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Council meeting 2025-08-04

Agenda · Packet · Minutes · YouTube · 1:26:16 long

0:00what it is. At this time, we have the
0:02fiscical year budget 2026 budget update.
0:22I need to join the
0:26a invoice from the terminates
0:31from
0:35Yeah, I don't have it
0:38off, but it's an invoice from the
0:39terminates.
0:40>> All right.
0:41Um,
0:43okay. Mayor and council, we have
0:46I have some sheets that are before y'all
0:49that look like these here. It's a tax
0:52rate analysis.
0:54>> Um,
1:02>> here.
1:03>> And then I have your draft budget.
1:06>> I also have your draft budget before
1:08you.
1:09Um, council, I'm going to hit some of
1:11the highlights and it's it's here
1:13available. We can go through we can dig
1:16deeper into any of this that council
1:18needs more um insight on on
1:24our draft budget. um
1:29on our draft budget right now that as we
1:32propose I have a M rate of 4795 cents.
1:38Over to the right you're going to have
1:40no new revenue rates, voter approval
1:42rates, and your dimminimous rates. Those
1:44are the three rates that were required
1:45by state statute to put parts together
1:47for
1:49our no new revenue rates
1:52for maintenance and operations.
1:55all the bills that we pay, everything
1:57that we expend through the city outside
1:59of debt payments, salaries, materials,
2:03fuel, insurance, paying the light bills,
2:06anything like that. That's mainted
2:09through maintenance and operations.
2:10That's what operates the city on a
2:12day-to-day basis, pays everybody.
2:15The maintenance and operations budget
2:20required to fund this budget from taxes
2:25is 2 million and 52,000.
2:29If you look over here, the 16 cents INS
2:33tax, that's the amount necessary to
2:35bring in enough revenue to pay for all
2:38of our debt. The 16 cents, it's one.1630
2:42debt service rates.
2:44um you'll see that all the way across
2:46the board. So no matter what debt what
2:48tax rate we adopt up above this debt
2:52rate is the amount necessary to secure
2:55and pay for all of our existing debts.
2:59If you go currently our M
3:04tax rate is 505019.
3:08So right at 50 cents per $100 value
3:11for a no new revenue rate. That means
3:13the amount of revenue that we brought in
3:16this year to bring in that same amount.
3:18>> We could do it.
3:19>> Our tax rate drops to 47 cents. 4 and a2
3:2347 1/2 cents. So a little over 2 1/2
3:26cents lower than this current year.
3:32The amount that's allowed by state
3:34statute is the voter approval rate.
3:38>> Let me just pull that up since we're
3:39talking about that one.
3:46the voter approval rate. So the voter
3:48approval rate allows us to raise that M
3:51rate up to 51 cents.
3:53>> PN
3:54>> we can go up to 51 cents. So anywhere
3:57between 40
3:58>> 52
3:59>> correct? Yes sir.
4:0447 12 cents is the no new revenue rate.
4:07That brings in the same amount as last
4:08year. 52 cents 5194
4:13>> is the amount that is allowed to bring
4:15in that's 3.5%
4:18more revenue than last year.
4:21If y'all if if council goes over that
4:24that goes up into the dimminimous
4:26bracket.
4:28um which doesn't trigger an immediate
4:30election, but for many cities over 30
4:32well for cities over 30,000 population,
4:34it triggers an election to to but
4:38council says, "Hey, we really need a
4:39half a million dollars for this major
4:41project.
4:43The dimminimous rate is the amount
4:45necessary to bring in 500,000 to fund a
4:50project and then you run the risk of an
4:52election. So election can happen and we
4:55just have to be prepared to present the
4:57the need and then the public decides
4:59whether they want that need or not
5:01>> and they can they can
5:04>> uh cancel that and back us back down to
5:06the voter approval rate or allow it to
5:09happen. So those are the three rates
5:11that are required by law to be presented
5:13tonight. Our current budget I said right
5:16here this no new revenue rate up here is
5:224747.
5:24So almost for uh 47 1.5 cents. Our
5:28budget that you that's in front of you
5:30is based on 4795
5:34slightly higher. It's about $20,000
5:38higher than what the no new revenue rate
5:40is. So truthfully, I went down using
5:43last year's budget
5:45actual expend expenditures and I had to
5:48go through and any of our hard numbers
5:50that had to increase some of them. I
5:54believe this to the point one of them
5:56being our insurance. I really I we need
5:58to go out and probably shop for
6:01liability and property insurance to see
6:03if we can get some better rates. They
6:05went up by 15% for property and 41% for
6:08liability.
6:11um insurance rates have gone up. Those
6:13are one of the bigger impacts to our
6:14budget um this year. Health insurance
6:18staying steady. Um all of the other
6:21personnel related costs, none of those
6:23really fluctuated. Um
6:26retirement contributions, all of those
6:29are steady.
6:30>> Can we shop that before this is
6:32finalized?
6:34>> No, I No, sir. We'll have to adopt this,
6:37but we can definitely go shop and amend
6:39this budget, too. We can amend this.
6:41>> Yeah, you can amend the budget, but you
6:43can't amend the tax rate. That's not
6:45>> Yeah, you're right.
6:46>> What's the ISO rate for the city?
6:52>> Um,
6:54this budget made for so any additional
6:57revenues that I could find. I know we
6:59went over this budget in detail a couple
7:02meetings ago as far as revenues and what
7:05we were expecting to come in and and
7:07decreases in revenues. This reflects
7:10those we um numbers that we've shored up
7:15a little bit more using this year's
7:16revenue is our license and permits and
7:19fees, building permits and inspections.
7:21You'll see that um that number has
7:24increased. We've just become busier in
7:26building inspections and permitting.
7:28We're getting a lot more construction
7:29going on
7:30>> and so we have a third party company
7:32that we hire. So that's an in andout
7:34revenue. We that money comes into our
7:36budget and we pay u inspectors and
7:39building officials to to sign off on
7:42those. That's that money comes in and
7:44out
7:48for revenue.
7:50>> So uh I was going to ask a question. So
7:53basically everything that you placed in
7:55in this um were all of the wish list
7:58that the uh specifically
8:01>> capital request.
8:02>> Yeah. What what did you actually
8:05place in here? Everything that they
8:06asked for or
8:08>> none of it.
8:08>> None of it.
8:09>> There's none of it.
8:11There's not enough money in our tax rate
8:14to fund any of the capital requests.
8:15>> Capital request.
8:16>> The capital requests that were one-time
8:18expenditures. I would I'm recommending
8:21that council we come back that's not
8:23something that can be fit in this budget
8:26but we come back with
8:28um any remaining cash reserves that we
8:31have in ARPA and our ARPA fund um we can
8:37spend onetime payments to meet some of
8:39those capital requests but as far as
8:41appropriating those um requests into
8:44this budget our tax rate and revenues
8:46can't support any of our capital
8:48requests
8:49Um, so
8:52the firefighter positions, police
8:53officer positions, the colas, the cost
8:56of living adjustments, none of that has
8:58been
9:00appropriated in this budget.
9:02So if you look up at the top of of your
9:06your sheet,
9:09using this 4795 in um tax rate,
9:14it leaves us about $170,000
9:17of money on the table. that the voter
9:20approval rate will be able to bring in.
9:23So if if y'all increase the tax rate at
9:26all, we have up to about $170,000
9:31that we can appropriate to capital
9:33expenditure, capital requests. If you um
9:37you want to assign some money towards
9:38cost of living, if you want to um hire a
9:42new officer or firefighter, any of those
9:46items. Um, and obviously the big one,
9:49the big one that is directly impacted by
9:53this budget is our street construction
9:54budget.
9:55>> I see.
9:55>> So, if y'all want any money
9:58to go into that, I have a breakdown on
10:00that. So, we can talk about that real
10:02quick before we
10:04But anything that we talk about, just
10:07know that our voter approval rate allows
10:09for up to 170,000. That's kind of the
10:11target.
10:13That's the only amount of money that we
10:14can bring in without going over that
10:16cap.
10:20Okay. So,
10:23>> um Okay. Um I guess I just need because
10:26I was going over a few things on
10:28yesterday evening and I didn't have
10:32the uh draft of this budget, but um just
10:36going over what I had. I was going to
10:38ask you a question about the uh $520,000
10:43that we're collecting uh in fees.
10:46Do you know
10:48>> are you talking about the general fund
10:49admin fee?
10:50>> I believe so.
10:51>> So that's the portion that's the portion
10:53that the utility fund pays to the city
10:57to take care of business.
10:59>> Okay.
11:00>> It's a it's a the utility. So so much of
11:03our work for instance even at city hall
11:05our electricity bill covers a portion of
11:08the utility department right we pay the
11:11city the the uh fund 01 pays for the
11:14electric bill but when that light bill
11:17comes in is to fund
11:20use uses and needs of our utility
11:22department um clerks um city attorney my
11:26own job I'm funded out of o fund 01 I'm
11:30funded from property I
11:33My salary is paid from fund 01 which is
11:35paid out of property taxes but 50% of my
11:40job arguably if not greater is
11:44>> overseeing and busy with utility
11:46department needs and oversight and
11:49construction and everything that we do.
11:51So that's the amount that the utility
11:54fund pays to the
11:57um our proprietary or our fund 01 to
12:00cover for all of those
12:02needs, legal, travel and training,
12:06electricity, city hall, utility
12:08department costs and salaries.
