January 20, 2022 – City Council Meeting Minutes

May 18, 2022

Meeting Minutes

January 20, 2022

A Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting, to be held on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. at the Portwood Art & Civic Center, 800 E. Morris, Seymour Texas 76380. All notices have been duly posted in accordance and conformance with the Government Code of the State of Texas, Section 551.002(c). The City of Seymour attempts to make its meetings accessible to all its citizens. If you have need of auxiliary aids, please notify the ADA Coordinator at 889-3148, at least 48 hours in advance. The following agenda will be considered:

1. Call to Order, Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance by Mayor Jon Hrncirik

Mayor Jon Hrncirik opened the meeting at 7:02 p.m.

Council present: MPT Monty Glass, Council Member Lan Winn, and Council Member Les Hons.

Council absent: Councilman Jay Hudson was absent at this meeting

City Staff present: City Administrator Dr. Jeff Brasher, E.D. Director Lauren Bush, Water/Sewer/RO Plant Supervisor Robert Torrez, John Davis, Fire Chief Kenneth Hons, SVFD Sid Winn, Chief of Police Mike Griffin

Guest: Mark McCord, Mary Kay Fair, Merle Rogers, Cory Glassburn, Dale Garner, Dana Winn, Kim Stevenson, Mac Stevenson, Christina Riley, Dylan Riley, Scott Murphy, Don Kolacek

2. Council Member to lead the meeting in Prayer

Council Member Lan Winn led the prayer.

3. Mayor Announcements:

a.) Covid blessings. Be well, be safe.

No other announcements were made by Mayor Jon Hrncirik.

4. City Administrator Report (s)

a.) Employee List & SFRC Golf total (105)

b.) Supervisor Written Reports

c.) Fishing Tournament Information

June 11, 2022 – 9am to 11am & SFRC Open House, encourage council and community participation.

5. Citizen Comments

Mark McCord – Does not believe the meeting notice was posted correctly on the website, 72 hours prior to the meeting per the Texas Open Meeting Act, and wanted it to be recorded in the minutes as him saying so.

6. City Administrator Dr. Jeffrey Brasher to recognize Department of the month

Seymour Volunteer Fire Department was recognized as Department of the Month.

7. Discuss and take action to approve City of Seymour 2019-

2020,Audit, as presented by Eide Bailly, LLP., Shannon Strickland.

Shannon Strickland, Eide Bailly, September 2020 Audit. This was a clean audit with no findings. The software switchover and Covid caused the delay on this report.

Assets increased by $2.5M due to water & electric meter upgrade
Total debt is $5.7M – in September 2021 added another million dollars to the debt due to the winter freeze.
$2.8M of Capital Grant Contribution from the Airport for the TXDoT Grant that you received
Loss of $354,000 in the general fund
$8.1 Million Machinery and equipment
$394,000 loss with Water
$171,000 profit with Electric, but $463,000 transfer to general fund
$4 M in the bank, September 2020
$3M Asset Increase – General Fund
In compliance with debt covanence
Paid $635/month for employee health insurance
No findings, clean audit

City Administrator, Dr. Jeff Brasher: Next Audit to be completed by April 2022. Consolidating 40+ accounts into 7 accounts.

Shannon Strickland: Presentation will probably be at the May meeting.

Mayor Jon Hrncirik: Asked for additional council discussion. Asked for citizens comments, none were offered. Open to entertain motion.

Councilman Les Hons: Requested to review audit over the next month prior to approval.

Mayor Jon Hrncirik: If there is no motion then we shall move on. Thank you Shannon.

NO MOTION – NO ACTION

8. Action Items

(a.) Discuss, review, and consider action on proposals for residential and

commercial trash services for the City of Seymour.

<< Dale with AEL Green Logistics is the hauling division of the Abilene Landfill.

Owned by Alamo 1 Environmental out of San Antonio
Remediation , demolition, storm water drainage in addition to regular trash services
Landfill is permitted to operate 24 hours a day
19 years experience of waste hauling, south of San Antonio
Bought landfill last year
Bought new trucks
Now servicing Tuscola, Roby, Lueders, & Haskell

Les Hons: Would you be willing to come out twice a week?

Dale: Yes, at a higher rate.

Les Hons: Do you do strictly roll outs?

Dale: We are a full service landfill & waste hauling service

Jeff Brasher: Do ya’ll do alley pick-ups with the metal containers?

Dale: Absolutely.

