Jun. 15—Palestine City Council chose in-house labor over outsourcing for the replacement of 1,000 residential and commercial water meters during its Monday, June 12 meeting.

The project deadline was set five years ago to be finalized by the end of the current fiscal year.

The council considered awarding bid RFP 2023-015 to Core & Main, a distributor of water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection products, for the installation of 1000 3/4-inch meters in the amount of $60,000.

City Manager Teresa Herrera acknowledged that the council had authorized Olson to seek bids to complete the project, but questioned why there was a need to outsource.

"I don't understand why we can't do them in-house since we've already replaced a lot of those and we still have three meter readers," Herrera said. "Why are we not able to do this in-house. That's my question."

Public Works Director Kevin Olson stated that the goal of outsourcing was for customer service purposes and to meet the original deadline.

A discussion followed regarding the length of time it would take for city employees to complete the project and whether there is any cost savings associated with outsourcing.

"If there's not a cost savings, I don't know why we would go down this route," said District 6 Councilman Christopher Gibbs. "It's just an internal goal that was set. If we get it done by the end of the year, I don't think a couple of months over the planned five years is going to make a big difference."

A motion by District 1 Councilman Sean Conner to award the bid of $60,000 to Core & Main to install the 1,000 water meters did not receive a second and the measure died. A motion was then made by District 2 Councilwoman Ava Harmon and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Krissy Clark to complete the project in-house with expected completion by the end of September.

In other business the council approved an ordinance amending Article I of Chapter 18, Aviation of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Palestine, by amending Section 18- 2, General Rules and Regulations, Rule 4, Lease of Airport Property, extending the maximum length of a lease from 30 years to 40 years. The council also approved an ordinance amending the Appendix B Fee Schedule of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Palestine by amending the ground lease fees for the Palestine Municipal Airport.

The council adjourned to closed session. Upon returning, the council unanimously approved a revised employment contract for City Manager Teresa Herrera.

The council also approved a proposed amendment to the 3A agreement as discussed with John Christon, owner of the Palestine Mall. No details regarding the agreement were disclosed during the meeting.

Consent agenda items approved by the council included:

—minutes for May 15 and May 22 council meetings

—expenditures over $25,000,

—authorization of the city manager to execute an agreement with Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company to provide the Other Postemployment Benefits Valuation and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board 75 Valuation Reports for Fiscal Year 2023 and 2024,

—a change order from Tomahawk Concrete, LLC for additional concrete work at the Palestine Public Library in the amount of $10,291.50,

—and authorization of the city manager to purchase a Vactor Impact Truck from Doggett Freightliner of South Texas LLC in the amount of $346,871 for the utilities department.