03/20/2017-CC-Minutes-RegularCITY OF SANGER, TEXAS
MINUTES: REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
March 20, 2017, 7:00 PM
502 Elm Street, Sanger, Texas
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Thomas Muir, Councilman Bill Boutwell,
Councilman Lee Allison, Councilman David Clark, Councilman Gary Bilyeu,
Councilman Allen Chick
The Mayor and All Council Members Were Present Constituting a Quorum.
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Brice City Manager, Cheryl Price City Secretary,
Jim Berman, Director of Parks and Recreation, Alina Ciocan, Director of Economic and
Development Services, Ramie Hammonds Building Official.
CITIZENS RECOGNIZED DURING MEETING:
1. Call Meeting to Order, Invocation, Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Muir called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. The Invocation led by Mayor Muir,
followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilman Chick.
2. Citizens Input: (Citizens are allowed 3 minutes to speak. The City Council is unable
to respond or to discuss any issues brought up during this section).
There were no citizens present who wished to speak.
3. CONSENT AGENDA:
a) Approval of Minutes:
1. City Council Work Session Meeting Minutes March 6, 2017
2. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes March 6, 2017
b) Disbursements
c) Approval of The New Parks and Recreation Logo.
Councilman Clark and Councilman Chick had a few questions on the disbursements and
the Mayor and Councilmembers complimented the New Parks and Recreation Logo. A
motion was made by Councilman Boutwell to approve the Consent Agenda as
presented. The Motion was seconded by Councilman Bilyeu. The motion carried
unanimously (5-0).
4. Consider any Items Removed from Consent Agenda.
There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda.
REGULAR AGENDA
5. Consider, Discuss and Possibly Approve Memorandum of Understan ding with
Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) for Transmission Operator Services.
A summary was provided by City Manager Brice. He advised that this is the beginning of
starting down the path of requesting LCRA to be our Transmission Operator for 3 years at
$25,000 per year. In the interim they are going to try to buy the or lease the substation
from Brazos. If they get that done, they are going to continue to be our operator. The
other option is will to build a new substation and they can become our transmission
operator. As of right now this is the only viable solution we have. At some point ERCOT
is going to kick us up to PUC for enforcement and we will spend a lot more that $25,000.
There was brief discussion and it was noted this has been discussed in detail at previous
meetings.
A Motion was made by Councilman Bilyeu approving the Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) for Transmission Operator
Services. The Motion was seconded by Councilman Clark. Motion Carried unanimously
(5-0).
6. Consider, Discuss and Possibly Authorize the Use of Contingency Reserve Funds to
Rent a Portable Sludge Press for the Wastewater Treatment Plant at A Rate of
$8500.00 Per Month; And, For as Long as Necessary; And, Declaring an Emergency.
City Manager Brice advised this does two things for us. First, we cannot spend
contingency reserve funds without the City Council approval and this would give us the
approval to do that. Secondly, by declaring an emergency, we waive the competitive
bidding process when it reaches the $50,000 mark. If an emergency is not declared, at that
point we would have to stop and put it out to bid. There was discussion regarding the
time frame, “For as long as necessary”, it was discussed putting it on a 12-month limit,
and; if necessary, take a look at the situation, at that time. He noted are currently covering
all of the operating costs of the sludge press out of the current budget; the additional
polymers we are buying, the electricity, the additional haul off that we are doing is all
being covered out of the existing budget. We do not have the funds to in the current
budget to cover the $8,500 per month for the Sludge Press that is why we are asking to use
Contingency Reserve Funds. There was miscellaneous discussion and questions regarding
the time frame that the Sludge Press would be in use and it was noted staff would work
with the contractor once the bid for the Wastewater Treatment plant is let, to get a new
sludge press online as soon as is possible.
A Motion was made by Councilman Boutwell to Authorize use of contingency reserve
funds to rent a portable sludge press for the wastewater treatment plant at a rate of
$8,500.00 per month for a 12-month period; and declaring an emergency. Motion was
seconded by Councilman Bilyeu. Motion carried unanimously (5-0).
Mayor Muir moved the Information Items to this portion of the Agenda before the
Executive Session.
9. INFORMATION ITEMS
a) Financial and Investment Report – January.
b) Capital Project Update
c) Wastewater Treatment Plant Update
d) All American Dogs Report – February.
City Manager Brice gave an update on the Wastewater Treatment Plant. He noted that
in the 9-10 days the press has been there they have done about 75 yards of sludge; 55
yards have been hauled off and the 20+ additional yards will be hauled off next week. It
is our goal to process and haul off at least 40 yards of sludge each week until the
numbers we are seeing from our testing results indicate that we need to cut back. They
are making quite a bit of progress on that. They have also raised the PH up from a 6.2 to
a 9 which; according to the biologist that was here a week ago, will help tremendously
with the odorous problem because the odorous bugs are living down at that sixth level
and if we can get it to 7.8 to 7.6 then they start dying. We are continuing to fee steroids.
We have one plant that we feel is back into normal operation and most of the sludge has
been removed. They are moving to make progress at the the second plant. We also met
with an odor control representative on Wednesday and are waiting to hear back from
him to discuss options for our plant. By next Friday, we hopefully will have even better
news.
7. EXECUTIVE SESSION: CLOSED MEETING
Pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, the City Council Will Meet in a
Closed Executive Session in Accordance with the Texas Government Code: Section
551.072 – Real Estate
Council convened at 7:55 p.m.
8. RECONVENE: OPEN MEETING
Any Action Taken.
Council reconvened at 8:26. No Action was taken.
10. ADJOURN.
There being no further items Mayor Muir adjourned the meeting at 8:27 p.m.