Council meeting 2025-02-10
YouTube · 30:03 long
0:01boy that
0:03wasy
0:21sir
0:24excuse 12 oh I'm I'm waiting for six I'm
0:28sorry
0:29[Laughter]
0:31he said six I said wait a minute it's
0:33not six yet at this time our meeting uh
0:36is now being called to order uh we
0:39appreciate all of you coming and we're
0:41opening up with an
0:43invitation we
0:46having
0:48[Music]
0:50okay Heavenly Father we come before you
0:52this afternoon we thank you for this day
0:54we thank you for the opportunity to
0:57gather here at City Hall pertaining to
1:00uh the business uh of our city of our
1:03community and we ask you for wisdom
1:05today as we uh take care of the business
1:09of our city and our community and that
1:11in the U the the idea and the hope of of
1:15growth and prosperity for our city but
1:19also for the citizens of our community
1:23we ask you for your help today we rely
1:25upon you for your wisdom to take us
1:28Beyond any of our experience any of our
1:30knowledge or gleaning from circumstances
1:33and situations and we thank you for it
1:37in in advance and by faith in Christ
1:39Jesus name we pray amen
1:46amen the United States of America and to
1:49the Republic for which it stands one
1:53nation under God indivisible with liy
1:57and justice for all
2:07so once again good it's still morning
2:09good evening good morning in between
2:12we're so glad afternoon perfect word
2:15we're so glad that you were able to join
2:17us today we uh it will not be it's not a
2:20joint council meeting it's now just
2:22straight up uh not between economic
2:24development is just straight up city
2:26council today and so as with that being
2:28said the Council will be the one do to
2:31vote my role in that uh in this part is
2:34that I only break ties and so with that
2:37being said thank you again for coming
2:40and we'll just go into our meeting and
2:43the first thing we have recognition of
2:45visitors and then we we don't have
2:47anyone that did comments did we we have
2:50no comments from the audience
2:53um were there any comments from the
2:55council at this
2:57point I was supposed to remember just
3:00said something I left it at home I'll
3:01remember it later uh at and that brings
3:05us us to our business consider An
3:07approved election service contract with
3:10Houston
3:11County mayor council um you asked for a
3:15little bit more information regarding
3:17our uh elections contract with the
3:20county to administer our elections um
3:23and we did have Miss Cindy here hi Miss
3:26Cindy so she's here also if y'all have
3:28any questions but she presented us with
3:30some more information and it's in your
3:32packet and as well as a letter that is
3:35uh before you but your packet also has
3:38um additional information with the cost
3:40breakdown of how she is able to um
3:44calculate the cost and and uh share it
3:47with the city and other t or other uh
3:50entities um I also had a spreadsheet of
3:55the one that's in landscape there with
3:58the cost of what it cost City the last
4:01time we held um the mayor's race with
4:03all five precincts um being open um to
4:07kind
4:08of to kind of um give you an idea what
4:12it cost to do our own right now our
4:14biggest or one of our biggest concerns
4:17um in doing it our own is uh we're
4:21competing with uh workers with the
4:23county a lot of our workers are working
4:26in conjunction with the county and um
4:29for us to bring bring in that basically
4:30would include 15 additional workers
4:34plus um the
4:37early uh the ballots counting the early
4:39votes we have to bring in uh two or
4:43three more three more for that so that's
4:4418 people that have to be involved in
4:47this
4:48election
4:50um and so we do have concerns of being
4:54able to put a team together um this
4:57election also this doing it with the
4:59county off Al allows us to have one
5:00joint ballot that's printed off um where
5:04you can vote for every measure that's
5:05within
5:06your jurisdiction in your Precinct you
5:08don't have to go to another poing place
5:10or another building or even another
5:12table you vote all in one
5:17ballot so it's cheaper than what we
5:19would be able to do it for and we do
5:21have
5:23some some more information from her to
5:25show how the cost breakdown is provided
5:29are there questions that y'all have for
5:31her or myself or
5:34[Applause]
5:39mity um they're also providing
5:43um
5:45um the ability to vote on a weekend is
5:49it is it the weekend on a Saturday we're
5:52going to have a Saturday voting instead
5:54of just during the during the week on
5:56business days
6:02so the overall cost let me send the so
6:06the overall cost I'm looking for that
6:08it's in
6:09the contract Missy do remember so it's
6:14517
6:175,173
6:20okay the uh I I misspoke at our last
6:24meeting and I mentioned 12,000 that's
6:26what it cost us for the
6:28November the special election we we just
6:30had a few months ago okay so this is
6:33considerably less than
6:37that does anyone have any other specific
