City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of Special Meeting The City Council City of Richwood A Special Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Tuesday, September 8, 2015, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Richwood City Hall, 1800 N. Brazosport Blvd. Richwood, Texas. I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.by Clint Kocurek, Mayor and presiding officer. II. INVOCATION The invocation was given by Glenn Patton, City Manager. III. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge of Allegiance was recited by those in attendance. IV. ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Roll call showed the following members present: Clint Kocurek, Mayor and Presiding Officer Paul Raymond, Council, Position #1 Melissa Blanks, Council, Position #2 Jarrod Beaty, Council, Position #3 and Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Harris, Council, Position #4 Chris Hardison, Council, Position #5 A quorum was declared. Others present included Glenn Patton, City Manager, Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary, Bryan Corb, Police Chief, Kenny Williams, Public Works Director, Clif Custer, Public Works Foreman, Justin Gatlin and Lauren LaCount. V. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS A. FY 15 Budget Workshop Richwood does not have an industrial contract or a large sales tax base as do our neighboring cities. We rely primarily on property taxes. In comparison with other cities in Brazoria County in the same position, we are actually lower than most. Pearland has received over $19 million in sales tax in the past 8 months but their property tax rate is only 2 cents less than Richwood. Councilman Blanks asked if anyone wished to discuss the 7 options the Department Heads had provided in the email. Councilman Beaty did some research on the options presented. The City gives a discount to the Fire Department and City Council on the utility bill. The City could save approximately $3,000 if it discontinued the discount to the Council or $12,000 if it discontinued to both Fire Department and Council. Relying on volunteers only, no city employees or equipment, would save another $7,500. Having no city employees to help with events would save another $2,200 per year. He also commented that we first adopted the current tax rate of $0.73568 in 2012. There were 17 building permits in 2011 and 21 in 2012. We have seen building permits increase every year since. We don’t have DOW to help as in other cities and our goal is to be a city on the move. Mayor Kocurek stated the options presented by the Department Heads were the only places where we could cut but even these would result in lower services. Councilman Hardison stated all the options listed were necessary to help the city, such as the clean ups and the festivals. He feels the $10,000 for festivals is a small price to pay for family functions. He does feel the convenience fee should be reduced. Mayor Kocurek further stated that a once cent tax decrease would save the average home owner 8 to 10 dollars. He thanked City Staff for their hard work. Mr. Patton commented his property value has gone up. He feels this is some of the best money he could spend. He would like to see the city continue to grow. VI. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Alternate Judge Appointment Trunk or Treat – City Council Table  VII. PUBLIC COMMENTS There were none. VIII. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 6:29 p.m. APPROVED BY A MAJORITY VOTE OF COUNCIL ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2015. _____________________________ Clint Kocurek, Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary