.
Uh this we have a street sales tax that goes in there and we have the
transportation fee that's on every utility bill. So there is additional
revenue to pay for streets, sidewalks, and drainage. So for things that are
shown in the streets master plan, we have a fund that we can start working
through to get some of those done. Parks has no additional funding. So we have
this beautiful master plan for parks and we don't really have a plan right
now for how to pay for that. We've asked the citizens for input and
then we need to then maybe act on it and not just say okay thanks we wish we
could too. So if we could set aside material amounts each year we could
start identifying projects prioritizing them identifying them and start building
a fund to pay for them without incurring debt.
It was also told to us when Strand presented the master plans to us that
there are grants out there for parks, but they all have matches. So, to get a
$200,000 grant, we're going to have to match up to half of it. So, we need to
have that money set aside so that we can match it.
Um, so our residents deserve parks that fulfill their needs. The master plan
showed us what it will take to achieve this. Now, we need to pay for it. I'll
figure out how we're going to pay for it. So, now I'd like to have the
discussion on what you guys think of this what I've
just told you um about the contingency fund and about building for parks
improvement. Now, this capital fund, capital
improvement fund would not be limited to parks. if something else came up that we
needed, that money would be there. Um, it's not limited to parks, but it would
be limited or restricted committed to capital improvements on the
general fund side. So, not infrastructure,
but you know what the general fund is
responsible for.
So contingency fund is completely separate than your general fund, your
transportation fund, >> your beautifification fund,
» beautifification is KB, and that's not really our money, but we manage it for
them. We budget it for them with their approval. Um, but yes, transportation
fund is the one I said is like a sub fund of the general fund just to handle
street, sidewalks, and drainage and to accumulate that income so it doesn't get
muddled with other general fund income. Um, so this would be another fund. We
have the fund. It's just zero right now. It's empty that we could start building
up um
money to start doing these projects that our citizens have asked for.
I like the idea of capping at 2 million and then putting transferring
anything over the two million into a park fund
because we do have some park improvements that we need out there like
the the walking trails around the parks. You know, we might be getting some
broken ankles around them >> or kids riding around the scooters, you
know, hanging a tire in them because they got some pretty bad cracks in them.
And I think, you know, there's also talk about additional things for the park
like pickle ball courts and things like that. So, I think it would be good to to
get our parks up to speed >> and we can't do it overnight, but we can
start, you know, and a $20,000 transfer is not going to do anything. We need to
do material amounts. >> I think if we uh
» didn't we get a quote for the paving and Ellis Park, it was like 200,000
something. I think it was closer to 385. >> 285. So yeah, it takes some serious
money to to redo that. >> Yes.
» So I guess I would be in favor of a percentage. Well, I say cap dollar
amount like say our proposed budget is 3.8 million.
Whatever just say our responsible contingency
fund is 8.5% of 3.8 million. That way, whatever our proposed budget changes
every year, you're you can either input or take away. If it's just a $2 million
cap from now, we don't know,
» right? >> It would have to be revisited. Um, our
charter allows up to 10% to be transferred to a contingency fund for
emergency or for unexpected costs. So, that's where that came from.
» Um, >> our discussion was to
» and then it set the cap. No. So our discussion was to have council adopt um
updated financial policies and in that would be a section that like regarding
to >> be a cap
» and then it would be our practice and probably best practice is to review this
bianually or every three to five years maybe whatever
» probably current economy is showing us. But it would need to be reviewed and
then council can but we want it to be formally adopted by council whether by
resolution or just a financial policy. That way we have clear path.
» So tonight we're not asking you to approve policy. We're asking you to give
us guidance on where kind of as a general idea from council
where you see this then next month we would bring you the policy. Um I think
if we just verbally said yeah this is our idea. It doesn't protect future
years. Um it doesn't protect that money. um if we have it in policy, it's it's a
working document and yeah, whether it's percentage or flat dollar amount. Um
» what do you think are responsible for Tennessee funding? What from a taxpayers
perspective? If our if our budget is 3.8 eight and we
say, "Hey, we want half of that in a contingency fund and another 2 million
in general operating fund in addition to the the $4 million we're taxing them."
» I think they'd rather have that in their savings account than the city's savings
account. >> So,
» what's the responsible Tennessee? GFOA, which is like my um
my Bible, um they they say, and this is for cities across the US, that you
should have working capital of up to two months. Okay, that's just working
capital. It's not talking about emergencies or anything. Our auditors
are saying um in a high-risisk area like where we live, it should be at least six
months. Now, that's talking about our fund balance, which we have. Um,
the thing with the contingency fund is um because the storms
come up so fast and you have to react so fast, you we need an amount there to be
able to keep the city going, to get the debris, to do the recovery. And if we
don't have it, we're dipping down um into fund balance, which we could dip
more than what bound balance is. We could have to borrow, we could have to
um we can't take from the water sewer fund. Um you know, we'd have to rob it
from replacement fund or so and we don't have that much in there. So my my gut
instinct which is based on nothing just after being through barrel and um and
talking to other professionals in the field I feel like 2
million should be our minimum. Um,
» and if you work out that out that that's that's 2 million. If you work that out
to a percent, what percent is that? Roughly
» 48%. >> So maybe that's what we say we want a
cap of 48%. I like that idea. >> So I mean I agree having the fund I
think we had it. I think looking at your barrel, right? So our budget's roughly
four million. It cost us a million 25% of our our operating fund to pay for
that. >> So a responsible
I would almost estimate 33% of our budget. So 33% of 3.8 would be probably
a responsible one. Just kind of throwing the numbers out
there. That way we tax the citizens less or we give it
back to them incentives how we do it. But I think to have the money sitting in
our savings account, I think it'd be opposed to that at the
end of the day. That's why I say 6 months, you're talking 180 days, that's
right at 2 million, which puts us at 50%. So if that Bible document kind of
states 180 days, and 2 million is probably pretty close. Mhm.
» I think that was the why we came to this >> point of wanting to start saving in
other coffers just because you're right, >> we don't want to look like we're just
sitting on a big pile of the residents money not doing anything with it. We
have lots of projects. We're not short on things to do.
» We just are short on things ways to pay for
» all at once without taking on debt. >> And and so that's why, you know, it's
silly to keep putting in contingency. And um if I was I don't live in
Richwood, I live with Jackson. But if I had answered that survey and I knew they
got the master plan and I knew they paid a lot of money for that master plan and
then I heard nothing more, I would be a little
why. So I want to show the citizens that we were serious first of all when we had
that master plan done and secondly we're serious about getting the projects done.
Um, it's just going to take time. But if we don't start now, that time will never
come. Um, Richwood doesn't have a lot. I don't want to be dissing Richwood, but
we It doesn't have a lot for its citizens to do and our parks need help.
» Yeah. As a veteran community, parks are our entertainment for our kids to walk
to and go to easily without having to >> It's for every age. Kids play at the
playgrounds. You know, seniors walk the trails hopefully without breaking an
ankle. You know, we want kids to be able to go down and fish with their dad
safely. Um, so this was our kind of solution to how to start looking at
that. And like I mentioned too, most if not all of the grants for parks require
a match. And um we don't want to pass up a h 100,000 because we don't have the
other 100,000. I mean, I'm just throwing that figure out. I don't have no idea
what these frames, you know, dollar amount is, but um you know, and the
money is earning a good rate on its interest. Um, and contingency. I mean,
you guys can decide to take out a contingency if we have some kind of big
project someday. You can decide to take out a contingency if something on the
enterprise side fails and we need money. We just can't go the other way. General
fund can't take from enterprise, but enterprise can be given money from
general fund if that makes sense. Enterprise the work water and sewer. Um,
so, so is it kind of your consensus to look
at whatever that 2 million is for as a percentage and then go write a policy
based on that? Can I ask
» uh about that grand plan? >> Is that grand plan split up into
categories? >> Yes. That was a
» plus if you if you want to me as a tax payer.
» What I would see that land is hurting. It's kind of like
what we just saw here with the uh abandoned home where everybody all
sudden see all the rest. Well, if you were to concentrate
on one area at a time, try to spread it out. For instance, like you're saying,
what you're seeing the biggest problem right now is parks improvements.
Let's get that fund now. That's all the citizens see those parks improvements.
» And then when the desk is going good and this kind of stuff out, let's move on to
sidewalks. So we're instead of trying to do this big brain plan all at the same
time. >> Yeah. And that's what we're saying that
if this fund could build to a point, you know, we would work with Cliff and the
city manager and council to prioritize the projects that have been identified.
And then as this fund built, the first priority could be attacked and then we
could go on um you know and and improve parks are going to improve values on
homes. Um it's a win-win to have better parks. Could you not improve the parts
now at the contingency fund? If if the sidewalks are broken and you
have this these issues, is that not an unexpected cost that we could be using
that money for? >> It would just not be available then for
an emergency. >> But we're putting money back in it. But
over over the next year or few years, we're still putting money in it. Why are
we waiting to fix stuff? We have a contingency fund that has a money that
we could use to fix the parts now. >> So I think part of it we was we were
trying to get the master plan done which was just completed last
» but we're at that point now. >> It goes back to his point.
» If you start doing little things and show the community, hey, we're fixing
it. >> Agreed.
» Instead of doing all at one time >> for the track, for example, part of the
Mark Parks master plan was to completely tear it down and then even reshape it.