6:41question that they would like to
6:47ask I'll make a motion we approve the
6:49election service with Houston County I
6:52second okay it's been moved in second
6:54all in
6:55favor motion carries thank you and last
7:00ballot we're alter the
7:02elections okay that bring us to item
7:04number two considering approved change
7:06orders for southfi Street Bell Avenue
7:10construction of storm drains and
7:12additional curb and gutter construction
7:14with funding from Utility Fund
7:17reserves mayor and Council um as it is
7:21when you begin construction there was
7:24there was someone that was out there uh
7:26driving by um while we were out there
7:29working working and doing some
7:30measurements one of the local residents
7:32and um they had mentioned they said when
7:34are we getting this done you know it's
7:35been it's been 2 or 3 months
7:38already and I do
7:41100% understand that frustration but I
7:44do want to mention like I mentioned to
7:46the the gentleman was it's been roughly
7:4870 years truthfully since this
7:51construction since nothing has taken
7:53place out here we have lots of old
7:55infrastructure and specifically Bell and
7:58fifth some of of our oldest portions of
8:00the city we still had all the
8:02infrastructure for the old gas uh Street
8:05lanterns that were along the street
8:07which would be really nice if we could
8:08redo those but we don't have the budget
8:10for that but this is old old
8:13infrastructure the storm water system
8:15that was underneath that street it was
8:18it was all it was draining and
8:21functional um when we bid this project
8:24out when we went to the two the items
8:27that we addressed in the bid in the
8:28bidding process and we asked our
8:29Engineers to prepare for the things that
8:32we knew were wrong was uh our water
8:35system our pipes and our streets our
8:37street was horrible and we had lots of
8:39leaks coming up through the street
8:41causing the the the disrepair of the
8:43streets and holes and
8:45potholes that's what they drafted up
8:47however when we pulled we started
8:49pulling the old concrete the road was
8:52had had old concrete that we had paved
8:54over the top of when we started pulling
8:56that concrete up it was Pro it was a
8:59layer of protection on some of our older
9:01stormm water systems that as that
9:03protection was removed and we started
9:05mixing and and um preparing the roads
9:08with big machinery we had storm water
9:10system under there that was clay tile
9:12and it couldn't withstand it um some of
9:14it was Clay TI and some of it was old
9:16tin horn old metal so it was rusted as
9:19you can imagine and so it started
9:23collapsing so now the storm water the
9:25way that street was designed to flow
9:28where all the water was would go down
9:30the the the gutters drop into those
9:32inlets and it went down to the creek on
9:34Bell there's a creek that crosses Bell
9:36and and and travels parallel to Fourth
9:39Street um that's all blocked up and
9:41stopped because of the uh removal of
9:44that and the clay tile collapsing so we
9:48went and jetted out our system and I
9:50have a print
9:51out just kind of
9:54explaining um they're going to have to
9:57from this storm Inlet that you see on
9:58the right hand side
10:00the storm drain M um there's another
10:05counter storm drain on the Le hand side
10:07they're going to have to tie those two
10:08together and run a new line down fif
10:12Street turn left on Bell and run it to
10:14that Creek again and run all new uh
10:17storm drains um I have a and I do have
10:20Mr uh Thurber here our engineer for
10:23questions if y'all have any but I have a
10:25a bid tabulation
10:27from well and I it explains it on here
10:30down at the bottom the cost of materials
10:32for for uh lab labor for uh the gut
10:35gutters and the curbs redoing the storm
10:38inlets changing that up is
10:4211,853 those are items that we did not
10:44bid out yet or we we did we did not
10:47include in this project and then the
10:49change order for the storm drains
10:51they're going to have to build new
10:53inlets catch basins and run new I
10:56believe 18in pipe down this uh down fist
10:59fre and bell and that total is
11:0465,8 um I think we were a little bit
11:06pleasantly surprised even though 65,000
11:08is a sum that we weren't planning on um
11:11we were expecting closer to around
11:14100,000
11:15using um current Day pricing uh unit
11:19pricing we were expecting it to be
11:22closer to
11:23100,000 but our Crockett construction
11:26has been really good with us and they've
11:28shaved some cost trying to cover their
11:30bottom line but not tack on any um
11:34numbers that they they could probably
11:36get by with if they were you know biding
11:38on this from scratch so they want to get
11:42this project done we want to get the
11:43project done Fifth Street and uh Bell
11:46has been under construction now for a
11:49couple months going on three months and
11:52so
11:54um we can't good conscious finish this
