Navasota city council moves ahead with Lil Rattler child care benefit

BY CONNIE CLEMENTS

Examiner reporter

At a Special Meeting and Workshop Monday, Aug. 22, the Navasota city council authorized City Manager Jason Weeks to move forward with the Lil Rattler Academy child care reimbursement program as an employee benefit in the 2022-2023 budget. Also, under consideration at council’s request, is a tuition reimbursement program. Weeks advised that the City is contemplating bonuses to attract applicants for certain job postings, such as the vacant city inspector position.

Absent from the Aug. 15 budget workshop, Streets and Sanitation Director Jose Coronilla presented his departmental review Monday night with a breakdown of expenditures, major budget items, staffing statistics and supplemental requests.

He also advised that the four-day annual spring cleanup is being expanded to spring and fall but for two days Saturday and Sunday.

A public hearing will be held Monday, Sept. 12, to receive comments about the proposed $36.2 million budget and $0.5560 per $100 valuation tax rate. Council will also ratify the tax increase reflected in the proposed budget and vote on the first reading of the budget, tax rate and Republic Services rate increase.

The second and final reading will take place Sept. 26. All meetings are held at 6 p.m. in city council chambers at City Hall, 200 E. McAlpine Street.

Agenda adjustments

In response to the recent Roberts Rules of Order training provided to staff, city council, board and commission members, Weeks recommended some changes to City Council Meeting Procedures outlined in Ordinance 923-20. Some were verbiage corrections and others were related to accessibility to the agenda and streamlining meetings. Noncontroversial items will be moved to the Consent Agenda but it was clarified that citizens and council would have the ability to address those items separately.

Weeks wants to make the agenda packet available to the public through the City’s website and to council six days before the scheduled meeting.

Council members were satisfied with continuing to allow public comments before the meeting, or if related to a specific agenda item, at the time the item is discussed but favored eliminating rebuttal to discourage disruptive or disorderly behavior.

National Night Out

Navasota’s 2022 National Night Out has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Oct. 18. The event, usually the first Tuesday in October, conflicts with a Texas Municipal League conference at which the City will receive an award. View city council meetings in their entirety at www.navasotatx. gov/city-council/pages/ meeting-videos.