2026-09-01 - City Council Special Meeting

01:19It is now 1:00 p.m.

01:22And I call the special city council

01:24meeting to order. All council members

01:27are present.

01:30And uh

01:31council member Kimble will be giving the

01:33invocation and I will give the pledge of

01:35allegiance.

01:37>> [clears throat]

01:39>> I ask each of you to pray in your faith

01:42as I pray in my precious heavenly

01:44father. We thank you for this gathering

01:46today as we take care of the business of

01:48the cities. We ask you to look over us,

01:51guide us, give us wisdom, give us

01:52guidance. We ask that each person here

01:54today

01:55uh take in the knowledge, share it, and

01:58and continue to bless the community as

01:59we

02:01and

02:01discernment as we make decisions that

02:04affect the city as a whole.

02:06In my Jesus name I pray. Amen.

02:09>> Amen.

02:11>> I pledge allegiance to

02:12>> [clears throat]

02:13>> of the United States of America and to

02:16the Republic for which it stands, one

02:19nation under God, indivisible, with

02:22liberty and justice for all.

02:33>> Council, I need a motion to approve the

02:35agenda.

02:38Council member Brown.

02:40>> Move to approve the agenda.

02:44>> Council member Nash-King.

02:47>> Second the motion, sir.

02:49>> Uh, any discussion?

02:51All in favor signify by saying yes. All

02:53opposed, no.

03:05Motion carries

03:067-0.

03:09Thank you, Council.

03:12And thank you, Council member Kimball,

03:14for the invocation.

03:18Okay, now it's time for our citizens'

03:20comments.

03:24Citizens will have 3 minutes to speak

03:26with 1 minute time allotted for the city

03:28council to respond with a statement of

03:30or explanation without engaging in

03:33dialogue.

03:35Madam City Secretary, please call the

03:36names.

03:38>> First speaker is Michael Fornino.

03:45>> [clears throat]

03:48>> Good afternoon, sir.

03:54Any your selection and review of resumes

03:57for candidates to replace the city

03:58manager,

04:01not so much what is required, what is

04:03demanded.

04:06It's well noted that I've

04:07[clears throat] pointed out several

04:08problems with our current city manager.

04:11While others fawn all over his record,

04:15what is needed and required is a city

04:18manager that will take accountability

04:20for his actions or her actions or

04:23inactions.

04:25I'll cite Buddy Trail, Watercress, Rose

04:28Hereford Center,

04:30Gilmer Street.

04:31Everybody's fault but his.

04:34We've had

04:36contractors all over the city punching

04:37holes in the plumbing that due to the

04:40state law we can't fully charge them

04:41back.

04:43And what do they do? They accelerate

04:45punching holes in the plumbing.

04:48His past record, nothing is his fault.

04:52Here and his previous cities.

04:55I would encourage you all that whomever

04:57you get down to your final few on the

04:59selection,

05:01do your homework cuz I think all of you

05:03should be familiar by now that I do

05:05mine.

05:07Person should not have been fired with

05:09cause from anything from any city

05:12anywhere at any time. Should be your

05:14first question to each and every one of

05:16them.

05:17Show proof of their work.

05:20Have them come to the chalkboard say,

05:21"I've done this. I have done that."

05:24Or I have solved this or solved that.

05:27And I think it's also an insult to the

05:29taxpayer in this town

05:31and to an extent the city staff.

05:33We have, correct me on the figure,

05:36$28,000 to hire a firm

05:39to go look for a city manager?

05:42Do we not have an HR director and a city

05:45communications department? Are we not

05:47the 16th largest city in Texas?

05:50When are we going to start acting like

05:51it?

05:52Not where and as when convenient.

05:56It should be

05:58our city should be looking for the

06:00persons.

06:01Marketing the city, that's communication

06:03department's job.

06:04Why are we doubling down? We're paying

06:06for the same thing twice.

06:10The city manager should not be afraid to

06:12come forward with change orders

06:15as requested that we wanted as a charter

06:16amendment that you all saw fit to vote

06:18down.

06:19I want to see what's being spent and

06:22where

06:23that you don't have to approve, but it's

06:25just shuffled on down the road as course

06:28of business.

06:29That's unacceptable and it's got to

06:30stop.

06:32We've demonstrated time and again where

06:34city manager can spend far and above in

06:36a month or indeed a quarter

06:40above the approved $50,000 on one item,

06:42can nickel and dime us about some more

06:44fiscal responsibility.

06:46And not just treat us like an

06:48inexhaustible supply of money.

06:51Choose wisely. Do your homework cuz if

06:53you don't

06:55you can be rest assured that I will.

06:59>> Thank you, sir. City uh

07:00secretary?

07:02>> Anka Negu.

07:07>> [clears throat]

07:09>> Good Good afternoon, ma'am.

07:11>> Thank you.

07:12Council and mayor um

07:14I asked that you choose a city manager

07:17who cares about the US Constitution,

07:19federal law, and state law. I asked that

07:21you choose a city manager who's not

07:23afraid to hear a criticism. I asked that

07:26you choose a city manager who's unafraid

07:29of transparency. And last but not least,

07:32I asked that you choose a city manager

07:35who is not okay with lying with to city

07:38council.