11:56up without addressing the storm water
12:00um so part of the gutter needs to be
12:02rerun due to the way that we're going to
12:04be rerouting the water and is so across
12:08fist Street there's two going to be two
12:12concrete water
12:15Crossings um from Bell to continue that
12:19above ground and the rest of it will
12:21remain un remain underground for F
12:24Street
12:31um basically we have two options on this
12:36is either remove this from funding that
12:40we have set aside for our other Street
12:42construction projects begin deducting it
12:45off of that and and and lowering the or
12:49reducing the ability to what we going to
12:51be able for other Street construction or
12:54pay for this out of reserves and we do
12:57have the funds to to pay for
12:59this which is why we set those funds
13:01aside in the first place we we put that
13:03money aside for these unexpected things
13:05where we can maximize our dollars uh if
13:08you know I think with this amount we're
13:10getting
13:12$36,000 done I don't want to take away
13:15from any other street that they had
13:16already yeah we off CU people aware that
13:19we're already going to do constructions
13:20on those streets and so we do have
13:23funding set aside yeah I would hate to
13:25go in and cut back on what we
13:28promised StreetWise no we want to do
13:31that so our ultimate Choice basic choice
13:38is to go with the reserve that we set
13:44aside and so what amount will we use out
13:46out of the reserve the total would be
13:5077339 to include uh the storm drains and
13:55the uh curb and gutter changes and what
13:58are we Cur Cur L have in the
14:01reserve uh about 1.8 million that we'
14:05set aside okay we've we've been able to
14:09put aside a rainy day fund specifically
14:11for projects to put back in our
14:14infrastructure
14:16and are we ready for a
14:19motion you no no other questions we're
14:22ready for a
14:25motion well I move that we make a motion
14:28that we approve the order for South
14:30Fifth Street and bail Avenue
14:31construction of storm drains an
14:34additional curbing gutter construction
14:35with funding from the Utility Fund
14:39reserves a total
14:41of 7 77,4
14:4539 okay we have a motion on the four I
14:48second and it's been second it's been
14:50moved in second all in
14:52favor motion carries it brings us to uh
14:57item number three consider and approve a
15:00resolution of the city council of the
15:01city of Clarett Texas accepting and
15:04approving a termination and distribution
15:07of assets plan for the
15:09cidc approve an interlocal agreement
15:12with this with the cidc authorizing the
15:15preparation and the execution of all
15:18documents necessary to accomplish the
15:21cidc windup and dissolution in
15:25accordance with state law
15:29mayor and Council this um this item was
15:31on our last agenda we did vote for the
15:35cidc and I have a copy of that
15:38resolution here that was approved at our
15:41last meeting uh cidc resolution number
15:46r225 um that in
15:49effect was the resolution where the EDC
15:53terminated itself as a corporation and
15:55handed off the management and assets to
15:58the city of of Crockett the
16:00countermeasure the counter resolution
16:03for that was the city of Crockett to
16:06then pick up that management and the
16:08assets from the EDC that the EDC was
16:10passing off and so that resolution did
16:14not pass at our last meeting um I have
16:18had contact with council members that
16:20have asked to bring this back up for a
16:23vote we we do realize that this does
16:26leave us
16:27currently without out with this having
16:30been terminated and passed off and this
16:31having not been picked up um current
16:34contracts are in Jeopardy um as well as
16:37payment of um existing uh bills and and
16:42honoring any everything that we're
16:43currently under we can't assume new
16:45obligations but we do have considerable
16:47amount of
16:48obligations existing existing
16:50obligations to to manage and that
16:53removed our ability to do so and so um
16:58that's why we did call for a special
16:59call meeting today to see if we could
17:02revisit this
17:05item
17:07um just uh just to you know let everyone
17:10know on counsil uh I'm I'm okay with u
17:14you know CC closing that's uh what the
17:17people chose uh to happen so that's okay
17:22but um I'm I'm really Disturbed with how
17:26we got to where we are today um with the
17:29conversations that we've been having as
17:31a council um I mean I I believe and I
17:35share this with [name] you know some
17:37information was left out that was
17:39critical to some decision making um on
17:43our behalf uh as a council I don't know
17:47if it was left out intentionally or what
17:50but I just don't understand because
17:53y'all uh the council I wasn't here uh my
17:57understanding has been you know talking
18:00about you know the the building up there
18:03for for years I'm just going to say it
18:05like that for years and I knew nothing