12:13>> It pays it back. Otherwise, the property
12:15taxes is paying to run a utility
12:17department.
12:18>> You know, a fundo one is paying for
12:20fundo two.
12:23Okay.
12:30I put a This is going to require council
12:34to look at the numbers and come back
12:36with what y'all believe y'all's
12:39priorities and street department y'all
12:40street department um priority list needs
12:43to be.
12:47but this gives you just a
12:50a little bit of an idea.
12:53I went through the requests that I
12:55received from different council members
12:57as well as our streets department and
13:00just my own personal knowledge of
13:01different streets that are just in
13:03really poor condition that we we've
13:05tried to budget for over years and it
13:08fell down in the lower priority list.
13:10So, we rolled it over into the the new
13:12year. Precinct one,
13:16I've met with I've met with our public
13:17works director and we came up with costs
13:20on repairing these streets. And these
13:23are some of the streets that
13:26um we put the estimates down just for
13:29council to understand
13:32with this budget has appropriated has
13:34appropriated us with $410,000
13:37for street construction.
13:41Every year we easily use up at least 50
13:44or $60,000 worth of patching material.
13:48We purchased dump truck 18-wheer loads
13:51of patch material
13:53for for keeping up with potholes,
13:56pothole repair mix. It's a different
13:58type of a mixture that is supposed to
14:02hold better and stay longer arguably,
14:07but a lot of our money is just trying to
14:09keep those holes filled where water
14:10doesn't
14:12>> go in. And so that's the that's the
14:14fight against time and erosion and
14:17everything.
14:18We about a 100,000 gives us roughly
14:22eight streets of seal coating. Some of
14:26the streets that we've already finished
14:28and many of them are going on to four
14:29and five years. Now, we need to go back
14:32and seal coat them. Otherwise, pretty
14:34soon we're going to be back at ground
14:37zero again. We're going to be starting
14:38over because the coat the the the mat
14:41that we put down is beginning to erode
14:43and we're starting to see little holes
14:44and stuff. We got to go and silk coat it
14:46to make sure that we extend the life of
14:48it some more years. Um Edmonston Drive,
14:53we remix that road and spend a lot of
14:55nice money in it. It's getting to the
14:56point it needs a chip seal otherwise
14:58we've lost it again. Um, so and that's
15:02and that goes to that's just in most of
15:04in most of our precincts that we've
15:06done. Streets setting aside 100,000 is
15:11not near enough, but that gives us about
15:13eight streets that we can prioritize
15:15that are the worst for us to go in and
15:17chip seal. Then that leaves us roughly
15:20with 250,000 for construction. About
15:2350,000 per precinct.
15:26>> Uhhuh. So that's why we put this grocery
15:28list of a few streets that really need
15:30attention.
15:36>> All right. So
15:40>> pass maybe not.
15:51So just to give an idea, 50,000
15:55does not go too far.
15:57>> Last year we adopted the no new revenue
15:59rate. So my budget for last year stayed
16:02the same.
16:03But in one year,
16:06most of our most of our supplies,
16:08material supplies that we purchased went
16:10up by 20% or more.
16:12the cement that we buy, the the 18
16:15winter loads of Portland cement went
16:16from 4,200 to 6,000
16:19in one year, but I was still operating
16:22down to the same pot of m, you know, the
16:23same amount of money to try to get the
16:25same amount of streets done. And that's
16:27just
16:29that's to give y'all an idea of 50,000
16:34does not go too far. And truthfully, if
16:37we went all the way up to the voter
16:38approval rate,
16:40>> what what I was about to say, what from
16:42what you're saying, then we need to at
16:44least look at the voter approval rate.
16:49>> If we're going to get more,
16:52>> we do have a good system. We have a good
16:54system. Our our street department guys,
16:56our construction guys, they have a good
16:58system together.
17:01Their biggest our weakest link is
17:03finances for the materials because we
17:06salaries, all the everything's accounted
17:07for. We have we have the the equipment
17:10we need to be able to buy cement and oil
17:13and rock and asphalt and put new curbs
17:16and gutters in where needed.
17:18>> And that that's where this budget demand
17:21comes in.
17:21>> But where we are right now, could we do
17:23that?
17:26>> Yes, we can. But more limited. I mean,
17:30>> Well, right.
17:31>> Yeah. Yeah. then our then our list
17:35of streets that that has messing up
17:37needs is going to increase.
17:39>> I mean, we got one page here, you know,
17:42next year we may have two then.
17:45>> Anything that we don't fund this year is
17:47just going to be in a little bit worse
17:49shape next year.
17:50>> Well, if not a lot worse shape.
17:53>> Um,
17:53>> that's what I'm saying.
17:56And so
17:58I have no house to
17:59>> I would suggest I would suggest to allow
18:01the the taxpayers to decide if
18:05>> that's
18:07how the the um taxes raised or
18:11>> I would say let them decide
18:13>> how you would be in
18:15>> you want to go over the voter approval
18:16rate.
18:16>> No, we do would we have to vote
18:20>> you to go over it?
18:21>> Go over
18:22>> you go to to the the minimist rate. in
18:25order to Okay.
18:26>> Yes, ma'am.
18:27>> You have to go to that.
18:28>> We just don't we just don't put it on
18:29the on the ballot,
18:31>> right?
18:32>> So, if you go over the voter approval
18:34rate, if a petition is presented
18:36>> Mhm.
18:36>> If a petition is presented, we we have
18:39to call for an election,
18:40>> pay for it,
18:41>> and it'll be voted on at an election.
18:43>> So, how much does an election cost
18:44again?
18:45>> And if it's rolled back, you're going to
18:46go less than what you
18:48>> we go back to the voter approval rate.
18:50>> Yeah.
18:51>> So, if you lose, you still go back to
18:55I'd rather not do that.
18:58>> How much is an election again?
19:00>> You're talking from from what we have
19:02currently in the
19:03>> election 10.
19:05>> See the difference between current
19:06>> 10 or 12,000. Sorry.
19:08>> No, I just said the difference between
19:09the current and the voter approval. It's
19:16it's not that much.
19:18>> It's a little less than two cents.
19:20>> That's what I said. So the two if the
19:22voter approver you probably spend been
19:24about that much on an election.
19:30well not quite that much but it would
19:32only change two cents
19:36a short two cents but it will be able to
19:39get the the areas that people are most
19:42wanting done.
19:46Just looking at the budget at look
19:48looking at the budget most
19:50most of those streets with our current
19:53budget you could end up selecting
19:55probably one good project one street
19:57project to get done.
20:00>> Okay approval rate would probably
20:04be able to add one more in there.
20:06>> All right. So we so we pick one one
20:08project out of each precinct and do
20:11that. Okay. Then you got all these other
20:14ones. They're not going to heal
20:15themselves.
20:17>> I mean, you know, they're just going to
20:19get worse
20:21>> degree.
20:22>> And that's why I have to maintain so
20:24much of
20:26the budget
20:27>> forward
20:28>> to keep those band-aids.
20:30>> Yeah.
20:33>> Running
20:33>> well, you know.
20:34>> Okay. So, what is the what are we
20:36looking at? Um,
20:40we did we I spoke with the police chief.
20:43Uh, one of the um
20:46one of the items that he was definitely
20:49looking at was a police officer
20:51position, part-time position, maybe
20:52another full-time position. This budget,
20:57you have that 170,000 that you could
20:59appropriate to that.
21:01One thing that I think that he did agree
21:05was um
21:08well, I don't want to speak for you, but
21:10it you know, for the uh part-time
21:12officer,
21:14you know, do you feel like that that's
21:16something that we need to account for?
21:20>> We have we have one position that has
21:22announced um her retirement in April.
21:26our municipal court clerk. Um, municipal
21:30court clerk, she's retiring in April. We
21:33could appropriate some of that line
21:35item. Miss Miss [name] has taken over a
21:38lot of the finance roles that she was
21:40doing as far as accounts payable. Miss,
21:43with Missina taking on that role, her
21:45job is now more strictly to accounts I
21:49mean to uh municipal court clerk,
21:52right? And so that's not a full-time
21:54position. We would like to reduce that
21:56position back to halfime to we still
21:59have to have a municipal court clerk but
22:01appropriate some of that budget to a
22:04police officer a halftime police officer
22:06or part-time police officer for downtown
22:08square duty for parking enforcements for
22:13stopping 18-wheers
22:16addressing some of the the biggest needs
22:18that people are you know concerned
22:20about.
22:22and we could use that in that in this
22:23budget without raising taxes.
22:28>> So, I think like Mr. said with with a
22:32part-time position, the funds are
22:34already there. Um, but I think utilizing
22:37those funds for a part-time officer that
22:41strictly focuses on the downtown area,
22:44probably the last six to eight months,
22:45I've received more complaints on from
22:48pedestrians, uh, truck
22:5118 wheelers coming through. I spoke with
22:54Councilman [name]. He's called me several
22:56times about it. We've talked many nights
22:58about it. Um because he's getting calls.