It's going to be a completely different shape. So, we need council commitment
that by us doing that, we're also going to invest in the rest of the
improvements because we don't need to change the whole shape of the walking
path if we're not going to do the things that go inside of it and the rest that
comes along with it. So, that's not a bad idea. They could council could do
decide if that's something they want to do or pull a fund balance however they'd
like. We just need to know that this is also council's priority to move forward
with this. >> That's where we're going to
» which it hasn't brought before. That's why
» I'm just asking because we being on the HOAs out there
» that at Oakwood that's what we've done is we've done little things
» to try to show hey you're paying these fees
» right >> we're fixing little things at a time
instead of waiting to build up a bunch of money to make one thing the whole
time >> right which is kind of why we're wanting
to show that that we're wanting to do that also unfortunately it doesn't
there's no band-aids for it at this point
complet re like down subbase and reshaped.
» But that is that's why I want to show that we're
» and knock on wood and I'm not even going to say the word, but those things that
come out of the Gulf, we don't know what's going to happen.
» Agreed. >> And barrel was relatively small compared
to how some can be. So if we spent a million on barrel,
2 million may not even be enough, but at least we'd have that buffer that we
could weather play on words, weather the
storm. >> Yeah, we got that money back, right?
Save us from going in debt to get that. >> Yeah, it took about Well, we haven't got
all of it back yet. We're still waiting on a small portion that'll go to
» But because we were under a certain threshold is why we got it back quickly.
There's other cities that went above that threshold that are still waiting.
» Lake Jackson has not gotten there yet. >> Yeah.
» Um we got ours, it took about close to a year. So I think the whole
thing is we've got this contingency fund. The cup is just about full
» which is the 2 million. Let's just say 2 million%.
» The cup is almost full and once the cup starts overflowing what we want to put
that in. We want to put that in the parks.
» Very good analogy. >> That's what we want your guidance on.
» We got probably get the uh city council right now to make a commitment to one
thing that actually will solve two problems that the city's been planning
about right now. Uh we've got a problem right now with
electric bikes and scooters. Everybody's complaining. We got a problem with the
parts. >> Let's
buy a scooter. >> I mean to place a bike uh somewhere on
these parks. >> Once we figure out half of this money,
then we're going to figure out what we're going to do with it.
» Right. Yeah. That's not really the agenda item tonight. Um, we we paid the
money for the plan. It's a wonderful plan. So, now we just have to figure out
how to pay for it. So, what I would like I'd like to move on because I don't want
to keep you guys here till midnight. Um, but thank you for your input. Um, so we
will take your guidance that you've given us um and we'll come back next
month with a policy that hopefully you'll be happy with. Um, and uh
» No, no, no. This is just guidance and then we'll
keep working on it. So, >> any other comments on this?
» We just want to make sure we're not going up the wrong tree on
» when are you going to present the final budget?
» Um, it's presented in September. >> Okay.
» I'll bring up >> it should have a
» I'll bring a better one, a more accurate one next month once I have values and
insurance premiums and things, but the actual proposed budget will be approved
hopefully in September. Okay. Anything else?
» You got what you need from us, right? >> I believe so.
» Did you have anything you wanted to add? >> No, sir. Everything was I agree with the
cap 2 million that way. I mean, I saw what we went through. So, we need to be
above that. So, it's 2 million. We'll put above that and like we were saying,
anything above that's going to go bad. >> So, okay. We'll have
» your feeling right now >> is that the tax rate's actually going to
go down from last year's tax rate. Even though if we got more
» assessed values are up slightly. >> Excess value. So your property value
went up, the tax rate is going to go down. So across the board, we're still
going to end up paying more individually.
» About the same. >> About the same.
» Okay. Except that well we can existing
properties can pay up to 8% more the new properties
there's no base value but that's what the val what the rate calculation is
calculated on that you're making 8% more up to 8% more on um existing properties
that were on the roll last year and then you add to that the new properties so
we'll go into that more um when I get firm numbers Right now, I just wanted to
give you an idea to show you where we are.
» One thing I ask is like when we do the last budget, when we when we vote on the
budget, I would like to see, you know, what you want, which is I think is what
you're working on. And then also >> a value that would be okay. This is what
everybody's paying now. Like a flat rate, flat rate.
» I'll show you options. Yeah. >> And we'll show you how that affects the
bottom line and >> what and I think last year what we did
was is we gave y'all that amount and then council as a whole said well we
want to see >> that bottom line our fund balance go up
by 100,000 and so we brought you that rate and that's what was adopted. We'll
do the same thing when we get clear after August 1st.
» I'll bring you options. I just can't really give you a lot of options now
because they're pointless because I don't have the values.
» I'm just giving the guidance. I appreciate it. And I knew you'd be happy
talking about the limit contingency because you're the one that brought it
up a few years ago. >> Okay,
different topic now. We can go on. So,
last year, well, let me go back six years. When I came to work at the city,
I could not believe how antiquated and archaic our software is.
I've learned to make the best of it. I have to export all my data into Excel
and manipulate it in Excel because the system can't do it. Um, for court,
it's a separate software. So, we have to manually put things in to our operating
system to get it right. I spent just this month
I spent two days trying to get that right. Um it's it's just a very
cumbersome, awkward, horrible system.
That's my preface to this slide. When I the first two years I worked here, I
don't know how many times a day Laura would hear me yell, I hate this
software. So, and I will say when we first switched to this software, it was
under the guise that they were going to create a soft a court module for us. And
when that time came, they said, "Oh, we're not going to do that." This is why
we're in two different systems. >> So, right now, we use software called
Polus. It's based out of Utah. It was brought to us by a previous city manager
that was from Utah. And so, all the canned reports that would be great are
for Utah. >> We're their only Texas customer. Yeah.
So, I can't use any of their reporting. Um, they handle all financials, utility
billing, payroll, accounts payable. To use Polus and to be able to take
online credit card payments, we have to use Express Bill Pay. It's owned by the
same company. We pay them service fees averaging about 900 a month.
Um, that's that's not the fees that credit card companies charge us. That's
just what Express charges us to process our cards. So, that comes up to about
11,000 a year. Then our court software, um, it's going up every year because
we're on a year-to-year plan. Um, and it's 10,836.
As I said, it it's not integrated with our operating system. Everything has to
be done manually. So right now
» it's a great system. >> It is a good system but
you know um so we're paying 31,697
roughly because that express bill pay fluctuates.
Um we got this software in 2018. got a m a module for asset management
which does depreciation that I don't use because
it's so cumbersome and I feel like I'm an intelligent person and I can't figure
out how to make it work and whenever I call support they say oh we'll just do
it for you. I've tried to get support to work with me it's hard. They also have
project management where you know if cliff's going to do a street somewhere I
could set up a project all the costs would be accumulated.
I asked them to train me on that and they said we doubt you're being on the
it's so cumbersome. Um so I pay for our auditors to do our depreciation.
Um it's part of their fee. So I don't know the exact cost. As I said, I have
to export everything into Excel and do all the manipulation there. The budget
report you get every month is an Excel report because the one that the system
spits out is garbage. Um, as I said, you have to manually
transfer all the court financial transactions and we have to use Express
Bill Pay and it's housed on our server. So if
there's time when we can't get onto our server, we can't access it. Newer
softwares now are all cloud-based, so you can access them anywhere you have
the internet. I did a class through GFOA on how to
help pick out your feet. They're called ERPs. And um they showed a picture of
one from the '9s. and it was Ploris they were showing us or say it wasn't that
name but it was the same look. I mean it's just very unquote.
So last year Kirsten and I uh demoed three or four different softwares
and we settled on Fun View. Um it's based in Texas. It's cloud-based. Um
and we just really liked it. Um the previous city manager didn't want us to
bring it to council, so it kind of died there, but we thought we'd bring it to
you this year. Um we would add a lot of efficiency to our
system um with having one system that includes court, has actual reports that
I can write if I don't like what they have, but it's also um has good
reporting. um our our customer experience would
improve because it includes a city central portal where residents could go
on and see their billing information. So um they would have instantaneous
access to their utility accounts. We could also um it has a lot of
notification capability. So, um, we could surely save
postage. Right now, we mail out postcards
once a month. It's about $800 every time we mail those. Um, plus the cost of ink
and cards and things. If we could do something, which this is a talk for
another day, but to start getting people moved to an online um statement, we
which this would allow um because the of the portal that would save us a lot in
postage. Um late notices, we mailed them today. That was a couple hundred for
postage. Um those can be both go through notifications. If people have high
usage, you know, a lot of things, it would go through these notifications.
They would process our credit cards. So, we wouldn't have another third party
processing credit card. So, it would eliminate that $11,000 of fees. We would
still have the discount fees that Visa, Mastercard charge us. Can't get away
from those. But, um, it would eliminate what we pay Express Bill pay. And I
can't promise this cuz I don't know yet, but it may even. Right now, we charge 3
and a half% for credit card transactions. We maybe could reduce
that. I don't know yet, but just throwing that out there as a nugget.
It would also include a code enforcement module. We've really been pushing code
enforcement lately with good reason. Um, and she's kind of flying by the seat of
her pants in a lot of ways. So, this would have a module that would
incorporate her into our operating system for transparency between staff.
Um, it would integrate it into our costs when she leans or or things. Um, so I
think it would make life easier on her and on. Um,
any questions? So, next page.
So, it's module built. So, Hen and I went through and picked out what we
would want. And of all the modules we would want, um there's a few that we
would add, um like the code enforcement, the notifications,
um and court. If as we go if any of the modules we
pick just aren't working the way we thought they should, it's a year-by-year
thing, so we don't have to keep them forever.
