Sundown City Council approved a resolution to collect credit and debit card transaction fees during their regular meeting Tuesday at Sundown City Hall.
The resolution outlined that a credit card transaction fee will be collected from residents who use this form of payment rather than the cost being applied to all taxpayers.
The resolution affects both credit and debit card transactions, the document stated. Payments made in cash, check and other formats do not fall under the resolution.
The fee will be 3% of the transaction amount but will not exceed the cost put on the city to process the payment. The document stated the city manager or their designees will regularly review the percent to make sure it works with costs.
City Secretary Sylvia Garza said while asking neighboring communities about their own percent amounts, the responses ranged from 2.75% to 3.5%.
Garza said for November, the city will be paying about $2,590 in fees. Last fiscal year had about a $20,000 payment in credit card fees.
The 3% fee they landed on will not cover those entire costs, she said.
“It won’t cover the entire fee, but we’ll get some compensation,” Garza said.
The resolution outlined disclosure requirements for the transactions. Customers will be told about the fee before they pay and the fee will appear on receipts and invoices.
City Administrator Billy Hernandez said alternative payment methods are offered to residents, including check, cash and online with a checking account.
The resolution went into effect with the council’s approval. Hernandez said they will most likely send notifications and start the first day of 2025.
Hernandez delivered a city administrator’s report during the meeting.
The first item – Carter lot addition and what it entails – was a revisited topic from previous council meetings.
Hernandez presented a list of proposed changes accommodating the council’s discussions about travel trailer restrictions.
The first proposed change was to add a non-refundable temporary permit fee that will be on a monthly utility bill if the fees are not paid in advance Hernandez said travel trailer fees paid in advance might not have been kept up with.
Another proposed change from Hernandez defined temporary as up to a 12-month maximum placement of a recreational payment. He said the length of time was based on another ordinance.
“In this part of town – singlefamily district – if you’re gonna build a home, you can do a oneyear placement of a mobile home,” Hernandez said. “As long as all the criteria is met, and then once that home is built, then the mobile home goes away.”
He clarified the change would affect the single-family district, which is most of the town.
Councilmember Lonnie Geisler brought up the possibility of extending the temporary time if the landowner is showing signs of developing a residence.
The third proposed change was the removal of a temporary one-year placement rule on HUD manufactured homes. Hernandez proposed the removal as he did not find many of the homes – or room for them – in the area.
The council moved forward with councilmember Ron Holson’s suggestion to keep it on the ordinance, in case it occurs in the future.
A proposed addition was once the temporary placement of a recreational vehicle is removed, the December 2024 temporary will apply.
Hernandez said there are lots with temporary living and no definition of that time, but the council questioned the authority to remove those that have been living in the vehicles.
Holson suggested charging new, increased fees to those cases. He also said the fees could address the movement of travel trailers between lots after oneyear placements.
Another change would prohibit the use of a recreational vehicle as a permanent residence.
The council worked on defining mobile home, which would be anything prior to a certain year. Anything used currently would need to be a 2000 model or newer.
The last proposed change was zoning related fees for 30day, six-month and one-year permits. An amount would just need to be determined by the council.
Hernandez said the timeline for finalizing the ordinance changes will need to be clarified.
Finalizing the changes would also entail notification of the citizens, who it will affect and public input at future meeting times.
The council revisited an agenda item from last month about the lease of city property in the southwest area of town.
A concern from the last meeting was any liability the city could face from leasing the area.
Hernandez said provisions can be written into the lease to prevent burden on the city and the lessee would have insurance.
Liabilities could only rise if the city had infrastructure in the leased area – which it does not have, Hernandez said.
The potential lessee of the land was interested in cleaning the area, and Councilman Geisler said it would be a favor done for the city.
“We’re still benefitting from it,” Geisler said. “I’d hate to charge him to clean up our mess.”
The council tabled the item to figure out the price they would charge for the land.
Hernandez said the property on the southeast side of town was originally turned over to the city. A resident near the property said they have maintained the area and asked if the council could turn the property over to them.
The lot has been surveyed, Hernandez said.
Councilman Holson said the three options are turning over the land to those interested, sell it to them or remove the structure – a car port – that is on the property.
The council made a motion to give the property to the buyer on the conditions of covering all expenses it takes to put the property in the buyer’s name.
The council approved the use of a bank account at Sundown State Bank for grant funds.
The $500,000 in grant money was revealed to be awarded to the city during the council’s last meeting. Hernandez said they will receive the money after they submit invoices for the work they intend to use the funds for.
The process of paying the invoice will also have to be documented as another step in working with the grant funds, Hernandez said.
It was suggested that the council opens a non-interestbearing account for the grant money, and an account at Sundown State Bank was found as qualified to hold the money.
Hernandez reported on a seal coat program that will be moving forward with the same engineers who were recently used.
The next step was to gather signatures and street names for the program, he said.
Multiple Sundown city department personnel presented their updates to the council.
Isaac Garza, captain at Sundown Police Department (SPD), said they have been pursuing an apartment burglary case in the city that might suggest ties to Lubbock and could lead to first degree felony charges.
Garza said he and SPD Chief Jeff Foster have been staggering shifts to have more coverage and the department has been supporting Cochran County with mutual aid.
Sundown Library Director, A’ndrea McAdams, said they did not receive a KFC Wishes grant, which would have been used for ballfields.
She added that the Sundown Library will be closed the week of Christmas. The council also approved minutes from their Nov. 19 meeting and monthly payables for November.