City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're going to call this Tuesday, May 26, 2026 City Council Meeting to Order. Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Council Member Carter. Here. Council Member Capizzi. Here. Council Member Edwards.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tems Bradley.

Here.

Council Member Lebowski. Here. Council Member Ryan. Here. And Mayor Lennertz.

Here we have a quorum and Council Member Edwards is going to lead us in the invocation followed by the pledges.

We come before you today as grateful hearts as we pause to honor veterans lost protecting a loving nation and remember the brave men and women who protect our freedoms and keep our nation safe. May we have a moment of silence for all that we've lost. Now, may we also lift up sincerely thanking the families who lost so much with the commitment of their dedicated loved ones, the returning wounded who lost comrades in arms. In addition, on this day after Memorial Day, let us not forget our first responders that have given their lives to protect us and our daily service for courage and sacrifice as the living work to protect and care for our community. As we begin this City Council meeting, we ask for your guidance, wisdom, and understanding. Help us listen with respect, speak with kindness, and make decisions that serve the good of our City and all its people. Grant us unity in purpose, compassion in leadership, and humility in the service to our City and to you. May we never forget those who have sacrificed so much. May we honor them by working together in peace, justice, and love. With all these things we pray. Amen.

Okay, our next item is to complete and issue certificate of election to the council member elect Marianne Lebowski for District 5, Mrs. Wilkinson.

Mayor, this has been done.

Okay, and administer the oath of office to District 5 council member elect Marianne Lebowski.

Repeat after me, please. I, and state your name, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office, the duties of the office, of city council, of city council, of the state of Texas, of the state of Texas, and will to the best of my ability, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws

the Constitution and laws of the United States, of this state, so help me God. Thank you. Good evening, and thank you for coming and watching me swear in again for my second term. First of all, I want to thank God for the strength, the courage, and the wisdom he has given me throughout this journey. I humbly pray that he will continue to guide me with the same strength and courage, and wisdom over the next three years. To my campaign team, David Ozuna, Cassie Canton, and Melba Romero, thank you. You believed in this vision and you poured your heart into it. And tonight belongs to you and to my constituents just as much as it belongs to me. And to my husband, thank you for being my rock. Your love and support made this possible. And to my children, my grandchildren, my father, All of my family and friends that are here tonight, thank you for your trust, your love, and for always holding me accountable. You keep me grounded. And to my constituents, thank you for trusting me with your voice. I do not take this lightly. I will work. hard for you every single day and I will listen and I will be your voice in the room where decisions are made out in the community. I am a native of New Braunfels. I've lived here for 60 years of my life in my district. This is my home and this is your home too. The city belongs to New Braunfels and to the people of New Braunfels. And I'm so proud of where I come from, New Braunfels. I will continue to plan, preserve, and protect New Braunfels because your voice matters, your family matters, but most importantly, our future matters. Thank you, and God bless me, Braunfels.

Okay, we get to have a little more fun. We've got some proclamations. First one is for Juneteenth. If you're here for Juneteenth, please come on up and join me. So whereas Juneteenth is a day traditionally set aside in Texas to commemorate the abolition of slavery, whereas Juneteenth traces its origins back to Galveston, Texas, where on June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in the city with the news that the Civil War had ended and the slaves were now free. And whereas, the day is celebrated in African American communities as a time to remember the struggle for equal rights. And whereas, our country is at its best when everyone is treated fairly and has the chance to build the future they seek for themselves and their family. And whereas together we can help our nation live up to this immense promise. So let us continue their journey towards a more just, more equal and more perfect union. Now, therefore, I, Neil Lennartz, mayor of the city of New Braunfels, Texas, proclaim June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth in New Braunfels. And I encourage everyone to observe this day with the appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.

Thank you, Mayor. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here again for another Juneteenth celebration. You know, we played football here. We were in Cub Scouts. We were in FFA, baseball, basketball. We did all of those. Now, just real quick, a little background on Juneteenth here in New Braunfels, Texas. I got a phone call from a mother that was crying. She was pretty unhappy. because the school board has turned her and her son away to recognize Martin Luther King Day. She called me crying, asked, would you help me, Councilman Green? Well, she wasn't even in my district, but I did. I went forward, I got the mayor, got the rest of the city council to recognize that day as Martin Luther King Day to have a holiday. Well, when the school board heard that story, They had no choice but to go ahead and approve the day since the council had already approved it. Those were one of the first openings for anybody black in New Braunfels having any kind of organization in this town. Then followed by the Martin Luther King Association. We got our Juneteenth holiday going and it's been a blast ever since. And I have to thank the council because they backed me back in those days. And then District 1, they were behind me. So I got to thank all of them. These are all my friends. This lady here, she went to Seeley Elementary. I went to Lamar Elementary. And then the Turners, they have a scholarship here in New Braunfels. And then David is one of our outstanding spokesmen here in the city of New Braunfels. So thank all of y'all. Thank you, New Braunfels. Celebrate Juneteenth Day. That's what it's for. It's a celebration. So love to see y'all there. I want to thank HEB. I want to thank Rudy's. I want to thank Wings. I want to thank the VFW. They all contributed to the cause. So thank you very much. Thank you again, Mayor. Good luck.

So next is ALS awareness. If you're here for ALS awareness, please come on up. So whereas... Ametrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of muscle control. And whereas ALS impacts thousands of individuals and families across the United States, including members of our own New Braunfels community, bringing significant physical, emotional, and financial challenges. And whereas the month of May is recognized nationally as ALS Awareness Month, and June 2nd is observed as Lou Gehrig Day, honoring the legacy of those affected by ALS and encouraging continued awareness, advocacy, and support. And whereas Brian Martellan, am I pronouncing that right? Okay. A resident of New Braunfels has faced ALS with extraordinary courage, resilience, and determination, serving as an inspiration to his family, friends, and the broader community through his strength and tenacity in the face of adversity. And whereas, Brian holds a deep appreciation for the city of New Braunfels, and he and his wife, Christina, a proud hometown native, choose to return to this community to raise their family, reflecting their strong ties and commitment to the place they call home. And whereas, together they are raising their young children, Gianna, age five, and Vincent, age two, who attend local schools and represent the next generation of the New Braunfels community. And whereas, Brian's journey highlights both the challenges of ALS and the power of the human spirit, reminding us all of the importance of hope, dignity, and community connection. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Neil Lehnertz, Mayor of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, hereby proclaim May 26, 2026, as a day of ALS awareness in New Braunfels. and I encourage all residents to learn more about ALS, support those affected, and join in efforts to advance research and care, and be it further proclaimed that the City of New Braunfels honors Brian Martellan for his remarkable strength, perseverance, and courage, and extends its deepest respect and support to him and his family.

