Burleson City Council Recap from August 5th, 2024
The Burleson City Council meeting on August 5th, 2024, was called to order at 5:32 PM by Mayor Chris Fletcher. The posted agenda included one proclamation, seven consent items, four general items, and one report by city staff. The Mayor delivered the invocation and all members of the city council were present.
August 16th was declared by the Mayor to be the “Friendly Fest Carnival Dance Event” to recognize those with special needs and disability in the city of Burleson. Join them on August 16th at the Center for ASD between 6p and 8p!
Additionally, congratulations was given to Burleson resident Conner Prince for winning a silver metal in the 2024 Paris Olympics! An event will be announced at a later date to celebrate his achievement!
Councilmember Alexa Boedeker (Place 3), requested to move items 6B and 6C (regarding credit card fees) to the consent agenda. City Manager Tommy Ludwig requested to move item 5B from the consent agenda to the general discussion. Lastly, Councilmember Victoria Johnson (Place 1) requested to move item 6A (regarding the election in November) to the consent agenda.
Citizen Appearances
A citizen named Charmaine Sherlock requested to speak to the council, and spoke about the issues facing her neighborhood with an invasion of Cattle Egret birds, especially because the street sweepers, while she appreciates, exacerbates her daughter’s restrictive airway disease because it can activate fungal spores if swept without first being wet. She did mention that the city did come by the morning of the meeting with a water truck, rinsed the street, and then swept it, but requests that maybe the city can look to more permanent solutions as there have been so many different issues in her neighborhood including property damaged by the birds. Councilmember Dan McClendon (Place 5) spoke to the citizen and told her that he feels for her and that he believes the law that prohibits the city from doing something about the birds is outdated and hopes to use the future legislative session in Texas to advocate for solutions to these issues, especially since Cattle Egrets are not endangered.
Consent Agenda Items
Originally, there were seven items on the consent agenda, but due to the changes, the vote was on nine items. The following items were approved unanimously after the modifications:
Approving minutes from July 22nd meeting
Approving an agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates for $21,000 to evaluate pedestrian safety and off-street parking
Approving a resolution to authorize street closures and an in-kind sponsorship of $1,897.74 for costs associated with police and public works staff for the BHS Homecoming Parade
Approving a resolution to ratify appointments to the Boren Property Advisory Council, Historical Advisory Committee, and Art Advisory Committee
Approving an agreement with CMJ Engineering for $277,294.50 for testing services related to the Burleson West Life Station, Force Main, and Gravity Sewer Project
Approval of an agreement for concrete repair services from Reliable Paving, Inc. through an inter-local agreement with Tarrant County for $175,000
Approval of a contract with Johnson County for election services for the November 5th, 2024 Special Local Option Election for approximately $30,000 (moved from General agenda, originally item 6A)
Approval of a contract amendment to Paymentus for credit card fees for $25,000
Approval of a contract amendment to Tyler Technologies to utilize them for credit card fees
Item 5B
This item was requested by the City Manager to have a separate discussion outside of the consent agenda. This was a piece regarding adoption of the Johnson County Hazard Mitigation Plan, presented by Joe Laster. As of 2020, the plan that Burleson was using expired, so we have had no plan for over four years now. The purpose of the plan is to reduce risk of hazards that have been identified in the plan, increase public awareness, and create continuity plans.
This plan includes provisions to install more emergency sirens, generators for critical services, increased education for the public, and look into tornado shelters for existing and future government buildings. Further, this can include post-adoption items around high-water zones.
Councilmember Larry Scott (Place 4) spoke after the presentation first clarifying if this plan is required to receive certain federal grants and funds from FEMA, and Joe Laster confirmed that was accurate. Additionally, Councilmember Scott asked if by approving this plan meant that we were committing to the $2.9m in grants, and it was confirmed that we were not committing to anything, but that we’re considering hazards for future needs if they arise.
Councilmember McClendon made a statement that by looking at the plan and all of the jurisdictions and their action plans, it looks as if Burleson has achieved several of the items while other jurisdictions have accomplished anything, and he dislikes that we effectively have to shoulder the burden all by ourselves. He mentions that while he’s fully in support of this plan, he hopes that we could get better action from our partners in this plan.
This plan was approved unanimously by the council.
General Agenda Items - Item 6D
This item, presented by Tony McIlwain, is the public result of the previous city council meeting where a presentation was given talking about the need for a public meeting for the special assessments for the PID in Panchasarp Farms. Mr. McIlwain confirmed that this is the first of two agenda items that will be presented to the council, and also mentions that the information in the presentation is effectively the same as the previous council meeting. It was suggested that the council agrees to hold a public hearing on this to be held on the August 19th, 2024 council meeting. This resolution passed unanimously.
Reports and Presentations - Property Tax Rates
Harlan Jefferson, Assistant City Manager, gave this presentation. The purpose of this presentation was to show different scenarios that may be approved by the council during the budgetary discussions over the next month about property tax rates, sewer rates, and even a possibility of a new “street maintenance fee.”
There were several different numbers presented in the presentation. If you’re interested in seeing all of the different propositions, please view the presentation here.
Councilmember Scott asked if the council went with one of the voter approved rates, would we have to commit to the “street maintenance fee” since the state legislature could theoretically take that away. City Manager Tommy Ludwig mentioned that it would be a discussion with the council and there would be no specific commitment.
The council suggested to the staff to look further into the voter approved rate with the increment (0.6627).
Upcoming Meetings
The next city council meeting is expected to be held on August 19th, 2024.
Closing
The mayor closed the meeting at 8:34 pm after recess into executive session at 6:56 pm. For more details, including materials, presentations, and memos in the official record, you can view the official minutes here. You can additionally watch the recording of the meeting here.