Burleson City Council Recap from August 19th, 2024
The Burleson City Council meeting on August 19th, 2024, was called to order at 5:31 PM by Mayor Chris Fletcher. The posted agenda included eight consent items, five developmental applications, six general items, and two reports by city staff. The invocation was delivered by Bob Massey. Councilmember Adam Russell (Place 6) was absent. As such, anytime it is stated that the vote was unanimous, it is a 6 out of 6 result.
Victoria Johnson continued the congratulations to Conner Prince for bringing home a silver medal and also invited everyone to come to the community celebration on September 7th at Mayor Vera Calvin Plaza at 4p.
Citizen Appearances
A citizen named Gary Smith requested to speak to the council and spoke about being very upset at the suggestion made at a previous council meeting about naming City Hall after one single person (it was suggested at some point to name it after former Mayor Ken Shetter). He disagrees with it on the platform of the city hall being “about everyone — the people”, not just one person. Councilmember Dan McClendon (Place 5) thanked him for his comments and told him that they were “noted.”
Consent Agenda Items
All of the consent items were approved unanimously with no comments nor changes to the posted agenda. Items 5F and 5H were approved, but are pending attorney review and approval. The items approved were as follows:
Approving minutes from the August 5th meeting
Approving a purchase of food and beverages from Ben E. Keith for The Terrace at Hidden Creek Golf Course for $80,000.
Approving a purchase of merchandise with Callaway Golf for Hidden Creek Golf Course for $70,000.
Approving a professional services contract for construction management services for Fire Station #1 and City Hall with Vidaurri Management Group for $149,744.
Approving an amendment to the employment agreement of the City Manager Tommy Ludwig.
Approving an amendment to the contract with Municipal Mosquito to increase the total amount of payments by $75,000 for further mosquito abatement services.
Approving a resolution accepting the Quarterly Investment Report presented by Harlan Jefferson, Deputy City Manager.
Approving an interlocal agreement with BISD for emergency medical services during BISD events.
Development Applications
All five development applications were approved unanimously.
The first one was to change 3084 S. Burleson Boulevard from Agriculture to Planned Development, which is in line with the overall growth plan with that area. There was no noted opposition, nor any comments from the council or the public.
Next, 3608 S. Burleson Boulevard was changed from Agriculture to Commercial, also in line with the overall growth plan with that area. Councilmember Victoria Johnson (Place 1) asked if the applicant had “responded to what type of businesses would be included in that space.” The applicant, who was present, got up and stated that currently there is already a tenant named “Bioscience”, and that others are in the pipeline but nothing is confirmed yet.
619 NW Renfro Boulevard was changed from General Retail to Single Family Dwelling District 7. At some point in the 90s, it was changed to General Retail, but it was noted that the staff could not find the reason why it was changed. The requester was present and the son mentioned that they had lived there since the 1970s and they have no idea why it is general retail.
Cowboy Express Car Wash requested a variance to the sign policy in the city so that they could put up an 18 foot tall sign topped with metal, instead of the policy that only allows up to 9 feet and having it must be topped with masonry. It was asked by someone in attendence if the DOT had approved it, and it was confirmed by the applicant that it was. Additionally, Councilmember Johnson asked “Why do you want it that high?” and the applicant stated that they want it that way for exposure.
Councilmember Larry Scott (Place 4) stated that he has an issue with the application because it was requesting a 100% variance from policy. Regardless of this, all councilmembers present voted to allow the sign variance even though the city staff had suggested not approving it.
Lastly, another sign variance was requested for Unchained Salon and Boutique, as they planned on splitting their wordmark signs into two different signs which, technically, is against policy allowing only one wordmark sign. There was no comment from the council and the variance was approved.
In between the development applications and the general items, the council went into executive session at 6:05p, but reconvened into general session at 6:17p.