You want to hold this?

Okay, next we've got Small Business Week, Small Business Person of the Year. Kevin Carroll, would you please come join us, along with anybody from the chamber, friends and family that are here with you, anybody you want to bring up? Whereas small businesses represent 99.9% of all employers in our country, and whereas small businesses account for the majority of new jobs, and whereas small businesses are more flexible in responding to shifting markets and can bring new products to market faster, and whereas small businesses provide the first job for most entrants to the labor force, And whereas in keeping with the 60 year practice, Small Business Week is proclaimed nationally for the impact of small business on job creation, economic growth, and innovation. And whereas the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce each year recognizes a small business person of the year, And whereas our nation's economic health rests in the hands of small businessmen and women with bold ideas and the perseverance to keep the small business community growing, prospering, and looking toward the future. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Neil Linnertz, Mayor of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, hereby proclaim May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as Small Business Week and recognize Kevin Carroll with Christian Brothers Automotive as Small Business Person of the Year in New Braunfels. And I urge all citizens of New Braunfels to observe this week and recognize the small businessmen and women of the New Braunfels for their achievements and contributions to the economy of New Braunfels as they lead America in the 21st century. Thank you, Kevin.

Congratulations. I have to admit this is a, I'm kind of emotional. Y'all can laugh at me. But this is quite an honor. I wish that the designation was Small Business of the Year rather than Small Business Person of the Year because the team of, automotive professionals that I get to work with each and every day is just such a blessing. I never dreamed in the over 14 years that we've been in business here in New Braunfels I would have such a team. There's over 336 Christian Brothers in 35 states now. We were the 100th store when we opened in April of 2012. And the past few years we've just incredibly built the dream team. My general manager here, Chris, I can give him so much credit for it. My wife who supported me For 41 years, miraculously. I give a lot of the credit to her. And as well as the Christian Brothers Automotive Foundation, I've been fortunate enough to be the conduit for a pretty massive amount of funds the past few years to go back into this community that we've sewn into a lot of local nonprofits through the Christian Brothers Foundation. And we're just real grateful for that, grateful to be in this community, and we thank everybody very much.

If you're here for Mary Ann swearing in, she wants to take a quick photo before you leave. While they're dissipating, I just want to thank everybody that showed up yesterday for our wonderful Memorial Day ceremony at PD in front of our Wall of Honor. So thank you to everybody. It was a great ceremony. Anybody that showed up, appreciate you being there. Okay, our next item is citizens communication. This is a time for citizens to address the city council on issues and items of concern that are not on this agenda. There'll be no city council action at this time. If you'd like to address council, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ.

I got 437 on the clock here. All right. Good evening everyone, my name is Michael French and I do live in the city. City Councilman Lawrence Bradley, you yourself and others that you have had help to enlist have worked very hard to post my military background. You have used artificial intelligence for the sole purpose of manipulation and defamation of my character. I know who all of you are and one by one, you Lawrence Councilman Bradley, and they will begin to face serious and legal professional consequences ranging from federal charges to disciplinary action if they are still employed by the government, active in the military, or collecting a military pension. The exact trouble depends on how these people obtained my military information and what these people did with my information. Some of what is posted about me is true, however much of what was has been posted in false and AI manipulated. I have my DD-214 that I did receive when I was honorably discharged from the United States Army. My DD-214 is my military document that only I and my next of kin is privy to. I know Councilman Lawrence Bradley that you have seen it and that I know that your cohorts have this document. There are details in that DD-214 that are not public anywhere, yet you chose to post them. That was your big mistake. I also have another document that you did not post. That was my DD 214-1, Councilman Laura Spradley and City Council. I am the only one who has this document and is privy to it. And I'm watching and waiting to see if anyone tries to post or manipulate that one as well. If anyone used unauthorized methods, abused government systems, or misused their position to access my protected records, they can face federal investigation charges. If anyone fabricated or altered documents by service, they can face action under stolen valor laws. If anyone did this while employed by the VA, the Department of Defense, or while holding a clearance or drawing military pension, they can lose their job, their clearance, and face military and agency discipline. If your posts and lies cause me damage, I will also pursue civil lawsuits for defamation and invasion of privacy. I have contacted, this is important, the Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Judge Advocate's General's Office in Washington, D.C., the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the VA Privacy Officer at the National Archives Military Personnel Records Center. I have contacted my two state representatives and a member of Congress. Today, I am also filing a local police report. I have names, including yours, Councilman Lawrence Spradley. My attorney is preparing cease and desist letters for everyone involved. I stand by my record and my service. I served this country honorably for 17 years, including assignments supporting our nation's leaders at the White House, the Pentagon, as well as overseas deployments. My record is documented, verified, and known to the United States Army and the appropriate authorities who have reviewed it have had no questions of my military service. I do not have to justify my service or record to people who choose to behave this way. There has to be accountability for everyone's actions. This is unbecoming and unethical of a member of City Council. I am calling on the Mayor, Neil Lenartz, to publicly condemn this behavior, and I am calling on City Council to formally censure Councilman Lawrence Spradley. What he and his allies have done does not just affect me, it affects the integrity of this council and the trust of every citizen in New Braunfels. If you want to prove that this city council holds people responsible and accountable for their behavior, this is your moment to step up and demonstrate it to the people you serve. This is the first time I will ever bring this matter regarding my service before this council. And it will be the last time I discuss it with you. City Councilman Lord Spradley, I will see you in court. Thank you.

It'll change after you state your name.