18:08about all of the extra that's was going
18:10on or anything like that until I brought
18:13myself into the knowledge but I am just
18:16letting you know that I know that it it
18:19is our ministerial Duty because I did
18:21read everything I understand that and
18:24being that we're at the point we are now
18:27uh had discussions with with others um
18:31being that we're at the point we are now
18:34uh we we're at a point of no return so
18:38we don't have any options but to move
18:40forward with what we what we have to do
18:43because if we don't then we put the city
18:46uh in Jeopardy so that's my purpose
18:49that's why I was um elected in this
18:52position but my understanding is that if
18:56we could get all of the information so
18:58we can make sound that's what I ask for
19:00all the time so we can make sound
19:02decisions on on and and have good
19:05convers good conversation I mean none of
19:08that you did this you did that none of
19:11that is that we have to come with a good
19:14Sound Decision good conversation in
19:17order to make all of us to move forward
19:20I mean we cannot have our own separate
19:23agendas we cannot allow social media to
19:27uh dictate what we do here here for the
19:29city that's not what we're up here for
19:32so anyway with that being said I do make
19:35a motion that we go ahead and accept um
19:39uh and approve the resolution of the CD
19:42I'm Sor go ahead you I didn't no that's
19:45what we got to ask go ahead did anybody
19:47else have any comments because it was
19:50still open okay yes ma'am yes ma'am I'm
19:51agree with that okay and if there are no
19:55other comments now we're ready for a
19:57motion um I do uh uh I a motion or move
20:01that we approve the resolution of the
20:03city of Crockett um Texas accepting and
20:06approving a termination and distribution
20:09of assets planned for the CC approving
20:13and Inter local uh agreement with the CC
20:17authorizing the preparation and
20:19execution of all documents necessary to
20:22accomplish the CC windup and dissolution
20:26in accordance with the state law okay is
20:30a motion on the floor can we get a
20:33second I second okay it's been moved in
20:36second all in
20:37favor motion
20:40carries and it brings us to item number
20:43four consider an approv engagement
20:45agreement with Eric canell pllc for
20:49legal representation in the woodro J
20:51Jones law suit calls note number
20:5625-15 three
21:00mayor and Council uh we spoke with uh
21:02Miss Erica at our last council meeting
21:05requested her to provide a a letter of
21:07Engagement um she has provided it and
21:10this is to to prepare the
21:14response
21:16um on the woodro uh Jones
21:20lawsuit we have from the time it was
21:23served we have 20 days
21:26to submit a response to the court
21:29and
21:31um I have y'all the uh engagement
21:36letter for y'all that I sent out last
21:39week and I also have a hard copy for
21:47you as you know uh tml also denied
21:51coverage on this due to the contract
21:54it's a breach of contract claim and
21:56that's one of the exclusive iions of our
21:59coverage is for breach of contract
22:02claims and so we won't get insured
22:05insured coverage on this so we have to
22:07retain our own
22:15defense but it's but like you said it's
22:18it's our understanding that tml will
22:21cover the council is that what no not if
22:26it's for a breach of contract claim in
22:28this case tml has said that they will
22:31not
22:32cover they will not defend Us in this
22:34lawsuit since it is for a breach of
22:36contract
22:41claim that is do oh so they won't Co
22:45cover city council or EDC EDC is also a
22:49tml covered entity but in this case they
22:52won't cover any of their entities when
22:55it's a breach of contract claim
23:08what I talked to you earlier today did
23:11we were we clear on that was I clear on
23:13that or when you and I spoke
23:16about we was
23:18I yeah we spoke about it but I I didn't
23:21hear you say anything about TM so tml
23:24and I sent the letter out they said that
23:25they won't cover the city or the count
23:27uh for the EDC so I'm not
23:31sure what it was we was
23:34talking that's that's why this one here
23:36addresses both the city and the
23:39EDC is because
23:41tml otherwise the contract would be
23:44between the attorney and tml they would
23:47they would assign the attorney and issue
23:48the response and we wouldn't you know it
23:51would be an insured coverage but at this
23:53point we have to retain our own defense
23:56so everybody is covered
23:58the EDC and and the um city as well
24:03we're a covered entity under tml yes
24:05ma'am but under this lawsuit we're not
24:08going to be covered because it's for a
24:10breach of contract
24:12claim so they won't cover any of
24:15the
24:18lawsuit okay I just I was trying because
24:21that's what I was trying to get an
24:23understanding when you and I had had
24:25conversations about how does that work
24:28would covered what yeah who would cover
24:30what right I was like I was thinking I
