EVERMAN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING

EVERMAN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 6:00 PM 213 North Race Street Everman, TX 76140 MINUTES 1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Mayor Ray Richardson called meeting to order at 6:05pm. 2. INVOCATION 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE A. Minutes January 14, 2025 Regular Meeting January 25, 2025 Regular Meeting Motion made by Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Seconded by Place 5 Sellers. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. B. Financials December 2024 January 2025 Motion made by Place 5 Sellers, Seconded by Place 6 Davila. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Voting Nay: Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen Motion Carried. 4. PRESENTATIONS 5. CITIZEN’S COMMENTS Earl Walker had comments on the trash service. He approached council and asked what happens to the recycle ben on option 3 if we choose to go with that Option? Question 2, can we use the recycle ben for bulk pick-up? Question 3, which companies are in the running for the Garbage pick- up? Question 4, how do we get straight answers from the people responsible for picking up our garbage, how we do we get our garbage picked up when it falls on a holiday? Earl stated that he would appreciate some answers and for the council to think it over. 6. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Monthly Departmental Reports Police Department Fire Department Public Works Code Compliance/Animal Services Brooks presented the council with the Police Department stats from January 29h through February 25th. This would include 1740 calls for service. Brooks also touched on 8 traffic crisis and 12 disturbance calls. There were a few stolen vehicles and a few were stolen out of different cities and dumped here. Task forces have been called in for a dump site that has been located and about 45 to 50 cars have been identified in this ring. This will be ongoing for a while. He went over a lot of the calls and some citations and assist reports. He also went over some training and achievements for some officers as well. Council woman Allen asked if the cars stolen are being stole at night or daytime and Brooks just stated that the ones being recovered are stolen from other cities and they are being recovered in Everman. Code Compliance/Animal Services report started with Animal Control and this report was for the month of January. This report contained a total of 99 calls that were received for services. One of these were a investigated dog bite. They took in 48 dogs, 10 cats. The live release rate was 76% and a majority of those were feral cats. The dogs were 100% live and release. There were 36 adoptions and back to owners. There was no update on the Code Enforcement for January. Council had no questions or comments. Fire Department report was for the month of February 2025 and this report contained calls for service January 28th through February 21st. Total calls were 114 and the average response time is down to 4 minutes and 48 seconds and this includes county and city. Landon also went over incidents and that is a total of 11. He then went over call types and what the calls were. As for staffing, he is working on getting positions filled and he has some good candidates and the interviewing and assessments will be going on here at the Civic Center tomorrow. Next council meeting he should have some badges to put on. The staffing is getting back to full and he is excited about that. B. *PUBLIC HEARING* - Discussion and Deliberation of Garbage, Waste, and Recycling Services for the City of Everman Mayor called public hearing at 6:21pm. At this time Craig informed council that he has provided them with some questions and comments that he printed out from the Facebook post on the cities page so that they can review those public discussions as well tonight. Abel Moreno, District Manager for Waste Connections approached council to address the questions that have came up. Abel started with those questions and the first one was, what is going to happen to the recycle bins if we do pick an option with no recycling? Abel stated that he will have those bins picked up on a regular trash day if that is chosen. The second question was, could the recycle bin be used for bulk trash, and Abel explained that after the transition if they wanted to they absolutely could. In regards to the third question on the companies that are in the running, Waste Connections rated very high but it is the cities right to go out for RFP. Waste Connections have been with the city since 2005 and we have a very outstanding relationship with the City of Everman. Abel also stated that the next question was about getting a straight answer for Earl Walker and he will meet with Earl Walker after the meeting to make sure he gets the answers that he is seeking and has his contact information. Abel also answered about the garbage service on the holidays, and there is no change for the holidays and if they choose to go to carts, they will make exceptions the day after holiday's for extra bags for the extra excessive amount of garbage. Those were all the answers to the questions so at this time, Abel recapped on the information from the last council meeting as well. He went over the stats on what the average household in Everman holds in pounds of trash which is 42.3 pounds per week. This would be equivalent to 4 kitchen trash bags of trash. He had the cart there at the meeting to show the residents and staff to see the size because this is what they will be provided. He then when to the recycling stats for the households in the City of Everman and that is about 11 pounds per week. Only 50% of the City of Everman residents utilize recycling. He then stated that there is a 40% contamination rate for recycling. Abel also stated that the Scenario options from the last meeting still stands and displayed those on the screen for residents present to see. Abel did state that it is the city staff and councils decision to choose these options. At this time he did go over those options again and explained the services and prices difference on the different scenario's. He completed that and asked everyone if they had any questions for him. Council woman Allen did asked if she had bags of leaves how would she do that and Abel explained that she could use bulk day for that which is once a month. This would be available for every scenario