Oh, sure. Thomas Campbell. Mayor Leonard's council members, I'm Thomas Campbell. I live at 450 Dittlinger Street. I'm a resident. I'm not a candidate. I'm not affiliated with any campaign or political committee. I'm a software systems engineer, not a lawyer. I read the charter against the relevant Texas codes, case law, and the constitutions, and I used AI research tools, Claude, OpenAI Codex, Google Gemini, to verify citations and stress test the analysis. The structural analysis is mine and mine alone. Everything I cite is on the public record. Before I get into it, I want to say up front, these issues predate this council. They predate the current city attorney. Some of them predate everyone in this building. I'm not here to blame any of you. I'm here because the document needs work. I want to start with something that came up at the last meeting. Someone said that 49.18% was in their book good enough for a majority. With respect, math isn't a matter of opinion. A majority is more than half. 49.18% is less. That's not close, that's not almost, and it's not in anybody's book. The Texas Constitution requires majority elections for terms of three years or longer. The Constitution doesn't care what is in anybody's book. It cares about the math. The May 2nd crisis isn't a one-section drafting error. Our charter has at least five other conflicts with state law on federal constitutional law that haven't been in the news. Our candidate filing deadline says 45 days. State law requires 78. Our public utilities board provision requires property ownership for membership, a freeholder qualification, that means landowner, freeholder qualification that has been unconstitutional under federal equal protection law since 1970. There's transition language from 1966 about councilmen taking office in 1967. That was when I was born. For terms that ended in 1969, still sitting in our charter today, the full list is in the petition I filed on May 12th. This is not a partisan question. Whoever wins on June 13th inherits the same broken document. The math doesn't care who's mayor. Here's why this matters beyond this election. The freeholder provision restricts how this council can structure new public utility governing bodies. If we want to address water and we can't legally form a new water commission under existing charter without amending it first, whichever candidate wins both inherit that constraint. The constraint is in the document. The document needs review. Nobody planned for all these people to move here. They're planning, I'm guilty, I moved here five years ago. They're moving here on their own. The town has been doing just good enough on foundational document, and just good enough is going to stop being good enough. We can't put up a sign that says, don't move here. We can't pretend the charter is fine. Cities with good charters work for the people who live here, whether they've lived here 40 years or five. We don't have a good charter right now. Pursuant to my right of petition under Article I-27 of the Texas Constitution, and Texas Government Code 551.007, I formally request that this council place the appointment of an Advisory Charter Review Commission on the agenda for the next regular meeting where it can be properly noticed under the Open Meetings Act. The petition filed May 12 is the substitute basis for that request. I'm available to any council member or staff with follow-up questions. And one last thing, that runoff is June 13th. Whoever you support, please vote. And please ask at least 10 people you know to vote. Turnout matters. The town we have depends on the citizens who show up. Thank you. I yield my time.

Good evening. Michael Murphy, non-resident. That gentleman may have been referring to me with 49.8%, but I'm a big believer in tell me the rules so I don't have to play the game. And the rules are a state of plurality, that's why I made that comment. I wanna talk about kinda what's been going on. I've been coming here for a long time. And I've talked about character and how we need to get along and everybody needs to unify. You just don't see that. You see disparaging remarks made. Everybody that sits up here on that dais is responsible for shaping the culture of New Brunsles. And actions speak louder than words. And I'm gonna go back. I know you don't like to hear it, Mayor Lennox, but you made the comment about naysayers, right? So the official results Can I get a little time back for technical difficulties here?

We're trying, sir. Yeah, no worries.

Thank you for stopping the clock. That's okay during intermission. I would prefer it to be on the screen. Thank you. Honestly, Mr. Camerino, I was shocked by how many people watch at home. I had an A person approached me at work the other day and said, I've seen you somewhere on TV. I've cooked for a Swedish celebrity chef before. And I'm like, maybe you saw that. And he goes, no, no. He goes, it's New Brunswick City Council. So people do watch at home.

Yes, sir. We have seen an uptake in the number of viewers. Our Nielsen ratings are going way up.

Yay.

That's great.

Sir, he says he's not going to be able to get it. So it's on the street. We can make copies if you'd like.

Well, it's all public information. I'll pull it right off the website.

I'm sorry.

No worries. Mr. Lawrence, you won your first election by 3,542 votes, right? This latest election, and these are the unofficial results, but I pulled this data from the day. You had 2,552 votes. You lost 990 voters. Could those have been the naysayers? My whole point every time I come in here is, yeah, we need unity, 100%. Now you got a group out there that is slandering your opponent. The group that posted it, the New Braunfels Young Republicans, the president of it has been arrested for theft. That's documented. I call on you to publicly disavow that. If y'all want to bring peace and unity, stop the mudslinging. Now, I can't, since this is not working, I'm going to move on to you, Mr. Spradley. The Thought Police. Comel County Republican Party posted recently, on May 13th, in a recent local election, candidate lost by 11 votes. Your vote absolutely counts. Any person reading that's like, voting matters. People need to get to the polls. Councilman Spradley, Larry, that's who I was introduced to back in the day. It's Lawrence now. But he puts, this is obviously biased to the challenger in District 5. You could have wrote, an incumbent won by 11 votes. We're non-biased. A local election was determined by only 11 votes. Is the CCRP choosing candidates? That's their First Amendment right. They can write a post any way they want to. So let's don't trample on people's First Amendment rights because you don't like it, because you don't get the answers you want to hear. That's not unity. That's all I got to say. If y'all want to pull it together, pull it together. One last thing, Mr. Edwards, great prayer. You couldn't have done any better if you tried. That was awesome. Thank you.

My name is Bob King and I am a resident of New Braunfels, taxpayer since 2009. I would have shown if I had the opportunity. Ordinance number 2021-29, which is a matter of public record, has been approved into law here in the city of New Braunfels. Mayor Linnertz, esteemed council members, I'm here tonight to discuss something a bit less dramatic than the firing of a city attorney but ultimately, I think, more important to the integrity of this council's procedure. On May 11th, council members Spradley and Capizzi, respectively, made and seconded a motion to terminate the city attorney. Under Robert's Rules of Order and the New Braunfels Ordinance 2021-29, specifically Section 2-36E, Once a motion is properly before the body, the motion is debated until no one seeks recognition or until someone calls the question. And calling the question requires a two-thirds majority to proceed to a vote while members are still seeking recognition. Yet Councilwoman Lebowski and Ryan were rudely, and I must say according to my reading of this ordinance illegally, denied the opportunity to speak before the vote was called. No motion to call the question was made. No second was taken on a motion to call. No two-thirds vote occurred to end the debate. On a seven-member council, that requires five votes, not four, and certainly not at the unilateral discretion of the mayor. Now, I understand the meeting had gone long. I understand emotions were elevated. But none of that suspends the rules. Suspending the rules also requires a two-thirds vote. And nobody motioned to suspend the rules. And candidly, this was not an inexperienced presiding officer struggling through some obscure procedural issue. Mayor Lennox is an attorney. He has served in this office for three years. For him to so blatantly breach procedure is hard to explain without attaching ulterior motives. Perhaps it can be said that he was operating without a parliamentarian, but only because he was so hell-bent on firing her that night. Now most of us have learned parliamentary procedure 101 years ago, maybe in a civic organization, in our church, maybe even in our college fraternities and sororities. Once a motion is made and seconded, members then begin to debate the merits of the motion. If someone wishes to cut off debate, there's a specific supermajority process for doing so. That is elementary deliberative procedure, which makes what happened here more troubling, not less. The underlying dispute involved the city's handling of a politically sensitive matter, one in which the mayor was personally involved and due to which he directly benefited. Surely no reasonable person can dispute that the situation imposed on the mayor an even greater obligation to conduct the proceedings with scrupulous neutrality and procedural fairness. Instead, the debate was unilaterally cut off, two council members were denied the opportunity to speak, and then the mayor himself cast the deciding vote. That sequence of events, following Mr. Spradley's pre-prepared statement, produce the clear appearance to all witnessing, including me from Guanajuato, Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Camerino, for having it on TV. Anyone could see the clear appearance of a process being managed towards a predetermined outcome in hopes of minimizing the political blowback on this mayor. Appearances matter. especially in government. The irony is that Robert's rules are not that complicated. They aren't mere technicalities. They're safeguards designed specifically to protect the participation rights of all elected representatives, including those in the minority. Those protections failed for all to see on May 11th. So tonight I would simply urge this mayor as a gentleman to publicly apologize to the councilwomen who were denied the opportunity to speak and to the citizens for his failure to follow city ordinance 2021-29 in conducting the meeting. And if he refuses to apologize, this council should publicly reprimand him for his poor stewardship of the gavel. Because of the legitimacy of government depends not merely on outcomes, but a fairly administered process. Thank you.

