Mayor Jerri Medrano
Mayor Pro-Temp James Mizell
Alderman Eric Anderson
Alderman Tim Hatten
Alderman Gary Nash
Alderman Jake Walker
The City of Hallsville Council meeting convened in regular session at 6 P.M. on Tuesday, July 15, 2014, at City Hall located at 115 Main Street.
The following members were present:
Mayor Jerri Medrano Alderman Jake Walker
Mayor Pro Tem James Mizell Alderman Eric Anderson Alderman Gary Nash
Member absent:
Alderman Tim Hatten
City Of Hallsville Staff Present:
Auditor Faron Cain City Secretary Kimberly Smith Police Chief Paul Montoya Judy Adkisson Water Superintendent Rickey Dugger
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jerri Medrano.
The Invocation was led by Mayor Jerri Medrano.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by the Boy Scouts.
II. Consent Agenda
Mayor Jerri Medrano asked to approve the Consent Agenda Items including the Police Department Summary for June 2014, the Water Department Summary for June 2014, and the Permit Report for June and July 2014.
Alderman Gary Nash asked if a report could be submitted for the Code Enforcement Officer.
The Mayor stated that the Chief can add it to his monthly summary report.
Motion was made by Alderman Eric Anderson and seconded by Alderman James Mizell
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
III. Discussion Items
- Status of bids and timeline of work on AEP Poles for Christmas Decorations.
The Mayor stated “that three guys were told something different from SWEPCO and one guy from SWEPCO put it in writing and we are having the bids redone per his instructions”.
Alderman Eric Anderson asked “if that was Scott”?
The Mayor responded with “Yes”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “that he is telling them exactly what they need to make”.
The Mayor stated “that the other were stating it also, but wouldn’t put it in writing”. “We can’t do it unless it’s in writing”.
- Presentation & Discussion of selling wholesale water to Gum Springs Water Supply. Presented by Kyle Stephens of Hayes Engineering.
This agenda item was not discussed. The Mayor and Water Superintendent Rickey Dugger talked prior to the meeting and decided that with our current contract with the City of Longview, which we are unable to fulfill what Kyle Stephens was proposing.
IV. Items to be Considered
- Consider and act upon the approval of the Minutes of June 17, 2014 Meeting.
The Mayor asked for approval on the Minutes and the Council referred back to Christmas Decorations before approving the minutes.
Alderman Eric Anderson asked “are you making this happen this fiscal year”?
The Mayor replied “Hope so, yeah, we got to find a place to store all of this stuff”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “I wish Tim was here”.
The Mayor stated “I asked him if he had any questions, and he said no”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “looks like it is going in the right direction”.
Alderman Eric Anderson thanked Gary for all the money that he had raised. (At one time, Gary was on the Beautification & Development Board).
Motion was made by Alderman James Mizell and seconded by Alderman Jake Walker
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
- Consider and act upon approving Resolution 2014-15-07 authorizing signatory agents for the City of Hallsville Bank Accounts at Guaranty Bond Bank and Texas Bank and Trust.
Motion was made by Alderman Jake Walker and seconded by Alderman Eric Anderson
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
- Consider and act upon approving the Order of Election for the For/Against “The Legal Sale of Beer and Wine for off premise consumption only” for November 4, 2014.
Alderman Jake Walker asked “is everything right and did we check all the signatures”?
Alderman Eric Anderson asked “what do we have to verify the signatures”? “Did the City Attorney verify the signatures”?
The Mayor Alderman James Mizell responded at the same time “from the voter registration”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “I just wanted to know where the verification was coming from”.
The Mayor pointed to the City Secretary a former City Secretary and stated “they did”.
Motion was made by Alderman Gary Nash and seconded by Alderman Jake Walker
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
The Mayor explained that she has two copies of the Order of Election that the council needs to sign. One is in English and the other is in Spanish.
Alderman Eric Anderson asked about item #2 under discussion items?
The Mayor stated “we can’t do it; he (Kyle Stephens from Hayes Engineering) insisted that we put it on the agenda, but we cannot sell water that we buy”.
Alderman James Mizell asked “is that the developer”?
The Mayor stated “he (Kyle Stephens) has a copy of the contract.”
- Consider and act upon approving the Monthly Financial Reports and the format and line item changes to the 2013-2014 Budget.
Alderman Gary Nash asked “would you explain to me what general property & liability insurance is”?
Auditor Faron Cain stated “that it is everything for the buildings, cars, parks, dogs, equipment, water tower, expect health insurance and that is through TML”.
Alderman Jake Walker asked “are we asking for $6,000 more for utilities”?
The Mayor stated “we don’t have to amend the budget, we are just moving from one line to the next line”.
The Mayor and Auditor Faron Cain explained exactly what they were doing with the budget line item transfers.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “bottom line, no increase”.
Alderman Eric Anderson asked “isn’t that contrary to what we just talked about as far as Christmas lights that we couldn’t do it because we didn’t budget for it”?
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “yea, we had that conversation I thought”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “that we had money in the Beautification Fund, but we can’t roll money into that isn’t that what were told”?
The Mayor responded “no you were told we couldn’t add, Tim was asking about the decorations and spending $30,000 and we didn’t have it to roll it in”. “We would have to amend the budget for something like that”. “He (Tim Hatten) kept saying amend the budget, amend the budget means adding more money or taking and we weren’t going to do that”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “add money to it”.
The Mayor stated “we could but, we get it somewhere else”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “yea”.
Alderman Jake Walker stated “if anything when moving these items they have to be in the general fund”.
The Mayor stated “you can’t take it out of water, but you can from the PD because they are part of the General”. “It just can’t be taken out of Water & Sewer”.
Alderman James Mizell stated “we are not amending the budget; we’re just relocating from one line to another”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “that is certainly not the message that I took home when we were having this discussion on Christmas Lights the other day, Jerri”.
The Mayor stated “that was using the wrong verbiage “amended”, and we do not have to amend, but we can transfer line items to line items and that’s what we are doing”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “I understand what’s happening here, I’m clear on that, that’s not the message that was delivered to us when we discussed Christmas lights last time”. “It was well, no you can’t do it, it was a complete wash”.
The Mayor stated “No, we wasn’t using a line item thing, that’s when we figured when Tim came back and he was talking about transferring from line items, but he was using amendments, amending, amending, amending, and that’s using different verbiage”. “He didn’t understand that”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “ok, it’s an issue of semantics”.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “yes, it semantics”.
The Mayor stated “we didn’t understand that until we talked to him and figure out what he was talking about”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “so, now we are back to the original discussion we had was, we can’t do that”.
The Mayor stated “we couldn’t amend it at the time”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “so, you know the obvious question that I am going to ask you is, $5,000 extra dollars for travel and entertainment”.
The Mayor stated “school”.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “In the General Fund is that what you are talking about”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “that’s an extra 70 percent increase”.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “part of that, we run the Mayor’s expense through the General Fund”.
The Mayor stated “$6,000”.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “and we had been doing that splitting that ½ and ½ and then just run it through all that, and that was part of it”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “so when you say split ½ and ½ City verses Water”.
The Mayor stated “and that changed in January, remember last time we talked about salaries”.
Alderman Eric Anderson stated “but I have not gotten to that yet, ok that makes sense now”.
Auditor Faron Cain stated “you know we talked about splitting my salary in ½ and”.
The Mayor stated “the taxes weren’t right and we had to go back in”. “Plus we had some going to school and all the dollars and expenses come out of there, hotel”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “is there an increase in the Police Department Vehicle Maintenance”? “Is that to help pay for the vehicle that they had got from the fender bender”?
Chief Paul Montoya stated “it was for that and addition to money we had in another area and wanted to make sure that our vehicles were 100% and had radios and the antennas so we don’t have dead zones”. “We went to another line item so we wouldn’t use all that money”. “So we floated the money from one line item to the next to cover all those costs”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “I understand that”.
Chief Paul Montoya stated “we are going to be right under our budget we are gonna hit our big number, we won’t go over”.
Alderman Gary Nash stated “Oh yeah, I understand that, I was just curious about it”. “When are we supposed to get that back or is it already back”? (They are referencing the vehicle that was wrecked).
Chief Paul Montoya stated “It is back, all we are waiting on is the graphics to come in”.
The Mayor asks “anything else”?
Motion was made by Alderman Eric Anderson and seconded by Alderman Jake Walker
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
- Consider and act upon approving the following forms for the Hallsville Police Department: Garrity Warning form; Personnel Complaint form; Personnel Complaint Witness List form; Professional Standards Statement Notification form.
Alderman Gary Nash asked “could you tell us a little bit about this”? (He is referring to the Forms submitted by the Chief).
Chief Paul Montoya briefly explained the forms and stated that they are needed to update the policy.
Chief Paul Montoya stated “when it’s summer, we take the time to update our policies”. “With the law changing all the time, it’s another process we have to do”.
Motion was made by Alderman Gary Nash and seconded by Alderman Eric Anderson
Motion carried. 4 Ayes; 0 Nays; and 1 Abstention
V. Citizens to be Heard
There were no comments from citizens.
VI. Adjournment
The Council meeting adjourned at 6:23 pm.
City Of Hallsville
Signed:
_________________________________
Mayor Jerri Medrano
Attest:
_______________________________
Kimberly Smith, City Secretary
Sworn and subscribed by before me on the 16th day of September 2014.
_______________________________
Faron Cain
Notary Public, State of Texas