23:01I understand that there's a 18 problem
23:04coming across the square
23:06>> and we can talk all day long about the
23:08signs that are up, the text I've put up,
23:10the new signs, but until it gets changed
23:14in their GPS, it routes every single
23:16truck. probably 98% of the trucks that
23:19we do stop, that's the first thing they
23:21show the officers. Well, this way my GPS
23:23took them. Um, unfortunately, that that
23:26doesn't matter for them. Uh, they still
23:28they still get a citation for that. Um,
23:32there's there's a lot of times that uh I
23:36think this last month we ended up with
23:3836 37 um citation for trucks coming
23:43across the square, but they probably I
23:46bet there was
23:4880, 90, maybe 100 that come through
23:50there. Without somebody that's dedicated
23:52to that area that can stay there, that's
23:54not bouncing around from call to call or
23:56the other side of town. Um, that's the
23:59only way you're going to see that number
24:00go up. Another issue we run into with
24:03those trucks is a lot of them are from
24:04out of state. It's not a moving
24:06violation, not a state violation. So, it
24:09doesn't go on their driving record. So,
24:11we issue that citation, they head out of
24:14town, they don't ever come back to
24:15Crockett, we're not going to see any
24:17results from that from that citation.
24:20Now, I don't know the numbers as to what
24:23the ones that pay versus the ones that
24:25don't pay. Um, but u we do see a lot of
24:28that. So, I do think that a part-time
24:31officer in that area that's just focused
24:34on downtown, responding to calls
24:36downtown and probably a two, three block
24:38radius is paying attention to pedestrian
24:42traffic, uh, parking violations,
24:4418-wheeler violations. I think we could
24:47make a, uh, a difference in that
24:49traffic. Hopefully, as the more
24:5218-wheelers that get stopped, the more
24:53talking that happens and gets passed on
24:56down the line, but, uh, that's it's a
24:58difficult battle with the 18 because
25:01their GPS takes them right through there
25:04every time.
25:04>> It is a safety. So, could you not uh
25:07control that traffic uh on the on the
25:09loop? I mean, those uh in those thares
25:14that they're they're coming down. I
25:16mean,
25:17>> are you talking
25:17>> or the the the truck traffic, the 18
25:20traffic?
25:21>> Now, you're talking about like
25:22notification or signs?
25:24>> Just basically I know there's kind of
25:25like signs out there that says note
25:27through traffic.
25:29>> Issues with the signs. We we have signs
25:32on the outside of the loop.
25:33>> Yes,
25:34>> they're not flashing. They're a little
25:35bigger than the ones that are on the
25:36inside of the loop. A lot of times those
25:3918 motors get to that stop sign, they
25:41take off and when they realize that
25:43signs there, they're already committed
25:45through that intersection.
25:46>> They can't turn those trucks around. So,
25:48they're just going to go with it and
25:49hope that they don't get caught.
25:51>> Yeah. Cuz I'm basically saying
25:52patrolling the loop. I mean, if you had
25:53someone patrolling,
25:56you know,
25:57>> the loop is not the problem. Square is
25:59they're they have to come from the loop
26:01to get to the square.
26:02>> But they're on the loop. But if they're
26:04coming off you,
26:04>> you can tell the way you stop them
26:07before they get into.
26:08>> Not necessarily with the numbers. Yes.
26:10To answer your question,
26:12>> they're giving tickets.
26:14>> You're you're looking at eight major
26:15intersections.
26:17>> Yeah.
26:17>> That they're having to to work. They may
26:20be at 19 south, uh, but you've got 10
26:23coming in off of seven or 21. Um our
26:27busiest um routes for truck traffic are
26:32going to be 7 and 21 east and west in
26:35Houston
26:36>> constantly. That's where they're going
26:38to come from. So if you're working out 7
26:40and 21 west, you're going to miss
26:42everything that comes. So uh the truth
26:46is once they don't commit that violation
26:49until they come on the inside of that
26:50loop. So if we're working downtown
26:53watching watching for those they've
26:55committed that violation. They don't
26:57necessarily have to receive a citation.
26:59They can receive a warning. That's
27:00officer discretion. I can't control
27:02that. Uh but I think to get more bang
27:05for your buck. We need to have somebody
27:07stationed in the downtown area that's
27:09focused on that among other issues that
27:12we have.
27:13>> Chief, um so hear me out. Correct me if
27:16I'm wrong. Um
27:18does uh the uh traffic stopping uh you
27:22know citations from traffic and
27:24everything like that that creates
27:26revenue for the city. Correct.
27:27>> That's correct.
27:28>> Um then that revenue from traffic stops
27:32can only be then used for say streets
27:37and things of that nature. Is that
27:39>> all that revenue goes back to the
27:40general fund for the city?
27:42>> Correct. Now, whatever, however it's
27:44placed out there, that's that's up to to
27:46council.
27:47>> Okay. Um, so having said um had
27:53patroller or whatnot in the downtown
27:55area, that would create more revenue for
27:58the city.
27:58>> So, essentially uh the revenue or
28:02revenue from uh city ordinance
28:04violations, which is what mayor's tape
28:07truck ride is, it's a city ordinance
28:09violation that was adopted by the city.
28:11The He gets 100% of those proceeds.
28:13Okay.
28:14>> Versus if it's a state law or a
28:16violation of a state code, the state
28:18gets a portion of that from those funds
28:20as well.
28:20>> Okay. So, anything that you stop on the
28:22square is cities.
28:24>> What about um hazmat spill spills? Those
28:29hazardous hazardous spills on those
28:31trucks. do they get fined or not just
28:34that I think I was talking to um Chief
28:37Brazelle and we were talking about um
28:40did they have the fire department have
28:42to come out and clean up spills and
28:45things like that that and I was asking
28:47him how to how they compensated how does
28:49the city compensated and he said that
28:51basically they don't uh charge or um
28:55file on the insurance for whatever
28:57company
28:58>> supposed to whoever um How how are we
29:01handling that?
29:03>> If there's a truck that comes through
29:05that's a hazmat truck or it's a spill
29:06and they've created a or committed a
29:08class C traffic offense or a crime. Yes,
29:11we would cite them or we would deal with
29:13that criminally. When it comes to
29:16reimbursement to the city or the fire
29:18department, that's up to the fire chief
29:21to to claim that on on their insurance.
29:24I'm not sure exactly how he does that.
29:26We don't do that. We handle the the
29:29criminal side. So basically, so if any
29:32any spills like that happen at any of
29:35the local like the convenience stores
29:37and stuff like that that they have to
29:39come in and clean up, would that that
29:41would constitute as a filing on their
29:44insurance because the fact that we've
29:46had to come out to address the issue?
29:48>> A lot of that is is handled by the
29:51state. Okay. They send their
29:53investigators in. Uh they issue the
29:55fines. They also do the criminal
29:57investigation on a spill or something
29:59like that. a gas station. So they they
30:02would handle those fines. Now like the
30:04most recent one, our agency assisted
30:06them with the criminal investigation
30:08side of it. Don't have say so over the
30:11fines and the administrative side.
30:15>> I'm just I just want to know so y'all
30:17saying like the 170,000 we got we need
30:21to hire another officer to work downtown
30:24instead of fixing the streets.
30:26So, so the part-time officer that I'm
30:29talking about, we already have the funds
30:32budgeted for that because the position
30:34that's that's being paid full-time now,
30:37she's retiring and that position she's
30:39taking on would be would be parttime.
30:41So, that would leave us another
30:42part-time half of funds to utilize. So,
30:45that would not be creating it would
30:47essentially be creating a new position,
30:49but the plans are already there.
30:51>> So, it's not it's not going to touch
30:53that 170,000.
30:54>> No, sir.
30:56Now, as I talked before on on new
30:58positions, full-time officers, I think
31:01if we chose to do that, we need to apply
31:03for the cops grant because
31:07that would lighten a burden on us for
31:10five years. In the first year, they pay
31:12>> get some money from somewhere else.
31:14>> Jim take over and that fifth year would
31:18be our responsibility to full time.
31:27the fire department uh the fire chief
31:29was not able to be here tonight. He's
31:31with his father.
31:34>> Um lifellight and he's got some medical
31:36issues. So he's with his father. He did
31:39um you know we we spoke um and obviously
31:43spoke about our budget and the limited
31:45finances that we have. Um he's going to
31:48the ESD emergency services district to
31:50try to get some more support from them
31:53>> for us to continue the uh county
31:55responses that we do and um we hope to
31:59gain some support and finances there for
32:03a firefighter position instead of taxing
32:05our taxpayers
32:08uh for that for an additional position.
32:10Um so other than that that addressed you
32:14know any of our appropriated requests.
32:19The other one we had to come up with
32:22finances for um debt service for the
32:26water with the wastewater treatment
32:28plant and the water well. Right. So, the
32:31bonds that are coming due on that
32:33council, at your at your last meeting,
32:35they said that y'all advised that to uh
32:40to come up with the the financial number
32:42for the utility departments to pay for
32:45those two bonds
32:47>> and our property taxes to pay for the
32:49street the street bond and the fire
32:53department because we we bought a fire
32:55truck, we got a new fire truck, we
32:57refurbished another one and bought three
32:59police vehicles.
33:00So that bond would be paid out of our
33:02INS debt service tax
33:06in order to come up with
33:09the financing
33:12um to pay for both bonds for our
33:15wastewater treatment plant and our water
33:17well.
33:19I ran some numbers based on consumption.
33:22Consumption is probably the the greatest
33:25equalizer
33:27for those that are on fixed income.
33:30stable.
33:32>> Those are the ones that typically use
33:34the least amount. If it's a single it's
33:36a single person in a home or two people
33:38in a home, they're going to use the
33:40smallest amount of consumption versus a
33:42growing family, you know, with five and
33:44six kids or
33:46>> multiple people in the household or a
33:48commercial business, right?