Also, as we go forward and we see some of their modules that we don't have that
now we need, excuse me, we can add those
um talk to them. Implementation could be done. We could schedule it at our
convenience which um it's all about me and my slow time is early 2027
after budget and audit before the next budget. Um, so
I'm I'm just going to say I really hope you guys allow us to do this. Um,
implementation is a onetime cost where they will bring all our data in, make
sure everything works right, and train our employees is 45,250.
And then annual cost is 37,750. That includes 5,600 of features we don't
normally h or don't currently have that would increase efficiency and um citizen
experience. Um so we currently pay 316.97.
So cost would increase $6,000. I honestly believe that this would be
offset by the efficiency, time saving, lowered postage,
and our customers liking that they can go online and see
what what they're being built.
Any questions on that? >> That the implementation could be offset.
We have a fund that money for court technology.
» We have a fund that builds and we don't frequently have things we can use it on.
You can only use it on technology that affects the court for security that
affects the court. Um so that fund has grown and I think Trisha I think the
fund balance was about 25 right now. Um, I would propose that we
zero that fund out to offset the $45,000 for implementation so that the city um
next year's budget is only going to be affected um by 20,000
» 20,000 plus the additional um cost >> plus the annual cost.
» We would have a little increase the first year because our current software
overlap >> and the new software would overlap. Um
so we'd have a little bit of increase there. Um, but honestly,
um, well, I mean, when I went, I call it my dark period. When I was gone for a
few weeks in Lake Jackson, I used their software and I was actually happy to
come back to cuz there's so awful. Um, but it took me about a week. The
honeymoon was over and they heard me yelling again at the software. Um, this
software is so unuser friendly. You have to open 10 different windows to get your
answer because you know you click here. You can't just keep digging down. You
have to it's just it's ridiculous. The customer
service is in Utah so you can't call them until 9:30. There's been times when
we have billing or payroll issues. We have to wait until we get a hold of
them. Um >> so you are you asking for approval now
or are you asking to put it in 2027 budget?
» We'd like to build it into the budget. We would like to get guidance if you
guys would approve a budget with this build into it.
» When you're talking efficiency and you're saying you're doing things in a
couple days, >> does the new software cut that in half
or a couple hours? >> So, what she's talking about, for
example, is the court software is separate. So, every day the clerk has to
go in and enter a receipt into Florida as if she's a customer, but she's the
court customer, and she enters in all of those payments that the court took that
day. There we're also on a different billing system. So when she gets credit
card deposits from the court, they don't match up with that day's receiping. So I
actually took half a day last week trying to match them for her because I
can see the back end of the court. And so it's just it never matches
completely. And the reason was is because she took a payment on July or
June 30th and it didn't hit the bank till July 1st. So it was messed up her
whole months of reconciliation. >> So So is that process is
» it'll all be I mean >> it'll be it'll be one system. If I
didn't have to deal with court, I could >> I'll put my green stamp on this. I've
dealt with this system. It's paperwork is there.
» Um I >> Well, that's what I'm saying. If if if
it's going to save them time, the six grand is going to be paid for time.
» Yeah. Um right now, if I didn't have to deal with court deposits, I would have
the bank reconciled in one to two hours every month. Um, and this month, this
month was worse because I was gone a few weeks, but it took me two full days plus
her time plus um the month before Lor's been out with injury, but um it took her
a day to help me. It's and it's every month.
» We never we never balance the court and and the like I said, the court system is
amazing. They're amazing. It's not anything. They're I'm gonna be sad to
lose them, but we need to be all inclusive, especially for code
enforcement. Right now, what our code enforcement officer does is basically
goes and reports a concern on what she sees, the same thing a resident could do
on reporting concern, and then she tracks what she's doing through there.
So, it's very inefficient. It never, this system will be incorporated to
where she can do a code violation and take it all the way to enforcement to
where it goes to the court where it files a case with the court, which it's
not now. she has to then create a a complaint and then file it that way or
go. So, it's >> a lot of paperwork, too. Um,
» and we lose the ability to enforce because we lack the the paper trail
» paper trail >> to show that we're actively doing these
things and keeping um good track of our notices and that we're sending them. And
so, this is just going to really and that's just followup. A couple of the
examples. When I do the budget report for every month, I export it into CSV
into Excel and then I copy and paste it into my template.
And so it takes me a few hours versus saying I want this report for this date
period. It's done. Um it's and those are just examples. It's everything. If I
want to um
if I want any kind of information or data, it takes me hours versus minutes.
» Yeah. >> Yes. And this is why we wanted to
extract stuff to Excel to create a file that software.
» Well, then that leads for error and manipulation that coming straight from
your system and you don't have transparent trustworthy people.
» That leaves that human error there that we don't want to see. Can we go ahead
and tell you the gund you can >> we pull this out of this proposal and
making it an item >> for next month.
» No tonight. >> No,
» it has to be an agenda item, but that's we just which is the plan to do for next
month. >> For next month
» so we can show them that we're not just stringing them along another year.
» Um but that's what we wanted to do and bring it as a secret.
» I reached out to them last week. >> Pull it out of the budget proposal. It
would just for August. >> Yeah. when I update the budget with firm
numbers, it would be in there. So, you know, everything's going to change
anyway. So, I can't tell you exactly um what it'll do. But
» here's a moral question for you. This implementation fee is $45,000.
Your 4% pay raise for this year was roughly $50,000. Which would you rather
have? >> I would forgo mine for this for this.
» I would too, >> but not all the employees. I have some
employees that really do deserve it. >> I will honestly if I had the software I
feel like I got a raise. Um >> what about
» they don't get to use it so they would definitely take the raise.
» They don't use the software and they don't
» um but he'll have half your women throughout.
» That's a fair question because you're asking us to commit $90,000
» this year twice. >> It is. But council could also choose to
use fund balance to cover this. That's why I say we pull it out now and doing
it in this year funding. >> And I we did talk about that on whether
or not we should Trish does not want to implement this now. She's it would cause
her to explode if we signed a contract now. But
» um >> I would also ask if this this
implementation doesn't include on-site visit for implementation
» and then as long as the training is not CD like computer based training. Yeah.
» A lot of people just give you videos to hey watch this. Oh, no, no, no.
» Make sure it's on site and then make sure you have enough contingency hours
after you're implemented to call back and say, "Hey, I have problem. Can you
help me?" >> I had an online telephone number that
literally if I had a problem, >> I'd call and there was somebody on the
other end right then or there tomorrow. And you would have probably the name of
that individual. >> And you know, everybody's human in
customer service, but there have been times when I've called to floor customer
support and they'll tell me how to do something. So, I do it and then I go to
the next step and it's totally screwed up the next step. You know, I I don't
have a lot of faith in them or I can talk to two different people and get
told two different things. Um this company um was founded by people that
were in with Tyler Technologies which um does end code which is kind of the
Cadillac um software for cities of government. Um
we priced them and this is less than half and it's very similar because we
did demos on both. Um, I actually liked this better. Um, so we're not going just
on price. There were some that were maybe less expensive, but we didn't
like. Um, this one I felt like when they did the demo, I could have started
working in it right then. >> I'm ready to preview it now.
» We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back next month.
» I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys taking our opinion on that. Um, and
yeah, the thought of implementation any time of the year makes me want to throw
up, but um, it'll be good because I told her, "No, we're not getting new software
till I retire." But no, it'll be good. I want to leave this city when I do
retire, whenever. >> And I want to present Trish on Thursday,
» just so y'all know. And she threw all this together for me in two days.
» So, I really appreciate you doing that. Um, because it was just a random like,
"Hey, Trish." >> Whack it out the door. She goes, "I want
new software." like okay so I called after and they are honoring the pricing
they gave us last year okay let's move on to the enterprise
fund okay so um this is
a summary of the budget for the enterprise um and this is based on
current utility rates and requests
on expense from cliff and his staff. Um, so right now if nothing changed with our
rates, um, we would be short $61,819.
Now, you might notice there's a add back principal debt payments. When I do a
budget, it has to include our debt payments for principal just because it's
cash going out. Um but it doesn't change fund balance or net position on the
enterprise side because it reduces liability. So that's why I've added that
back in. Um we are seeing an increase in both sewer
and water. Solid waste um is we're projecting to stay flat.
So um we're seeing um right now we'd be in red.
Okay, next page. So as I said, revenue shown is at the
current utility rates. The payroll increase we've mentioned in
the general fund would also be applicable here. Um there's seven
employees in the enterprise fund and that would total $15,766.
Health benefits again are shown at the current rate and um I didn't put it in
the bullets but um insurance product product
property liability auto all that I I built in a 10% increase.
Um, last year you might see there was that our non-operating income was much
higher than we're projecting this year. And that's because to cover some major
repairs, council had us transfer into the enterprise fund from general fund
and capital improvements on utility capital improvements to cover those
repairs of 170,000. About half of our water comes from BWA
and we're seeing a 10% increase from them this year which totals $41,177.
Um Flip requested a increase in water engineering of $50,000 for CDBG
engineering which is a grant. Water lines M&R includes 110,000 for
tank mixers. I picture them like a big KitchenAid mixer up on top of the tanks,
but I don't know. Is that what they look like?
» Are they like big KitchenAid mixers? >> Very big.
» Um, sewer lines M&R includes 70,000 for this stuff he listed that we talked
about last month as well. So um 180,000 increased expense above straight
operating. Any questions?