Good evening, Council, Mayor, City Manager Camerino. Richard Zapata, I'm a resident of Seguin, but I also have a family home that I own here in New Braunfels. As some of you may know, I sat at the dais, not this one, as nice as it is, the previous one. I'm no stranger to tough times at the dais. A lot of you probably don't have a lot of background and very few people, maybe Mr. Camerino exception, remember what that council went through with the disposable container ban, the near elimination of riparian rights of every owner on the water. Some of you remember that well, though. And recall campaigns on two council members, or a council member and a mayor, A third one was attempted on me that did not go anywhere when they approached a friend of mine and asked him to consider running or finding somebody to run against me if they tried to recall me. That was the end of it. Council Member Carter, thank you. for taking my chair that I held for six years. Since I left, I haven't seen anybody look at things the way you do with perspective that gives you the ability to look at a bigger picture and a higher level, and I appreciate that. I think that's what I brought. Imperfect as I am, I'm proud of my six years. But I do look back and there are a lot of votes that I said yay that I wish now I had not. I could have slowed some development down with my council members. And maybe it wouldn't have run me out of this town the way it did, because 120,000 people all trying to get to three HEBs at one time just aided my sensibilities. I've stayed away. You haven't seen me much. I think, Mary, you might have seen me do a call to order one time from the audience. But I've stayed away. um i haven't endorsed any of the candidates running against anybody that was up here until about a week ago that i decided i would endorse the one that was representing my family home and many of my relatives but i've seen a couple of things and i wouldn't be able to talk about this one if it had been yesterday memorial day a day and i can't i don't know which one of you i know Mr. Spradley has, I don't know if any of you have served in the military. That's a day of remembrance. For me, it's a remembrance not just of the ones that didn't come back, but because I was so heavily involved in something called Desert Homecoming at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, I also remember the ones that came back disfigured with burns, their entire head burned, missing appendages, and I thought of them on that day. And I was a little sick to see something in Facebook attacking another military member on that most hallowed day. I'm not one to step on your free speech or any of them, but on that day, Wrong, wrong decision, wrong thing to do. It was despicable, and it was just, I couldn't believe it was happening. So I put my two cents in a little bit, but I tried to stay in the moment for Memorial Day as much as I could. So anyway, you heard what was said earlier. I can't disagree with any of that. We need a new charter. That came up on my council. I don't know why we kicked it down the can. I know why we wanted to do it, because a couple of council members were a little concerned about how easy it was to recall, and that was the conversation. And that may be a misdemeanor, because we might have talked about that in executive session, but bring it. NBU Water ran some stuff here in the last day that looks amazingly like the mayor's Facebook post, as well as a couple of mayors that you were very close to. I believe NBU should be a little more careful about something that mimics the water concerns that some of y'all don't share. I think it treads on an election. I definitely think it treads on an election. And you guys have all the say of what goes on at NBU. So I think they should take that off. I think they shouldn't have done that. But for a charter review, I do urge you, get it going. Make sure it's the people representing on the charter. Don't load it with former mayors or council members. Even me. Don't call me. Give it to some new blood. Give it to some people that respect what we do here in this city, but who also respect the fact that maybe some of us are just a little tired of 120,000 people trying to get to HEB at the same time. Because it's time. It's time to do what we can legally to slow it down.

So I'm going to...

jump in my presentation a little bit differently. It's kind of ad hoc, so I'm gonna, and it's a different topic. What's your name, sir? Oh, Jim Holster. I live in the town here, in the city limits. The City of New Braunfels last week had a meeting. This has been scheduled multiple times. The City of New Braunfels Housing Authority approved a new government entity, and it removed it further away from the citizens. It's called the New Braunfels Housing Authority Public Facility Corporation, NBHAPFC. That's a mouthful. It is interesting the City of New Braunfels Housing Authority members appointed themselves to this new organization that has real significant powers. City Council did not appoint this new board or ask for applicants. I know it gets confusing, all these different acronyms. For reference, the City of Sagin, the City of Bernie, both have City Council on their PFCs. But no, we took a different path. In their case, it ensures accountability with the local taxpayers. The project. Well, the first order of business at the project was approving the Linden Ranch apartment transaction. This is a 303 apartment unit located in the heart of District 3 at 1801 Loop 337. It does fit the city's model of increasing density. Density is more important than providing housing to families that they own. Tax exemptions. NBHA, PFC, approved project tax exemptions for the city and NBISD. Interesting. And the amount is unknown. That was even at Mr. Alvarez presented here. And he said, y'all know about what it is, but nobody wants to talk about it. The county already entered into a separate deal. And my representative at the commissioners has been very frank and open with me about it, unlike here. The amount of exemption, as I said, has not been disclosed. In an open records request to NBISD I made, they replied, I would need to contact the city, you guys. I've got it in writing, if you want it, to understand what the giveaway is, tax exemption. At the public presentation of city council, housing authority manager also said he doesn't know what it is. And that's odd, because he's going to be working with the PFC. That's really odd. So he's in the dark, and so are the citizens. Functionality. The housing authority board is appointed by the mayor of New Braunfels. which in turn appoints the board members to the NBHAPFC. I called it PIF. I don't know what it is. The board is composed of five members, but two board members are vacant. They couldn't even appoint them because they've been vacant on the New Braunfels Housing Authority. And I don't know, Mayor, I don't know if Mr. Camarillo's told you there's two vacancies in there, but they've been vacant for a while. The mayor will now need to appoint new members to the Housing Authority Board, which will in turn appoint themselves to the other board. Does it get confusing after a while? At the meeting, the Housing Authority Board concerns an inquest by citizens to delay the creation, and that was a meeting across the street, not recorded, kind of like tonight, no recording. New Braunfels citizens, unlike those in Seguin, will have no direct impact on the MBH, PILT, Public Facilities Corporation. Council in these cities made sure their citizens were represented. They also keep their boards filled. We obviously didn't. And they had to cancel one of the meetings because there's only three members. One of them didn't show up, so they kept rescheduling to get somebody enough. So again, that's organizationally a responsibility here. Attendance, the last meeting was at the Housing Authority Board. Only three members were in attendance, apartment developers, Housing Authority staff, and their attorney, the attorney of the developers, the acting city attorney, a couple of Housing Authority residents, and several members from District 3. Interesting statements have been made at this meeting. Mr. Alvarez said, The members of District 3 who have their houses next to this apartment should expect their home values to skyrocket. We didn't use skyrocket, increase. So that was an interesting statement because he said the same thing happened to him in San Antonio where he actually lives. He doesn't live here. And he said his house, the value went up after he put an apartment complex in it. So I don't know if I should trust that or go to a real estate agent. At this meeting, it was being very clear that he said that he's being directed by the city manager and his staff, because he has weekly meetings when you're scheduled. The mayor calls him late at night. He even acknowledged that in some video. So I think we need to work a little bit on this. I have a more complex presentation, since you don't have an operating system much like the city of New Braunfels Housing Authority.

