September 30, 2021 – Special Called City Council Minutes

Oct 28, 2021

CITY OF SEYMOUR CITY COUNCIL

PUBLIC NOTICE OF OPEN MEETING

SPECIAL CALLED MEETING

A Special Called Meeting of City Council to be held on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. at 800 E. Morris Street, Portwood Pavilion, Seymour Texas. 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:

A Regular City Council meeting was held at the Portwood Art & Civic Center, 800 E. Morris Street, at 7:00 p.m. in Seymour, Texas.

1. Call to Order, Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call by Mayor Pro-Temp Monty Glass at 7:00 p.m.

Council present: MPT Monty Glass, Council Member Les Hons, Councill Member Lan Winn, Council Member Brian Broome, and Council Member Jay Hudson.

Counsel present: None

City Staff present: City Administrator Dr. Jeffrey Brasher, City ED Director Lauren Bush

Guest: Mark McCord, Jessie Moore

2. Citizen Comments:

Mark McCord: Stated that community members have reached out to him complaining about not having their trash picked up. Mark’s residence also did not have the trash picked up today.

RE: MPT Monty Glass said that he had just seen the trash truck in Mark’s neighborhood and hoped that they were there to pick up. Dr. Jeff Brasher responded by encouraging the community to call city hall and report to us when a pick up does not happen then we can work hard to find a solution. Also encouraged them to call Republic Services directly, but that the City of Seymour would work to resolve the issue.

3. Public Hearings

a.) The City of Seymour will conduct a Second and Final Public Hearing in regard to a request from Jessie Moore, on property located at 221 S. Main Street.

Lauren Bush: Provided documentation of those property owners within 200 feet of Mr. Moore’s property that had been notified and what their response was. 2 Responses for YES and 1 response for NO, and 1 voice vote of a YES.

Councilman Les Hons: Had a question for Jessie Moore specifically concerning whether or not a fence would be erected on the North side of his property to block the view from his neighbor.

RE: Jessie Moore responded by saying that he had been doing this since 1981 without any problems until within the last year and a half and he was unaware of why it had become a problem now. He put the West facing fence up and if he needed to put a North facing fence up he would, but that the cost of the fence was not equal to the profit made in his salvage business.

Jessie Moore: Many businesses in town, including the hospital and the rest home, drop of things that they can not dispose of at the landfill and he felt like he was actually doing a public service in disposing all of these appliances, refrigerators, air conditioners, and random scrap metal items. Also felt like he was probably one of the only businesses that paid taxes on the scrap and some of that tax money comes back to Seymour. Stated that he is not putting in a wrecking yard or junk yard, that no vehicles would be piled up on the property.

Councilman Jay Hudson: Asked Jessie Moore directly if he had been having problems with people complaining about his property?

RE: Jessie Moore replied No. The only problem he had was that he had been wrote up several times. Although since his West facing fence had been put up he had received positive comments from the community about how much nicer it looks now.

RE: Council Agreed in unison that the fence had improved the property.

Lauren Bush: This was one of five Junk/Salvage Permit requests that we sent out to people within our community and Jessie Moore is the ONLY person who responded in efforts to come into compliance. This is a Zoning Issue and Mr. Moore has never received a citation per se, but has gotten notifications of non-compliance. He also is registered and licensed through the state correctly. All junking/Salvaging must be permitted per the ordinances and we must follow through with enforcement because then we have others who will refuse to come into compliance because we have not enforced it before. Mr. Moore is actually setting a precedence that allows us to enforce this law better.

b.) The City of Seymour will conduct a Public Hearing in regard to Base Rate increases from water and sewer services, and lowered garbage rates. This is the first of two public hearings required.

Dr. Jeff Brasher – We have been speaking about this for an amount of time in relation to the debt incurred during the winter storm. In order to pay that back and maintain services, this is really the only option we had. So those rates have not changed since they were presented to council before and correlate with the revenues outlined in the budget so that we can meet our fiscal responsibilities. Lauren and I have worked on this for a period of time.

RE: Councilman Les Hons commented about the electric meter fee and was directed that we would discuss that on the next item. Councilman Hons asked about the reduction in price of the Garbage rate and Dr. Jeff Brasher mentioned that even with the reduction the City of Seymour would generate about $36,000.00.

Councilman Lan Winn – How much more money are we going to generate raising the water rates?

RE: Dr. Brasher replied $71, 870. 41

Councilman Les Hons – Asked if people can have 2 dumpsters/rollouts?

RE: Dr. Brasher replied YES they could, but would need to call the City to set that up. Councilman Hons asked what the rate charge would be? Lauren Bush responded that they would pay for each one at the same rate twice.

MPT Monty Glass – Asked if all other charges would remain the same except the inside city limits residential pricing?

RE: Lauren Bush replied YES, residential is the only change because theirs was the only schedule effected. All commercial pickup schedules remained the same. Councilman Hons asked for clarification again and Lauren Bush reiterated the above comment.

c.) The City of Seymour will conduct a Public Hearing in regard to Base Rate increases for the addition of an Electric Meter Fee. This is the first of two public hearings required.

Jeff Brasher – The increase is $10 for all base rates.

Councilman Les Hons – Asked if that is the base rate for just the meter?

RE: Dr. Brasher said Yes.

Councilman Les Hons – Stated that this will not effect our electric rate per kilowatt.

Re: Dr. Jeff Brasher said that is correct. MPT Monty Glass mentioned that a community member had commented that the rate is increasing and that is not true and that he wanted to clarify that to everyone. The electric rate was not increasing

Councilman Lan Winn – Asked what this would generate revenue wise?

RE: Dr. Brasher responded with $193,800.00

Councilman Les Hons – Asked what the water increase would generate as far as revenue?

RE: Dr. Jeff Brasher responded $71,870.00.

Councilman Les Hons – And the sewer increase?

RE: Dr. Jeff Brasher responded with $82,105 and garbage $36,000.00.

Lauren Bush – The reason why we chose to increase the base rates and not consumption rates was so that people could budget accordingly. Their city bill should only increase by $26.00.

RE: Dr. Jeff Brasher added that it also allowed for the City to better gauge revenues for budgeting using base rate increases instead of consumption as it fluctuates and is not always reliable.

Councilman Les Hons – The loan that we agreed to at the last meeting, and they were going to pay off the ancillary charges, how does this relate?

RE: Dr. Jeff Brasher responded that the loan will fund October 5^th by 10am and we will pay off the remaining balance and then retain the remaining funds to assist with cash flow over the next few months.

Councilman Les Hons – Asked if these base rate increases would only be in effect for a year?

RE: Dr. Jeff Brasher responded that it was a possibility, but that the city actually incurred a million dollar debt, so this would need to be looked at and presented back to council at a later date to see where we sit financially.

4. Action Item

a.) Discuss, consider, and take action in regard to request from Jessie Moore, on property located at 221 S. Main Street.

Motion made by Councilman Les Hons to APPROVE.

Seconded by Councilman Jay Hudson. Motion passes 5-0.

5. Adjournment

Motion to adjourn by Councilman Brian Broome to ADJOURN.

Seconded by Councilman Lan Winn. Motion passes 5-0

Passed and Approved on October 25, 2021

Mayor Jon Hrncirik

Attest:

Lauren Bush, Acting Recording Secretary