So this is just to give you some history. In 2019, the city paid for a
rate study that gave us rates for the years 2020 to 25. And these rates were
um made to cover 100% of all the operating costs M of the utility fund,
100% of the debt requirements, which is our bond payments that are under the
enterprise fund, and then a 10% and uh annual expense to be held for reserve um
either for unexpected repairs or for future um improvements.
Um, so over those years I adjusted those rates somewhat due to unforeseen things
they didn't know about like BWA increases and things like that. Um, so
2025 was the last year that we had their rates. Um, we decided to save some money
for a few years. So, I've just been creating rates and proposed based on
those three goals of covering the MO, the debt, and a reserve.
Um, we're talking about having a new study done maybe in fiscal year 28, but
those studies are not cheap. So,
right now, the enterprise budget here, um, 34,000 is transferred to the INI
fund that came from a 2019 um rate increase that was earmarked for
ini saving. Um, at the time they expected it to be 70,000, but then when
I came I calculated and it was 34. But we've been doing that every year. And
then the first year I was here, we paid off a note um that we were paying 22,000
on every year and Cliff asked that we continue to budget that 22,000 but to go
to utility capital improvement. So right now the budget that is sitting
in front of you shows an 11.35% increase in sewer operation costs, a
4.2% increase in water operation costs and a change in net position which is
like fund balance of a negative 61,819.
So these are I am proposing and I have to do this um to to hit those three
goals we would need a 10 and a half% increase on our utility rates.
So the column that is highlighted in blue would be the new rates. Um for
those of you that may not know, the outside rate is for some RV parks um
that are up on 288B North. Um, but the base is up to 2,000 gallons of
water. Tier one is 2,000 to 20,000 and tier 2 is over 20,000.
Sewer um doesn't have a tier two, but it has tier one. Again, over 20,000.
We're not expecting any increase in solid waste.
So, the bottom little box, um, our base bill, what it currently is. I didn't
include the KRB and the fire, um, donations because those are voluntary,
but mandatory um, what's set by council. Right now, our base bill is 10,468.
And with these proposed changes, it would be 1128,
which is an increase of $757 a month. >> Any questions?
Quick here. This is something I bring up every year.
I understand this. Instead of increasing the base, those of
us way I feel I had to turn off my sprinkler system. My base rate, I'm
subsidizing three other citizens. If I turn on free,
I'm I'm subsidizing another for the time of night on
I'm sure I'm not alone. There's a lot more citizens out there that I use
less than a thousand gallons, probably about 500.
You're increasing my bill here.
Why can't you increase those that are using over 2,000? increase
that base rate over 2,000 instead of the base increasing the base rate.
» So, set another base for a thousand or less. Is that what you're saying?
» Either that or I'm just suggesting right now uh there is a uh what like is it a
dollar $2 per gallon or something? A gallon increase over 2,000.
It's going to go if you use over 2,000 be 694 to 767.
» Yeah. I know increase that instead of increasing it on those small. I would go
I would I would go what you >> So if you look at the way like
electricity providers do it is if you want to say I'm a 1000 watt customer,
you're going to pay an even higher premium when you go over.
» Do you know what I mean? >> I mean she just said something that I
suggest in the past could get through. So that's how good is.
» Yeah. >> Out of out of a thousand for those of us
at home. >> Just the 2,00 is is a good average. I
mean you're definitely in the minority of very minority. How about since
» I guess what I'm saying is for those that are using over 2,000 you have a
premium. They've got >> they are I mean their their rate is
increasing their galler have a have a discount. In other words, if you if you
consistently use $1,000 or less
consistently and give us I mean not uh you know like
I'm looking at because you got 42.
If it if it just increased my my bill by five dollars a month, I'd be happy. But
you see what I'm saying is uh I calculated I calculated out one time uh
in the five years I've been here. >> Uh I paid
over $15,000 more.
» If that's something council wants to look at, we can definitely run the
numbers to figure out how many customers we have that use a thousand or less if
that's something they're interested. average use is 4500 to 5500.
» But the people that use a,000 or less are
» very minimal. >> And and this is just me. This is my
thinking suring. We offer a 40% discount for senior citizens. I would be willing
to bet the majority of the ones that are under 2,000 are our senior citizens that
are getting 40%. You may fall into that. I've done that.
» Yeah. So, that's what I'm saying. You've fallen into that in between, but um you
know, we're um we've done that to try to help that situation. Um, it used to be
that it was like a what was it before we did the 40%?
» At one time it was it was a 600 when I first moved in 600 million and then it
went to a,000 and then it wasn't even I think a year
two years later they went to I guess they could they still couldn't bring in
enough money to make the budget. So they moved to 2,000. So my bill literally
went in less than two years I went from paying a total bill. I just order a
total bill of $35 a month and now I'm paying 108 and now look at this I'm
going to be paying paying 115 a month most likely
» 112 um
you know and anytime we pass savings on in some area that savings has to be made
up by increasing rate somewhere else. Um, you know, and the discount of 40%
that's unheard of for a city to give 40% off to seniors. It used to be a flat
dollar amount per water and then sewer is only $15
discount. >> And so I brought it to council several
years ago um saying it's not growing with our rates, so they're getting a
less percent. So that's why we went and, you know, we've gone to a a bigger
percentage than I think any city has. So >> I think the one one of the pros I bought
a couple years ago and they were kind of receptive to it
is for me in my case where I've also got I've got a second meter
but that second meter I might be using it.
I mean I'm only using it five or six months out of the year.
» Yeah, but I'm still paying >> You're not paying bill for that when
you're not using it. Uh
there is a there is still a uh I mean I've had it turned off for two years now
because of it. >> But there is still a I mean you're not
paying you're not paying water you're not paying sewer but you're still paying
a minimum $2,000 rate >> something to look at year round.
» We can look at that in the future. Um but um
pull it and send it out. Yeah, >> that's the part that that's the part
that really kills me is when I was using sprinklers
because I was with us. >> Have you had it all in one meter? Then
you would >> no.
Well, I tried that. They wouldn't let >> they wouldn't let me put a cross tile.
» It's something we can look into, but >> yes, we'll look into it.
So this um the next page um so 10% of operating expenses is
276,531 is the budget six right now. We already
have 22,000 budgeted for capital improvements and 34,000 to INI. So I'm
going to reduce um the from the 10% to come down to um a
desired bottom number. a desired change in net position of 220,531
with the proposed rates our change in net position would be 218679
very close I mean and that you know fluctuate
um right now we have net position of 580,000
GFO again they recommend a minimum of 60 days of expenditures that's not taken
into account you know because the enterprise fund is not handling as much
of the um emergency type stuff, but um that would be 460,885.
So if you look at that, we only have 120,000 in reserve right now. Um last
year we did not fund the the full 10%. Um
so if we don't this year, that would be the second year in a row. So
now, um go ahead and see. So the next sheet and I just did this
for your edification. The top gosh thing. The top um shows
the rate I'm proposing at 10 and a half% and what our bottom line change in
reserves would be which is at 9.93%. If we did a 5% increase our reserve
would be 4.62%. And if we went down a 3% increase it
would only be 2.69%. We would be covering the MO and we would
be covering the debt, but we wouldn't really be putting anything away for
future our infrastructure. He also has a master plan for that. And we do have
some funds that money goes into, but not a lot. So, um,
that is where we ask you guys for your input.
I want to be able to bring you a budget with the rates that you will approve.
Um, if we leave them the same as they are, we will have a negative.
So, in other words, we'll take away from our reserve.
We will be um discussing our fee schedule as a whole next month um
to amend it and the new fees will be in
there because I have to have them approved before I can get a budget
approved. So I need to have input so I can set fees next month so that we can
adopt a budget by next month. Then I don't know how this is going to change
with the software. I guess our timeline would stay the same on reads and
everything, but keep in mind we we're going to present it next month with the
rate we get guidance on. It does not go into effect until October. The residents
do not see it on a bill until the bill gets due in January
» or December. Yes. >> Sorry. And then so that's why we try to
do this now is because we don't want to do it and then oh next month you have to
be responsible for whatever the increase is. want to give as much notice and
» our billing period is 10H108. Um so
we don't on the 108 or 98 to 108 the 108 bill we we keep at the current rate the
108 to 118 will include the increase which is due then
» December 10th >> is this separate from the what we for
» that cost it's all incorporated in here >> so this 276 is not a representation of
the budget It's 10% of the expenses.
» So the expenses are a million dollar or $2 million.
» Let me get back to that page. >> I didn't I didn't see that.
» So our operating expense is $2.765. Um
because this is only operating expense and then we have nonoperating things
below that. So we I'm projecting revenue at the
current rate of 3.175 million and expenditures of 2.765
which leaves 410 but we have nonoperating expenses which is our debt
of 689,000 less than 180 which is the principal.
» Could we not increase the out of district service fees and reduce those
that are in the district services fees less.
» I'm assuming your outside tier is out of district service.
» It's Yeah, it's the two RV parks. I don't know.
» Right now they pay make up that difference.
» They pay one and a half times >> already the base rate.
» Yeah. Any out of district service? >> Yeah, they pay. That's what I'm saying
is could we not increase that to reduce the base of the tier one two in city
mons >> it's it would be minimal
» instead of going 10 and a half across the board can you not increase the out
of district service and reduce the percentage of the in city limit service
» like do them 12 and a like inside eight >> yeah maybe like the outside district you
get 12 and a half% you lower the in in city limits to eight
» so that the the way I understand it we have a written agreement where they pay
one and a half times >> whatever
» the base rate >> and then on the the tiers they pay one
and a half times of that. So we would have to get a new agreement with them
and it's only four accounts or two accounts.
It's it'd be minimal. Even if we increase them quite a bit it would be
minimal. >> Well they decreasing rate they're
supposed to take into account and uh >> I know last year uh when they discussed
this one of the deals They discussed is for fiscal year
27. They were going to cut they were going to cut that rate to take a pay of
thought that
» no they were paying less than >> we council at the time wanted and so
they modified how they pay their >> when I first came to the city I was
unaware of how that was calculated. I didn't know what the agreement was. So I
was just adding the percentage of whatever we were adding to utility
rates. Then we found two years ago I think what the actual criteria is and we
adjust it accordingly.
» Anything else? Any input?
» So the bottom uh um the bottom 3% rate that is underfunded.
That would give us just under 3% reserve.
» But we already s 580,000. Correct. >> We're sitting on that.
» We're already projected to add 120,000, >> right?
» No, that's different. >> I Where you getting 120?
If we did the 5% um
» so last year to keep the rates down we transferred from general fund and from
the capital improvements fund into enterprise fund to cover some major
expenses. We could do that again but I don't recommend it. We're going
backwards on our future capability.
um right now sitting on about $500,000. Um
where is that slide? >> So I got the 120 the 580 minus the 460
for the reserves. So basically currently we would do 120,000 in reserve
» right now we have yes 120 in reserves. What can you do with 120
» within the structure? >> I need to think about it. It's pretty
low. >> Not much.
» What can you do with two form? >> It all builds. That's the thing. So, um,
six years ago, we had no reserves. We had none. Our infrastructure
is better than it was six years ago. Thank thankful to debt, thankful to some
grants. Um, but it's still How many How much do you have in
projects? >> 18.5 million.
» 18 and a half million >> over 25 years.
» So, um,
so I'm not telling you what to do. I'm what I'm giving you is what it would
take to hit the three goals that were set in 2019.
um which I think are good goals. We want to pay our operating. We want to pay our
debt. And we want to plan for the future. Um but it's up to you guys to
give me guidance on what you want to see.
I guess I look at it what's a responsible reserve that doesn't stress
the citizens, right? So currently you have 120,000. Six years ago you didn't
have nothing. Now you got 120,000. If we allocate 10%, you're going to go up to
360,000. If we authorize 5%, you go up to 240.
I'd hate to build $500,000 in reserve contingency on the backs of the citizens
in one year. Take a staggered approach to that.
» Since 2025, if you implement the 10 and a half, you've increased the rates 31.5%
in two years.
I like the idea of building >> before that one%
» and it's hard when we don't have any on either side
» I'm better than 5% that's where I'm leaning towards the 5% right
» because I think that is in line with what happened this year that got you to
120,000 and you're essentially doubling that in 12 months. I think that's a good
reserve. I can do that.
» You have anything to say? >> My job is to bring you the the Cadillac
and you guys decided
everybody understand
where she stands on it. I I kind of agree with it, but
me being
a
5%. >> I can bring back 5%.
» Um, >> yeah, I just that's why we talk about it
tonight is so I can get guidance to bring it back next month. It doesn't
matter if you guys approve. You know, this is one of my least favorite tasks
in a year. It's to set um the utility rates
because it, you know, the the citizens see it in their face every month. So,
Okay. So, next next month, expect to see a an ordinance amending the fee schedule
that will include this rate with an effective date of 101. Yes. So, if you
see it on the agenda for August, it's not going into effect that day, but we
need to um be able to spread the word. So, that's my last slide. I know you're
disappointed. Um any questions before I go sit down?
I'm going to go sit down. >> Thank you. Thank you.
» Good work that took as new. >> No, just the
» presentation feel. >> No, I started the presentation a couple
weeks ago, but she changed it on me two days ago.
» Say we just changed it on.
» Thank you. >> I appreciate all your input.
» Thank you very much. Okay, we're going to move on to
discussion and action items. A
Go back.
» All right. Okay. A discussion and possible action
regarding a proposed volunteer firefighter pay-per- call incentive
program including providing direction to staff for consideration of policy
adoption at a future meeting. >> Is there somebody here from the fire
department present on this? He's on vacation.
» No, he we do have a representative Mr. Page
» but after speaking with Tony um he's not as prepared for this as I thought he was
going to be coming. No, nothing to you. I know. Um,
but fire department did prepare this item and knew this was going to be on
this meeting. Um, so it's not what you put on without their knowledge. Um, but
I would like to push this to August. I do want this to be decided before budget
obviously. Um, but I would like it to be pushed to give me time to actually meet
with the department as a whole. >> I guess a little bit for the department.
» Yeah, if you want to give some information, you're welcome to.
» Basically for the department, it's more for getting more volunteer incentive to
get more volunteers. um has been in the department for the past nine years,
personally don't think this is going to get more people to come. Um
what we have now, I think it's good what we have now, but I think we need to
project more and try to get some more different perspectives to get some more
volunteers to show up. So >> as a recommend
» more advertising, more media, >> I mean getting out there to show that we
actually do have a fire department more, but that's more on us. So
» I got this information about five minutes before the meeting started also.
» I got this information. >> So I would like to have a chance to
speak with more more of the department to see how they feel as a whole.
» I'll make a motion to table this agenda item until the August city council
meeting. Okay.
» All in favor? >> I motion table to August.
» Thank you for waiting. I'm sorry you sat here.
» Tell me. Thank you for showing up. Yeah, >> thank you for coming. I really do
appreciate you. >> Okay, moving on to B. Discussion and
possible direction regarding proposed amendments to chapter 14, article 4 of
the code of ordinances governing outdoor burning and burn permits.
» So, I put this back on the agenda. We had it a couple months ago um because we
had a burn that got out of control a little bit and the fire department had
to come out. Um, since then, leadership in the fire department have taken the
stance of not wanting to approve most, um, land clearing burns.
So, uh, we had a burn that was denied recently
and our current ordinance doesn't give any
any recourse or anything other than it can just be denied.
» Mike, you got something? >> Yeah. Did you want to speak on it, Mr.
Chair? >> Yes. Uh, thanks for letting me talk.
Thanks for getting this on the agenda. We me and my fiance bought a lot out at
open shores in in July of last year and got all excited about clearing. Started
clearing. Met off some great neighbors. Ended up hurting my back. So kind of
postponed. Went out, got some guys lined up to clear it for me. Started clearing
it and trying to do the right thing. I called into the city to to find out if I
need to redo my burn permit. Well, it was true. I didn't need to
and it got denied almost. Well, the next day and kind of asked for reasons why
and they said I've amassed too much brush. Well, barrel did that. I didn't
even do it. I haven't cut down any trees. I just pushed up what was down
already. Uh kind of like get some guidance on what I can do to get it
burned. Uh I was suggested that I have it cut up and hauled off. So, I got one
quote for $12,000, which is crazy. And uh I asked the city
to for the large trash removal and they were supposed to have a foreman call me,
but I never got a call back from that person. So, I don't have another quote,
but uh really like to get something cleared up so we can move on and become
Richwood citizens. So, in doing this, I reached out to the
fire chief and got this a similar response on why. Um, and looking into
our current ordinance, it's very vague in what
are reasons for denial. Um, so I think even a couple months ago when we brought
this up, we were looking for council to give us clearer guidance in an ordinance
form. I'm not asking you to adopt an ordinance today. I just want to workshop
the one that I've presented to you um which gives reasons denial, um,
revocation reasons, appeals that how it can be appealed, a denial can be
appealed. Um,
as far as things go right now, I what I've been told that any request for burn
for land clearance will be denied at this point. Um, and that is what well
within the rights of fire marshall, fire chief design. Um, it was brought to me
that this would be considered a commercial burn if residents are
clearing land. I can't find that and I've asked for clarification on that. I
did provide you all of the TCQ guidance on outdoor burning and I've tabbed a few
spaces. Um, >> yeah, I don't understand the commercial
piece of that either. >> What I can find is it's regarding
commercial development, not >> who's doing the clearing and the
burning. >> Yeah.
» Right. Yeah. >> To me, what I can find on why you need a
permit, and I also also said that PCP does not issue permits. They just issue
authorizations. Um, and there's various reasons, various
exceptions to their outdoor burning prohibitions. And then, um, you can see
the yellow tab, the first yellow tab that I've given you. Um, it gets the
definition of land clearing. It gives the exceptions to the outdoor burning
rule, which is, um, there's there's various reasons you can get exceptions
for outdoor burning. And then the second tab that I I think it's red that I
tabbed in each of your packets is using burning to clear property within city
limits. It is an allowed exception. Um as as long as a city has an ordinance
that dictates how it'll be done. Um and it does say that if your city doesn't
have it. >> Yes, sir.
» Also want to say one thing. uh 1500 ft from my lot. Somebody is burning with a
with a burn permit approved at this time,
» right? >> It's smoking today.
» And see, that may not be for land clearance. So, that's what I'm saying
is, >> oh, he's doing clearing land. So, we're
going to we're going to deny a a guy who wants to build a house in in Oakwood
Shores of clearing his property and burning it. Increase his cost because he
would have to haul it off if you're not going to allow him to burn it.
» Not to mention, we've increased the builder's cost on tax.