24:32was under the impression that cuz
24:34remember you said something about in the
24:36charter that we that's indemnification
24:39so the city and the EDC has an
24:41obligation to in indemnify their members
24:45when they're acting on behalf of the EDC
24:49or the city so if they're acting on
24:50behalf of the EDC or the
24:52city the members are indemnified so
24:55we're allowed to pay for this defense M
24:59but tml will not cover us under
25:01Insurance W so how do we um resolve that
25:07is that so Bond and insurance remember
25:11we was discussing that it won't cover
25:12that so we had a bond what that would
25:15what that would have no bond U
25:19bonding um is when you're handling money
25:23and there's money missing or money Miss
25:26approach that
25:30addresses money issues not a
25:34lawsuit so bonding tml is our only other
25:37insurance
25:39coverage um so at this point it
25:42would it would not we won't be we're not
25:45covered under IND or under the B under
25:47bonding or tml we have to just retain
25:50our own
25:52defense and that is the agreement with
25:54ER I mean that's what with ER right now
25:57okay and in this case she'll agree to
25:59cover in the same motion she'll cover
26:02both the city and the
26:04EDC okay okay are there any other
26:10question do you need to add anything I
26:13would just ask
26:14that our new
26:17attorney okay um so at this point if
26:21nobody has any question can we get a
26:23motion I'll make a motion we approve the
26:26engagement agreement with heran
26:29a second okay it's been moved in second
26:31all in
26:33favor okay motion
26:35carries
26:38and and that more or less brings us to
26:41the end but before we close um I really
26:44we did something really happen and I was
26:46supposed to say it but I can't but I
26:48will say that we appreciate everybody
26:50coming out in the middle of the day
26:52we're looking forward to the election
26:54and United United MH I'm United
26:58Methodist oh that was that was part of
27:01that might have been a part of United
27:04Methodist
27:05armies uh councilwoman Trina set in on
27:09with us and they'll be coming to our our
27:11city again and they'll be trying to
27:13contact people within the city to uh the
27:16church there go through the churches I I
27:18know I don't know if you're familiar
27:19with that youth of young they work and
27:23they work very hard and and they do a a
27:26lot of wonderful things with the El
27:27elderly uh then they don't do the
27:29rooftops I'm not going to be messing
27:31with your roof on the top but they will
27:33things that are around so if you know of
27:35a senior that might benefit from it
27:38they'll be contacting the churches and
27:40they they have a application but we're
27:43we're so proud that the city is is
27:45working so
27:48diligently with them and even our
27:51uh want to provide the um Pony Woods
27:54Pony Woods will be working too they work
27:56with them to provide a roll off for all
27:59of the stuff that has to be taken out
28:01but we uh they do the ramps and I think
28:04y'all are familiar with what it is and
28:05they had realized they had been coming
28:07here that long almost she said 30 years
28:10so it was a really I was a young girl
28:13then I
28:14guess nobody believe that one right n
28:17you're not going to believe that one but
28:19uh we were so proud that they came and
28:20there so there be you'll see them around
28:22and there'll be contacting other people
28:25um and they're looking they do the volun
28:28work but we appreciate I do I'm glad
28:31that I think that was what I was
28:32supposed to remind everybody of and then
28:35ID just like to compliment the Council
28:37on uh taking care of business that's
28:40what it's all about is and sometime the
28:42business is bigger than we are and so we
28:45take our personal selves off the table
28:47and we address it as a group what's in
28:48the best interest of the city and and we
28:51do apologize for the inconvenience of
28:54our road construction but it's going to
28:57be so much better and it is has been
29:00difficult to go around the different
29:02roads in the city but you have to stand
29:05with your chin up and shoulders thrown
29:07back we haven't never had this much
29:09Construction in forever and that's why
29:12we're finding so many surprises
29:14underneath it and so this has been such
29:16a blessing and a lot of things have
29:18flown uh have been taken care of and
29:21even from um I know we talked about the
29:23first meeting the community meeting and
29:26we do encourage you to look at the
29:28schedule there'll be Community meetings
29:30with each of the council persons and
29:32we're looking forward to that so you
29:34have a long time to make your list
29:36depend on who you want to talk us they
29:38are definitely the first line of defense
29:41and so thank you all for coming and
29:42we're appreciate it and we get a motion
29:44to adjourn right make a motion withn
29:59[Music]
30:03name is jar jar