During the Levelland City Council meeting on Monday, the group approved several expenditures across multiple departments that will be funded through APRA funding.
The Council received a quarterly report for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2025. The report covered October 1, 2024, and ended December 31, 2024.
The total cash and investments started at $37,503,523.21 at the beginning of the quarter and had increased by 5.56% to $39,589,094.03 to cap off the quarter.
Separately, investment totals were $36,402,702.83 and cash totals were $3,186,391.20.
Total revenue for the General Fund total $1,896,212.40, which is roughly 19% of the projected revenues for FY25. Total revenue for the Cemetery Fund total $94,493.31, which is roughly 22% of the projected revenues for FY25. Total revenue for the Enterprise Fund total $622,046.97, which is roughly 8% of the projected revenues for FY25.
It was explained that it is normal for the Enterprise Fund to record low revenues during this particular quarter. Additionally, city staff expect the revenue to increase once warmer temperatures become consistent which brings more water usage.
In regard to sales tax revenue, year-to-date collections have increased approximately 6.07% when compared to this time last year.
In 2024, October’s total was $411,641.59, November’s total was $421,443.22 and December’s total was $420,700.50. The total for all three months was $1,253,785.31.
In 2023, October’s total was $423,822.20, November’s total was $420,861.46 and December’s total was $337,312.17. The total for all three months was $1,181,995.83.
The group considered a Professional Service Agreement with Freese and Nichols for a zoning ordinance revision.
City Manager James Fisher presented the item explaining that the city’s zoning regulations are outdated and needed to be updated to meet with current and future needs of the community.
He added that the city has had home builders ask for flexibility in setback standards and several new businesses have asked about zoning regulations, especially landscape requirements and traffic impact requirements.
This item was addressed last year but was shelved due to timing and funding.
“Freese and Nichols is a solid firm with an exceptional planning department,” said Fisher. “I believe they will help us craft regulations that fit our community, the preferred community of the South Plains.”
The Council approved the agreement with Freese and Nichols for the revision/update for the city’s zoning ordinance and authorized the mayor and, or city manager to execute the related paperwork.
The next agenda item had the Council consider action to award a bid for backhoe loader in the Water Department.
Fisher began the conversation by explaining that the 2024-2025 Budget adopted by the Council includes a new backhoe loader for the Water Department.
The department maintains and operates a variety of heavy equipment within the city. The proposed backhoe is one of the key pieces of equipment that helps both the Water and Wastewater Departments in installing infrastructure, repairing leaks and maintaining roads and alleys.
The current backhoe loader is a 2015 Cat with roughly 2,600 hours and has been heavily utilized in the Water and Wastewater Departments for 10 years.
With the agenda item, one of the recommendations is to use the current backhoe as a trade-in for the proposed backhoe loader.
City staff requested purchasing cooperative quotes from all the known vendors that sell backhoe loaders similar in specs to the equipment currently in operation. Each purchasing equipment quote obtained was competitively bid prior to receiving the contract.
Fisher explained that the City is not required to obtain more than one purchasing cooperative quote, but they do consider it best practice and obtained three quotes on similar items.
The first bid is a Caterpillar 420XE AE4T with a purchasing coop price of $160,958. The tradein value is marked at $50,000 and the net bid is $110,985.
The second bid is a John Deere 310P-Tier with a purchasing coop price of $145,000. The tradein value is marked at $40,000 and the net bid is $105,000.
The third bid is a Case 580SN with a purchasing price of $144,860. The trade-in value was $45,000 and the net bid was $99,860.
With the trade-in of the current backhoe subtracted from all bid prices, the proposals all fall within the budgeted amount of $120,000.
Moving forward, the recommendation to Council was to approve the bid for the Caterpillar given its proven quality throughout the years as well as the current equipment and attachments are all Caterpillar.
The group authorized the purchase of the backhoe loader for the Water Department from Caterpillar in the amount of $110,985.
Shifting to the Parks and Cemetery Department, in the 2024-2025 budget workshops one 72” deck commercial mower for the Parks Department and two 60” mowers for the Cemetery Department were added to the budget to help keep both park and cemetery properties in quality conditions and keep the fleet from aging out.
Going through the buy board, quotes from Terry County Tractor had one 72” Kubota Z Turn Mower for the Parks Department priced at $17,041.72. The company also had two 60” Kubota Z Turn Mower’s for the Cemetery Department priced at a total of $32,523.44.
