City Council - Regular Meeting

We're back with Arlington Eats. I'm Jeremy Thomas with My Arlington TV. Check this out. On this episode, we're going to take you inside of Devalicious Delights Bakery where they are whipping up sweets and treats just like home.

The Delicious Delights Bakery started, well, in my heart as a child, I loved to bake. And then eventually I became a hobby baker. So I was a baker by night and an educator by day.

Yeah, you heard that right. Owner Rochelle Thompson was an educator for more than two decades. But once the pandemic struck, her home baking order skyrocketed.

I had to really think about it. And I said, you know, one day when I finish and I just retire from education, I'm going to become, you know, a bakery owner. And so it just came quicker, if that makes sense.

Her family-owned business opened a storefront off South Cooper Street last September.

We do in the back a lot of custom cakes for events such as weddings and baby showers, birthdays, corporate events, just all those wonderful things. And so whatever custom design you want, we do the sweet treats, we do your whole dessert table, the sweet treats as well as the cake and so forth.

That also includes holidays like Valentine's Day. If you are in need of a last minute treat for your loved one, or just in the mood for some sweets, you can check out what they bake daily from their display.

Just your scratch bake, wonderful peach cobblers, banana puddings, grandma's cookies, all those wonderful things. And we have chocolate dipped sweets as well.

As an Arlington Bowie and UTA graduate, a former Arlington ISD educator and now a business owner in town, she loves to support her community right here in the American Dream City.

Just the outpour and the love for the people who have been in my life in this community to come and support me. So, you know, we as the Delicious Delights Bakery, we really appreciate that and we are truly thankful.

AMR is the ambulance company that has a contract with the city of Arlington. They work together with the Arlington Fire Department to cover the entire city 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a way to prevent additional expenses that are related to medical transport through an ambulance. And obviously, as we age, there is a greater possibility of at some point having the need for the service of the ambulance. Cualquier persona puede ser parte del programa sin importar si usted tiene seguro médico o no tiene. El beneficio del programa es que puede reducir los costos relacionados con el transporte médico mediante la ambulancia al hospital. You just have to go to the website and fill out the application online. The website is www.amr.net. You can register at any time of the year. When you fill out the application, it will give you coverage for a period of one year, which starts on the first day of October of each year, starting at the amount of $60 per year.

I'm living the American dream. I've been to other countries and I see how other people live. So the American dream to me is living inside of the United States. We have the good, we have the bad, we have the ugly, but we have to look at all of it and see how we can make it better for everybody. So I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, first 17 years of my life and I left Louisville going to the Air Force. I spent 26 years in the Air Force. I started out as a cop and I went into the equal opportunity career field and then went into leadership school. In the Air Force, E4s going into E5s had to go through a six-week school, and I was one of the instructors. And I think that's when I really found out my dream, found out my purpose in life. Once I retired, I came to Arlington, Texas, to take a job with the Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Worth. I started teaching even more leaders and got involved with the John Maxwell team, and now I'm an executive director with the Maxwell leadership team as well as owning my own company, Tez Jones Training Solutions. Those organizations that bring me in, they want to see a change in either their culture, their communication, or their leadership, or all three. So I help them to get there by teaching them simple things that they can do to be better Working inside of Arlington and being on the MLK four-day committee and the Mayor's Black Advisory Council co-chair for a year, I'm a mentor for the avid seniors at Sagin High School and working on the Texas Live Committee, before Texas Live was even here, and also Leadership Arlington. Those have helped me to get to know people. So we wanna help Arlington to grow. I know we're landlocked, but if we grow our people, then Arlington will grow outside of its borders. I am Montez Jones, and I am alive with the American dream.

Arlington EMS works very closely with the Arlington Fire Department. We operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for 911 and for inter-facility transfers here in the community. As we are all getting older, more health care needs come up.

Thank you. Amen.

Well, good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Arlington City Council meeting. It is September 15th, 2026, and it is 6.30 p.m. We're going to go ahead and call the City Council meeting to order, and I'm going to invite Deacon Joe Ramos from St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church to please come forward and lead us with the invocation. Y'all please stand if you can.

Holy Spirit. Amen. Good and gracious God, let us begin with your inspiration and your help. Guide us in everything we do and everything we say, that it be through your Spirit and through your wisdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. SECRETARY POMPEO, Honor the Texas flag.

I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.