Seeing no one else, we'll close citizens' communication. Next item up is consent agenda. All items listed below are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the city council and will be approved by one motion. There'll be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member or citizen so requests, in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as part of the normal order of business. Citizens must be present to pull an item. Mrs. Wilkinson, have any items been pulled?

No, sir.

Council, any items you'd like to pull? Okay, we'll be taking up action items A through F, as well as ordinances beginning with approval of the first reading of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, accepting and approving the 2026 amended and restated service and assessment plan and updated assessment role for the Psalms Landing Public Improvement District, making and adopting findings, providing a cumulative repealer clause, and providing an effective date. An approval of the second and final reading of an ordinance amending section 86-8, glass containers prohibited in park areas and on rivers, lakes and streams. Section 86-10, prohibition of alcoholic beverages in city parks and city-owned property. Section 86-12, prohibition of sale or advertising of goods, wares or services in city parks. Section 86-17, San Antonio Street Bridge Safety Zone. And Section 86-97, Land Apart Miniature Golf and Paddle Boat Fees of the New Braunfels Code of Ordinances to Match Department Policy.

Motion for approval. I'll second.

Mayor Pro Tems Bradley moves for approval. Council Member Ryan seconds. Mrs. Wilkinson, will you please call roll?

Council Member Carter. Aye. Council Member Capizzi?

Aye.

Council Member Edwards? Aye. Mayor Pro Tems Bradley? Aye. Council Member Lebowski? Aye. Council Member Ryan? Aye. And Mayor Lennard?

Aye. Motion carries. Next up is a public hearing and first reading of an ordinance requested by Maria Chavez of approximately 0.2 of an acre out of City Block Subdivision 1072, Lot 10 from C3 Commercial District to C3 SUP commercial district with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence currently addressed at 284 Perryman Street. Mr. Looney.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. I have a few slides here if they're needed. The applicant is requesting this change of zoning for a property that's occupied by a 1,012 square foot home, two bedrooms, one bath, and would like to convert that into a short-term rental. I'm not sure if this would work or if you just need to jump to the next slide. These maps also in your packet just identify this property as being located about a block from IH 35 near the corner of Perryman and McQueenie Road. It is zone C3 as we can see in that map on the right. C3 is the city's heaviest commercial zoning district. And C3 actually allows short-term rentals. But New Braunfels short-term rental ordinance states that if the structure that's being requested for short-term rental is a house, even if the base zoning allows short-term rentals, then the rezoning with an SUP is still required. So the application of the SUP overlay to the base zoning. This was intended when originally written in the ordinance to ensure that there's compatibility with surrounding houses in the event that there are surrounding houses in these commercial districts. And in order to maintain the residential character then of that neighborhood, if so desired by the neighbors. This house specifically does have adequate paved off-street parking to meet the code requirements for a short-term rental that in this case with two sleeping rooms would be two paved parking spaces. And so since this property will be required to maintain the residential character, Staff and Planning Commission both recommend approval with conditions. There's two conditions recommended, and they are in your agenda memo, and I'll just read those for the record. First condition is that the residential character of the property be maintained, and two, that the property will remain in compliance with the approved site plan that they submitted and the floor plan. and that if they have any significant changes, then they have to reapply to change their SUP, and that's required for all SUPs. As you know, conditions are only applicable to special use permits or SUPs, not to straight zoning changes, so that's why conditions are recommended for these. We mailed 11 notices in accordance with state statute to owners of property within 200 feet. We received one response in favor. You can see it there marked in blue on the map on the screen. And zero responses in opposition. Thank you.

I believe the applicant is here. Should be. Yes, sir. Is there anything you'd like to add?

Yes. And I actually made copies in case this wasn't working. Okay. I'm actually Maria Chavez's agent. I'm a real estate agent and I'm helping her get this up and going as vacation rental. I've done a lot of these in New Braunfels, so I kind of have an idea of what works and what doesn't work and why it does or does not. I wanted to come and kind of talk about, on the first page I have, you can see where I-35 is and this is showing it, as it is with the buildings all around it, and you can see how close that is. She has been renting this as a long-term rental. There have been a lot of complaints about the noise from this I-35, and making it difficult for her, having it so close to I-35, also making it difficult for her to retain long-term tenants. Right, if you change to the next page, you might be able to see it a little bit easier. Right in front of that property between I-35 and the property is where it says number one. That's actually like a wood mill, so that's also kind of a noisy thing for people to live next to, making it very difficult for her to use it for that purpose. Number nine is a bar and saloon. So there's a lot of people coming and going from there. I also think that this works really well as a short-term rental because that's there. And people would want that there for a short-term rental, would not want that there for a long-term rental. Behind it is a church. So you've kind of got a really big mixed use there. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And then next to it, number two, is a vacant home. So with the conditions that were suggested, really this is the only residential home next to all of these commercial properties besides the one that is It is a good segue into the properties that are being used residentially, but it's also surrounded by a lot of short-term rentals as well. I believe that this neighborhood in general is more suited for a short-term rental because of where it's located. Also, because of the short-term rentals that have been put into place as of now, it's kind of surrounding the area. It's really been gentrified and a lot of the properties have been remodeled and have been kept up really well. And if you look at the next page, you can see what this property actually looks like. We've completely transformed it from being completely run down and looking like nobody cares or lives there to having a stellar property on this street. And that's happening with all of the short-term rentals. You have to maintain it in this way as well. So I think that it'll be good for that area of New Braunfels. I don't see it being gentrified much in any other way or purpose because of its location. A lot of people worry about maybe having traffic coming through the residential neighborhoods because of commercial activities, and I don't think this would be a problem in this area. There's already a lot of traffic there, and this property is so small, it would only have two cars. Nobody would be able to tell if anybody was using this property as a short-term rental. The activities of short-term rental are pretty much the same as those as long-term rental. People come, they sleep, they stay, they eat, and they leave. There's not any large commercial-type activities taking place. So we appreciate you taking this into consideration, and we hope that you will give us approval. Thank you.

