January 22, 2024 Work Session Notes
With lodestar above, aye, and trammels in tow, We are hauling away from Shiloh
Short Work Session agenda for this week. As always, for my notes, I’ll make my comments for each item in bold italics. Please email council7@garlandtx.gov with your input.
Federal Grants Calendar Fiscal Year 2024-2025
Development staff is providing the Council with the Federal Grants Calendar for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for the Council's review.
The federal grants the City are responsible for administering include CDBG, HOME, and ESG grant funds.
From the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development:
CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) are used to fund needs such as infrastructure, economic development projects, public facilities installation, community centers, housing rehabilitation, public services, clearance/acquisition, microenterprise assistance, code enforcement, and homeowner assistance in targeted development areas.
HOME (HOME Investment Partnrship Program) grants fund a wide range of activities including building, buying, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.
ESG (Emergency Solutions Grants) are designed to assist people with quickly regaining stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness.
Each of these grants help meet specific needs in our City and I look forward to the Work Sessions in May, June and July where we will evaluate applicants and allocate funding.
2. Advance Funding Agreement with TxDOT for Shiloh Road from Miller to Forest Lane Approve a Resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute an Advanced Funding Agreement with TxDOT for the design and construction to widen Shiloh Road from Miller Road to Forest Lane.
Like the grants above, other federal grants are available for transportation related projects. In this item, we are asked to approve $18.955 million in federal funding (yes please!) and $973,380 in state funding (thank you!) to fund the reconstruction of Shiloh Road from Miller Road to Forest Lane.
The City will be responsible for all engineering related costs and any costs above and beyond the amounts which are allocated in the grants above. The total project cost is estimated to be $23.973 million.
3. Development Agreement -- 215 Southwood
Council is asked to consider a 380 Agreement with Rebuilding the Fort, CDC, for the redevelopment of a city-owned residential property located at 215 Southwood. Upon completion, this property will be sold as affordable housing to an eligible family.
Rebuilding the Fort is a community development corporation which trains veterans in construction and real estate job skills. Through this partnership, the City will allow Rebuilding the Fort to renovate the property—formerly known as the Harmony House community meeting space—into a residence once again. The home will then be made available for purchase to an income-eligible family through our City’s GREAT Homes program.
You can read more about Rebuilding the Fort’s work in nearby Arlington here:
VERBAL BRIEFINGS
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a verbal briefing.
4. Discussion of 2024 Council Policies and Procedures
The City Attorney will moderate a discussion with City Council regarding possible changes to Council Policies and Procedures.
5. Audit Committee Meeting Report
Council Member Ed Moore, Chair of the Audit Committee, with the assistance of staff, will present Council with a verbal report regarding recent audits.
We will receive briefings on several audit reports which our Internal Audit Department has recently completed. Those include the Weaver Presentation - Audit Process, the Atrium Facility Rental Program Audit, and the Bond Program Audit.
6. Discussion of the 2024 Proposed Capital Improvement Program
City Council will continue the discussion of the 2024 Proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
This item will continue the discussion from our last Saturday’s Special Session where we had presentations from each of the City Departments requesting CIP funding.
On Saturday, I asked the Park’s Department for more information on adding additional lighting at city parks. I have seen many soccer teams practicing late night under whatever existing light they could find at our city parks. Especially during Daylight Saving Time when the sun sets earlier than 6:00 PM, additional lighting would keep our youth safe during their practices and promote the use of our parks which is exactly what we should want.
7. Charter Review Council Discussion
City Staff will assist Council with a discussion on the charter review committee's recommendations and see input on next steps.
Our Charter Review Committee did an excellent job going through each item and providing recommendations for proposed changes to our City Charter. I have no issues with any of their recommendations.
One outstanding question I raised at the last Work Session was how the term of a council member is defined. Our City Attorney’s office provided a recommendation to define a term as “the time between the annual statutory uniform election dates in May.” The issue is that if ever we were to have an election delayed for any reason as we did during the pandemic in 2020, the definition does not work.
CONSIDER APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Terms are usually staggered whereby at least half of the membership has previous experience. Members are appointed based on qualifications.
8. Mayor Scott LeMay
Charles Leonard - Community Multicultural Commission
9. Council Member Chris Ott
Richard Valle - Parks and Recreation Board
ANNOUNCE FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
A Council member, with a second by another member or the Mayor alone, may ask that an item be placed on a future agenda of the City Council or of a committee of the City Council. No substantive discussion of that item will take place at this time.
ADJOURN
With part of Shiloh Road reconstruction being part of the agenda, I’ll include a song named “Shiloh” from a Vancouver-based folk punk band called The Dreadnoughts. I haven’t yet included a good sea shanty as a closing song, so enjoy this one!
As always, thank you for your service! I doubt this is known yet, but is the Shiloh widening project between Miller and Forest anticipating the forfeiture of any homes on the east side of Shiloh thru imminent domain or similar? Thx!