33:50>> Yes. So in order to impact those on
33:54fixed income the least,
33:57a consumptionbased increase is the only
34:00way to do that. Otherwise, it's a fixed
34:02rate where everybody pays the same.
34:06>> Um to do a fixed to do a a a consumption
34:11rate increase per 100 gallons. If you
34:15see down here, the total revenue that I
34:17need to pay for that bond is 159,000. In
34:20order to bring in 157 and it's that's
34:23just some rounding numbers also, right?
34:26But that's to bring in the bulk of that
34:27payment
34:29to increase the rate value from 54.9
34:34to 63 cents. An 8 cent per 100 gallon
34:39increase. If you see up here, this base
34:41rate that doesn't change. The base rate
34:43stay the same
34:45going forward. The old rate and the new
34:48rate right here. The new rate stays the
34:51same as the base rate.
34:53The rate consumption rate per 100
34:56gallons goes from 54 cents to 63. That
34:59brings in
35:01157,000 needed to cover that note. And
35:05for the residential for the average
35:07residential user, it impacts them by
35:10$3.19.
35:13a month. $3.19 a month for on their
35:16utility on their water bill.
35:18>> So,
35:19>> but it's based on their consumption.
35:21>> So, what do we do in the last meeting?
35:23Did we do raise
35:25>> y'all? Y'all gave me a direction instead
35:28of putting all of the debt repayment on
35:30property taxes to move anything that was
35:33going towards water and utilities to
35:36move it to let this pay it back, not
35:38property taxes. And so this is that
35:41amount
35:43>> necessary to pay for it out of utility
35:46funds and not property taxes.
35:47>> But yeah, but the good thing about it is
35:49broken down from residential, not
35:51commercial. You just be paying for what
35:53you consume as a
35:54>> We pulled up Yes, ma'am. And so we
35:57pulled up several people like just
35:58people that I know throughout town
35:59that's of a a single elderly person.
36:04Most of them use under 1,000 gallons per
36:06month. 600 to 1,000 gallons. So that's
36:10let's say it's 1,000 gallons. That's a
36:1210 increment.
36:14That's they're paying for 10 increments
36:16times 8 cent. So it's 80 cents for that
36:18person. If they say say they're using
36:222,000 gallons even that's $160
36:26>> versus the average family. The average
36:30family in Crockett uses 4,000 gallons.
36:33>> That's worth being. So that's why the
36:35$3.19 for the average family.
36:39>> Um if you have sprinkler systems and
36:42other things,
36:43>> you're going to pay more.
36:44>> It's more than $3, right? So that's why
36:46it averages out from
36:49>> Yeah.
36:49>> the single lady versus a full family and
36:52a sprinkler system.
36:54>> So
36:55>> commercial getting hit.
36:58>> The commercial is getting hit here, but
37:01it is not. No sir, not comparison.
37:05That's why I would like at some point to
37:07do a rate study because the only
37:11differencing between commercial and
37:13residential is the base rate which is a
37:15$10 change.
37:17>> Usually cities pay you pay by the size
37:20of meter.
37:21>> Yeah.
37:22>> We don't differentiate
37:24>> the size of what? The meter.
37:25>> The size of the meter. So the amount of
37:27consumption that you use,
37:28>> you pay a higher percentage per 100
37:31gallons. You pay a higher a dollar rate.
37:34Um, a lawyer, an attorney's office, say,
37:37or maybe an insurance office downtown
37:40that probably has one toilet in there
37:42just for their office. They pay a
37:44commercial rate,
37:46>> and they pay obviously it's less, right?
37:49Because they're not consuming a lot.
37:50>> The load of the cost is based on
37:52consumption,
37:55but they pay the same rate that a major
37:59industry out on the loop would pay.
38:02They pay the same rate. It's just based
38:04on consumption. So if you use a little
38:05bit, you pay a little bit. The more you
38:07use, the more you pay.
38:09>> So it's not unfair,
38:12but it's not typical.
38:14>> Normally cities pay differently.
38:16>> You got two or three more businesses
38:17around it's adding up.
38:21>> Yes, sir.
38:23>> So it would be changing the consumption
38:26rate from 54.9
38:28to 63 cents.
38:31for water customers and sewer customers
38:33from 24.2
38:36cents to 33 cents
38:39to bring in the amount amount of revenue
38:42needed to cover that debt.
38:50Is there questions on that?
38:53>> Equally spread.
38:56It's just the easy the easiest way
38:59>> to apply to
39:04>> Okay.
39:06No questions on that on um are there any
39:11other questions on our
39:13draft budget? How much do y'all want to
39:18>> go through that?
39:20>> I'm here available. I'm just uh my my
39:23question is is there anything else in
39:26this budget that we could look at
39:28cutting or deleting or something to
39:33>> Yes, ma'am.
39:34>> to help.
39:35>> So, I made some notes.
39:39Here's and I highlighted them over here.
39:41The ones that you see yellow. So, in my
39:43general admin expenditure budget, um I
39:47dropped that back. I I initially plugged
39:49in a dollar amount for us to repaint the
39:51inside of city hall to fix our our our
39:54walls and the areas that are all
39:56boogered up and float them out, sand
39:59everything and repaint it like we did
40:01this room in here.
40:02>> Um I even took that out. I I went back
40:05to just an annual maintenance fee
40:09>> and I didn't put that money in there. If
40:11we had some more money, that would be
40:14something that we could apply.
40:18roughly $10,000 using the previous bid
40:22that we did this this uh council room
40:26and everything from the lobby down to
40:28the utility office. When we fix that, I
40:31think it it would be roughly about that
40:33much to hire a painting crew to come in
40:35and float the walls and sand everything
40:37and repaint it. If we're getting a good
40:39price, you know, and obviously I would
40:42make sure we, you know, got
40:44>> just hiring any general contractor. We
40:46can find some people that can do it for
40:47that price, especially if we give them,
40:50you know, a budget threshold.
40:52>> How how can we get um more tax dollars
40:55without
40:57taxing like the customers,
41:01>> new new businesses.
41:02>> You did good tax dollars.
41:05>> The only way to get more money in
41:08>> is bring in more business that pays a
41:10lot of focus on bringing more business.
41:12>> That's what that's my job.
41:14>> That's it. That's what we do. Well,
41:18>> we're doing it. We're doing it.
41:20>> We're doing it. This year this year, we
41:21brought in over $11 million in new
41:24business
41:25>> this year. And so this next year, right
41:28now we have over $18 million permitted
41:31for this next year. So we're bringing in
41:34new people to share pieces of that pie.
41:37>> It's going to kind of get hard on some
41:39people, man. Keep going up.
41:41>> Understand?
41:41>> Not everybody.
41:42>> Now we finding out
41:47one of one of our tools basically
41:49finding out now.
41:51We got to be mindful of how we manage
41:55the city's money,
41:56>> the taxpayers money.
41:59>> So, maintenance and repair streets,
42:01>> maintenance of repair streets, that's
42:03obviously the one that I can
42:05>> fluctuate with, right?
42:08>> if you go down,
42:10>> uh, something else that I took out of
42:12the budget that initially we've been
42:14running every year in our parks
42:16department budget due to the amount of
42:17equipment that we go through the those
42:19zero turns, they're not cheap. We we
42:23have big bang for buck and TDC inmates,
42:27>> but they need reliable. They need
42:28equipment that doesn't break down when
42:30when they have a crew of four guys
42:32sitting in there. And
42:33>> so we've been getting them
42:35>> good zero turns and rotating them out.
42:37We have three of them. So every third
42:38year we buy another zero turn.
42:41>> What I was wanting to do this year is
42:43buy a shredder instead of a zeroturn.
42:45>> Let's eat it one year. Let's hold
42:48>> with the equipment that we have, but buy
42:50a shredder.
42:52>> We We just inherited right at 90,000 90
42:56acres of additional industrial park
42:57property that has to be mowed. We have a
43:00small one. Oh, that's that's
43:02>> we really need
43:03>> a good shredder.
43:04>> Okay.
43:05>> And so I did have that in the budget,
43:06but in order to meet this no new revenue
43:08rate, I pulled that out of the budget as
43:10well.
43:12>> Um,
43:12>> we're just going to have to deal with
43:14what we have, you know, make do with
43:16what the the
43:18>> equipment that we have. Um, but that's
43:21another placeholder that I that I put in
43:24the budget.
43:29>> so basically I parked
43:31uh management. They're going to have to
43:33take on mowing and pretty much like
43:37>> this past three these the past three
43:39months are not typical for the city. So,
43:42I know that y'all have seen us getting
43:45behind on mowing.
43:47>> This last year, we had a TDC crew boss
43:50that retired.
43:52>> And so, we had a dedicated crew come
43:54into Crockett for the last several
43:56years. The crew boss retired. They just
43:59appointed they started this week and if
44:02you notice the West Golad at the
44:03underpass. Yes. They start already
44:05started on that project.
44:06>> So they're already hitting the ground
44:08running. But that's not atypical.
44:10>> Having them helping us can free up more
44:12of our people to go out and do
44:14>> really
44:15>> mowing once a month or something like
44:17that in Industrial Park. So I'm not
44:19saying we can't keep up with it. It's
44:21just it's a struggle. We have to
44:23prioritize
44:24>> keeping all of our properties up and now
44:27bringing in additional 90 acres of more
44:29property when we are already kind of
44:31behind.
44:32>> Yeah.