SECRETARY POMPEO, Thank you. You may be seated. Ms. Garcia, speaker guidelines and general decorum, please.

We ask that the citizens and other visitors in attendance assist in preserving the order and decorum of this meeting and to provide for attendance at and participation in the meeting without fear of intimidation, threats, or hostility. Any person making personal, profane, hostile, slanderous, or threatening remarks, who uses vulgar or obscene language, who engages in any other reactions that disturb or are calculated to disturb the meeting, or who becomes disruptive while addressing the mayor and the city council, or while the city council meeting may be removed from the council chambers. All speakers shall address the city council and not the audience or city staff, and shall not call out individually named members of city staff or the public. For speakers tonight, when your name is called, please come to the microphone at the podium and state your name and city of residence. For the record, speakers may not use music, videos, other forms of media, signs, or props. During public hearings for zoning cases, the applicant will be asked to speak first. and will be given five minutes to make a presentation. Speakers in support or opposition of the item will be given three minutes each to make their statements. The applicant will then be given three minutes for any rebuttal. all other items on the agenda speakers will be given three minutes to speak if multiple speakers plan to provide the same or similar comments those speakers may if they so desire designate one or more individuals to provide public comment on behalf of the group a bell will signal the end of each speaker's time in consideration of other speakers please conclude your comments promptly when you hear the bell we ask that you address your comments to the mayor and council

Thank you, Ms. Garcia. Do we have any appointments to boards or commissions this evening?

We do not, Mayor.

Thank you. Consideration of consent agenda, please.

The consent agenda this evening contains eight ordinances and 11 resolutions. The ordinances seek to authorize one, zoning case PD91-09R1, 300 and 330 Lock and Green Trail. Two, adoption of the fiscal year 2027 operating budget. Three, levying taxes for fiscal year 2027. Four, updated downtown business improvement district service and assessment plan and role, setting the assessment rate and levying of assessments. five through seven updated service and assessment plan and roles and levy of assessments for anthem lamar boulevard and arlington tourism public improvement districts eight water and wastewater rates adjustment water and sewer chapter ordinance amendments the resolutions seek to authorize nine adoption of the debt and disclosure policy fiscal year 2027 10 adoption of investment policy fiscal year 2027 11 fee adjustment authorization for multifamily inspection fees, 12 fee adjustments and new fees authorization for planning and development services department fee schedule, 13 and 14 fee adjustment authorizations for public works department, after hours inspections and temporary traffic control permits, 15 solid waste recycling and city collector disposal fee adjustments 16 water utilities fees for services 17 u.s department of housing and urban development by 2025 consolidated annual performance and evaluation report caper 18 fourth amendment to the professional services contract with arlington convention and visitors bureau inc and 19, Arlington Economic Development Corporation budget. This concludes the consent agenda for this evening, Mayor.

Thank you, Ms. Garcia. I'm going to pull items number 6.2 and 6.3 from the consent agenda. Do we have any speakers for any of the remaining items on the consent agenda?

We have two non-speakers in support for 6.1, which are the applicants and are available for questions if needed. And we also have one speaker for 6.4. Oh, excuse me, that's a non-speaker in support. Those were all the cards, Mayor.

Thank you, ma'am. I have a motion from Council Member Hogg and a second from Council Member Gonzalez. Please cast your vote. The motion passes. We're going to go back to 6.2. I pulled that for separate consideration. Do we have any speakers on 6.2?

We have no speakers, Mayor.

Thank you. Can I get a motion and a second on 6.2? I have a motion from Council Member Gonzalez and a second from Council Member Shelton. Please cast your vote. And the motion passes. 6.3, Ms. Garcia, do we have any speakers on 6.3?

We have no speakers, Mayor.

Spence, did you want to say something on 6.3? Molly's saying you did, so I'm assuming you did.

I just want to make sure we cover all our bases since this is kind of a statutorily guided item. So, Mayor and Council, Spencer Slider, your Chief Financial Officer. This is the second final reading of an ordinance levying the ad valerum tax rate to support the fiscal year 2027 operating budget. The ad valerum tax rate is set at 62.98 cents. Per $100 of assessed valuation, 44.46 cents of that is set towards maintenance and operations, and 18.52 cents of that is set towards your interest in sinking fund.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Garcia, no other speakers on 6.3?

We have no other speaker cards, Mayor.