Okay, we'll open this item to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ. Seeing none, we'll close public hearing. I'd entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

I'll second.

Councilmember Edwards moves for approval. Councilmember Capizzi seconds. We'll open it for discussion. Any discussion on this item?

No, I have something to say. It seems to me like there was a, potential zoning issue to begin with that just continued to cascade around this area. And I suggest we don't continue to double down on that and continue to zone these short-term rentals just because they're sitting next to a bar. Because to me that's a disclosure item when you're renting such a place. But I think we need to stop the trends that have been occurring with zoning. That's my comment.

I do have a question and it's for, if you can come back up. Who will be managing the property?

Herself and myself, we'll manage it together.

And do y'all live in town or out of town?

Yes. I live just actually a few blocks away, Michigan Street in New Braunfels. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your right hand. All those opposed, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Next item is a public hearing and first reading of an ordinance requested by Paul Paniagua of approximately .3 of an acre out of City Block Subdivision 3007, lot four from C2 General Business District to C2 SUP General Business District with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence currently addressed at 1258 West San Antonio Street. Mr. Looney.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. This is similar to the previous item. It's for a rezoning that would allow this 1,141-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath house on the site to be converted into a short-term rental. It is located on San Antonio Street, one and a half blocks west of Walnut Avenue. This property is on C2. It's an intensity that's just a step down from the C3 district. That also allows short-term rentals, but again, as this is a house or a residential structure, even if it wasn't used as a home, just a residential structure, the ordinance requires that those go through the additional step of the SUP to ensure compatibility in case there's any other residences around it. This one, based on its number of sleeping rooms, also requires two paved parking spaces. And so while there's actually, at this site, adequate space For the offsite parking, the property owner will need to actually pave that parking, today it's unpaved, in order to meet the ordinance if this is approved. This property, again, also, like the other one, will be required by our ordinance to maintain the residential character. So staff and planning commission both recommend approval with three conditions in this case. One, about the residential character being maintained. Two, that if they change it, they do have to amend through the rezoning process for a new SUP. And then three, that that off-street parking be paved, which is required in the ordinance, but the condition being added to it just as a reminder to the owner that they will be required to pave. We mailed 18 notices to owners of property within 200 feet as required by state statute. For this one, we received three in favor and one opposed. The opposed one is that kind of gold color you can see on the screen. Thank you.

Okay, we'll open this to public hearing. If anybody would like to speak to this item, please step up to the podium, state your name, whether you're a resident, non-resident, or live in the ETJ.

Angela Keller, ETJ. Just out of curiosity, because I've been doing a lot of canvassing, all these homes that are getting rezoned for Airbnb, is that somewhat of a business? How does that affect property owners long term on the west side of the city? Can anybody answer that? Does it affect property owners around it? When those houses on the west side of town, which are, I would say, predominantly the poorer side of New Braunfels, when they start being set up as Airbnbs, business type, how does that affect the property owners that have been there for decades? Their property taxes? I'm just curious. Do you know that?

You're certainly welcome to address council, but if y'all want to discuss it out in the hallway, you're welcome to do that as well.

I would like somebody to answer that if they could. Can anybody answer it?

Yeah, I can tell you that.

Point of, point of, point of order. Yeah, this is not a, this is not a.

Point of order, yes. If you wanna address council, if there's something you wanna say, say it, but if y'all wanna discuss it, you can do it in the hallway. Okay, seeing no one else, we'll close public hearing. I'd entertain a motion.

Motion for approval. Second.

Mayor Pro Tems Bradley moves for approval. Council Member Edwards seconds. Any discussion?

It's the same, this is your same property? It's a different property? And actually, I'd like to amend my motion to go with staff recommendations. They have to pay the driveway, correct?

Okay.

With the conditions that are included in the memo? Yes, sir.

I have a question. Is the property owner here?

Is the property owner here? Doesn't look like any.

I just have a comment. When these come before us and then look at, if you have questions about conflicts or things of that nature, the police department keeps records about any issues with STRs. There's a whole set of rules and regulations they have to follow to have continuity with the neighborhood. As somebody who owned one themselves, The issue is you try to have the least impact. They're restricted from some areas, other areas that are allowed in to answer your question. So I think there are sources, both with the planning department and with the police and fire department, that can give you some ease about what's going on. And because of their professional management and how they screen, they can behave differently. But you have a voice in the situation. It becomes a complication. And there's a whole set of rules you can go by to help you on that, just so you know.

I'm going to comment on this zoning as well to this young lady's question about the impact to other homes. Everything we're doing with regard to housing is affecting everybody in this city and housing. Too much capacity is driving folks down in their values. Zoning and putting in... what becomes a business next to folks that are not changing their income year over year, not changing their home value year over year. They will be in direct competition with those houses that are commercial in nature. Arguably you could say that that's going to devalue their property. It can also inflate what they're paying in taxation because the guy that has the commercial Airbnb is going to invest, going to make it nicer, going to put in concrete over broken asphalt. those things will drive the commerce of that area, and it will drive valuation. So it does have an impact on those people that live there. I've worked in economic factors and housing for a long time, and you must understand the financial impact of what you're deciding. So I would say arguably yes, this has an impact. And I don't encourage putting these types of properties in play in these areas.

I have one more question. I have one more question. Mr. Looney, do you know why the property owner is not here?

I'm sorry, ma'am?

I said, my question was, do you know why the property owner did not attend?

I do not, ma'am. We always advise the applicants and the owners to be present so they can answer questions and elaborate on their request. But I was not informed as to why they wouldn't be able to be here this evening.

Okay. No, ma'am, we had it open to the public earlier. Sorry. Okay.