44:32>> With no additional funds to to pay for
44:35it from. So, um
44:39I did want to bring that to y'all's um
44:41to y'all's attention. Um the other thing
44:44on our water side,
44:47I added $18,000. I used the last couple
44:50of months worth of of u legal costs for
44:55our water attorney that's helping us on
44:57this
44:58>> on the well application
45:00>> all over it
45:02>> that's going in in Redtown Ranch.
45:04>> So we've hired an attorney that that
45:06money has to come from somewhere. So I
45:08plugged in an additional $18,000
45:11for a year in legal fees as a
45:14>> as an as an expected or projected budget
45:17for that.
45:23this budget also included on the utility
45:25side since we're not this is not coming
45:27out of property taxes. That's coming out
45:29of the utility side of utility revenues.
45:32When I asked council earlier during the
45:34capital request process out of out of
45:37for funding from property taxes,
45:41we we all agreed that if we're going to
45:43raise taxes or going to do anything to
45:44our taxes, it needs to go to streets.
45:46We're not putting it, we're not taking
45:48it out of there.
45:50Um the money to purchase a car
45:55to purchase a vehicle
45:57to relieve the fire marshall truck to be
46:01to be able to transfer the fire marshal
46:03truck to the fire department. And so the
46:04fire department's truck can be used in
46:06our public works department. It's a
46:07three it's a three-way swap. They don't
46:10need a one ton truck.
46:14City Hall does not need a 3/4 ton truck.
46:17So that purchases us a replacement
46:20vehicle for that.
46:26>> So what we buying we buying a new
46:28vehicle?
46:30>> No, just a used vehicle.
46:33>> That was something that we said we
46:34weren't doing, right? Or
46:35>> Yeah. We're not going to pay
46:38>> Yeah, we're not going to pay for
46:45Um, this also addresses the the repair
46:48state the the uh list station repair.
46:52Um, we have the money
46:55in the budget. I put 100 we have 125
46:58from from last year. I want to keep that
47:00in there and that will give us the funds
47:02to repair the lift station that I
47:04brought to council that during our
47:06capital request process that is under a
47:09TCQ.
47:10Uh it's we we haven't received
47:12violations for it, but if if inspected,
47:14we would we need to get that lift
47:17station repaired and back online.
47:21>> So, let me ask you a question about the
47:22car. So, do we have to buy a car?
47:26>> We don't. There's a lot of No ma'am. So,
47:28can we just give
47:30leave your car?
47:33>> If you give me a car,
47:35>> why do we need to give you a car?
47:38>> Okay, that's up to council to answer.
47:41>> I'm just asking.
47:43>> By the way, we doing a lot of business
47:45for the city. So, yes, I would need a
47:47vehicle.
47:48>> Your dad will pay me a vehicle stacking.
47:50>> We have a vehicle. Yeah.
47:53>> Not if you give it away. if you give him
47:55my vehicle.
47:57>> So,
47:58>> you're going to need a vehicle or else
48:00you going to have to pay travel.
48:01>> Council can let me know if that's
48:02something that you got to have
48:04transportation.
48:05>> Everybody in a if you travel in a in a
48:09town, you need transportation.
48:11>> Yes, ma'am.
48:13>> Yes.
48:15Tear up your own riding around. You got
48:18to give a stip and that's more than
48:19trans. Well, I mean, it's not like he
48:21can't like, you know,
48:23one you need a vehicle here or when he
48:26needs to go use the vehicle, you use it.
48:30>> I mean, you can
48:32>> we can work it out.
48:33>> Well, I think that you need I think if
48:35you don't have Okay, we'll discuss that.
48:39>> We don't have to purchase any other
48:40vehicles. I mean,
48:41>> you need another transportation. You got
48:43to have transportation,
48:44>> right? And it doesn't need to be your
48:46personal
48:48>> what
48:49>> that makes sense.
48:51>> What's council's um we covered in in
48:56some of our biggest
49:00items during our budget process over the
49:03past couple of meetings. I have a
49:06followup. I have a balanced budget. What
49:09we would do tonight, what I'm requesting
49:12of council is for council to provide me
49:15with a proposed tax rate to fund this
49:18budget.
49:20This proposed tax rate, I have to call
49:22for a public hearing. I have to put it
49:24in the newspaper, post it on our
49:26website, put it in on hard copies at
49:29city hall for pickup for anyone that
49:30wants to look at it and ask questions
49:32and go over it in depth. Then at our
49:35next council meeting on the 18th, we
49:38would have that public hearing that's
49:40posted in the newspaper.
49:42We have a public hearing where people
49:44can comment for against
49:47um council can then decide after that
49:50council
49:52um approves the or adopts the tax rate.
49:55Tonight we're only asking you to provide
49:58us with a proposed tax rate.
50:04and so
50:06if you look here
50:142026,
50:19Can you put in
50:24the voter approval tax rate?
50:31and you go to
50:34let's say street department
50:55that could increase our street
50:57department budget from 500 00 410,000 to
51:00574121
51:04to rebalance the budget.
51:08Let me do something that
51:11>> using the voter approval rate instead of
51:13the no new revenue rate
51:15>> the voter approval rate
51:17>> using this 51 94 M tax rate instead of
51:22the so we're going from 5019
51:26>> the no new revenue rate would drop it
51:28down to 4747
51:30the voter approval rate would increase
51:32it slightly above this one to 5194
51:36it's almost 52 cents
51:40or anywhere in between.
51:42>> I think that
51:45that it's not that big of a difference
51:48between our current
51:50and a vote to approve
51:53if we want the things done. We want the
51:55streets fixed. That's I don't think we
51:58have much choices.
52:07>> Okay.
52:09>> Are there any other questions on the
52:10budget,
52:13>> the water and sewer rates, the tax
52:15rates, the budgeted amounts? Um,
52:21>> nothing. just asking that you go back
52:23through and see what we could
52:27possibly remove or need or
52:31>> if you have if you want to meet with me
52:32and you want you want to ask it you know
52:34look let's look into any of those we
52:37definitely can I've gone through it and
52:40last year we had to make this budget
52:42really lean because we went from last
52:45year we went into the no new revenue
52:46rate so we really had to cut costs last
52:49year to make the budget
52:52This year, I'm rolling that forward into
52:54a no new revenue rate. So, the the the
52:57budget that you see before is what we
53:00really shaved down from last year. And
53:03we've continued shaving down more
53:04because some things had to go up. Our
53:07electricity costs, our insurance costs,
53:09some of those all went up. So, we had to
53:11find more areas to shave and cut. And so
53:14the things that I cut were like normal
53:17replacements of lawnmowers in our parks
53:19department. You know, all of those we
53:21just we took out if if it could wait
53:25another year. It's not recommended, but
53:28it just had to be cut out and so we cut
53:29it out. Um so yes, we can do another
53:32year. not expecting all of those vehicle
53:42lean
53:45as you're going to find.
53:46>> I think I asked you before that uh
53:48sundry what what is what is that
53:52on page three
53:54>> on revenues? Yeah,
53:56>> that's brought in for utilities. Um
54:04this one here remind me what
54:08overall sunundry is. It's in over bills
54:11um payments that were passed due.
54:14There's
54:15>> tax. It's also water taps
54:17>> and water taps. So not
54:21guaranteed revenue.
54:22>> Okay.
54:29Well,
54:30>> okay. Council,
54:34>> what's your pleasure?
54:37>> So, at the I mean, at the no
54:41new revenue rate. I mean, it's gonna be
54:46hard to
54:47>> get everything
54:48>> to to get every I mean,
54:51>> just get up.
54:53>> A lot of our a lot of our needs would
54:55would go unmet. Am I right?
55:00>> Yeah.
55:01>> At the no new revenue rate.
55:04>> Yes, sir.
55:05>> So,
55:08we'd have to look to the right more to
55:10the to the voter approval rate.
55:15I'm just asking a question.
55:19>> Well,
55:21it looks like that's the way we're going
55:23to have to go
55:25>> just to fund the city.
55:28>> I I feel like that is the one
55:30department, especially our street
55:31department, that's the one variable
55:34>> that we can't play
55:35>> that can improve if we just have more
55:38money. Otherwise, we we run out of the
55:41funds that we have. um
55:44when we still have people and equipment
55:46to do work. That's the one variable that
55:49cost a lot. The oil, the rock, the
55:53asphalt, the cement,
55:55the curbon gutters that we've been
55:56doing, you know, those those just take
55:58up a lot of money.
56:01And that's the biggest need
56:05that goes unmet every year.
56:07>> Well,
56:07>> and it's getting worse.
56:10And those streets that we would we that
56:13we would set aside that's in need of
56:15repair right now, they're not going to
56:17fix themselves and they're just going to
56:19get worse if we
56:23mean if we have put everything aside
56:25because
56:28of not having the the money to do it.
56:33>> But I don't like for things to go up
56:35either.
56:36>> Nobody does. I don't fuss about it. I do
56:39what you do.
56:40>> I just got my one my one of my insurance
56:43packages just a couple of days ago and
56:46it's gone up.
56:47>> Everything.
56:52>> Okay, council.
56:55Well, if there's no questions on that,
57:00then council can we can if you want to
57:02move to
57:04number three, that's going to be to
57:07approve the proposed tax rate.
57:10>> Okay. Item number three, consider an
57:12approved proposed tax rate. What would
57:14it be? What should you
57:17[Music]
57:28I make a motion to approve and consider
57:31the approved um proposed tax rate.
