City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of City Council The City Council Regular Meeting of Monday, March 9, 2020 BE IT KNOWN THAT, a City Council Regular Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Monday, March 9, 2020, 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. II. INVOCATION The invocation was led by Lindsay Koskiniemi. III. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE The Mayor led the Pledge of Allegiance & Texas Pledge. IV. ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Steve Boykin, Mayor Mike Johnson, Position 1 – Absent Melissa Strawn, Position 2 Matthew Yarborough, Position 3 Mark Brown II, Position 4 Katie Johnson, Position 5 Others present: Eric Foerster, City Manager; Kirsten Garcia, City Secretary; Lindsay Koskiniemi, Finance Director; Clif Custer, Public Works Director; Matthew Allen, City Attorney. V. PUBLIC COMMENTS All public comments will be subject to the following rules: all speakers will be permitted to speak no longer than 3 minutes; all speakers will only be permitted to speak once; speakers cannot defer their 3 minutes to another speaker; the first five individuals who sign up for the public comment section will be permitted to speak. Moved to the end of the agenda at the request of the Mr. Escalante, he made his public comment after the City Manager’s report. Rodrigo Escalante – 2918 Oakwood Shores Dr - Asked what we are doing for other residents who don’t qualify for sewer repair with GLO. He also asked if we were installing self-flushing hydrants with the bond work going on. Mr. Escalante stated it was very good to hear the Alden subdivision will not affect us with water runoff. He added we need to look at drainage with urgency before it’s too late. Mr.  Escalante stated he is disheartened that council flip flopped on the plan for streets. He added that we need to come up with a plan to move forward. VI. PROCLAMATIONS Proclamation of Fair Housing Month read by Mayor Boykin. VII. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings 1. Regular Meeting held February 24, 2020 B. Payment of Bills On a motion by Mark Brown II, second by Katie Johnson, with all present members voting aye, the consent agenda was approved. VIII. PRESENTATION A. City of Richwood Public Water System Resiliency Plan - Freese & Nichols Kendall Ryan with Freese & Nichols Presented. B. City of Richwood Sewer Improvement Project – Grant Works John Groberg with Grant Works presented. IX. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS A. Discuss and consider a resolution designating authorized signators for the Hurricane Harvey - Infrastructure CDBG Disaster Recovery program contract 20-065-080-C233 On a motion by Mark Brown II, second by Melissa Strawn, with all present members voting aye, a resolution designating authorized signators for the Hurricane Harvey - Infrastructure CDBG Disaster Recovery program contract 20-065-080-C233 was approved. B. Discuss and consider a resolution adopting required CDBG-DR Civil Rights policies On motion by Matthew Yarborough, second by Katie Johnson, with all present members voting aye, a resolution adopting required CDBG-DR Civil Rights policies was approved. C. Discuss and consider a resolution amending the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Budget to allocate annual reimbursement from Brazoria County for call response to the Volunteer Fire Department. Lindsay Koskiniemi presented. Mark Brown asked for clarification on the reimbursement being labeled for Emergency Medical Services. Lindsay stated she would need to clarification with the Fire Chief. Mayor Boykin clarified that the reimbursement is due to the Fire Department responding to calls in the ETJ, not just EMS calls. Matthew Yarborough stated the EMS contract is paid out of the Fire Department budget. Katie Johnson asked if this is something that would be outlined in an agreement with the Fire Department. Lindsay Koskiniemi stated yes, but she isn’t sure where we stand on the services agreement as of now. On a motion by Katie Johnson, second by Mark Brown II, with all present members voting aye, a resolution amending the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Budget to allocate annual reimbursement from Brazoria County for call response to the Volunteer Fire Department was approved. D. Discuss and consider adopting a plan to eliminate long-term receivables and payable between the Enterprise and General Fund. Lindsay Koskiniemi presented. Melissa asked if we are moving money out of transportation fund and if so, what does that take from. Lindsay Koskiniemi stated that we aren’t moving actual dollars here, this entry would just take care of the numbers side of it. The transportation fund, as well as the general fund, has subsidized the transfers needed to be made to keep up. Mark Brown II stated that we understood we were running in the deficit and we were raising the utility rates at the time to pay the debt from the utility to the general fund. We should not have raised the rates and then forgive the debt. Discussion held on utility rates and the possibility of lowering it.  Lauren LaCount – Resident – 2000 Brazosport Blvd – Stated she was on council when the water issue came to light and it was for accounting practices that created this deficit. She encourages Council to speak with Lindsay and the auditors to get a clear idea on the best way to move forward from this. Matt Yarborough asked if this was discussed in our most recent audit recap. Lindsay Koskiniemi stated no. No further discussion was held. E. Discuss and consider allowing the City Manager to approve Brazoria County Mosquito Control District to provide aerial spraying for mosquitoes over Richwood. On a motion by Mark Brown II, second by Melissa Strawn with all present members voting aye, the City Manager is approved to allow Brazoria County Mosquito Control District to provide aerial spraying for mosquitoes over Richwood. X. REPORTS Reports that require no action. A. Public Works Department 1. Update on Upcoming Bond Projects - Clif Custer Clif Custer presented Melissa Strawn asked if $100,000 left from bond and $400,000 in capital outlay for streets, can’t we do more. Clif Custer stated $330,000 is already spoken for with engineering. Mark Brown II thanked Clif for the job he’s doing and being so conservative with the money spent. XI. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT Eric Foerster stated he met with Lake Jackson city manager, Bill Yenne, regarding the Alden Subdivision. He stated there will be no more run off coming off the Alden subdivision than what currently occurs now. He added that the Alden property was dry during the last two flood events. Mr. Foerster stated he met with County Commissioner Dude Payne and found out that the County will begin de-snagging the creeks and bayous, including Oyster Creek and Bastrop Bayou, at the end of this month into the beginning of next month. XII. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS No future agenda items were mentioned. XIII. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS & REPORTS Mark Brown II stated that he wanted to be clear that the grants that the city applies for are for the greater good of the whole community. He added that we are taking the money from the bonds and trying to fix things that were done incorrectly in the past. He doesn't think we should focus our time on things we don't have the money to fix now, but to fix the problems that we have at hand, which are many. Mr. Brown commends the Police Department and Fire Department for their hard work. He added recognition of Keep Richwood Beautiful and Servolution for their work in painting the park. Katie Johnson commended Keep Richwood Beautiful and their groundbreaking on the community garden. Mrs. Johnson added that she believes current/past council and staff have done the best they can for the City with the information they have. She thinks staff is doing what they can until they know better, and when they know better, they are doing better. She specifically recognized Clif, Lindsay and Kirsten for the work they have done and having the courage to come to Council and recommend changes that need to be made. XIV. MAYOR’S REPORT Mayor Boykin offered equipment to help with the community garden. He added that he wants to second what the council members said about staff. Also, he wanted to state he was pleased with the Facts article on the streets in Oakwood Shores. XV. ADJOURNMENT Being there no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:42 p.m. These minutes were read and approved on this 11th day of May, 2020. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: ______________________________________