» Mr. Gregory, if you let me finish, I I'm team Mr. Terry, so I'm not trying What
I'm saying is not going to be against him. I just want council to give clear
direction on what >> I'm just bringing up where if if we're
going to deny those things, we need to he needs to at least be able to appeal
it because we should he shouldn't be increasing cost to build a house,
» right? The last increase cost for developers out there
anyways, >> we're trying to get a more definite so
the second tab >> I was gonna say this. I'm sorry.
» I just want to say let me finish real quick. Um the question was is that TCQ
doesn't allow this and it's not an allowed thing. I'm showing now that it
is an allowed thing and we can absolutely can legally allow this to
happen and how we can do it. I don't want to prohibit land use or however you
want to do it. I want to do it in a safe manner that benefits everyone. Um so I'm
proposing an appeals process a clear definition of what denials constitute.
Not >> it could be a safety hazard, it could be
a nuisance because that's all it says right now. But all this arose, all this
came up because of one guy who burned something.
» This is city council >> in the wrong
council. >> We're we're trying to have a discussion
here. I understand that you had your public notice. You had the threeminut
chance right now. I got a question for her is how did we used to do it in the
past? >> Well, the ordinance is vague. They apply
for a permit and they >> who inspected it? Well, before it was
Marcus because he had fire before Marcus.
» We Well, it was Clint >> before that.
» Okay. >> Or we would have
» using an outside contractor to do the inspection instead of the fire
department, >> which we could, but that was the reason
for wanting to do burn permit fees to cover our cost because it's going to
cost us to have an outside source do it. And I would need to have a reliable
outside source to do it because it's a timely thing when somebody needs to
burn. >> But we had to firm up in Angleton,
right? >> No.
» Or was that the building permits? >> That's for building permits. We have a
outside contractor for that. >> I thought they also did fire marshall
activities before. >> We have a contracted fire marshal that
we use as a free port fire marshal. He does all of our fire marshal duties.
I was just trying to figure out I was just trying to figure out a way that we
could contract this out and not >> u
use our fire department to do it because it seems like our fire department is not
going to approve it no matter what.
» I think we will approve it. The bad part is right now you give me a burn permit
and I don't know where it's at. I don't know what's around it. So if you
submitted some pictures so I can maybe get some guidance of where it's at. I've
been given an address in Oakwood Shores three different times. I can't find the
house. I can't find the address. I can't find any other work hours, too. So, it
looks kind of eerie to >> I also don't have a command vehicle. So,
I'm out there with my personal vehicle trying to find this and it looks pretty
bad out there. We just trying to property.
» People are trying to figure out how >> if we can get some guidance of some
pictures and stuff like that, maybe some other things. But there should be some
stipulations of burning whether it's you clear some brush around it because the
amount of water to put one of fires out especially in Oka Shores is tremendous.
» So can I ask something on this? >> Uh you say that he he was denied
because there was brush build up. >> Well, we didn't say that.
» You did not have that one. >> I'm leading to something here. Uh
our next discussion here is going to be on uh the next contract with uh waste
management. The biggest problem here is
waste management will not pick up anywhere will not pick up brush.
That's the part of the contract we need to work out with them.
» I mean if they will pick up >> they will pick up that they won't pick
that up with heavy trash. what you're speaking of. You can call them out to
come and pick up for us. >> I put something out there that's no
bigger than 4 foot. >> I know. But you're talking about
residential regular heavy trash. What we're saying that the resident would
need to do is call and spe a special pickup. Did you see all the debris on
288 that was sitting out there for a week's waste connections pick that up
because I called and got a quote and we paid to pick have it picked up.
» They will do it. >> So, they will do it. It's just it's got
the cost that's incurred on the resident which is the whole point of it is if we
have the ability to burn in these larger acreed properties
» and I'm just I'm not understand why I'm having to pay like I mean for them it's
even worse but why I'm having to pay my >> that's that's not this subject you're
not talking about burning for land clearance. I we can't keep getting off
topic. We're two hours into the meeting already.
» I'm trying to get past No. >> Yeah. We need to build more houses out
there. We need to clear more land and we need to
» do these permits. And the thing is too, if he files for a variance, which you
have a right to file for a variance, one neighbor can make it be denied,
right? >> Yes.
» I've experienced that. >> So, if you got one neighbor that says,
"I don't want the smoke in my house because you're burning." One neighbor
can can just shut you down right there. So, we need to get past this. We need to
continue to build richwood. There should be a difference between
a homeowner who's clearing a lot to build and somebody for instance me who
just cut some trees down and wants to burn them.
» That that's that should be a a clear difference.
» This this portion of the ordinance is burning for land clearance. So that's
not building there really shouldn't be any reason he should be denied
» unless I mean I I can't like if a neighbor doesn't want him to burn his
land clearing that should not even come up. He should not have to be
» I think we're all on the same side here and my request from council is to give
guidance. >> Can we put an appeals process in there?
Because the way it's worded, Mr. Terry was told no by the designate. I couldn't
even say yes.
» I couldn't even just say let's bring this to council and say yes. Had I been
able to, he would have been on this agenda with his burn permit, which is
what I'm proposing we put into the ordinance.
» I can either appeal it or I can request it go to council to be appealed and then
council because it's a lot of liability. I'm not in the position to say you can
burn or not. What I would do as city manager is speak to Tony Mc. Why did you
deny this? I want reasons. I would like pictures. I want you to show me what it
is. And then if I feel it's still valid and Mr. Terry is still upset, I'm say,
"Okay, well, now you need to >> plead your case to
as far as I can go without having to pay for a variance, which is very expensive
in my I mean my mind even $200 for a variance is expensive and it's would be
two months later before we would even get to talk to you.
» So I just want to >> September where it's dry, you can't
burn, >> right?
» So >> yeah, because we don't want to do that.
I mean, we don't want a burn when we have a burn ban, right?
» So, I've I've given council an ordinance to read over and I just want to know
what do you think of it if this is something we can move forward because I
definitely don't want to get rid of it alto together, which is what I've been
asked to do from the current fire chief is to remove land burning for land
clearance altogether. >> No,
» but I don't feel like that's a consensus of the department
» development in Oakwood Shores. >> Agreed. I I'm not on that side,
» but I would like clear deficit direction. So that way it's not just a
no, I don't want to do it. >> What I'm proposing is eight reasons
here. Eight reasons for denial. And I want you to tell me which one of these
reasons it's meeting that you're denying it based on.
» I like the proposed >> ordinance that you did. Um I I'd be
interested. Is this a this a personnel problem or a policy problem we're trying
to solve? You know, that would have been my first question. Sounds more like a
personnel problem, which would kind of tie into theou.
How does a fire department fall into the city? You know, are they a nonprofit?
Are they city agency? Right now, they operate a comedy.
There's a lot of questions here surrounding the fire department,
» but like he said, he could use some more information.
» That's what this policy states mean that perhaps the information has
been obtained, but not relayed. because it's not being given to
individual members. that's being given down their chain of command and so where
is it a game of telephone that's getting lost and yes let's communicate and
figure out what helps you do the job better and we will do that it's not
about that's a process that's not a >> so when I came and got a burn permit I
walked in I paid my fee got the permit walked out nobody checked what I was
burning nobody asked me for a picture >> that might have been two people ago who
were approving it who >> it's changed so it's changed with it and
that's what I feel the current ordinance doesn't give
» every person who's in this job should do the same thing.
» I would make it >> I didn't This isn't on here for adoption
yet, but I'll have it in August. >> What I like about it is it transcends
personel. >> Yeah, there's no action item on this,
but >> So your proposal transcends personnel
where there can be an individual road. There's at least a waiver for a field
under your proposed thing, >> right?
» An existing one, there's a roadblock. >> There shouldn't be one person that just
says no and that's it. So I I'm
» not your proposed >> me or the city whoever city manager is
pass me if they're not comfortable and they have a recourse to get it to our
council and get the the resident another
» could you get could it be where it's just you have at least two firefighters
that say no as well that way there's not just one there is re relay in the whole
Let me look at it. I This is a side. I mean, this is relates back to the paper
call. I really want to sit down with this with the fire department and just
meet. >> I don't want to have to wait.
» We went to trouble clear grass around it. I missed nothing but went to all of
our neighbors. They're great with it. They're excited for it.
» I don't see why you got >> Yeah.
» Yeah. The pile they had there was 7 foot tall, 15 foot diameter. There's two of
those, but we made smaller pile. If I need to make smaller piles, I'll do it.
» Okay. I will call you. >> Okay.
» And we'll we'll figure out how to get this moving forward so you're not having
to wait for ordinance change. >> Um
smile. >> The goal is to help you here.
» I know. Thank you. >> Thank you for having separation.
» Okay. So, I'll bring this back as an ordinance.
Tony, >> you're off the hook. That's the last
fire item.
» We'll see you next month, Taylor. >> But that's what
» All right. C discussion and pos possible action
regarding ordinance number 26-541 adopting the 2021 International Property
Maintenance Code IPMC and amending chapter 6 article 2 section 6-23 of the
city of Richmond code of ordinances. >> Okay, so this one is my um mistake from
last month with the wrong um portion of the code of ordinances. So, this is now
relay or referring to the correct part of the code of ordinances. Um, just
adopting the international property maintenance code, which helps Irene, our
code enforcement officer, enforce um, it's already referenced in our code.
It's just not clean in our adopted um, international maintenance code or
international codes. So, I'd like to add it there.
I just need a motion to adopt >> a motion. I'll make that motion.