57:37>> So just if you
57:38>> approval rate,
57:39>> the voter approval rate,
57:40>> right?
57:41>> Okay, we have a
57:43>> I second. It's
57:45>> second. Moved and second. All in favor?
57:52Oppose.
57:54Motion carries.
57:56Move it to item number four.
57:59Public hearing on tax abatement
58:01agreement between Houston County and the
58:03city of Crockett under the tax abatement
58:05guidelines and criteria Texas Tax Code
58:08Chapter 312 section 312.002.
58:14Council.
58:15>> Mayor and council. This is a a public
58:17hearing that we're required to hold
58:19every two years before we adopt the tax
58:21abatement guidelines and criteria
58:23policy. We have a joint one with a joint
58:27tax abatement and guidelines policy with
58:30the uh with Houston County. Um that's
58:33something that we can pass off to any
58:35business prospect that's looking to come
58:37into Crockett and that sets kind of our
58:40policy and guidelines for seeking any
58:44kind of a tax abatement. um that
58:48um is spelled out by um chapter 312 and
58:52chapter 3A of the Texas local government
58:54code. Um in order to issue a tax
58:57abatement, we have to have a policy on
58:59file and this addresses that to maintain
59:03a policy on file. Um
59:07the count the county I sent this out to
59:10council a couple months ago to look over
59:12and I mentioned in there I'm going to
59:14reissue I'm going to re uh remention
59:18down on page
59:29uh one of the concerns that the county
59:31had um was in years prior are not
59:35receiving um annual assessment reports
59:39or timely filing. Businesses that have
59:43tax abatements with the city are
59:45required to do quarterly and annual
59:47filing showing that they met those
59:48performance agreements that they've
59:49hired. If they said they are going to
59:51hire 20 people, they need to show us the
59:52books that they've hired 20 people. If
59:55they said they're going to invest 10
59:56million, they need to show at least 10
59:57million in, you know, their expense
1:00:00report. So um
1:00:03up and up and you know the the county's
1:00:06concern was that they had not been
1:00:08receiving that in years prior timely.
1:00:11When they go into a joint agreement with
1:00:13us as a lead then we're the primary
1:00:18point of contact
1:00:20to provide it to ensure that we have
1:00:22those reports in and to make sure that
1:00:25we pass them on to the county. And so
1:00:27they requested to add this clause here.
1:00:32the annual assessment report upon
1:00:34completion of construction, the
1:00:35designated representative of Houston
1:00:37County or the city of Crockett,
1:00:38whichever entity takes lead on the
1:00:40abatement shall annually evaluate each
1:00:42facility receiving the abatement to
1:00:44ensure compliance with the agreement and
1:00:45a formal report shall be made to the
1:00:47commissioner's court and city council of
1:00:49Crockett. So we do an annual report on
1:00:51that. That's something that uh we're
1:00:53going to need to be doing. the timely
1:00:56filing the county or city whichever
1:00:58entity takes lead on the baitment shall
1:01:00ensure timely filing with the Texas
1:01:02Department of Economic Development and
1:01:04the state controllers office all in
1:01:06information required by the tax code. So
1:01:08that was added in there. Other than
1:01:09that, the abatement um policy is the
1:01:13same is the same policy.
1:01:14>> So based on that in that policy, we're
1:01:17basically equally
1:01:19um responsible for whatever happens,
1:01:22>> whoever takes lead on the project. Um,
1:01:25so if the county was to take lead on any
1:01:29economic development project, then they
1:01:31would provide those reports to us and
1:01:33vice versa.
1:01:35>> Yes, ma'am.
1:01:37>> But this addresses clawback clauses that
1:01:40every abatement has to have cure
1:01:42notifications.
1:01:44Basically, what we've been dealing with
1:01:46this evening, uh, the claw clawback
1:01:48clauses, um, performance agreements
1:01:51under the recapture. This basically
1:01:53spells out the policy to any business
1:01:56coming in. They're not taking
1:02:00>> they're not unaware of of the
1:02:02requirements.
1:02:05>> Um so this is just a public um hearing
1:02:09for anybody from the public that wishes
1:02:11to speak for and against. And then after
1:02:14the public hearing is open and no one if
1:02:17after comments then we would adopt it in
1:02:20the next
1:02:21>> agenda item.
1:02:22>> We officially open
1:02:23>> and this
1:02:24>> okay the public hearing is now
1:02:26officially open. If you have any
1:02:28comments
1:02:35>> and this is updated every two years
1:02:39>> you can I mean you can share.
1:02:41>> Yes ma'am. It's It's to be updated every
1:02:43two years. It expires in a this this
1:02:45month and so we need to update it to
1:02:48have one on file.
1:02:50>> Okay. Does anyone from the audience have
1:02:52any comments
1:02:55council?
1:03:00If no comments,
1:03:02>> nope.
1:03:03>> We're closing the hearings there. Close.
1:03:08Okay. Can we
1:03:11Do we have to
1:03:13>> go then? Item number five.
1:03:14>> Okay. Okay. Item number five. Consider
1:03:17and approve adopt an updated policy for
1:03:19joint tax abatement agreements with
1:03:22Houston County under the tax abatement
1:03:24guidelines and criteria pursuant to
1:03:27Texas tax code chapter 312 section
1:03:31312.002.
1:03:34Council.
1:03:37I'll make a motion we adopt the updated
1:03:40policy.
1:03:42>> I second the motion.
1:03:43>> It's been moved and second. All in
1:03:46favor?
1:03:49>> Motion carries. No post. Okay. Item
1:03:52number six, consider and approve a
1:03:55resolution agreement with the Texas
1:03:57Department of Transportation for the
1:03:58temporary closure of the state right
1:04:00away for the World Champions Fillers
1:04:03Festival in Crockett.
1:04:08Council,
1:04:09>> mayor, council, this is
1:04:13a new thing.
1:04:13>> That map is not Oh, here it is.
1:04:17They're wanting to re
1:04:21I believe they didn't do it the last two
1:04:25years. They skipped a couple years.
1:04:27What's that? The Fiddler's Festival.
1:04:31They've had it been out in the park,
1:04:32>> but they didn't do it last year. I
1:04:34believe
1:04:34>> something happened. Did they do it last
1:04:36year?
1:04:37>> Huh?
1:04:39>> Yeah, they skipped one year.
1:04:41>> Yeah, they skipped.
1:04:41>> They had some more
1:04:43>> some more people join and really wanted
1:04:45to see it that that we not skip any more
1:04:47years. So, they had some more people
1:04:50join um the group and they've come back
1:04:53with a vengeance and ready to
1:04:55>> to do at the World Championship
1:04:58Festival. They are wanting it back down
1:05:00on the square for a closed event. Um,
1:05:05and so this is us to be able to take it
1:05:08and get it approved through text dot for
1:05:10street closures.
1:05:12>> What is that?
1:05:13>> It's a fiddler festival.
1:05:16>> What about 20 years?
1:05:18>> Y was over there where they would have
1:05:22the old pavilions where they first
1:05:23started
1:05:24>> and they used to put that
1:05:27>> they block off the old pavilion parts of
1:05:29>> Hold on. Let me see. been doing it for a
1:05:30long year.
1:05:34>> I believe it's the 88th. They've been
1:05:35having it for 88 years.
1:05:37>> Yeah, you ate it somewhere.
1:05:41>> You've had 88 years to figure this out.
1:05:44>> I think for Monday,
1:05:46>> you probably see I think y'all going
1:05:48over.
1:05:48>> You don't have your fiddle.
1:05:49>> I might show up this year though.
1:05:52>> All right. Uh
1:05:58recommend uh
1:05:59>> uh just real short there um on Friday on
1:06:02Friday they're going to be closing um
1:06:05parking spaces in front of uh basically
1:06:09from the roller skate rink from the um
1:06:13skate down to le
1:06:14>> they're going to um close those parking
1:06:17spaces and that parking lot and they're
1:06:20bringing in I believe 10 or 12 stake
1:06:28>> pits. Yeah, pits. They're doing a steak
1:06:30cook off.
1:06:31>> They're bringing for steaks.
1:06:33>> Um, and they're going to do a sale that
1:06:36night. They're going to do a steak sale.
1:06:38They're going to have a big cook off
1:06:40>> that night and then the next day we'll
1:06:43kick off the Fiddler Festival.
1:06:45>> Are they going to put up cheese? Are
1:06:46they going to do it open there? How are
1:06:47they going to do it today?
1:06:48>> They're going to open some of the
1:06:49restaurants. So, they're going to you're
1:06:51going to be able to go out on the um
1:06:53sidewalk and purchase steaks. You're
1:06:56going to have a bunch of vendors, steak
1:06:57cookoffs. You're going to be able to
1:06:58purchase steaks. And then the
1:07:00restaurants um it's on uh Friday night,
1:07:02but Moose Head's going to be open.
1:07:04They're going to have seating area and
1:07:07you can just go and
1:07:09>> have steak. And then they're going to be
1:07:10sitting around the the this park here
1:07:13and then downtown around under the trees
1:07:16around the courthouse. They're just
1:07:17going to be a bunch of
1:07:18>> fiddling around
1:07:19>> people out there fiddling and playing
1:07:21banjos and
1:07:21>> fiddling around.
1:07:24>> That sound interesting
1:07:25>> that night and then the next
1:07:28>> and then the next day Saturday will be
1:07:29this the main square club
1:07:33>> just that night this but the square
1:07:35won't be closed.
