August 12, 2024 REVISED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF NEDERLAND
4:30 p.m. August 12,2024
1. MEETING
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Mayor Albanese at the Nederland City
Office Building, 207 N. 12th Street,Nederland, Texas. See attached for quorum.
The following statement was posted:
"PURSUANT TO SECTION 30.07, PENAL CODE (TRESPASS BY LICENSE
HOLDER WITH AN OPENLY CARRIED HANDGUN), A PERSON LICENSED
UNDER SUBCHAPTER H, CHAPTER 411, GOVERNMENT CODE (HANDGUN
LICENSING LAW), MAY NOT ENTER THIS PROPERTY WITH A HANDGUN
THAT IS CARRIED OPENLY."
2. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The invocation and Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Pro Tem Sonnier.
3. CONSENT AGENDA - All consent agenda items listed are considered to be routine by
the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion
of these items unless a councilmember so requests, in which event the item will be
removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Sonnier and seconded by Councilmember Guillot to
approve the Consent Agenda Item "a thru b"as presented. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
a. Minutes—July 22, 2024 regular meeting
b. Consider action approving Resolution No. 2024-09, ratifying the action of the Nederland
Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors related to the incentive offered
GNR Enterprises LLC dba Butcher's Korner.
4. REGULAR AGENDA
a. A Motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Councilmember Duplant
to set a Joint Public Hearing for the purpose of receiving comments regarding the
request to re-zone property located at 1011 Chicago Avenue, described as Lot 27,Block
10 of Nederland Addition from property zoned R-2 (duplex residential)to C-3 (highway
retail) for the construction of a commercial building to store materials for their
construction business. The Joint Public Hearing will be held September 9, 2024 at 4:30
PM at Nederland City Hal. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese, Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
Minutes continued, August 12, 2024
b. A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Councilmember Duplant
to authorize the submission of an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant
Program application. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
c. A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Councilmember Guillot
to authorize a Request for Qualifications for grant administration and management
services associated with a Community Development Block Grant application.
MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
d. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Sonnier and seconded by Councilmember
Guillot to approve Change Order No. 1 —2023 Concrete Street Rehabilitation project.
MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
At the February 27, 2023 City Council meeting,the 2023 Concrete Street Rehabilitation
project, which included concrete street repairs to Avenue H from 29th Street to the
frontage road and South 21St Street from Helena Ave to Detroit Ave,was awarded to the
lowest responsive and responsible bidder—Brystar Contracting in the amount of
$1,395,135.52. The City Council approved Change Order No. 1 in the amount of
$213,472.54 (15.3% increase); the additional cost shall be paid via the Street
Improvement Fund. The City Council sought clarification on the cause of the change
order. The Public Works Director explained that a portion of the change order was the
result of greater concrete panel repairs on both 21' Street and Avenue H and a portion
of the change order was the result of an oversight on original bid documents (the wrong
quantities were included on the bid documents that resulted in all submitted bids being
uniformly underbid). The project engineer, Schaumburg & Polk, Inc. and the Public
Works Director recommended approval of the Change Order.
e. A motion was made by Councilmember Guillot and seconded by Councilmember Root
to approve final payment and release of retainage for the 2023 Concrete Street
Rehabilitation project, in the combined amount of $398,789.79. MOTION
CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
f. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Sonnier and seconded by Councilmember
Duplant to authorize the solicitation of bids for the Community Development Block
Grant Street Improvements project funded through the Texas General Land Office.
MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
g. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tern Sonnier and seconded by Councilmember
Guillot to authorize the solicitation of bids for the South 5th Street Roadway
Improvements project. MOTION CARRIED.
Minutes continued, August 12, 2024
AYES: Mayor Albanese, Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
In the 600 block of South 5th Street, a "sinkhole" was found in early June. Last year,
South 5th Street between Ave H and Nederland Ave was re-surfaced; this included
repairs to a spot in this vicinity that was sinking. In the 1990s, a similar issue was
addressed in this area. Since June, the Public Works staff attempted to identify the
cause of this repeated issue and solicited assistance from Soutex. It is necessary to
complete repairs to the manhole and then resurface the road. The Street Improvement
Fund would fund this project; the estimated cost of construction is between $50,000 and
$80,000.
Rob Woods, Director of Public Works, stated that the manhole has settled and it will be
excavated and piers will be installed.
Britton Jones, 1132 Gary, commented that this issue has been blocking %2 of a resident's
driveway for over 2 months and would like for the City to find a permanent solution.
h. A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Mayor Pro Tern Sonnier
to approve a work authorization with Schaumburg&Polk, Inc. for the 2024 Wastewater
System amended Study—Western Section. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
Earlier this year, the Public Works staff began to investigate sewer issues in the western
section of the wastewater system. Following inspection of the lines, the Public Works
Director recommends engaging Schaumburg & Polk, Inc. for smoke testing and
manhole inspection and flow monitoring testing; SPI would complete their testing and
inspection and present a final report with their finding and recommendations for
possible improvements. SPI would take no more than 120 days to complete this work;
the timeline is subject to weather conditions that can affect the flowing monitoring and
smoke testing segments. The flow monitoring data will be compared with the data that
was collected in 2016. The SSES Fund would cover the costs of this work.
