City Council Regular Meeting

CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANDY OAKS, TEXAS REGULAR MEETING AGENDA January 11, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. 1. Call to order and quorum call. Mayor Martinez called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. In attendance were MPT Alvarado, Alderwoman Martinez, Aldermen Fillinger, Repino, and Coffindaffer, City Attorney Casandra Ortiz, and City Secretary Katherine Yelton. 2. Pledge of Allegiance. Led by Mayor Martinez. 3. Citizens to be heard. Callie St. John from Rise Broadband signed up to announce that they are starting a construction project and stated they would really like to work with the City and will ensure that they are being respectful of the citizens and the community. Ms. St. John provided Council with her business card. 4. Mayor & Administrator Announcements/Updates. a. Parking Lot Project – Spoke with engineer and the project is moving along a little slower than anticipated due to some health issues with the main contractor, but it should be moving along soon. b. Red Mountain Project – This project is currently in Commissioner’s Court. c. Road Repairs and Taxes – Mayor has been seeing on social media concerns about road repairs. He stated he understands the concerns, but if we want to be aggressive about roads, the possibility of raising taxes would need to be considered. 5. Consent Agenda a. Approve minutes from the December 14, 2023 Regular City Council meeting. MPT Alvarado made a motion to approve the consent agenda, as presented, which was seconded by Ald. Fillinger and passed unanimously. 6. Financial Report. Ms. Yelton reported the General Fund balance as of December 31, 2023 at $250,295.95, the ARPA Fund balance at $490,170.28, and the TDA Grant Fund balance at $51,970.00. Ald. Repino made a motion to approve the financial report, as presented, which was seconded by Ald. Coffindaffer and passed unanimously. 7. Investment Report a. Receive brief from Alderman Repino on Quarterly Investment Report with possible discussion and/or action. Ald. Repino presented his quarterly report stating the TexPool opening balance as of October 1, 2023 was $134,534.91 and ending balance as of December 31, 2023 was $136,363.01, which was earnings of $1,828.10 for the fourth quarter of 2023. Ald. Repino made a motion to accept the Investment Report, as presented, which was seconded by Aldw. Martinez and passed unanimously. b. Discuss and/or possible action on Resolution 2024-189 approving an investment policy, delegating responsibility and authority, and designating an investment officer. Ald. Fillinger made a motion to adopt the resolution, which was seconded by Ald. Coffindaffer and passed unanimously. 8. Police Department a. Updates and Announcements from Chief Lopez with possible discussion and/or action. Chief Lopez was not available to attend. Postponed by Mayor Martinez until the next scheduled meeting. b. Presentation of monthly report(s) by Chief Lopez with possible discussion and/or action. Chief Lopez was not available to attend. Postponed by Mayor Martinez until the next scheduled meeting. January 11, 2024 City Council Agenda - Page 1 9. Animal Control a. Presentation of monthly report by ACO Ashley Cunningham with possible discussion and/or action. ACO Cunningham was not available to attend. Postponed by Mayor Martinez until the next scheduled meeting. b. Discuss and/or possible action on creating a position for Animal Control and establishing general duties and related matters to new position and establishing procedures for hiring for new position. Tabled by Mayor Martinez but reopened later in the meeting. 10. Parks & Recreation a. Update and Announcements from Park Advisory Committee Chair Alderman Repino with possible discussion and/or action. Since Ald. Repino was unable to attend the last meeting and Ald. Fillinger did attend, he asked Ald. Fillinger to provide the update. Ald. Fillinger started off by saying the committee members did an outstanding job with Christmas activities and there was nothing else to report. Ald. Repino announced that the next meeting will be held on February 6 at 6:00 p.m. 11. Administration – Old Business a. Discuss and/or possible action on Ordinance No. 2023-228 Amending the Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 for Municipal Purposes. Mayor Martinez said the idea was to “true up” the budget for 2022-2023, but in speaking with the external auditor, it was recommended that we not “true it up” or “zero it out” annually, unless there are line items that need to be added. Mayor Martinez said, in his opinion, he thinks this is the method we should go with going forward since it is an approved budget, so making amendments to “true it up” is not necessary nor is it transparent. Ald. Fillinger agreed stating that as next year’s budget is prepared, they need to look at what happened during the previous fiscal year and why and if the budget is amended every year, it is hard to keep track of that. No action was taken. Ald. Fillinger then suggested moving 13. Public Works up so that the director can go home if she chooses. 13. Public Works a. Updates and Announcements from Public Works Director Priscilla Schmitt with possible discussion and/or action. PWD Schmitt stated the Animal Control box truck is now up and running with removable, magnetic logo and department name signs until the cab is painted. Then permanent signs will be installed. She also stated the Public Works F250 also has permanent signs on it. b. Discuss and/or possible action on hiring a part-time employee to fill vacant position in Public Works. Discussion only. No action was taken. Mayor Martinez then returned to item 9b. 9. Animal Control b. Discuss and/or possible action on creating a position for Animal Control and establishing general duties and related matters to new position and establishing procedures for hiring for new position. Discussion only. No action taken. Mayor Martinez then continued to item 12 Administration-New Business. 12. Administration – New Business a. Discuss and/or possible action on spending/program recommendations for the School Crossing Guard fund. Mayor Martinez stated he and the city engineer visited the five high-volume stops. The city engineer suggested painted crosswalks, flashing signs, and four-way stop signs at certain intersections. The engineer will work on a proposal to bring back to Council. Mayor Martinez also said, per the city attorney, the four-way stop signs will need to come back to Council on a future agenda. b. Discuss and/or possible action on hiring an outside party to complete a monthly reconciliation of the City's bank statements. Postponed until the next regular meeting. The city secretary is to provide two quotes gathered from Mayor Martinez. January 11, 2024 City Council Agenda - Page 2  c. Discuss and/or possible action on amending the City’s fee schedule. Postponed until the next regular meeting to give the city secretary time to review all ordinances that contain fees. Prior to adjourning, the city secretary requested a chance to clarify that the 2022-2023 budget will not be amended and stated that the amendments made during the 2022-2023 fiscal year will not show as approved. Mayor Martinez questioned what amendments. The city secretary stated some unexpected funds were received and, in order to reflect those funds in the budget, new line items needed to be added. She stated she does not want to be held accountable when we are audited. She also suggested that the mayor take over maintaining the budget. She also quoted from the same email that Mayor Martinez referred to during item 11a that, in part, stated, “…the true-up amendment is not uncommon in the government world. There is perhaps some value in at least having the council bless it after the fact. But, if I were you, I would not bother with it unless there is something really significant.”. 14. Adjourn. Ald. Fillinger made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:25 p.m. Passed and approved this 25th day of January 2024. _____________________________ Michael Martinez, Mayor ATTEST: ___________________________________ Katherine Yelton, City Secretary January 11, 2024 City Council Agenda - Page 3