You want to read this? >> Yeah. I'll make a motion that we uh
adopt the ordinance number 26-541 uh to adopt the 2021 International
Property Maintenance Code uh and amending chapter 6 article 2 section
6-23 of the city of Richmond code of
Ordinance. >> Second.
» All in favor? >> I the record reflect. The motion
carries. D. Discussion and possible action
regarding the waste connection solid waste collection service agreement
including automatic renewal issu issuance of request for proposals RFP
authorizing the city manager to execute a multi-year contract extension.
» So our contract term waste connection will be our standard terms will be up in
August. Um it does automatically renew. It doesn't really require any action
from council, I think, for two years, but we wanted to get council's input on
possibly extending that contract for a duration of five additional years. Uh we
had a meeting with Waste Connections and we understand that currently there's no
plan CPI increase for the remainder of this fiscal year, possibly next fiscal
year. I will say the staff feels probably one of the better ways to keep
our rates in check is is to go with the longer term contract. Um
we don't um I don't I don't think any of going out
for RFP at this point in time just because we have knowledge that those
costs will go up through waste connections if it goes out for bid. It's
just a process of putting the service back out.
But as of right now, we have the option to let it renew. I think we're
interested in trying to extend that contract term if uh council should do
so.
» This all renew for one year. >> I think we have two one year extensions.
» I think we have two one-year extensions >> at the same rate.
» Yes. CPI increase. >> Yeah. might see a chance for CPI.
» They do have that right to request it. >> I think it's up to
6%. >> But William had requested that we look
at extending into a longer agreement that would
um help him keep us at our current rate or as close to without
because we go out for bid. We look at getting the current rates that are being
given out. In our last RFP for this, I think we had two
respondents >> which one was waste connections and the
the other did not even they were weren't they?
» Well, the proposal wasn't wasn't um it did not represent what we requested of
them. Standard trash pickup recycling. >> We wanted to maintain the two a week and
they would go to once a week or not the two a week um
» some hybrid thing. >> Yeah. pay one another.
» Is there a clause in there if we did a 5year agreement with them that we're
municipality funded 12 months at a time which don't have money for next year?
Like if we were never funded that we wouldn't be held accountable for those
remaining years.
» There's probably something built into that already since we're in
» I assume there is but >> but I will double check.
» They're they're because in theory they come back and be like, "Hey, you owe us
for another four years." like we went back
» there should be a clause in there that >> we can look
» I just feel like I would say >> we've gone through periods of where
we've had five resident complaints on waste connections and I feel like
they've met with us and they've met us where we needed them and they have come
I think they've rose to the occasion of need William is extremely responsive if
a resident is missed we call they are picked up by the end of the day Um, as a
staff, we are very happy with the service we're receiving. Um,
and I I y'all are the y'all are the customers and y'all are the residents,
so you might have another opinion, but um, from our end, we're impressed with
how with the turnaround. I felt like we were
» looking for a change at one point, that's all.
» And I believe if we can execute a uh a multi-year extension on this contract,
you know, once again, our rate's going to be much lower than it would be if we
had to go year. Yeah. Year to year or without put out our RP. You don't want
to do that. >> Well, at some point in time and if we
renew this year and next year, uh the contract terms require us to to go out
for. >> So, at that time, you're going to feel
you're going to bite the bullet, >> right? I haven't seen anything.
» No. >> No, I don't either. which is, you know,
nobody's going to like to make authorize the city manager to execute multi-year
uh extract extension waste. Second, all in favor?
» Okay, let the record. Motion cars. Okay.
» Okay. Moving on to E. Discussion and possible action regarding resolution
number 26-R7. Authorizing the submission of an
application to the Texas Water Development Board for funding assistance
for an elevated water storage tower project approving TWWDB forms 0201,
0201A, and 0201B
authorizing uh execution of the required application documents.
» Council, this is really more of a housekeeping issue. Um these are
documents we have to uh that are required by Texas Water Development
Board to proceed with this application for grant funding. Um it is just a uh
it's it's an application file resolution and affidavit and also designating a
a signatory which I' I've named myself that is to just handle any other
documents uh during the application process
and and pass that point. Uh the only things that you guys did not
see within your um agenda packets were not to exceed
uh which were required on the document uh one of the documents and that is
going to be a $4.4 million price tag. >> So that should be 100% funded if we if
we get that. >> You can tell that
» Sure. Well, it's it's one of the uh it's one
of the projects we've been talking about.
» What's the timeline associated with the application process?
» So, it has to be submitted uh the application has to be submitted by the
end of July. >> And awarding or expecting of award or
acception of application. >> I was understanding we were going to
have directions sometime around the end of August or by the end of August and
September >> the grant is awarded or whatever.
» Yeah. or whether or not we move to the second phase of, you know, approval,
what have you. >> If we're just water,
» as of right now, the property that we own that can hold the water tower is
going to be at the current Northwater plant
at Oakwood Shores. Um, we don't anticipate having acquire any property
for it. Um, we maintain the tank that we got there,
too. Sir, >> are we going to maintain the the new
tank there also? >> Yes.
» So, we'll have both. >> Yes.
» What would be the difference? Elevated and
» storage. >> That's the difference.
» Yeah. Elevated is going to produce pressure and elevated storage is
» so we're going to increase each for that. Well, that's a
» that's part of your impact fee revenue that pays for
expansion such as that if we have to fund it,
» which is why we're trying desperately to get this funding.
» Don't have the same problem they got now where even though they've got the work
next to them that the people downstream of them rather than them actually get to
work pressure because that's what I've heard. I think it's the complaints out
in the area right now. Yeah, it's it's >> they got water out there, they don't
have pressure. >> Yeah, it's it's a it's a little deeper
than that and even distribution of pressure, it's a little bit more complex
of a problem, but uh it would definitely help the the situation uh for those
residents out there that have long service lines that see a lot of friction
loss. Uh but also the hydraulic modeling shows it's a good place to go to serve
the entire city, not just over. And >> this has been identified in our master
plan as a high priority project.
Yeah. I mean, I'll make a motion to read
» that on the TV if you'd like. Approve the resolution. Approved resolution
number 26-R7 authorizing the submission of
application to the Texas Water Development Board for funding assistance
for an elevated water storage tower project approving TWWB forms 0201 0201
alpha and Bravo and authorizing execution of required application
documents. >> Second.
» Are all in favor? >> I let the record reflect. The motion
carries.
I think I got to get a couple of signatures.
» Yeah. Let me before y'all get out of here. Make sure.
» Okay. We're going to move on to F. Consider and take possible action on
approving the reverse wire draw down author authorization of HRMP and
authorizing the city manager to execute all necessary documents required to
establish the service. meeting.
Um, as you know, we're transitioning from in-house payroll to um, HR&P. Um,
we'll do our payroll and our our HR services. Um, the way it will work is
they will prepare our paychecks, pay direct deposits,
and um, so they will send a file to us to approve payroll, approve the amount,
prove everything that's put into it. Once we approve it, they need to be able
to pull that money out of our account. So, we aren't sent right now. We send
something to the bank that says, "Send this money to each of our employees
accounts." They're going to do that side on them, but we need to pay them back.
So, they will go in and pull out it'll be the net or the it'll be the amount of
the payroll deposits, the amount of the because they're also going to pay our
benefits for us, our health insurance and those things. the amount of that and
their fee. So, um we just have to have the bank has to have this authorization
so that they can say yes, this company can pull out money from your account. I
set a limit on the form so that they can't go in and clean us out. Um the li
right now I calculated a payroll um would be about 90,000. I put the limit I
think at 150 just because with growth I don't want to have to bring it back to
council every couple years. So, um that should be adequate um for quite some
time. Um so, it's just kind of a housekeeping thing so that they can do
what we're hiring them to do.
I'll make a motion that we authorize the city manager to execute all necessary
documents required to establish the service which is the reverse wire draw
authorization for HRP
second. Okay.
» All in favor? >> I.
» Okay. Motion carries. Vote on G. discussion and direction
regarding proposed amendments to the city's fee schedule.
» Um, so Trish completed her review of our fee schedule and she's provided um kind
of just a breakdown of each fee and where why it's there and what it comes
from. Um staff does not have a recommendation on what to do. We think
that what we have recommended in their um is what we need. There's a there's a
couple in there that we don't often charge um or that are strictly
associated to ordinance that we may not use very often, but it's there for when
we do need it. So, Trish can go through with her.
» So, um I went through every line on here and where I could site um ordinance I
did. Um, so that's that column sec whatever. Um, we can't when I first went
through here I'm like, "Oh, we don't use this. Let's get rid of it." Well, we
can't get rid of them because they're an ordinance and maybe someday things will
change in Richwood and we will need that. Um,
but we can um the ordinance always reads uh to pay the fee permit fee as per the
fee schedule. So we can change fees, we can eliminate fees. Um
one thing when you eliminate fees is bless you, you eliminate revenue.
Um which fixes or changes that bottom line. Um, I am a strong proponent in
trying to get revenue from the people that are causing the cost or causing the
need um versus everybody in the city sharing the bill for everything. Um,
some of these the fees are um kind of a to keep them in the straight narrow I
guess you could say. Um but anyway, so I I've put um some notes to the side. Um
you know, if we never use it, um but again, I mean, I have no idea what a
seismic survey permit is. Um and we could get rid of that, but maybe someday
we would need it. So, you know, um I've also highlighted
my copy is black and white, but one color is work that we pay will dam to
do. Um and I have the colors up at the top of
the first page. >> Huh?