Les Hons: If we were to go back to the alley dumpsters instead of roll offs?

Dale: With the costs of metal, poly carts are the most inexpensive option.

Jon Hrncirik: Are the metal dumpsters side pickups or front?

Dale: Side pickups.

Jon Hrncirik: Do you have any cities presently do alley pick ups without polycarts?

Dale: No. Most pickups are curbside.

Lan Winn: Is there a additional cost for 2 carts

Dale: Yes

Monty Glass: Is this a 2 truck town? And would the trucks be kept local?

Dale: Yes, it would require 2 trucks, however they have to return to the yard in Abilene for daily maintenance.

Les Hons: And they would have to drive to Abilene to dump as well?

Dale: Yes.

Jeff Brasher: What do you do if a truck breaks down?

Dale: We have 4 brand trucks right now and another one to be delivered the middle of 2022. Ideally, you always want a backup and you get the city serviced.

Jeff Brasher: : Has your back up ever broke down and then what is the process?

Dale: Yes, we have had that problem and answered it by running 2 shifts to cover the towns.

Jeff Brasher: : How are you recruiting drivers?

Dale: Because we are new, we have drivers contacting us so we have a list of prospective employees and our rates will

Les Hons: Would you do your own billing to the citizens?

Dale: We can, but often the cities use this in conjunction with water accounts to make a little money.

Lan Winn: You have 5 trucks in circulation right now?

Dale: Yes. And trucks are being ordered in hopes of being delivered 3 months prior to any additional city pickup.

Lauren Bush: Will you be able to pickup commercial 1x, 2x, 3x a week as well?

Dale: Yes.

<< Merle Rogers, Waste Connections, Iowa Park District Manager for 23 years

68 routes everyday
126 Employees
100 units total, trucks & backup trucks

<<Cory Glassburn, Waste Connection Municipal Marketing Manager

Specialize in collection of Municipal Collection
We operate 5 collection operations, 3 transfer station, and 1 landfill
5 year contract
Franchise fees go back to the city
Will provide 18 roll off dumpsters for free annually
Exceptional customer service
Prices provided for both residential & commercial

Les Hons: Front load only?

Merle: Olney still has side load, but we are working to move them to front load. They wearout slower.

Les Hons: So if we wanted to metal cans in the alleys, would there be an issue?

Merle: There are always overhead wires that need to be considered, but we could look at options.

Les Hons: I was thinking more for the residents so they have larger cans

Merle: Additional costs with that bc steel prices have increased. It would be a more expensive operation than poly carts

Les Hons: Do you come a 1x or 2x a week?

Merle: We come once a week, but we have an option for a second cart at a reduced rate.

Jeff Brasher: How can we support customers with 2 to 3 carts picked up twice a week?

Merle: If they need a commercial cart, then that is an option we can consider, but otherwise we give them the option to have multiple carts.

Jeff Brasher: Only 1% to 3% of our customers require this.

Jon Hrncirik: Do you offer recycling?

Merle: We can do recycling, however the demand has gone down. The cleanliness is an issue, so we do not encourage recycling due to the hassle & expense.

Les Hons: If we go with your company, you will service the transfer station as well?

Merle: Yes, you would run it, but we would service it.

Jeff Brasher: And how do ya’ll deal with break downs?

Merle: Break downs do happen, however we have the ability to use swing drivers and manage routes. We have a list of our cities near you for reference.

Les Hons: Ya’ll do the landfill at Iowa Park

Merle: Yes that is ours and we have about 100 years left at the landfill. And we offer sludge boxes for the waste water facility and roll offs.

Les Hons: Do you offer to do billing to the citizens?

Merle: No we do not. We ask that as the city manages water on and off, manage the trash billing as well, and we render the 10% franchise fee back to the city to pay for that.

Lan Winn: Would you go a 3 year contract?

Merle: 5 year contract is our rule.

Jon Hrncirik: AEL’s was 5 as well.

Lauren Bush: Can you manage our commercial account needs with only 2 time a week pickup?

Merle: We will do our best with the potion of larger capacity dumpsters to offset the reduction in pickup.

Jon Hrncirik: Polycart quantity is not an issue?

Merle: I will come to town with brand new polycarts. I will get a work order from the city and then we will sign off that that has been down. We do everything off a work order.

Monty Glass: So there is not a problem if 300 people call and need 2 extra carts for 2 weeks.

Merle: As a rule, those polycarts are monthly polycarts. If there is an event, that is a different type of service.

