August Employee of the Month - Paul Alcorn

Paul Alcorn was honored at the August 8th City Council meeting by being awarded Employee of the Month for August 2023. Paul’s supervisor, Juan Montoya, described Paul as a really good worker. He was also described as a great backup when Hamricks is really busy and helps get vehicles back on the road. The Council congratulated Paul, and those in attendance gave him a round of applause.

Paul was presented with a dedicated plaque with his name on it and was also given a gift certificate to a local restaurant.

The City Council approved the following Agenda Items: Minutes from July 11, 2023 City Council Meeting and July 25, 2023 Budget Workshop; bills as presented; Resolution No. 202327 - waiving Noise Ordinance defining nuisances for August 26, 2023 for St. Mary’s Catholic Church, September 16, 2023 at Risien Park.

Action Item 1:

The Council considered approval of purchase of (1) 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe with equipment from the City of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, not to exceed 16,000. This Resolution No. 2023-29 would authorize the City Manager or his designee as the authorized signer of the purchase and providing an effective date.

City Manager Edmonson informed the Council that finding this vehicle was very good news, and he described the equipment that is already in the vehicle. The Council unanimously approved the Resolution.

Action Item 2:

The Council considered approval of amending the Article 8.06, Firearms, to Address the Discharge of Bows, Crossbows, and Compound Bows within the City Limits; Providing for an effective date; Providing a Savings Clause; and Providing a Severability Clause.

It was noted that this has been discussed several times. This Resolution No. 2023-06 has been sent to the attorney to look over. Some of the discussion in this meeting included: Some folks want to hunt in town; having a facility in town where people can safely shoot to practice; the notice of this resolution will need to be placed in the newspaper twice. After discussion, the Council unanimously approved Resolution 2023-06.

Action Item 3:

Marcus Wood gave a presentation on behalf of his client, Tony Jacobs, Jr., to the Council as they considered approved Ordinance No. 2023-07, an Ordinance of the City of San Saba, Texas, to permanently close the underdeveloped unopened 0.719 portion of Pierce Street and Hope Street located in the Industrial Park and selling the 0.719 portion of Pierce Street and Hope to Tony Jacobs, Jr. Mr. Wood proposed some changes to the Ordinance. The item was tabled until changes can be made and examined.

The Council thanked Mr. Wood for his time and presentation.

City Manager’s Report

City Manager Scott Edmonson gave the following updates and news to the Council:

• Splashpad - the representative was here last week. Work was started on-site. Time frame is still to be determined. The water tower feature is already made; water tie-in is there; electrical is close. We will add features as we go, can add features in the next few years with the quick connects.

• A couple of trees have fallen because of the harsh weather. The Golf Course had a limb fall yesterday and one fall this morning.

• Radios - City Manager Edmonson has been in contact with the County Commissioners, Sheriff and Deputies, and Judge Fauley, about the Communication System. The County decided to go with Motorola but is still deciding on funding. Working on a possibility of our order being combined with County's, and then we would repay them. Mr. Edmonson explained the importance of being able to order them together. (They would be ordered on same order, ideally arrive at the same time, be set up together, and the radios would for sure all be the same. Communication would be easier between County and City with the same equipment. Good communication is very important during a crisis.) Any decisions on this will have to wait until the Commissioner’s Court decides on their funding.

• New Phones - Still some adjusting to do. There are three to four bars of reception in town. Alderman Behrens noted the towers should be done in 45 days.

• EV station - EV (Electric Vehicle) System was down, so they were taken out. Mr. Edmonson got one contact, and reached out to another possible company.

• Sidewalk grout - There was an engineer survey.

• Chase Pecan - There is a temporary discharge agreement (90 days) with Chase Pecan to see how things go. In the agreement, nothing is allowed to go through without going through the clarifier. It seems to be working.

• Budget - working on updating the fee schedule because costs are going up. Example: We have a lot of construction debris from other cities. One example he gave was Kingsland. We are only allowed to take so much, and we are getting a lot of out of county stuff. Juan Montoya, Sanitation Department Supervisor, said that right now, we are taking three loads a day to Brownwood. There was discussion on possibilities going forward with this issue.

• Utilities - Scott Glaze, Public Works Department Supervisor, said we are pumping a lot of water and pushing a lot of electricity. Mr. Edmonson said we are still doing okay, but we have companies buying bulk water. That may need to be rationed. We have one company doing construction (widening State HW 16) out north that is wanting 10 semi loads a day, but we told them we couldn’t do that much. There was discussion on how hard the weather has been on construction.

• Michael Wadsworth, Code Enforcement Office, noted that Chase Pecan put up the red iron and hopefully will get the cover for it so we can get these guys some shade.

The Council then took a break before entering the Budget Workshop.

All City Council meetings are open to the public. You are encouraged to come and see what your elected officials are doing for you.