Chris Duque, City Manager, stated that the public will be notified of the scheduled smoke
testing thru STAN and social media. Rob Woods stated there are 210 manholes and
approximately 85,000 linear feet of sewer lines in this western section that will be tested.
The testing will show any areas of infiltration in the system.
Darren Fanette, 1016 N 31st St., commented on the timetable for smoke testing in past
years and questioned whether open cleanouts would be an issue. Chris Duque stated that
violations for open cleanouts will be addressed.
i. Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget:
i. Chris Duque, City Manager, stated the City Charter requires that a preliminary
budget be presented to the City Council. At the budget workshop held on July 10th,
the preliminary budget was presented and there have been no revisions since that
workshop. A public hearing must be scheduled to solicit public input/comments
regarding the budget. A copy of the budget will be available in the City Clerk's
Office and posted on the City's website. Mr. Duque recommended approval of
Minutes continued, August 12, 2024
Resolution No. 2024-10, setting the budget public hearing date of Monday, August
26th at 4:30 p.m. at the Nederland City Hall. The budget would be adopted at the
September 9th City Council meeting.
A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Sonnier and seconded by Councilmember
Root to approve Resolution No. 2024-10, submitting the City of Nederland Annual
Budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2024 and ending September 30,
2025 and calling for a Public Hearing to be held on August 26, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. at
Nederland City Hall (207 North 12th Street) for the purpose of discussing the
proposed budget as per Article VI of the City Charter. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root, Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
ii. Chris Duque, City Manager, stated that the current tax rate is $0.467607 per $100
assessed taxable value. In 2019, the State Legislature approved Senate Bill 2 that
made significant changes to property taxes. Previously, the City discussed adopting
a tax rate between the "effective tax rate" (the benchmark tax rate needed to raise
the same amount of maintenance and operations property taxes on existing property
as the previous year after taking into account changes in appraised values) and the
"rollback tax rate" (the tax rate necessary to raise precisely 8% more maintenance
and operations tax revenue as the year before after taking into account appraisal
fluctuations). Following SB2, the term "effective tax rate" has been changed to
"no-new-revenue tax rate" and "rollback tax rate" has been changed to "voter-
approval tax rate." The "voter-approval tax rate" is calculated utilizing 3.5%
instead of 8%.
The effective tax rate or no-new-revenue tax rate has been calculated as $0.426791,
and the rollback tax rate or voter-approval tax rate has been calculated as
$0.440806.
On Monday, July 22th, JCAD submitted the assessed taxable value of
$1,745,567,778, an increase of$107,004,933. I recommend the City Council reduce
the tax rate to the no-new revenue (or effective) tax rate or $0.426791 per $100
assessed valuation. The proposed budget is based on this tax rate. Per state law, it
is necessary for the City to hold a public hearing on the proposed tax rate; the
proposed tax rate public hearing will be held on Monday, August 26th. The
subsequent agenda items are included to satisfy legal requirements.
A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Mayor Pro Tern
Sonnier to approve the proposed tax rate for the fiscal year beginning October 1,
2024 and ending September 30, 2025. MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese,Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
iii. A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Councilmember
Guillot to schedule tax rate adoption dates:
• Monday, August 26th at 4:30 p.m. (regular meeting) at the Nederland City
Hall—Public Hearings.
• Monday, September 9th at 4:30 p.m. at the Nederland City Hall (regular
meeting)—Adopt the Tax Rate.
Minutes continued, August 12, 2024
MOTION CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese, Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
iv. A motion was made by Councilmember Guillot and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem
Sonnier regarding the proposed tax rate and establishing the dates of Monday,
August 26th at 4:30 p.m. at Nederland City Hall for public hearings. MOTION
CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese, Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier,and Guillot.
NOES: None.
v. A motion was made by Councilmember Root and seconded by Councilmember
Duplant to approve Resolution No. 2024-11, authorizing the publication of the
notice of intent for Certificates of Obligation to finance city sanitary sewer and
water supply system projects (Certificates of Obligation, Series 2024). MOTION
CARRIED.
AYES: Mayor Albanese, Councilmembers Duplant,Root,Sonnier, and Guillot.
NOES: None.
5. EXECUTIVE SESSION
The regular meeting was recessed at 5:29 p.m.by Mayor Albanese for the purpose of
conducting an Executive Session as authorized by Texas Government Code, Deliberations
about Real Property—Texas Government Code, Chapter 551.072.
6. RECONVENE
The regular meeting was reconvened at 6:04 p.m. by Mayor Albanese. He announced the
Executive Session was held for informational purposes only and no action is necessary.
7. ADJOURN
There being no further business a motion was made by Mayor Albanese to adjourn the
meeting at 6:05 p.m.
/4.
lbanese,Mayor
City of Nederland, Texas
ATTEST:
Jon3Underwood, City Clerk ��'���® ° �•�
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