Monty Glass: So I can get 5 carts for the month of July if that is what I need?

Merle: If you write a work order then I will place those carts

Jon Hrncirik: Any citizens have a comment?

CITIZEN COMMENTS

<<Mark McCord>> Curious what the pricing, residential rate will be? Is Waste Connections a sole proprietorship? And what of our current drivers?

Jon Hrncirik: We are not prepared to disclose pricing.

Merle: We are a publicly traded company and we are always looking for drivers. And you can go to our website and see those opportunities.

Dale: We are always looking for drivers and prefer someone who knows the route.

Jon Hrncirik: We are not making a decision tonight so <<to Dale>> don’t worry about getting us a price tonight. We will make that decision at the next meeting.

Lauren Bush: Do I need an action on this item? It is marked as an action item.

Jon Hrncirik: Would anyone on the council like to make a motion to approve either one of these?

NO RESPONSE – NO ACTION

(b.) Discuss, consider, and approve the SCADA Project as presented

by City Administrator, Dr. Jeff Brasher.

Working to secure funding through the ARPA, as time is of the essence to hold the pricing, and if we are unable to acquire the grant funding then we have alternatives to go about funding.

Monty Glass: Why is there such a large pricing difference?

John Davis: Unit price is total coast and Baylor Water share costs 25% of the cost, then the next price is 100% on the city and the last price is split 50/50.

MOTION MADE BY MONTY GLASS to approve the SCADA Project

SECOND BY LAN WINN

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

(c.) Discuss, consider, and take action regarding the replacement of sulfuric

acid chemical feed system at the RO Plant.

Jeff Brasher: American Rec Funds, this is a high priority project for the RO Plant. Grantworks is making sure we are following all the protocols.

Les Hons: How long has this been giving you problems?

John Davis: Since 2019

Robert Torrez: Because we are having to constantly go over there and check on this system, it is creating a lot of overtime.

MOTION MADE BY LES HONS to approve the replacement of the sulfuric acid chemical system

SECOND BY MONTY GLASS

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

(d.) Discuss, consider, and take action regarding Crane Truck and Forklifts.

Jeff Brasher: These are the 2 vehicles that we took over with the Fan Building. We have had representatives to look at the fork lifts for a suggested price. Valued at about $10,000. Looking for direction from council.

Lan Winn: I would like to see it placed on Craig’s List for a month and see what interest we get on it.

Les Hons: Have we had any bids yet? (crane truck)

Jeff Brasher: We are in the process of getting the title for the crane truck and need council action to determine next steps.

Monty Glass: May call Davis Sign in Wichita to look at the crane truck. They use those to put up Billboards. The truck is atleast a mid-90s age or better.

Lan Winn: You can google and do some research for appropriate value.

MOTION MADE BY LAN WINN for Dr. Brasher to get the values of the fork lifts and the crane trucks on Craig’s List with a minimum bid for 30 days.

SECOND BY MONTY GLASS

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

(e.) Discussion regarding new hires and GED Information.

Jon Hrncirik: On our job description it requires our employees to have a High school degree or a GED, and if we want to offer employment to those who have not received these, but hire them and then encourage them to get that GED, or point them in the right direction.

Les Hons: The light, Water, & Sewer departments require them to have a GED/diploma for certifications, but there could be placements in the street department operating heavy equipment. I’m not sure if the city wants to get involved.

Monty Glass: Can’t we hire them for other departments and then

Jon Hrncirik: And maybe give them 6 months to get their GED and hire them on probational terms

Lauren Bush: Could put together an education informational packet and coincide this with Dr. Brasher’s growth plan

CITIZEN COMMENTS

<<Kim Stevenson>> The Seymour Helping Hands would love to be the resource for individuals to help them get their GED

<<Mary Kay Fair>> GED/Diplomas ensure that reading at a certain grade level and computer skills are already intact and there are safety rules and chemicals and directions that employees need to be able to read & understand.

Jeff Brasher: I think all expectations can be communicated with the employee and grounds for termination.

Jon Hrncirik: Jeff, Lauren Myself, and maybe one of you to draw up a plan for next month.

NO MOTION – NO ACTION

(f.) City of SeymourAuction, tentatively scheduled for February 10, 2022,

regarding items in the Seymour Johnson Cafeteria.

Jeff Brasher: In Contact with Miller Auction. The date is tentative and may have to be moved. Just requesting council to allow us to have an auction.