except for the current service scenario that we have now. Going to the cart option allows more bulk pick-up since it is once a month. it is 4 cubic yards at this time and it would go to 6 cubic yards a month. Craig did ask Abel, how many cities are take all service compared to cart service and he is just asking a rough estimate and if he had any honest citizen feedback for this and not from the cities? Abel stated that currently they have ten cities that are take all services and we are one of them and six cities that have transitioned over to carts. Abel did say that the first sixty days of the transition that we will hear a lot of things and how they do not like it. After those days, they love it. They realize what help it is and how much they can put in it. The trash is secure and rodents can't get in it and the city stays nicer and cleaner. Craig also wanted to add for council to think about, is the price increase staying with the take all service we currently have. The first increase is four dollars but you also have to think about the years after to come and what those increases could be and those will add up for our residents. The cheaper scenarios will have increases but at a smaller rate and only with the CPI increase. Abel did also add that he no longer bids on commercial take all services, he will only bid on commercial cart services. Council woman Renfro asked Abel about the residents that are senior citizens and on a fixed income and we have 316 in the city and she asked if he could give a proposal on a discount for them on trash service and on the scenario that we do decide on. Abel stated that he will look into that and this is part of being a partner with the City of Everman. t this time Mayor redirected Abel to some questions from a resident that was dropped off to the City Secretary and she will read off the questions that she had for him. First question is, why do they pick-up recycling and trash together? Abel stated that they do have onboard cameras on the truck, when that hopper picks up the recycle cart it looks indie that cart and if there is contamination in that cart, the driver will set the cart down and will not service it and radio to trash driver and have them come pick it up since they clearly see the contamination in it. Second question is, with the new rates will the senior citizens still get the discount on the water bill? third question is, that having one cart with the pick-up once a week and no recycling would there still be a place to go and would they be able to still use the landfill? Craig wanted to address two of those questions. The city does offer a discount on the water bill at this time and this is applied to the water side of the bill and not to the trash service part of the bill and this would have no impact on that discount side of the water bill. Craig also stated that if the city does elect to go away from the recycling, then yes, there would be a local collection point for them to go to take their recycles and it would be at no cost to the resident. Abel added that if a resident feels they did something wrong with the help of their cameras they can show the resident and also identify the problem and take care of it. At this time Norm approached council which is Abel's boss and just thanked the city for letting him service them and he looks forward to many more years of service with the City of Everman since we have been with him since his day one in  the trash business. Council had no questions for him. Craig stated that the final ordinance will come before them March 11th for their approval. If they are not satisfied at that point they will have the time and trash service will continue but we do need to get this done. Mayor and council at this time to deliberate on this matter. At this time Mayor asked if there were any residents that had comments to make on the trash deliberation. We have Patsy Stockman with the question, will they still pick-up from her garage door like they do now? Abel explained that nothing will change for the handicap and the elderly, if they get this service now it will continue. Next we had Judith Graham and she just wanted to make the comment that she is opposed to the city NOT doing recycling. She stated that if anyone has seen the landfills they would know how important recycling is now and for our children and to protect our world. She believes this should be mandatory. Next, Patsy Malone asked if the 40% of people that don't recycle, do they pay for the service? Craig stated that a 100% of the residents do pay for recycling and only 50% of those use the service and only 60% of the ones that do, use it the right way, so 30% of the ones that recycle, recycle the correct way in the City of Everman. Next we had Alberto Azual and he stated the he is happy with the service and he is fine with not recycling. He has never had an issue and he is fine with the fees going up and he understands. We also had Earl Walker with a question. He asked when the carts are picked up and the extra time their revving of the engines and if they are deiseal or gas. He also stated that people are not going to recycle and even at the landfill they don't recycle. There were no more residents with comments at this time. At this time, the City Manager asked council if they could just stat which way they are leaning towards as far as "take all" or "carts" and if they want to keep or eliminate recycling. Pro-Tem Mackey asked council how they feel about 'Take all" or "carts"? Council woman Davila stated that the feedback that she has gotten form residents is that they would like it to stay the same, and she feels the same way. Council Woman Sanders stated that she like Scenario #2. Council woman Renfro stated that she likes the "take all" but, she would like to see the senior citizens get a discount. Council woman Allen would like to see it stay the way it is without recycling. Council woman Sellers would like to see it stay the same but also see the price without recycling as well. Pro-Tem Mackey likes the 'take all" and she does like to recycle but has some issues with it but she does not want to fight a second cart. She also got some resident input and they all want to stay with the "take all" as well. All council looks like they are all in with the "take all". Council woman Renfro asked Abel if they could get a price with "take all" without recycling and see what they can do for the senior citizens. Council Member Davila confirmed at this time regardless