June 10, 2021 – Special Celled City Council Minutes
Sep 14, 2021
CITY OF SEYMOUR CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL CALLED MEETING MINUTES
JUNE 10, 2021
A Special Called Meeting of City Council was held on Thursday, June 10, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. at 800 E. Morris Street, Portwood Art & Civic Center, Seymour, Texas.
Call To Order, Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance by Mayor Jon Hrncirik
Council present: Mayor Jon Hrncirik, Council Member Lan Winn, Council Member Brian Broome, Council Member Jay Hudson
Council absent: Council Member Les Hons
Counsel present: No counsel was present for this meeting.
City Staff present: City Administrator Jeffrey Brasher Ed.D, City Secretary Conchita Torrez, ED Director Lauren Bush, Water/Sewer Supervisor Robert Torrez, Seymour Police Officer Neal Lott
Guest present: Baylor Co. Sheriff Sam Mooney, Karla Miller, Rick Moorhouse, Sandra Moorhouse, June Hrncirik, Kamryn Hrncirik, Grant Elliott, Sarah Elliott, Mark McCord, Nancy Boone, MK Fair, C. Rose,
Announcement by Mayor Hrncirik:
First, I would like to welcome our new City Administrator Mr. Jeff Brasher.
Jeff, if you would, please tell everyone a little about yourself and what brought you back home to Seymour.
Mr. Brasher stated he would first of all like to thank the wonderful staff he is getting to know and work with. I cannot say enough of the wonderful staff I am working with, stated Mr. Brasher and they are all hard workers. I have only been at the job for four days, but, I have run into a lot of people I have not seen in a long time and have felt so welcome, and it is a pleasure to come home to a place that I love. We are passionate about this community and letting you know that I will work extremely hard to make this community a better place and work hard at earning your trust and respect. I know I will make mistakes along the way and ask for your grace and forgiveness.
I was born in 1969, graduated in 1987, and graduated from MSU in 1992. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, with a minor in Biology, I returned back to school and completed a Master of Education and Doctorate Program in Educational Leadership from Texas Tech University in 199 and 2007, respectively. I accepted the position as High School Principal with eh Anton Independent School District, and after several years was given the opportunity to become the middle school principle in the 4A district of Levelland.
After retiring from public education in June of 2021, I was given the opportunity to return to my hometown of Seymour and serve as the City Administrator in given the opportunity that I love.
I want you to know I have an open-door policy and you are more than welcome to come by and address your concerns. We may all have different directions and ideas, but when we come together and work together to make this a better place. We need to create unity, and I ask that you please give me the opportunity to listen and do my best to solve your concerns.
Mayor Hrncirik at this time re-addressed the audience by stating, I have spent several hours visiting with Mr. Brasher about a vision for Seymour. We both would like to see Seymour revitalized and become the best little town in Texas, and that starts here with all of us at the city council meetings.
We are glad to see the citizens showing interest in their city government. However, it is a must that these meetings be conducted in an organized and constructive manner.
We wish to hear everyone’s concerns and interest for and against city issues. Everyone here will receive an opportunity to speak. During open comments, each citizen wishing to comment, will be allowed 5 minutes to speak on any subject that is not on the upcoming meeting agenda. Also, you will be allowed to speak 4 minutes on every agenda item after council has completed discussion on that agenda item. Remember, you are only allowed to speak once on each item.
Our goal moving forward is to conduct all council meetings in a most professional manner. We as city officials will do our part to conduct these meetings with professionalism and respect, I ask you as citizens of Seymour to please do the same.
We need to pull and work together; I am just trying to be positive and happy and welcome back to Seymour!!
Mayor Hrncirik stated that if anyone had any questions, stop by, or call Mr. Brasher and he will be glad to go over the questions with them, one on one. Mayor also stated that we will be re-bidding our electric contract in the fall.
At this time, Mayor Hrncirik gave options on what the city could do to recover some of this money back that was being paid out monthly.
Mayor Hrncirik stated that Jeff, Mary Griffin in Finance Department, along with Lauren Bush, had been busy crunching numbers. The City of Seymour can save $13,807.88 in finance charges if we choose to pay it back in cash. With this bill for June that needs to be paid the total will be close to $15,936.88 in interest charges.
The City of Seymour has several options to pay back the ancillary charges. The Community will want to know if we are going to increase electric rates; The answer is wee are not for certain, but we will avoid increasing electric rates if at all possible.
Option 1: At this time, we have determined that we have the money in numerous funds to pay back the money we owe in cash to avoid interest rates.
Paying in cash will save the city $13,087.88 in finance charges. (The City has already paid $15,936.88 in finance charges after the June payment is made) We can pay back the money owed to LCRA by utilizing the funds in certain line item accounts.
If the City Council chooses this option, then I would recommend we replenish our fund balance to maintain a minimum of three months of operating expenses.
Our options for rebuilding our emergency fund are :
1. Building a more conservative budget
2. Charging a $5.00-meter (infrastructure) fee which would generate approximately $100,000.00 per year with the council reviewing at the end of the fiscal year.
3. Utilizing a portion of our emergency fund
Option 2: Go to the bank
Mr. Adams stated that he would provide the city with a fixed rate of less than 5% for up to three years. (This may be pending on the audit report.) Our Audit is in motion and when it is available, we will place on the first council meeting agenda. We also need this information to know our exact sash position before making a final decision on any of our options.
Council Member Jay Hudson stated that if we have the funds, we need to pay it off.
Mayor Hrncirik stated that they needed to look at their options they were presented and figure out what they wanted to do.
An Infrastructure fee was another option to be considered.
Council Member Brian Broome asked how the monthly interest charges compounded and the sooner we made a decision, and paid the debt off, the better off we would be.
Mr. Brasher reminded everyone that he had an open door policy, and if anyone needed to speak to him, feel free to come by and visit with him regarding this issue. He reminded everyone that the audit would need to be completed so that numbers would be solidify and the city would know what we were dealing with financially. Hopefully, at the August meeting we would have the answers.
2. Adjournment of meeting
A motion was entertained by Mayor Hrncirik to adjourn the meeting.
Motion made by MPT Glass, seconded by Council Member Hudson to adjourn meeting at 8:15 p.m. Motion carried 4/0
Mayor Jon Hrncirik
Attest:
Conchita Torrez, City Secretary -TRMC