07:39By now you know that there are several

07:42federal and state agencies investigating

07:45the city.

07:46Um

07:48You remember the email I sent you, I

07:50think it was in June. Well, several of

07:52them contacted me and I did meet with

07:54them.

07:56In case these agencies find any

07:58wrongdoing, I think it would be in the

08:01best interest of the city to hire a city

08:03manager who has no connection to the

08:05current leadership

08:08in the city.

08:09Because

08:11I don't know how long the investigation

08:12takes. I don't know what they're going

08:14to find.

08:15It's not up to me.

08:17But if they do find something and

08:19they're connected to the new city

08:21manager,

08:22it could be a problem for Colleen.

08:26Thank you.

08:27>> Thank you, ma'am. Madam City Secretary.

08:31>> Jamie Carroll

08:38>> Good afternoon, ma'am.

08:39>> Good afternoon. Thanks for letting me go

08:40last.

08:41You know it's my favorite. Um

08:43qualifications.

08:45I want someone to have at least an MPA.

08:49If you guys know what that is. We are a

08:51very unique town. We're still growing.

08:53We have the

08:55the military. They need some kind of

08:56familiarity with that, but they can't

08:58just be oh, well, we came from this

09:00small product town that, you know, does

09:03not have the abs and flows that we have

09:05going on here. I like what some of the

09:07other people have said, no connection to

09:10our current city anybody is what I would

09:13really like to see.

09:16Because you can't run a city effectively

09:18when you have too many friendships going

09:21on behind the scenes. When I contact the

09:24city manager to complain about a

09:25department head

09:27and that email just gets forwarded to

09:29the department head with no

09:30communication to me

09:32and that's where the issue stops and

09:33dies, the city can't keep moving forward

09:36and it definitely is not going to be

09:37able to sustain the amount of growth

09:39that you guys want to see here.

09:41Furthermore,

09:42of the candidates that you guys are

09:44going to put forth publicly,

09:46I don't know if you guys can scrub the

09:48personal details or what, but I would

09:50like to see what the qualifications were

09:51of the other candidates that you guys

09:53deemed

09:54that you're not going to put in front of

09:55us because there's no way for me to say

09:58without a shadow of a doubt that you

10:00guys did not cut loose perfectly good

10:03candidates because I do want someone

10:04that's going to come here, and they can

10:06be cordial with everyone here, but

10:08they're not going to be your friend

10:09because they're not here to just be

10:11friends with only city council or you

10:13know,

10:14sit there and call citizens liars

10:17including myself when I know many of you

10:20have received evidence of my own

10:21personal issues.

10:23Uh

10:24Clearly, I'm not a liar. So, I don't

10:26want someone

10:28that can't be professional in that

10:29sense, and they can't maintain the

10:30boundaries. They're here to manage the

10:32city which includes all of us, all of

10:34the issues, not just the city budget

10:37that is vague, doesn't contain all the

10:40line items, and magically, we can never

10:42tighten our purse strings in any areas,

10:45and we have to keep cranking up taxes.

10:47That's not going to work going forward.

10:49So, that's what I want you guys to look

10:51for

10:52in a city manager. I know, high order,

10:54but we're a a big and growing city. I

10:57don't think that's hard to find. So, and

10:59I definitely

11:01no political candidates, nobody with

11:03arrest records, uh no embezzlement

11:06charges, no no embroiled as

11:09it's pretty easy to get through life

11:10without any of these scandals under your

11:12belt. I personally have never been

11:14fired.

11:15I don't know why so many people have,

11:18but I definitely don't want them as my

11:20city manager, and I don't think people

11:22moving here with all of our growth are

11:24going to want that either. Thank you.

11:26>> Thank you, ma'am.

11:28>> There are no more speakers.

11:31>> Thank you, Madam City Secretary.

11:37Okay, we shall now go into

11:42uh

11:44executive session reading pursuant

11:48of the Texas Open Meetings Law

11:51Government Code

11:53551.001

11:56the mayor calls now a closed meeting of

11:59the city council on the first day of

12:01September 2026

12:03at

12:06Time?

12:07Time is 3:

12:101:11.

12:14Section 551

12:16.074

12:18personal matters the city council will

12:20discuss and review application for city

12:23manager position.

12:26And that's agenda DS-26-78.

12:31We'll now go into an executive session.

13:41>> Okay, we called this meeting uh

13:46at 4:10.

13:49I have 4:10 and

13:51uh

13:57Okay.

13:59Uh

14:00no action was taken and I would ask it

14:03if we could uh

14:05have a motion to adjourn.

14:11Council uh Mayor Pro Tem.

14:14>> I make a motion to adjourn.

14:17>> Uh

14:19Council Member Kimball.

14:20>> I second that, Mr. Mayor.

14:21>> Okay, any discussion? No discussion? All

14:24in favor? Signifying by saying aye.

14:26>> Aye.

14:27>> Aye.

14:30>> Meeting is adjourned.