Council approves carpentry work for new IT building

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove city council voted Tuesday evening to fund and give some very specific directions regarding construction of a new dais for the city’s information technologies building on at 508 S. 2nd St.
Councilman Jay Manning proposed in his motion that the expenditure be for no more than $20,000 and for City Manager Andrea Gardner to negotiate to have the dais built so councilmembers can see each other, something which was seconded by councilman David Morris.  
Councilman Russell asked if the dais currently used in the EDC building could be moved and modified to save some money. 
“I’m kind of having heartburn spending $20,000 for a dais, when we just had a lengthy meeting about spending money,” said Russell. Gardner said the money funding the building and its work is bond fund money, and not a general expenditure. 
Manning’s motion was amended by councilman George Duncan, that two of the bids be rejected as unqualified because they did not specific the type of wood, that the only quote meeting qualifications is D&D Custom Cabinetry, the only vendor which indicated it would use red oak for the work. 
The council approved an assignment and assumption agreement to assign the city’s contracts with River City Engineering to Trihydro Corporation. Projects transferred include the Mountain Top North water improvements project, Southwest Water Improvements, 2015 Kempner Water Supply Corporation CCN boundary sale, transfer, and merger application; Water CCN boundary for Valley at Great Hills phase 2, also with Kempner Water Supply Corporation; the 2016 Water Model update; and the Highway 190 water line looping. 
The council additionally gave direction to call a May 11 special joint meeting with the Copperas Cove city council, Coryell County commissioners, and Economic Development Corporation Board.
The council also approved an ordinance amending the city’s fees for life guard certification, to $175 for those who will not work for the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, and $100 for those who will work for the department. 
During the workshop meeting, the council had another discussion on Municipal Development Districts (MDD), which is one way cities may use sales tax dollars to fund economic development. Presently, the city uses 3/8-cents of the city’s two cents of sales tax funds to operate the Economic Development Corporation. Any change in that allocation would be up to Copperas Cove voters.
An MDD may perform the same activities that a Type A EDC can, such as what the present EDC is now. It can additionally collect city sales tax within the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, which is two miles outside the city limits. 
Gardner told the council that this year in the Texas legislature is considering HB 3045, also called the “sales tax swap” which if approved, could allow cities to change their sales tax allocation funding in cases like this via one measure put to the voters, instead of two. In its present form, putting two voting options to voters, Gardner stated, runs the risk of those sales tax funds reverting back to the state comptroller’s office if both measures do not pass.
An executive session was held to discussing property located at 2401 Veterans Ave as well as a meeting with the city attorney regarding Kempner Water Supply Corporation. No decisions or announcements were made after the executive session.