1:07:36>> They're just going to close off that
1:07:37parking lot and everything
1:07:40>> and then
1:07:42>> All right. Sure.
1:07:45be interested.
1:07:47>> We need a motion to approve.
1:07:48>> Okay.
1:07:49>> Yes.
1:07:51>> I'd like to make a motion to approve the
1:07:54What's that?
1:07:55>> Temporary closure.
1:07:56>> Temporary closure.
1:07:59>> Second.
1:08:01>> State right away. It's item six.
1:08:04>> State right away. I'm sorry
1:08:06>> for the world.
1:08:08>> There you go.
1:08:08>> Got a motion in second.
1:08:10>> Okay. It's been moved and second. All in
1:08:12favor?
1:08:14Motion carries. It should be
1:08:16interesting.
1:08:17>> I'm going be there for the second.
1:08:18>> Okay. Uh
1:08:21uh number seven. Item number seven,
1:08:24consent and approve gateway sign
1:08:26locations.
1:08:29Pick that.
1:08:30>> Mayor and council. I wanted to review
1:08:32this again with count with council. We
1:08:34actually had one or two
1:08:37by the time we got through the whole
1:08:39process with prospective owners. Oh, too
1:08:42>> interested parties and um so there's
1:08:45been a few adjustments. However, the
1:08:47signs are made. They're finished.
1:08:49They're ready for delivery.
1:08:51>> They're waiting um they're waiting for
1:08:53us just to prove this tonight. They're
1:08:55going to be bringing their crews in to
1:08:56start the uh pouring the footers and
1:08:59bringing the signs in. So, here's the
1:09:02ones that we we have the easements
1:09:04already for all of these spots. This is
1:09:06one coming in from 7 east into town
1:09:09behind Waterburger right after Fastrack.
1:09:13The old Leslo cells where Fast Tracks
1:09:15at. There's currently a sign there.
1:09:17We're going to replace that sign with
1:09:19this new sign.
1:09:20>> There is a sign
1:09:23>> 21 East. There's currently a sign
1:09:28>> on the inside on the inside of the
1:09:31intersection. When you get to the
1:09:32intersection, Taco Bell's over here on
1:09:34your left. Crockett Vet is on your on
1:09:36your right as you're coming into the
1:09:38square or the loop. We're moving that
1:09:41sign from that location. We were not
1:09:43able to get easement on the current
1:09:45location where that sign is or we also
1:09:49talked with the Southland Federal and
1:09:50they had some concerns about their
1:09:52bylaws and abilities to do an easel for
1:09:55us. So, we started working our way back
1:09:58for the next best available location
1:10:01right here on the second entrance of Dr.
1:10:03cravens of the Crockett Vet.
1:10:05>> Um, veterinary hospital right here
1:10:08coming into town. Right after that
1:10:10driveway, he has an area of land that
1:10:13he's dedicated to allowing us to do
1:10:15that.
1:10:15>> That's close.
1:10:16>> And it's it's actually a really nice
1:10:18spot right under the tree
1:10:20>> because you won't run into the
1:10:22>> And so, um, we weren't able to get any
1:10:26on this piece of property. It's for sale
1:10:28and nobody wanted to work with us on an
1:10:31easement on that, but Dr. Cravens was
1:10:33more than willing to help us on that.
1:10:35>> That's a nice piece.
1:10:36>> The little the other one, this is coming
1:10:39in on 19 North from Lexo. This is a
1:10:43Houston County Nursing Home.
1:10:44>> Okay, that's pretty easy.
1:10:47>> Um, we looked at several different sites
1:10:48and none of them just this this is the
1:10:52only one that's on the inside of the
1:10:55after you've come to a stop. So, it's a
1:10:58little bit further away than we would
1:10:59like, but the that visibility and that
1:11:01hill would make it really stand out.
1:11:04>> So, even though it's a little bit
1:11:05further away and you're not passing it
1:11:07coming into town,
1:11:08>> it's easy to
1:11:09>> It's a good spot. It's a really good
1:11:10spot. And um
1:11:12>> Mr. Baker and Mrs. Baker
1:11:15>> allowed us to have an easement there.
1:11:19>> Um this is coming in on 287. This is
1:11:22Life Point First Assembly uh church
1:11:25coming into town at 287 South. So,
1:11:29putting
1:11:30where we're not eating up any, you know,
1:11:33frontage, but right on the front corner
1:11:36coming into town.
1:11:40And the last one is coming in on SE from
1:11:43721 from Centerville or uh Madisonville
1:11:48after the road joins together there
1:11:50after the after the Y and it comes
1:11:52together.
1:11:54>> You're coming up on the intersection
1:11:55here. There's a pulloff right here on
1:11:57the right hand side.
1:11:58>> There's a big pulloff area of asphalted
1:12:01area. So it's perfect for people to
1:12:02>> pull over and go out and stand and take
1:12:04pictures and stuff like that.
1:12:06Um, and we received easement for the
1:12:09corner of his property. Past this is all
1:12:12textile property.
1:12:13>> So, we got that very outer edge of
1:12:15corner of his property.
1:12:17>> And we've already, if you go out there
1:12:18now, we did some dirt work because there
1:12:20was underbrush and some small scrubby
1:12:22trees that we went in and cleaned up.
1:12:24And so, you'll get an idea of where
1:12:27where that one is.
1:12:28>> We got now coming 19 South.
1:12:31>> That is the one that we have.
1:12:34We we had an existing base there in
1:12:38front of the college building.
1:12:40>> Okay.
1:12:40>> In front of the college building. Yeah.
1:12:42>> It used to have Angelina College on it.
1:12:44All that's been removed. Proalis has put
1:12:46their
1:12:47>> I don't know
1:12:48>> their their wording on the sign itself.
1:12:51I would like to talk.
1:12:52>> That's the hottest. That's to go now
1:12:56coming.
1:12:57>> Let me come up with some Let me come up
1:13:00with some ideas.
1:13:01>> That's the main one we should have had.
1:13:03see if I can receive funding, see if I
1:13:05can get some support
1:13:07>> from other businesses, maybe even
1:13:09proales to help us.
1:13:11>> And we use that sign that's already
1:13:13there and we put a lit sign something
1:13:16incorporate that big brick base.
1:13:19>> Yeah.
1:13:19>> Where we're not tearing all that down.
1:13:22>> And I think if we incorporated that big
1:13:24brick
1:13:26>> base and we put a nice sign city of
1:13:28Crockett something on. Let me let me
1:13:30come up with some designs, some costs,
1:13:32and see if I can't find some people to
1:13:34help fund it as well.
1:13:36>> We just didn't have the money in this
1:13:38>> for this round,
1:13:40>> this this round.
1:13:43>> And I just wanted to go over these
1:13:45locations to be sure that everybody's
1:13:48>> aware of it and doesn't have any issues
1:13:50on it. But it is the hottest.
1:13:52>> You got to have 19, man. I'll come back
1:13:55with some
1:13:56>> I'll come back with some u some options.
1:13:59>> Ready for a motion?
1:14:00>> Yes. Ready for a motion?
1:14:01>> I make a motion that we approve the
1:14:03gateway sign locations.
1:14:06>> Can we get a second?
1:14:07>> Second.
1:14:08>> It's been moved and second. All in
1:14:09favor?
1:14:11Motion carries. Okay. Uh now we're up to
1:14:18uh item eight, results of the executive
1:14:21session. Uh section 551071
1:14:25consultation with attorney regarding
1:14:28Lincoln lumber recapture of incentives
1:14:31and tax abatements.
1:14:34>> Mayor and council um move that we well I
1:14:38motion that we move to ex extend the
1:14:41cure period uh for Lincoln lumber to
1:14:45allow for legal research.
1:14:48>> Second.
1:14:49>> Okay. Been moved and second. All in
1:14:51favor?
1:14:53Motion carries. It brings us to item
1:14:55number nine, government code 551074,
1:14:58personnel matters. Consider matter
1:15:01related to city administrator and
1:15:02assistant city administrator and plan of
1:15:05secession.
1:15:09>> I make a motion that we
1:15:13approve the plan of succession for the
1:15:15city administrator and assistant city
1:15:18administrator.
1:15:24Can we get a second?
1:15:26>> Second.
1:15:26>> Okay, it's been moved and second. All in
1:15:28favor?
1:15:29>> Um
1:15:29>> Oh, I'm sorry.
1:15:30>> Before we go for a vote, do you mind
1:15:32looking um providing us some
1:15:35>> recommendation,
1:15:36>> further direction on the other portions
1:15:38of the plan of secession?
1:15:45>> get providing direction.
1:15:48>> No.
1:15:50Okay.
1:15:50>> The fire marshall position as well.
1:15:53>> Okay. All right.
1:15:55>> You want to reward?
1:15:56>> I move. Yeah. Oh, couldn't call for
1:15:58rewarding.
1:16:00>> Mhm. Okay. He's going to reward it.