Council approved the buy board quote for all three mowers.
Lastly, the Council considered a request from the Levelland Fire Department on various public safety expenditures, as per Resolution 2024-40, ARPA expenditures.
First on the list was 10 Motorola APX6000XE radios with a $5,079 cost per each radio and a total cost of $57,790. Due to the May 2024 storm, two of the departments’ radios were lost. The department is trying to get those replaced with Motorola APX6000XE radios through the emergency grant with Texas Forest Service.
The department is wanting to upgrade the remaining eight radios which are currently Kenwood radios to match the Motorola radios for the paid staff. It was mentioned that the new radios were projected to last at least 10 years.
It was also explained that the current Kenwood radios were bought instead of Motorola because of cost, with the assumption they would be in line with Motorola. They were not.
Interim Fire Chief Patty Faulkner stated the radios have issues with reception and transmittal. They have also had problems even with line of sight of the tower.
“The Kenwood radios are not reliable, and with our response area of 900 square miles, I worry about the crew being out in a dangerous situation without a way to contact someone,” said Faulkner.
The radios the volunteers have are Motorolas which will allow the department to have a sole vendor if there are issues.
The next item on the list was 20 Motorola batteries with a $200 cost for each battery and a total cost of $4,000. It was stated that many of the batteries the department has are no longer holding a charge. If approved, this would allow OEM parts keeping the integrity of the radios.
Two radio battery bank chargers were listed as well with a $1,000 cost per charger and a total cost of $2,000. The bank chargers would be utilized for a quick swap of dead batteries. Additionally, a full charge would take only three hours.
Two Knoxbox locks for apparatus at a cost of $1,447.50 each for a total of $2,895 were requested. It was detailed that some businesses have Knoxboxes. They are lockboxes at a building that allows for responding personnel to make entry after business hours if there is a fire or other emergency.
All the lockboxes in the city are keyed to one key that the fire department has access to. However, there is currently no way to secure that key. The purchase would allow the department to mount two of their apparatus with a secure box to house that key and track who opens the lockbox in case there is an issue with a business.
Each member will have their own code to access the key, and no key should ever be accessed without reason. There will also be a recurring $548 charge for the KnoxConnect Cloud License.
The next item is 10 thermal imaging SCBA masks at a cost of $2,000 each for a total of $20,000. The department has been looking at thermal imagers and found that they do come installed in the SCBA masks the department uses.
It was explained that the benefit of having a mask that is not bulky allows for personnel to be hands free and when they are used the firefighters can see heat, elevated heat, fire extension and seat of the fire. The masks also help when searching for victims in blacked out conditions.
Two handheld thermal imagers were listed with a cost of $4,000 each and a total cost of $8,000. T h e thermal imagers that are currently used by the department are at their end of life due to unavailable batteries.
Said thermal imagers do not enter fires. They will size-up a fire, check for extension after the fire and can see heat signatures on car crashes if there is uncertainty of all people being accounted for. It was noted that the thermal imagers have also been used to help police if they are looking for someone.
Thirty safety vests were included with a $50 cost per vest for a total of $1,800. It was explained that the department is required to have safety vests on when working vehicle accidents. The item would allow for vests to be on the apparatus permanently, so they are available no matter what apparatus is taken.
Rope rescue equipment was listed at $6,500. Being the regional rescue team, the current gear is outdated. It was noted that there is a life span on all life safety equipment and theirs had reached their end of life.
Eleven 5” supply hose at a cost of $770 each for a total of $8,470 was listed as well. The department lost six sections of hose in 2023 and five sections of hose in 2024 during hose testing.
The last item on the list was 500 color rings for hydrants at a cost of $7.25 each for a total of $3,625. It was explained that the city’s hydrants are supposed to be color coded according to the GPM flow of the hydrant.
This allows the department, along with mutual aid to know how much water they can get from each hydrant. As the hydrants are painted red and black to show support for the Lobos and Loboettes, having the rings would allow for the color scheme to remain but still be marked.
The rings are also reflective which would allow for faster identification at night. With the rings, the city will not have to repaint the bonnets when they get dull and save money on paint.
The total list of items was $115,080. Following discussion regarding all items, the Council approved the list presented to them.