The Zavalla City Council will conduct its regular scheduled meeting on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 6:00 P.M. at the New Zavalla City Hall located at 242 E. Main Street, Zavalla, Texas 75980.
Everyone must wear a mask and will have their temperature checked before entering the meeting.
ORDER OF BUSINESS
1. Call meeting to order
2. Establish a quorum
3. Welcome Guest
4. Invocation
5. Open Forum
6. Zavalla Volunteer Fire Department Report
7. Discuss and possibly take action to terminate City of Zavalla's relation with the Linebarger Firm pertaining to tax collections and discuss and possibly approve a contingent fee contract with Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott, LLP pursuant to the Texas Tax Code, said contract being for the collection of delinquent tax taxes owed to City of Zavalla. This agenda item being called for the purpose of considering the matters listed in Texas Government Code Section 2254.1036(a)(l). Requisite notice of these items is posted with this agenda in accordance with that section.
8. Discuss and take appropriate action to approve a resolution to submit an application to the Texas General Land Office for Community Development Block Grant Mitigation project.
9. Discuss and take appropriate action to adopt a procurement police for use of federal funds.
10. Discuss and take appropriate action to adopt a grant funds financial policy.
11. Discuss and possibly approve taking some type of action on Darlene Tucker's water bill account #615.
12. Discuss and possibly take action on changing water rates on Ordinance #97.
13. Discuss and possibly approve RV Ordinance.
14. Discuss and possibly take action on closing Customer Water Deposit Account. (RVS will track this process)
15. Discuss and possibly take action on starting up a "Senior Angel Tree" program.
16. Discuss and possibly take action on closing City Hall on Wednesday, December 23, 2020 so Office Employees can deliver gifts to Senior Citizens that was donated for the Senior Angel Tree program.
17. Discuss and possibly approve October 2020 bills.
18. Discuss and possibly approve September 8, 2020 minutes
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The City of Zavalla Council reserves the right to adjourn into executive session at any time during the course of this meeting to discuss any of the matters listed below, as authorized by the Texas Government Code Section 551.01
a. 551.071 Consultation with Attorney
b. 551.072 Deliberation about Real Property
c. 551.073 Deliberations about Gifts and Donations
d. 551.074 Personnel Matters
e. 551.076 Deliberations about Security Devices
f. 551.087 Economic Development Matters
Meeting Adjourn
NOTE: Mayor and Council Reports on Items of Community Interest-Pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.0415, the City Council may report on the following items: (1) expression of thanks, congratulation on condolences; (2) information about holiday schedules; (3) recognition of individuals; (4) reminders about upcoming City council events; (5}information about community events;(6} announcements involving imminent threat to public health and safety.
I certify that this Notice of Meeting was posted in a glass-enclosed cast in front of City Hall at 242 E. Main Street, Zavalla, Texas and available for viewing by the public on the City's Webpage at cityofzavalla.com on October 9, 2020 at 11:50 a.m.
Carlos Guzman
Mayor
Public Notice:
NOTICE PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SEC. 2254.1036
WHEREAS, the City of Zavala ("City"), will consider entering into a contingent fee contract with the law firm of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins & Mott, L.L.P. ("Firm") and hereby posts this notice pursuant to Sec. 2254 .106 of the Government Code.
WHEREAS, this notice shall be posted before or at the time of giving the written notice required by Government Code Sec. 551.041 for a meeting described by Sec. 2254.1036(a)(2) of the Government Code and shall announce the following:
A. The City pursuing a contract with the Firm for the collection of delinquent ad valorem taxes owed to the City and through this contract the City seeks to increase recovery of its delinquent debts in as expeditious a manner as possible. GOVT. CODE§ 2254.1036(a)(l)(A).
B. The City believes the Firm has the competency, qualifications, and experience necessary to fulfill this contract. GOVT. CODE § 2254.1036(a)(l)(B). The Firm has collected delinquent government receivables for 50 years, including the collection of delinquent ad valorem taxes. The Firm currently has 12 primary offices and multiple satellite offices throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. It employs more than 400 individuals, including over 52 attorneys. It uses a multi-office, fully integrated team approach allowing the City access to all its offices and resources. Its collection team consists of long-term Firm employees, including attorneys, call center associates, paralegals, law clerks, legal secretaries, collection support personnel and information technology experts. The Firm utilizes proprietary collection software that can be tailored to meet any special need the City may have. This proprietary software also automates many aspects of the collection process, such as: account/debtor research, mailings and phone calls, return mail and address updates, payment notification and processing and workflow.
C. The nature of any relationship between the City and the Firm is as follows. GOVT. CODE § 2254.1036(a)(l)(C). The Firm has no previous relationship with the City.
D. The City is unable to collect its delinquent ad valorem taxes. GovT. CODE § 2254.1036(a)(l )(D). The City currently does not have adequate support staff, computer software/programming, or experience to internally conduct these collection services and acquiring these will result in substantial expense to the City.
E. These collection services cannot be provided for an hourly fee. GOVT. CODE § 2254.1036( a)(l )(E). The Tax Code allows the assessment of a percentage-based fee to recover the costs of collecting delinquent ad valorem taxes. This percentage-based fee is assessed only against the debtor and not the City or taxpayers of the City. The collection of delinquent ad valorem taxes is a high-volume practice, requiring a significant amount of research, mailing, and handling of outbound/inbound calls. An hourly fee for such work will likely exceed amount of delinquent [ ad valorem taxes/court fines and fees/tolls due. Moreover, the City will bear the cost of these hourly fees and not the debtor, because the Tax Code does not expressly authorize the City to pay for collection services based on an hourly fee.
F. The City believes this contingent fee contract is in its best interest. GOVT. CODE § 2254.1036(a)(l)(F). Under the contingent fee contract, the Firm will be paid the amount of the percentage-based collection fee, regardless the number of hours the Firm spends researching, contacting and mailing to collect the delinquent debt. Additionally, the percentage-based collection penalty is a pass-through expense to the debtor and not an expense to the City or taxpayers in the City.