1:16:04>> All right. Can I make a motion that we
1:16:07move that the city council approve the
1:16:09plan of succession
1:16:11as presented, which includes
1:16:13the uh
1:16:18ascension of assistant city
1:16:19administrator [name] [name] to the
1:16:21position of city administrator, the
1:16:23reassignment of city administrator [name]
1:16:25Anggerstein to the role of deputy city
1:16:28administrator to provide transitional
1:16:30support and oversight of ongoing
1:16:32projects and the transfer of fire
1:16:34marshall duties from the assistant city
1:16:37administrator to the fire chief with the
1:16:40fire investigation inspection
1:16:42responsibilities delegated to designated
1:16:45fire department officers effective
1:16:47October 1, 2025 and approve the
1:16:50presented employment agreements of the
1:16:52city administrator and deputy sitter
1:16:56city administrator.
1:16:58>> Okay, the motion second. Yes.
1:17:00>> Okay, it's been moved and second. All in
1:17:02favor?
1:17:05Oppose.
1:17:08Okay. Motion.
1:17:09>> Let the record reflect his note in
1:17:10policy.
1:17:13>> Mayor and council. Um
1:17:16I have a a short statement tonight and I
1:17:20I won't be too long because I know it's
1:17:22late.
1:17:25>> But it is with pride, humility, and hope
1:17:28for the future that I share this message
1:17:29with you. After nearly 10 years serving
1:17:32as your assistant as your city
1:17:34administrator, I have made the decision
1:17:35to step back from my current role and
1:17:38transition into supportive capacity as
1:17:40deputy city administrator.
1:17:42This brings the question, why now? Why
1:17:45after all we've been through and the
1:17:48progress that we've made? And my answer
1:17:50is simple. Why not now? This city has
1:17:53come so far during my time here, even
1:17:56through tough challenges. There are
1:17:57moments I wonder how much further ahead
1:17:59we might have been if we had always had
1:18:02the right people fully committed to
1:18:03Crockett's best interest. But I'm
1:18:05reminded that it was the perseverance of
1:18:07good people, those who stayed the course
1:18:09despite the obstacles that allowed us to
1:18:10recover and move forward. From the
1:18:13beginning, I promised to leave this city
1:18:14better than I found it. Tonight, I can
1:18:17say without a doubt that promise is
1:18:18kept. When I stepped into this role in
1:18:212016, Crockett was in an unstable state.
1:18:24We had cycled through several city
1:18:26administrators. Our finances were poor
1:18:28with no reserves. Equipment was failing.
1:18:31Morale was low and the future felt
1:18:33uncertain to many. In fact, the outgoing
1:18:36city administrator told me when he was
1:18:39leaving, he told me he felt like he and
1:18:41previous administrators were in a game
1:18:43of musical chairs and no one wanted to
1:18:46be the one standing when the music
1:18:47stops.
1:18:49I became determined that I wasn't just
1:18:51looking for a chair to sit in.
1:18:57I didn't take this job as a stepping
1:18:59stone
1:19:02and I didn't plan to leave when times
1:19:03got tough.
1:19:05>> You did.
1:19:05>> I took it because I believe Crockett
1:19:07deserved servant leaders.
1:19:09>> Yes.
1:19:09>> Willing to put aside egos and themselves
1:19:11and someone willing to see it through
1:19:12hard times.
1:19:14Together, we made the tough decisions
1:19:16that needed to be made and have come
1:19:19so far. our finances. We went from
1:19:23budget deficits. We borrowed money from
1:19:25our enterprise fund just to pay bills.
1:19:28Our credit rating was a BB minus.
1:19:32And now today, we have healthy reserves
1:19:34and moved up 10 points to a strong and
1:19:35double A credit rating.
1:19:38In infrastructure, we rebuilding roads,
1:19:40improving water and sewer, upgrading
1:19:42parks, providing employees with reliable
1:19:45equipment and vehicles.
1:19:47our employees. We transformed the
1:19:49workforce into a hometown team that
1:19:51takes pride in their work. They save the
1:19:54city's hundreds of thousands of dollars
1:19:55by doing more and more in-house every
1:19:57day. And they're doing it every day
1:19:59without complaint.
1:20:02The chaos surrounding economic
1:20:03development has been stabilized. We see
1:20:07successful businesses being brought into
1:20:09town. We're filling up vacant buildings.
1:20:12We have new businesses being built in
1:20:13our industrial park for the first time.
1:20:16We've created a path towards lowering
1:20:18property taxes once the debt has been
1:20:20paid off.
1:20:22We have secured funding and equipment
1:20:24and training that has draft drastically
1:20:26improved our ISO fire rating and
1:20:28modernized police operations. We used to
1:20:31buy broke down army surplus and force
1:20:33service vehicles. We used to buy down
1:20:36hand-me-down vehicles from Lufkin Police
1:20:38Department and and and spend money to
1:20:41make them last. Today we have reliable
1:20:43ones that everybody can be proud of.
1:20:46All of these are milestones or countless
1:20:48projects that have quietly transformed
1:20:50how Crockett functions day-to-day.
1:20:53That being said, I never intended to
1:20:55hold this seat so long that I held
1:20:56others back or to the point that I
1:20:59stopped being effective.
1:21:01Looking back, I know I was appointed for
1:21:04such a time as this.
1:21:06It was my duty to help lead through
1:21:07crisis and play my role in helping
1:21:10stabilize the city and put right people
1:21:11and systems in place. Now those people
1:21:14and systems are in place. We have a
1:21:16healthy city, strong leadership and
1:21:18momentum. This is the right time for a
1:21:20smooth transition, not in crisis, but
1:21:23during stability.
1:21:25In my new position, I hope to continue
1:21:27supporting Crockett, oversee major
1:21:29projects already underway,
1:21:32attract new businesses, and work hard
1:21:33towards their successes, and ensure no
1:21:36momentum is lost as the next
1:21:37administrator steps into the role.
1:21:40I think first I thank God for giving me
1:21:43this opportunity.
1:21:52>> Take your time.
1:22:00>> It is only by his grace that I've been
1:22:02able to serve you. And I pray I've been
1:22:04a witness worthy of him.
1:22:08>> Amen.
1:22:11to the mayors and city council members
1:22:13who appointed me
1:22:16and supported the tough decisions. Since
1:22:19then, I've served under 17 council
1:22:21members and four mayors.
1:22:26Thank you for your trust in me. Thank
1:22:28you for serving with me and allowing me
1:22:31the honor of a lifetime.
1:22:35to our amazing city employees.
1:22:40You are the backbone of this community.
1:22:41Thank you for showing up every day and
1:22:43making me proud to serve alongside of
1:22:47And to the citizens of Crockett,
1:22:50thank you for the honor of serving you.
1:22:53I've met some of the most wonderful
1:22:54people on this journey, many of whom I
1:22:56now call lifelong friends.
1:22:59And finally, to my wife and family,
1:23:02thank you for your patience.
1:23:06through the late nights, phone calls,
1:23:07and interruptions that come with the
1:23:11My wife Christa has been my strongest
1:23:12supporter, and I couldn't have done this
1:23:14without her.
1:23:19I'm sorry for being emotional, but this
1:23:21job has meant the world to me.
1:23:26>> I'm not sad. I'm not sad.
1:23:30I'm hopeful and looking forward to the
1:23:32future.
1:23:34This transition is going to feel
1:23:36strange. I promise you. But I want you
1:23:37to know I'm not leaving you. I'm leaving
1:23:40you in a place of strength. This city
1:23:42has been good to me and my family, and I
1:23:43hope I've honored the trust that you've
1:23:45placed in me.
1:23:48Serving you as your city administrator
1:23:50has been the greatest honor of my
1:23:51professional life. And now it will be my
1:23:54honor to support the city in a more
1:23:55focused way
1:23:58as deputy city administrator.
1:24:01Thank you.
1:24:06[Applause]
1:24:15before you said you got to make a speak
1:24:17about you know
1:24:19I guess I'm partial when I came in as
1:24:22mayor
1:24:24I noticed how things were falling apart
1:24:27and how much [name] has done I know a lot
1:24:29of it go unnoticed but it's never been
1:24:32point where we anybody couldn't ask him
1:24:34something, he was able to do. I don't
1:24:37care. You see a hole, he's in the hole.
1:24:39You see him on top of the roof, you see
1:24:40him everywhere. And I know that even in
1:24:43this new role that he takes, it's just
1:24:46going to be still beneficial because
1:24:47well, he won't have to have as much
1:24:49conversation with me every day as he'll
1:24:52be around and be able to be even more so
1:24:54hands-on. But I it's without a doubt,
1:24:57you have changed the dynamics of the
1:24:59city. You made it look like a city. You
1:25:02made it feel like a city. And you made
1:25:04it function like a city even more so.
1:25:08And we're glad. We're so grateful that
1:25:11you're willing to stay and continue to
1:25:13work with it. And we know as our new
1:25:15city manager come in that we're going to
1:25:17still be a team. We don't have to start
1:25:19from scratch. And I am elated about
1:25:21that. I'm excited. And we're going to do
1:25:24some great things. We have a full
1:25:25counselor that's ready to go to work.
1:25:28and everybody's excited and we're so
1:25:31excited and thank you so much. We can't
1:25:33say the words, but I am going to thank
1:25:35your wife for putting up with you. I I
1:25:37know it was hard and we appreciate your
1:25:40family and everything that they done and
1:25:42so what can we say but thank you and
1:25:44glad that you're not leaving. You're
1:25:46just transitioning.
1:25:48Oh, and that's it. Woo! You get to come
1:25:51home.
1:25:58Yes, ma'am.
1:26:01>> Okay. I got a
1:26:03>> I got I got
1:26:06>> um pass those out before you got it.
1:26:11That's fine.
1:26:16>> Say that's my brain.