General Items
The first item on the general agenda, item 7A, was to consider approval of a resolution to consent to the creation of a MUD (Municipal Utility District) for Southard Farm, named the Southard Farm Municipal Utility District No. 2 of Johnson County. The project is located in the ETJ of Burleson and not contiguous with current city limits west of Chisholm Trail Parkway. Southard Farm will be a development with approximately 1,300 to 1,400 single family units ranging from 40’ to 60’ lots. The purpose of the MUD is for a private wastewater treatment facility, while Johnson County SUD will be providing the water to the community. The staff presenter, Tony McIlwain, did remind the council that the creation of the MUD does not require city approval, and that by taking no action, the MUD would still go forward. As such, Mayor Chris Fletcher did suggest that the council take no action, which was what they did.
The next item, 7B, was the final reading of a proposal for Panchasarp Farms’ PID (Public Improvement District). This has been discussed prior at the August 5th meeting and the July 22nd meeting. The reading tonight was final and the council took action by approving it unanimously.
Items 7C and 7D were presented together by Harlan Jefferson, Deputy City Manager. This was mostly a review of the city’s credit rating and showing to the council for action the plan regarding GO and CO bond sales, as well as the plan to refinance some of the existing bonds to save the city money. The biggest takeaway from this, which should excite all members of the community, is that Burleson is in the top 5% nationwide for the best credit ratings among cities, with an “AA” by S&P and an Aa2 by Moody’s. Both actions were approved unanimously.
7E was an item presented by the city secretary, Amanda Campos, regarding board member assignments for the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee. The city has been having an issue finding a licensed veterinarian and other roles to serve, due to the term limit that limits members from serving more than two 3-year terms. As such, this served as a request to the council to remove those term limits specifically for the licensed veterinarian, municipal officer, and daily operations roles on the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee. The council approved this unanimously, with Mayor Chris Fletcher saying that “this is a good suggestion that will simplify a lot of stuff.”
Lastly, Dan McClendon was re-elected unanimously to be the Mayor Pro Tem after receiving three separate nominations.
Reports and Presentations
First up in the reports and presentations, deputy city secretary Monica Solko and a member from the IT team presented a new feature on the city website where residents can type in their address and see if they are eligible to vote in city elections. As a note, this does not tell you if you are registered to vote, but simply if your address is within city limits and eligible to vote in city elections. You can check out the tool here.
Lastly, Jen Basham, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented a report about a grant that Burleson has been awarded for the Centennial Park renovation. GameTime, a company that makes playground equipment, had a matching grant available that Burleson applied for and won, with a potential award of up to $250,000. As such, once Centennial Park is completed with renovations by Early Spring 2025, it will be considered the first publicly available “National Demonstration Site” in this side of the metroplex. Congratulations to the team for achieving this grant and demonstrating to the company that they are following the “seven principles” of design to be “fair, included, smart, independent, safe, active, and comfortable”. You can read more abnout this from the July 22nd council meeting where Jen originally presented the seven principles.
Legislative Update
A new part of the agenda included has to do with legislative updates for the upcoming session of the Texas legislature. The purpose of this section is to review and go over any proposals by the legislature that may have impacts to the city, as well as go over plans that we have to propose to the legislature for potential policy updates.
Helen Kerwin was present at this meeting, and during the legislative update, was introduced by the Mayor. She spoke about an issue she’s currently looking at including biowaste from Fort Worth being dumped on Johnson County farms, and asked the council to keep her notified if they hear anything about it.
Casey Davis, the Burleson Fire Chief, talked about proposing to the legislature an update to Firefighter benefits so that they are eligible for benefits through the state in the event that they are diagnosed with cancer that is service-related. Currently, after retirement, the firefighters are no longer eligible for these benefits, and Casey is proposing a change for that benefit to extend five years after retirement. Editor note: I personally believe that this should be permanent after retirement. If you’re diagnosed with service-related cancers after retirement, it should be covered.
Upcoming Meetings
The next city council meeting is expected to be held on September 9th, 2024.
Closing
The mayor closed the meeting at 7:57p pm after recess into executive session at 7:14p pm. For more details, including materials, presentations, and memos in the official record, you can view the official minutes here. You can additionally watch the recording of the meeting here.