2026-09-16 - City Council Briefing

Summary

Built from the official minutes (City Council Briefing, with action sheets). No video is posted, so there is no transcript or timing.

Briefing meeting, 9:35 a.m. to 9:50 p.m., with recesses. All 15 members were present; Mayor Johnson presided and Johnson gave the invocation.
Open-microphone speakers raised library support (several speakers), speaker rules and fluoridation, data centers, animal services funding, pools and horse-drawn carriages. Council suspended the speaker rule so remaining speakers could be heard.
Sitting as a Committee of the Whole, Council worked through budget amendments by show of seals, then adopted the fiscal year 2026-27 appropriation ordinance 10 to 5.
The property tax rate of $0.6978 per $100 was adopted 9 to 6, and the resulting revenue increase was ratified 9 to 6.
The fee schedule ordinance passed 10 to 5; the employee health benefits plan passed 9 to 6; the city reorganization ordinance failed for lack of the 12 votes it required.
The minutes of the September 2 briefing were adopted, and Larry McGregor was appointed to the Trinity River West Municipal Management District.

Public hearing on the tax rate closed on West's motion. In the Committee of the Whole, Bazaldua's motion to require three seconds for amendments passed 13 to 2 (Roth and Mendelsohn opposed).
Seal votes on amendments: Willis 7 seals (failed); Mendelsohn 2 seals (failed); Bazaldua 7, 7 (both failed), then 9 and 9 (both moved forward); Gracey 8 (forward); Ridley's amendment, as amended by Bazaldua, 9 (forward) and as further amended 14 (forward). A Mendelsohn secondary amendment ($50,000 from laundry cleaning supplies) had 4 seals and failed. Several other amendments died for lack of seconds. The text of each amendment is blank in the printed record.
Item 4, appropriation ordinance (Ordinance 33562): West moved the changed total of $5,974,342,745, which passed 10 to 5 (no: Bazaldua, Blackmon, Roth, Mendelsohn, Ridley). After the reorganization ordinance (Item 8) failed, West moved to reconsider; it carried 9 to 6 after the city attorney clarified a point of order raised by Bazaldua. Mendelsohn's motion to fund six-day library openings was ruled out of order for lack of a revenue source, and West's call of the question failed 9 to 6 (it needs two-thirds). Mendelsohn then moved to add $1,500,000 for Library Services from the Information Technology Services data fund balance; Cadena amended it to $1,676,405 to include the Arcadia Park Library, and it passed (Willis opposed). The final amended motion passed 10 to 5 with the same dissenters.

Item 5, Ordinance 33563: rate of $0.6978 per $100 ($0.5075 General Fund, $0.1903 debt service), estimated levy $1,658,739,578, described as a 5.4 percent increase. West moved, Moreno seconded. Passed 9 to 6 (yes: Mayor Johnson, Resendez, Johnson, West, Moreno, Gracey, Blair, Stewart, Willis; no: Cadena, Bazaldua, Blackmon, Roth, Mendelsohn, Ridley). Nine votes (60 percent) were required.
Item 6: ratification of the property tax revenue increase (General Fund $55,465,806 and debt service $20,798,311), 9 to 6 on the same split.

Item 7, Ordinance 33564: fee amendments for stormwater, animal services, ambulance, fire, sanitation, landfill, water and other services, passed 10 to 5 (no: Bazaldua, Blackmon, Roth, Mendelsohn, Ridley).

Item 8: ordinance renaming Facilities and Real Estate Management to Facilities Management, creating an Office of Real Estate and making the Office of Housing and Community Empowerment a division of the City Manager's Office. It failed because it needed 12 votes (three-fourths); the printed vote lists are inconsistent (see below).

Item 10: 2027 plan design, including discontinuing the Blue Choice Copay PPO for Texas-based active employees and pre-65 retirees. Mendelsohn's subsidiary motion to let sworn officers take their own association coverage failed 1 to 14. The main motion passed 9 to 6.
Item 9, pay schedules and position changes, passed 9 to 6.

Philip Kingston spoke on data centers during open microphone. No Council action.

Item 2: Larry McGregor appointed to the Trinity River West Municipal Management District (Cadena moved, West seconded). Closed session Item 4 (Fair Park First management contract) was not held.

Items 6 through 10 print "moved to adopt the minutes as presented" for West's motion, apparently boilerplate carried over from Item 1; it is read here as the motion to adopt each item.
Item 4's heading shows $5,972,586,745 but the amended motion was for $5,974,342,745.
On Item 8 the printed yes list names 11 members, including Cadena and Roth, against a printed count of 10, and Cadena also appears in the no list.