of what option if they do away with recycling they will set a remote spot for free for the citizens that want to continue to recycle or they could get a subscription that would allow the pick-up at the home to continue, whatever the resident decides but they still have the free option to go to. This is correct. Council woman Allen also confirmed that this would include the two city wide clean-ups that already take place a year. That information is correct and that would still continue. Mayor Richardson stated that he would like to keep it as is, with recycling. City Manager Craig Spencer stated that the majority of the feedback here is to go back to Abel and bring back two options to bring back to council for consideration and option one would be "take all" service with recycling as it stands today and option 2 being "take all" service with no recycling with the senior citizens discount on both. Council is all in agreeance on this and this is the direction we needed to move forward. Mayor closed public hearing at 7:00pm. 7. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION A. ORDINANCE NO. 830 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF EVERMAN, TEXAS, CHAPTER 20 “UTILITIES” BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE XII “ADOPTION OF CERTAIN PORTIONS OF FORT WORTH CITY CODE”; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY  CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENALTY OF FINE NOT TO EXCEED $2,000.00; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE . Motion made by Place 5 Sellers, Seconded by Place 1 Sanders. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. B. ORDINANCE NO. 831 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF EVERMAN, TEXAS, CHAPTER 19 “TRAFFIC,” AT ARTICLE II “OPERATION OF VEHICLES” BY ADDING A NEW DIVISION 3 “DRIVING ON SIDEWALK OR CURB PROHIBITED” AND AT ARTICLE III “STOPPING, STANDING AND PARKING” BY AMENDING SECTION 19-77 AND ADDING A NEW SECTION 19-82 “PARKING ON SIDEWALK OR CURB PROHIBITED”; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE . Motion made by Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Seconded by Place 6 Davila. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. C. RESOLUTION NO. 2025-02-04 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MEMBERSHIP IN THE ATMOS CITIES STEERING COMMITTEE; AND AUTHORIZING THE PAYMENT OF FIVE CENTS PER CAPITA TO THE ATMOS CITIES STEERING COMMITTEE TO FUND REGULATORY AND RELATED ACTIVITIES RELATED TO ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION Motion made by Place 5 Sellers, Seconded by Place 6 Davila. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. D. Actions Concerning Appointments to Various Boards, Commissions, or Committees. Motion made by Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Seconded by Place 1 Sanders to approve the reappointment of Judy Sellers as our Everman Citizens and Alan Pierce as our Animal Welfare Organization members with an expiration date of becoming 2-6-2027. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila, Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. E. Consider approval, authorizing the Mayor to attend the Texas Emergency Management Conference Motion made by Place 5 Sellers, Seconded by Place 6 Davila. Voting Yea: Place 1 Sanders, Place 2 Renfro, Place 3 Allen, Place 4; Mayor Pro-Tem Mackey, Place 5 Sellers, Place 6 Davila Voting Abstaining: Mayor Richardson Motion Carried. 8. EXECUTIVE SESSION 9. CITY MANAGERS REPORT Craig stated as they know we have partnered with the Forest Hill Library District and for the second time they have been recognized for the TMLDA Award which is an award given out by the Texas Library Association. We are very proud and excited about that and this partnership and they have so much available to the citizens. He is letting people know to go check the Library out. Planning and zoning meeting coming up with a change so put this on their radar and Budget is coming up. 10. MAYOR’S REPORT 11. ADJOURN I hereby certify that this agenda was posted on the City of Everman bulletin board at or before 5:00 p.m. on Friday February 21, 2025. /s/ Mindi Parks City Secretary Citizens may watch city council meetings live on YouTube. A link to the City of Everman YouTube channel is provided on the city website at: www.evermantx.us/government/citycouncil/ Pursuant to Texas Government Code Sec. 551.127, on a regular, non-emergency basis, members may attend and participate in the meeting remotely by video conference. Should that occur, a quorum of the members, including the presiding officer, will be physically present at the location noted above on this Agenda. Pursuant to Section 551.071, Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, Council reserves the right to convene into Executive Session(s) from time to time as deemed necessary during this meeting, to receive advice from its attorney on any posted agenda item, as permitted by Law. Additionally, Council may convene into Executive Session to discuss the following: A. Section 551.071 - Pending or Contemplated Litigation or to Seek Advice of the City Attorney. B. Section 551.072 - Purchase, Sale, Exchange, Lease, or Value of Real Property. C. Section 551.073 - Deliberation Regarding Prospective Gift. D. Section 551.074 - Personnel Matters. E. Section 551.087- Deliberation Regarding Economic Development Negotiations. F. Section 551.089 - Deliberations Regarding Security Devices or Security Audits. Citizens wishing to submit written comments should e-mail the City Secretary at mparks@evermantx.net. Comments that are received at least one-hour prior to the start of the meeting will be provided to all council members. According to the City of Everman Policy on Governance Process, individual citizen comments will be restricted to three (3) minutes unless otherwise determined by a majority vote of the Council. The mayor is responsible to enforce the time limit. Citizens may address City Council either during the Citizen Comments portion of the meeting or during deliberation of a listed agenda item. City Council is only permitted by Law to discuss items that are listed on the agenda. Citizens wishing to make comments should notify the City Secretary as soon as possible. City Hall is wheelchair accessible. Parking spaces for disabled citizens are available. Requests for sign interpretative services must be made 48 hours prior to the meeting. To make arrangements, call 817.293.0525 or TDD 1.800.RELAY TX, 1.800.735.2989.