I would like to say there's another way to look at this. You have one, two, three people that are in favor that live right next to this. It's an empty property, and you're putting in an Airbnb where you'll put someone there that's going to spend money, hopefully, within that area. So that's another way to look at it, rather than saying it's going to affect, and it will affect, right? But hopefully it affects in a positive economic way.

And not that we have to go with their recommendation, but the Planning Commission did unanimously recommend approval.

I would suggest on some of the questions you have, Councilman Carter, is get with Mr. Looney on some of the state guidelines. The difficulty for us, there's certain areas that absolutely restrict STR. And there's areas that they say STR is very applicable. And those have been set very clearly by the state and our regs. But he can give you a full list in detail of what's necessary. And it'll probably help all of us in the conversation.

Well, and to that point, Mr. Looney, isn't this issue in regards to SUPs and short-term rentals, isn't this something that we have been discussing and been in the works for us to simplify our code of ordinances to take some of that outdated C1 zonings to get them, that would allow, say, a small hotel, but don't have the short-term rentals included in that language because they didn't exist when we were in the process of doing that. So am I correct to understand that we are trying to address this overall throughout the city in the LDO?

Actually, short-term rentals, there was a pretty big effort 2019, 2020 to do a lot of that. And so the current ordinance has been updated pretty significantly. To accomplish that, it did retain that additional step that I mentioned a couple of times tonight when there's a house and even it's in the commercial district, still have to get that SUP. With the LDO, there's some minor revisions being looked at, but mostly related to what you just said, actually, the clarification of a lot of those old-timey, we'll say, zony districts. C1, C2, C3, a lot of those. They will still allow commercial and they'll still allow hotels. And then it'll be through the process when we get to Planning Commission and City Council to determine whether or not we want to kind of tweak that a little bit in terms of whether an SUP really ought to be required anymore if it's zoned commercial.

Okay, thank you. And I'll say this. The controversy surrounding short-term rentals has died a little bit. I remember when... They first started coming to New Braunfels. It was a major concern of the residents, including myself, especially as someone who was renting a historic house downtown. I have seen it over the past 20 years not negatively affect our local economy, and it's given property owners an ability to change the course of their personal investments. I've seen really amazing things happen with them. I know they're scary, and I definitely do not support them in any way, shape, or form in any zoning that is already labeled residential. This is a commercial property surrounded by other commercial entities. It is, in my opinion, against the law and the will of State of Texas for us to deny this. So thank you for the... first motion and the second. If we're ready for a vote, I am.

Any other discussion? Okay. We will take a vote. All those in favor, raise your right hand. All those against, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Next item is discuss and consider the possible reconsideration of the city council's action on May 11th on item 1B on the city council's 5 p.m. executive session meeting and discussion regarding the employment, duties, discipline, and appointment of the city attorney position and discussion regarding the removal of the city attorney in accordance with section 551.074 of Texas government code. And just to be clear, this is a procedural item. And so the only people that can make a motion are those that voted in favor of the prior motion. So I would entertain a motion.

Can I state the basis of which I am bringing it?

If it gets a motion, then we can have discussion. If it doesn't get a motion, then it'll die. Seeing no motion, this item fails for lack of a motion. Next item is a presentation, discussion, and possible direction to staff regarding the creation and composition of a charter review commission, selection process of an outside legal firm to assist with the charter review and amendment process and associated timeline for potential charter amendment election. Mr. Camerino.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Robert Camerino, city manager. The direction provided by the city council at the May 11th council meeting was quite clear, and that was to initiate a process to review our charter. And so we want to bring you a presentation this evening that will initiate that discussion. There are several things that we need to take into consideration before starting the process. One of those is the selection and appointment, or I should say the composition of the Charter Review Commission. And I have some recommendations with each one of these bullet points. But the second, and very importantly, is the selection of an outside council to help us with that process. And then third, I'll also present to you a draft timeline that if council chooses to follow that timeline would then be able to bring any proposed amendment, charter amendment, propositional language to the voters in May of 2027. So first, the Charter Review Commission, or the composition of that commission. A common model for cities to follow is that each council member could appoint a representative from your district and the mayor could appoint a member at large, which would be a seven-member Charter Review Commission. then that commission could then appoint a chairperson from amongst its members. There are other models in which additional at-large members are included in the Charter Review Commission. Those would all be obviously appointed by the City Council. If you chose to go above that seven, then I would recommend an odd number to keep that total number on the Charter Review Commission at an odd number. we would recommend, and really, kind of an open and transparent process is to recommend to you all an application process where anyone that's interested could actually apply to be considered for appointment to that commission. So we would open that application up. Those that are interested could apply. If you have constituents or residents within your district that you feel may add value to that, you could encourage them to apply for that. And then we would then provide you all the applications prior to the appointment so you have time to review those and then make a recommendation to the council as to who you would like to appoint. at the meeting where you all do actually make those appointments. The staff would only serve as ex-officio advisors of the commission, helping to provide information, coordinate meetings of that commission, work alongside the outside legal counsel with regards to the entire process. So that's the Charter Review Commission. Again, I'll stop here in case there's any questions you all may have. What I'm seeking tonight also is some direction from y'all, if y'all are prepared to provide that direction so that we can initiate this process. That would be the composition of the charter review commission with seven members.

Yes, sir. I just have one question. This has never been done before, right? We never had a charter review.

So there was a charter review that was done in 2020, 2021, but there wasn't a charter review commission that was appointed by the city council.

But not a full charter review.

No, sir, not a full charter review commission.

What about in 1983?

Pardon me?

What about in 1983?

I don't know if there was a Charter Review Commission appointed then. I certainly believe that there was in 1990. I certainly believe there was one in 1994, 95. There was a Charter Review Commission. Yes, years ago.

As far as I'm concerned, I would like to appoint someone from my district. I believe... having the charter being near and dear to our hearts up here on city council, I would like to appoint someone from my district.

And again, really the question is, how do you want to do that? And what we would suggest is open it up to applications so that folks, residents from within your own district can apply and tell you why they're interested in serving on this commission, or you all can just make an appointment without an application.

Part of this is giving feedback on what this process would look like. Are you comfortable with a seven-member board to do this? No.

I can come back at the end of it. You all can provide me direction, then I can go through the rest of the... Well, I would like to have a discussion.

Are we done with the presentation? Is there more?

Let me ask if we had any questions.

There's a few more, but it's up to you all how you want me to proceed.

Go ahead. Some of the question that I have is the history.

Yes, ma'am.