» The yellow ones. >> Okay. Um so, those are ones that we have
a cost associated with direct cost. Um the other ones are done by strand. I
think they were blue. >> Um, so again, we would have direct cost,
but they all have costs. There's permit processing time, you know, staff time,
um, if we have inspections or or whatever. So, I just wanted to give you
all more information. Um, and
you know, we're going to bring the fee schedule back next month with the
revised rates for utilities. So, if there's anything on here um that you
want us to change, if there's any that really bother you that we charge for
that we shouldn't, um, we're open to to hear your your
discussion. One thing I can recommend for the uh for citizens to help you out
with you find out a way to that's five pages of really small. We find a way to
stretch that out so we can print it out and actually look at it. I think the
citizens will never get that.
» You want the font size change, Mr. Page? What you're saying?
» I need I need the old man who still with read glasses still read.
» All right. So, you know, this is um a lot of
different things on here. I don't want to go line by line with y'all. Um that
would keep us here all night. But I know that uh the previous council had some
concerns about some of them um and about charging people for you, you know, what
they do on their property. We want to maintain a safe city. We want
to maintain um that people are doing repairs correctly. that they're doing,
you know, things correctly. Um, so we want to be sure we cover that. Um,
but I'm I'm here to to hear whatever you guys have to say on any of it.
You know, one of the ones that jumps out, we pick we charge $5 per garage
sale permit. that $5 doesn't make us a break us. Um and I and as I talked with
Laura, it's like why do we even charge that? Because
um they're on the weekend, we don't have code enforcement on the weekend. Why
even have it? But that keeps people from running a store in their garage. Um you
know, it gives us some recourse if people start operating businesses, say
in their garage. Um so So sometimes you have to think beyond what your first
thought is. Um the itinerant merchant application fee that's the solicitors.
I had to look that up because I didn't know what that meant.
» Um so um
» probably make that a little more. >> I say we do incur cost on that because
we run back. >> Yeah. So, um,
we are open. Um, but if there's anything that stands out to you that you have
questions on or that you would like to see changed, I'd like to hear it before
we bring the fee schedule back next month.
» We just end through the uh portal
portal. >> What do you mean on that?
» Any changes you want to see? Yeah, if there's any that I might recommend that
hey, >> you can reach out to your council
members. That's who would recommend it to us.
» So, on that and then um you have some time to get it back to us before we drop
the next ordinance. It can be up until the agenda deadline.
» All right. Any questions?
» I hope I'm done. >> How are your legs feeling? do that.
» My legs were numb. >> I just didn't we didn't find anything
groundbreaking in our review. We had just promised y'all a review and that we
bring this back. And so I wanted to make sure we did it before we got too far
ahead.
» Okay. Nothing was removed. Time is now 8:20 and council is going to
adjourn for executive sessions.
solicitation.
He came out smiling for once.
» Okay.
35 and council is back.
» Um,
» yes, the action is okay. Yes, sir. I'd like to make a
motion we authorize uh the city manager to execute a legal service agreement uh
with uh the city attorney including proposed revisions to the contracted
hourly billing rates.
» All in favor? >> I motion carries.
Okay. Next move on the capital improvements project update.
» Oh yeah, no grading. I have the copy. Just just want to update everybody. The
risk residency assessment is working on is the updation that are complete.
They're going to now begin the emergency response plan. Council remember this is
a this is a EPA item. It's a matter of compliance. Uh so they'll finish that up
probably before end of August. uh Texas wire development board the application
this is our final portion that we need to do that to get the application
together I believe everything has to be submitted to Texas development board by
the end of July and then we'll we'll see where we're at that's all I got
» I was expecting five more minutes next up is city manager report
» um I'll make it quicker than I probably planned but um just thanks to council
for the budget workshop and the advice given. Thanks to staff, public works,
police department, fire department for their whole American All-American night,
the golf cart parade. I think it was a great success. The residents the golf
cart parade, I think we're going to try again. That was a pretty cool
experience. Um, we didn't get to get too much into the paper call situation, but
I do feel like we're going to be moving in a positive direction with fire
department partnership. I want to meet with them and um get some of their ideas
on how we can continue this um program or what they need, what meets their
needs. The textile recycling bins um they're going to be removed next week
due to continued misuse in litter. Um but we do look forward to partnering
with PRB for future initiatives. Um, this one we tried to give our best shot,
but it ended up becoming more of a um, added burden to the public works already
burdened workload. Um, solicitor enforcement. I want to thank thank
Jeremy and the police department. They have been actively addressing complaints
as they come in. They were literally chasing solicitors down the other night
when I was >> and they're coming to get permits now.
» Calling updates. They are seen that there was a group of them.
» Um, we're working on it. We're trying. It's it's a summer pain every year. We
try to gain compliance. Um I know Mr. Paige brought this up in his comment,
but scooter safety today in staff. Um Chief Richardson stated that he would
look into what other cities are doing um to maybe try to gain some compliance and
safety. State law kind of changed at the beginning of this year regarding
scooters and ebikes and how they can operate on certain streets. We're going
to look at what we can do to refine that and make it safer for our our kids and
our residents. >> That's all I got.
» Thank you very much. Move on to council members and of course
council member Ry, do you have anything you wish to add?
» Yeah, the American night out. I really enjoyed going over there. It was fun. A
lot of lot of interface over there and uh beautifification thing. and I went to
the sign playing over there and had fun with
it. Good times.
» Thank you for doing that, >> Council Member Johnson.
» Yeah, I just appreciate all the support for that. I'm sorry I wasn't able to
make it that night and then uh appreciate Mr. Dwayne coming being part
of council. Thank you.
» Done. You have anything you wish to add? >> One, thanks for having me. thanks for uh
bringing me in the fold and um I try not to ask so many questions going going
forward. >> Um please do. But
» no, I guess the only food for thought I would ask is as we consider paytoplay or
pay for a call or a volunteer stipen that we also have something called KRBs
that are volunteers. What do we open ourselves up for or why not provide them
a stipen? same consideration if we're going to give a a firefighter.
» Um, >> that's all volunteer.
» It's all volunteer. What's good for one should be good for all this group of
» Thank you, sir. Cure. >> Uh, yes sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I
want to start off by thanking Mr. Miss Fisher for their presentations they
presented. A lot of work went into that. And I would also like to echo the
welcome for member uh Councilman Dunn for joining our virtual council. It's my
belief that he will be a asset to our council. And I think we need to
recognize our sad name Garcia for being selected for the 2027 Texas Women's
Leadership Institute. Not only was she selected, uh, she was one out of 20 in
the entire state of Texas, but she was also awarded a full tuition scholarship.
This was just recently.
» I've always admired Miss Garcia's work ethic and commitment to our community.
I've seen the tireless hours she has committed to Richwood. All the while
pursuing a master's degree in uh public administration.
Since taking office uh of city manager, there's been I've noticed a a serious
reduction in turmoil uh dissension and conflict within the ranks.
And I also want to mention as Laura Tiner for accepting the promotion to
city secretary in her brief time in this position. I expected uh the
responsibility work and duties to overwhelm her. Uh I've just wanted to
express my appreciation for all the work she does and let her know that does not
go unnoticed. And as we move forward, I encourage our
citizens to attend more council meetings. Each meeting begins with a
public comment section where anyone can sign up and receive three minutes to
share concerns, views, or complaints. We want to hear from you so we can consider
your input before casting our votes. Without your comments, we must rely on
our best judgment and vote as we believe you want us to. Thank
you, sir.
Okay. I'd like to add um welcome award, Mr. done.
» You should foremost. Secondly, huge shout out for your achievement.
» You keep doing what you do for the city. I don't know how we're not number one in
the state of Texas, >> right?
» Laura, congratulations on yours. You've helped me tremendously in the first few
weeks. I appreciate that. >> That's nice. That's Laura.
» Life feels weird with her being over here, but have to get used to it. I'd
like to congratulate my wife for achieving uh leaders under 40. Um, the
facts nominated her and she's now Pulk's new head uh principal over there.
Um, I also want to tell everybody,
especially Cliff Crew, stay hydrated because by 8 a.m. I feel like I'm
swimming. I know you guys have got to be feeling the same way. And that's just
from being outside. Thank you to all the staff, all the
staff for being where we are. I'm glad you came back. I'm glad everybody has
stepped up. So hopefully we can get you what you need to be successful.
Um, last but not least, I I want people to keep Senator Lindsey Graham's family
in their thoughts. >> He was a great man. He just recently
passed away and he did a lot for our country. So just keep them in your
thoughts. That's all I have. You have any community interest?
» Um, yes. We will call for uh boards and commissions. We have some um open
vacancies for CCPD and for charter review committee. Um and
then I'm trying to encourage residents even as they come in and call um for
example for yard of the month. It was a resident that's been here for a lengthy
period of time. We did not have even just a phone number on him. Um and with
it being just barely the start of hurricane season, um just go on to the
city web page, city of Richwood. app up at the top. It's just notify me. Um
update your contact information, phone number, email. Um that way that we can
reach you and that you get notifications when we need to send things out to
residents. Um so I just encourage all uh to do that.
» Okay. Future agenda items is uh we move on to next meeting. We'll have fees fire
connection >> connections will be there and I'll bring
the ordinance for burns. >> We have we have our list.
» Check it twice. >> Okay. With no other items discussed, the
time is now 8:44.
Thank you everyone. I figured you might