Thank you. Can I get a motion and a second, please? I have a motion from Council Member Pham, a second from Council Member Hunter. Please cast your vote. And the motion passes. We're going to move on down to item number 9.1, adoption of cost recovery policy for fiscal year 2027. Mr. Spencer Slider, come on back up.

Good evening again, Mayor and Council. Spencer Slider, your Chief Financial Officer. Before you tonight is a resolution to adopt and approve a cost recovery policy. Before you take that vote, however, we would like to provide a little further information and leave time for questions. So as a result of some of the outside pressures we are facing on some of our more traditional revenues, we are looking at the potential for a constraint on how we're able to continue to provide excellent services to the residents of Arlington. So we would like to codify a cost recovery policy which will establish a consistent framework for determining an appropriate level of cost recovery for our program services and facilities. Many of these things are things we already kind of naturally do on an as-needed basis, but we would just like to kind of codify and create a policy moving forward for staff. This will largely revolve around a spectrum of needs and uses from the community. On one end of that extreme, you will have a high community benefit where we would expect a lower cost recovery, and on the opposite end of that, you have a high individual user benefit where we expect a higher cost recovery. And so what that looks like is this visualization you had before you. As I mentioned, Tier 1, high community benefit. This is traditional things like public safety salaries, streets that we've traditionally funded with taxes, and as long as we're legally allowed, will be what we continue to use the residents' valuable tax dollars towards. On the opposite end of that spectrum, we have primary individual benefit. This would be an example of someone that wants to go play a round of golf at the Texas Rangers golf course, for instance. That is primarily a high individual benefit, so that person playing that round of golf should be expected to pay a high share of what that costs to provide the golf service. In between that, you've got tiers two through four, which is a mix of services that have both public community benefit as well as an individual benefit. An example I can think off the top of my head for tier three as an example would be renting a meeting space at one of our library facilities. The library program as a whole has a broad community benefit that we don't seek high cost recovery on. But when an individual or group reserves that room, there is a individual benefit they are receiving by having that meeting there. So we expect them to share a small portion of the cost of what it costs to rent that room to kind of help the library maintain its cost recovery program. And then so below these tiers, you see the expected levels of recovery. On tier one, as we mentioned, very low cost recovery. It's expected we will provide these services to residents. On the opposite end of that, things like golf, the fuel sales at the airport, user-generated fees, we will pay for that. Everything else in between is some sort of mix. So if you were to approve this tonight beyond the continuum, the cost recovery policy will also follow these simple principles. The fees will be simple to understand. They should support the appropriate level of cost recovery. Users should clearly understand that when those fees apply, they should be applied fairly and consistently, and they should be related only to the program, service, or facility that they're provided for. So we just wanted to give you all a little bit more information before you consider that policy. A lot of these things are best practices that we already do, and again, we're just seeking to kind of codify this moving forward in this current environment. I'm available if you have any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Spencer. Ms. Garcia, do we have any speakers on this item?

We have no speakers on this item, Mayor.

Thank you. Can I get a motion and a second, please? I have a motion from Councilmember Pham, a second from Councilmember Ware. Please cast your vote. The motion passes. Citizen participation, Ms. Garcia?

Citizen participation gives the public an opportunity to make comments or address concerns regarding matters related to city business or affairs that are in the scope of the authority of the city council and which are not posted on the evening agenda. However, please understand that the mayor and council are not permitted by law to respond to, discuss, or address the comment at this time, as these items are not included on the posted council agenda for this evening. The mayor and council may only ask clarifying questions and or direct staff to take appropriate action speakers who have pre-registered will be given two minutes to make their comments except that if 26 or more speakers have pre-registered each speaker will be given one minute to make their comments we have two speakers uh tonight mayor jimmy burke i don't see mr burke in here tonight tracy anders i don't see mr anders in here either any other speakers miss garcia There are no other speakers, Mayor.

Thank you. Council, do you all have any announcements for this evening? Seeing none, Ms. Garcia, announcements?

I'd like to remind our residents, Arlington City Council evening meetings are rebroadcast on Sundays at 6 p.m. and on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 6.30 a.m. The council's afternoon work sessions are rebroadcast on Sundays at 1 p.m., Wednesdays at 1.30 p.m., and on Saturdays at 6 p.m. You can also watch the meetings online anytime at www.arlingtontx.gov.

Well, I'm sorry y'all didn't get an opportunity to see a real lengthy council meeting tonight, but with that, we are hereby adjourned.