MOTION MADE BY LES HONS to go ahead and set that date for the auction.

SECOND BY MONTY GALS

Aye – 3, No – 0

(g.) Discuss, and accept letter of resignation from Jay Hudson, for Council,

Place #2 for an unexpired term.

MOTION MADE BY LAN WINN

SECOND BY MONTY GLASS

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

9. Hear presentation from Kim Stevenson, Representing Seymour Helping

Hands, regarding Car Show for 2022.

Kim Stevenson: Seymour Helping Hands – not a nonprofit, just a group of citizens. We are looking to have a vendor car event in the park with 300-400 people with 20 vendors already agreed and shooting for 40 total vendors with 50-60 total cars. We have rented the Portwood for the day. Cars will be placed North of the Portwood Pavilion. Vendors will be in the park sheds. We do have event insurance. The roads we want to block off would not keep residents from accessing the apartments and we really want to show off our park. We will do trash pickup with barrels and speak with City for an additional dumpster. A few vendors are asking for electricity and there is some electricity throughout the park. We also have an agenda. This is a free event for our vendors, cars, and attendees. We have gotten sponsorship for the trophies, etc… We will provide a copy of the event insurance before the event. The event will be kept inside this park area near the portwood. Our cruise will be all right turns from the park to Main Street and up Nevada to the park again. There will not be a burnout. Planning on having a kids zone, art show, cake & pie contest, and we want to have all our members be cpr certified and emergency services have easy access.

10. Consent Items

(a.) Approve December 16^th, 2021 Meeting Minutes

(b.) Financial Report

(c.) Discuss, consider, and take action regarding City of Seymour bills paid the month of December 2021.

(d.) Discuss, consider, and take action to approve the City of Seymour Federal Procurement Policies and Procedures.

(e.) Discuss, consider, and take action to retain Engineering Co. of Jacob & Martin, for City of Seymour, Fiscal Year 2021-2022.

MOTION MADE BY MONTY GLASS to approve the consent agenda

SECOND MADE BY LES HONS

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

11. Public Hearing

First Public Hearing regarding the request of a Specific Use

Permit for Tiny House(s) located at 511 N. Stratton, and 302 N.

Tackitt Street, from James and Kim Johnson.

Lauren Bush: First step of two required by the state to accept the application for a specific use permit. Applicants are not here tonight.

Jon Hrncirik: How were the houses placed prior to the application?

Lauren Bush: The applicant was told about a week before the structures were placed. They immediately came in and got their application. They said they were unaware of zoning requirements prior to purchasing the structures. These properties are just under 900 square feet above 600 square feet. Houses meet the structural requirements of the tiny house rules accept the square footage. Properties will be tied down, taxed as real property, and be used as rental properties.

Jon Hrncirik: Residents need to know that they have to follow the zoning rules of our community prior to placing houses.

CITIZEN COMMENT

<<Mary Kay Fair>> Are the set backs are being followed? Are the utilities already on? As long as they are following the code, I think it’s a good thing.

Lauren Bush: Yes, the documentation was given to them. The utilities are not on at either structure.

Les Hons: There has been plumbing work done.

Lauren Bush: None of the buildings are causing visual impairment.

12. Discussion regarding raises for new hires for the City of Seymour.

Jeff Brasher: In November 2018 the City of Seymour set some base salaries of $10 & $12/hour and I do believe these need to be revised so that we remain competitive in recruiting and retaining talented employees.

Jon Hrncirik: This is a topic that would actually need to be addressed in June, but we need to begin to think about it now.

Les Hons: We will need to look at what our next year’s budget will even look like.

Jon Hrncirik: There needs to be a range of pay that goes from “entry level” to “with training.”

NO MOTION – NO ACTION

13. Executive Session(s)

(a.) An Executive Session, closed to the Public and pursuant to Chapter 551

of the Texas Local Government Code under section §551.074: Personnel:

9:02PM – ENTERED INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION

14. Action Items regarding Executive Sessions

(a.) Discuss and take action regarding Executive Session regarding

Personnel Department.

9:49PM – RECONVEINING

NO MOTION – NO ACTION

15. Adjournment

MOTION TO ADJOURN BY MONTY GLASS

SECOUND BY LES HONS

Aye – 3, Nay – 0

Meeting Minutes passed and approved on this the 17^th day of February, 2022.

/s/ Mayor Jon Hrncirik, City of Seymour

Attest:

/s/ Recording Secretary, Lauren Bush