Burleson City Council Recap from June 17th, 2024
A long evening capped with heavy discussions around potential changes in the city
The Burleson City Council meeting on June 17, 2024, was called to order at 5:32 PM by Mayor Chris Fletcher. The posted agenda included eleven consent items, one development application, six general items, and three presentations/reports by city staff. Margaret Fields from the First United Methodist Church delivered the invocation. All seven members of the city council were present.
Congratulations to Victoria Johnson, Burleson City Council Place 1, for being elevated to the Executive Board of the North Central Texas Council of Governments! This is fantastic for the City of Burleson, as it provides greater exposure on a much larger regional level. Personally, I am excited to see how she continues to excel in this role for the city.
Consent Agenda Items
Originally, there were eleven items on the consent agenda. However, one item was removed at the request of the council and then voted on separately. The remaining ten items were approved unanimously:
Approval of the minutes from the May 28 special council meeting and the June 3 regular council meeting.
Approval of the amendments to council policy #17 as discussed in the previous council meeting.
Appointing J. Greg Coontz as the Presiding Municipal Court Judge of the Burleson Municipal Court of Record for a term of 2 years that will expire on July 5th, 2026.
Approving a four-year inter-local agreement with Mansfield that will allow the police department to utilize their gun range and driving range. The cost of this is $8,200.
Approval of a $325,000 expense for a purchase of repair services and replacement parts for fire apparatuses through Metro Fire Apparatus Specialists, Inc.
Approval of a $325,000 expense for a purchase of repair services and replacement parts for fire apparatuses through Siddons-Martin Emergency Group, LLC.
Approval of a $100,000 expense through Titleist for golf merchandise at Hidden Creek Golf Course.
Approval of a $84,250 expense from ThinkGard for a Compliance as a Service Software.
An approval of a resolution that designates the Johnson County Tax Assessor-Collector to perform the calculations needed to determine relevant tax rates.
An approval of a resolution that directs the City Manager to prepare a calendar for the adoption of the property tax rate and a budget for 2024-2025.
Other Consent Agenda Item
Item 5.I was requested to be removed by the council and was voted on separately. The discussion around this item was held in executive session, which was declared at 5:47 PM and ended at 5:55 PM, making the discussion confidential. The council unanimously voted to approve this item. The agenda description for this item was to “consider approval of a settlement agreement and mutual release with Dagger Construction regarding the Mockingbird Lane to CR 914A sanitary sewer.”
Development Applications
At the June 3 council meeting, an application was presented to change the proposed development of "The Cottages on Candler Drive" to allow two-story units, whereas previously it consisted only of one-story units. The council expressed concerns about the appearance of the units and requested renderings before making a decision. As a result, the discussion was continued to the next meeting.
At the June 17 meeting, the council continued the discussion on "The Cottages on Candler Drive" development. Staff presented the proposed development changes along with renderings of the units. This time, the council raised concerns about the sizing of the alleys and the main street, which included parallel parking, fearing that emergency vehicles might not be able to navigate the streets. The applicant, Drew Wegman, was present and answered questions from the council regarding the proposed development, street sizes, and potential changes.
After a discussion with Mr. Wegman, Councilmember Dan McClendon (Burleson City Council, Place 5) entertained a motion to vote with specific conditions. These conditions included strict adherence to the site plan, a requirement for only rear-facing garage units (no front-facing garages), limiting trash pickup times to minimize noise disruption in neighboring areas, strict adherence to the elevations and plans presented, and a maximum of four units per building. The motion was approved, and the council voted. The vote was 5 in favor and 2 against, with Phil Anderson (Burleson City Council, Place 2) and Alexa Boedeker (Burleson City Council, Place 3) casting the dissenting votes.
General Agenda Items
The first three items were presented together, addressing the need to replace vehicles for the fire department, police department, and general city services. A significant point from this presentation was that in 2025, the city was scheduled to replace eleven police vehicles. However, a dealership offered a $10,000 discount per vehicle due to an inventory surplus. Clinton Sumerall, the Deputy Director of Public Works & Engineering, suggested advancing the purchase to this year to save the city $110,000. The council unanimously approved all three requests, which included $76,168 for the purchase of a replacement Fire Department Brush Truck Chassis, $454,921 for the purchase of nine City of Burleson vehicles (primarily work trucks for parks, public works, etc.), and $1,454,344 for the purchase of nineteen other vehicles (including the eleven police vehicles and additional city vehicles).
Next, the council heard a report from Errick Thompson, Director of Public Works & Engineering, regarding a bid from Reliable Paving Inc. for the Neighborhood Streets Reconstruction project, which was previously approved by the GO Bond. The goal of this project is to rehabilitate 32 streets (listed on page two of the presentation), with this approval focusing on five of those streets. The council unanimously approved the bid to Reliable Paving Inc. for $3,379,052.
Harlan Jefferson, Deputy City Manager, then presented to the council a resolution directing the city to publish a notice of intention to issue tax and revenue Certificates of Obligation (COs), including a $39 million CO bond and a $6 million GO bond. This resolution was unanimously approved. Harlan also presented the final general item on the agenda, which was an amendment to the current budget. This amendment was necessary due to cost overages and shifting priorities, ensuring the city's financial stability. The council unanimously approved this budget amendment as well.
Reports and Presentations
There were three reports/presentations at this meeting. The first presentation was given by Harlan Jefferson, Deputy City Manager, and focused on the five-year forecast for all city funds, including the General Debt Service Fund, IT Support Service Fund, and many others. This presentation reviewed the status of all the funds, and the general consensus was that if the city continues to follow the current plans, it should be in excellent financial shape by the 2029 fiscal year.
Next, Jen Basham, Director of Parks & Recreation, gave a report and sought feedback regarding the operation of Chisenhall Sports Complex. Her presentation began with an overview of its current management and presented different options for moving forward, which included continuing as is, hiring more staff to expand operations, or turning to a third-party to manage the complex with potential revenue sharing and increased exposure. Dan McClendon (Burleson City Council Place 5) strongly supported the third-party management idea. After advocating for this option, the council agreed for Jen to proceed with seeking third-party management bids for the complex. These recommendations will be presented at a future council meeting for a vote.
Lastly, Errick Thompson, the Director of Public Works & Engineering, gave a report on the city’s implementation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The overall plan for this system is to use technology to improve traffic flow, including video detection systems, a traffic management center, and more. The first stage involves extensive data collection to fine-tune elements such as red light timings for better traffic management in the city. However, a caveat of this plan is that in order for the city to implement these systems on TxDOT-owned lights (any on state highways like 174), the city would have to assume effective ownership of these lights, meaning the responsibility for their maintenance would shift to the city.
On a personal note, during my campaign for Burleson City Council in 2024, I emphasized the importance of implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and utilizing advanced technologies to enhance traffic efficiency and reduce gridlock. One of my ideas included the implementation of an AI project known as Google Greenlight to make the systems more intelligent. During the recent report, it was noted that the data would be analyzed by staff. I believe this approach could be inefficient and may prevent the system from reaching its full potential. I hope the city can adopt a more algorithmic approach to data analysis, making decisions based on a variety of important factors identified through the data. This forward-thinking strategy could greatly improve the effectiveness of our traffic management systems.
Upcoming Meetings
The next city council meeting is expected to be held on July 22nd, 2024.
Closing
The mayor closed the meeting at 9:22 pm after recess into executive session. For more details, including materials, presentations, and memos in the official record, you can view the official minutes here.
So, curious as to what the Titleist merchandise was that we spent 100,000.00 on and will they resale this merchandise for profit? Or is something more like displays, equipment....?