Right? Who knows the history of why we got to where we are? Anybody? I think I probably know more history about this than anybody right now, which disturbs me. There is a reason why the charter is the way that it is. And I think where we need to start is with the federal... decision maker, somebody who can review this, and I say that because our charter is the way that it is due to a settlement that occurred from a 1983 lawsuit, and it was a class action lawsuit. Had Ms. Acevedo gave any other instruction, the city would have been countersued by the federal government for breaking a settlement.

Yeah, we're actually looking, we actually are pulling together information.

We do know that, correct?

We are actually pulling information together now from our records about that 1983 settlement and then all the discussion that occurred in 94, 95 from that Charter Review Commission. And I would suggest that maybe the outside legal counsel that would support us could look into that and then provide the counsel with an opinion.

I'm a little disturbed to talk about outside legal counsel because not one outside legal counsel member was able to even affirm or disagree with me that this charter was written the way that it was due to a settlement. They hadn't even heard that there was a settlement. They hadn't even heard there was a- Point of order, Mayor.

I think we're here tonight to discuss the process for the charter review.

I think the- Not the history on the charter? The committee or the charter review committee can certainly take up the history and make recommendations based on that history, I think we'd be wasting time to debate and discuss the details of the history of how we got to where we're at. I think we all agree that we need to review our charter and make amendments to it.

Senator Carter, I agree that there does need to be a review of the history so that we understand how we got to where we're at. So I do believe that that is important. And with regards to that, the next step of the process would be to select an outside legal support for this Charter Review Committee. Whoever is selected, and I'll go through the process that we're recommending to select that firm, could then also look at the history, but then also work with the Charter Review Committee and provide support. That support would be in educating the Charter Commission on home rule authority, the purpose of the charter election law. They would also do their own legal review and provide recommendations for any proposed amendments to the charter. And then ultimately, when the charter amendments are approved by the council, the proposed charter amendments approved by the council, they would then work on the language to then put on a ballot for a May 2027 election. The process that we're recommending to be open and transparent so that anyone who has expertise, any legal firm that has expertise in charter reviews can actually request, I mean, can actually submit their qualifications. We would recommend a request for proposals where they could submit their qualifications. We could review those qualifications, narrow it down to the top whatever, top three or two, interview those, and then ultimately make a recommendation to the city council for who we would suggest to help us with that effort. If the council wants to participate in that process, you could appoint an ad hoc committee to work alongside staff. on making a recommendation on reviewing those qualifications and proposals and then make a recommendation to the city council. I think that would be.

So will the city council be reviewing who we're hiring?

So it could be a combination of staff reviewing those proposals and make a recommendation or staff alongside an ad hoc committee appointed by the city council, say three council members that could work with staff to review, to go through that process and then ultimately make a recommendation to the city council as to who the council should select to help us undertake that effort.

So something that's been suggested as a model for this and I like the idea is that each of us can appoint somebody to that committee and pick somebody from your district and then they will hear the history, look at the law and then come back with a recommendation on what to do with the charter going forward.

Well, is it not the most appropriate thing to do to have a federal jurisdiction to look at what they agreed to, what they dictated that they do back in 83, which was hire the two Baylor, or 94, to hire the two Baylor professors that were district experts in law, but because you have a federal and a state contradiction, but federal is prevailing, I think we need a decision or a guide essentially from the highest jurisdiction before we even address how to fix the charter.

Well, I don't think tonight is the night to take up review of the charter. I think what's on the agenda is to give feedback to staff on how to put this committee together, and they will get with outside counsel and review the law, federal law and state law, for any changes that need to be made to the charter.

And we are, Mayor and Council, we are pulling that information together. We have found a file that includes a settlement. I think it was a 1983 settlement, but we've also pulled minutes. We're pulling minutes as well from that Charter Review Commission that was working in 94-95. And I think that information could be very helpful then for whoever the council selects to go through that history, work with whoever is necessary to work with to make a determination as to what we need to do going forward, making sure that we don't no longer conflict with Texas Constitution or state law.

And we could get outside council certainly to... Help us decide if we do need to engage some further higher-up entities to...

Absolutely. We would need some outside legal support on that issue. I would certainly suggest that.

I mean, why do you start a commission when you don't know what the core directive was surrounding the Voter Rights Act? You gotta start with that.

There's many sections of the charter that can be worked on in conjunction with or alongside that review as well. So I think that that work can be done simultaneously. And then if there is anything that then comes out of that review of the history, that can be brought back to the Charter Review Commission then for any amendments that need to be made and recommended to the council.

Our charge would be very simple. And the fact that We're anticipating a full charter review at this juncture, even though we've had discussions of whether it should be with certain sections because it's such a large undertaking and expensive. But the review would make sure that our home rule is in compliance with everything on the state level, and then to make sure, especially in the federal areas where you see more jurisdictions, such as voting rules and so on, that we're absolutely in compliance with federal and so on. Understanding that who has the most stringent rule, as long as it doesn't violate the Constitution, usually is the head of the two of us. So if the city is more restrictive and it doesn't bite state or federal, it rules over the others and vice versa. So there's nuances with that. As long as we have counsel, to help us in each of those areas to make sure we come out with a product that we can defend appropriately. And the makeup is such that it's representative of the community. And with voices on there that can understand the complexity of those, even with counsel, because sometimes they are so compressed that our selections are going to be very critical as far as those that or objective into what the purpose is. And as long as we can give you clear purpose for what we want, I think we can get this through to the point that the public regains confidence and that the council is confident as well.

Please understand, I think that a legal review of the past history I think is important, but I think that can happen simultaneously because that's only one section of many sections in our charter that the Charter Review Commission can begin to work on.

And isn't it also accurate to say these firms have a wealth of knowledge going through charters across the state of Texas to make sure they comply with state and federal law?

Absolutely. I think it's critical for us to hire an outside firm that has that kind of expertise that can assist us and the Charter Review Commission, ultimately the City Council, with whatever proposed charter amendments were brought forward to voters.

So any feedback on how this committee would be made up, selected?

I like the idea of seven and appointing, I like to appoint my person.

I slightly disagree. As someone who's served on the ad hoc committee for the greater city boards and commissions, I've thoroughly enjoyed the application process and being able to review people's desires and be able to have things to compare apples to apples and look at their experience and look at their context. Have they gone through City U? What sort of understanding do they have of governance um as a whole so i would appreciate an application process that would be open to the public with a final approval from city council of those applicants and i would also approve i would also appreciate a three-person ad hoc committee be added to y'all's selection process for the law firm i agree with council member ryan i believe that it should be an application part and so would you advocate that there should be seven at large or six from districts and one at large or how would how would you propose that that's what i would propose i would propose that we have one representative from each district as a qualification obviously to be on this commission you would need to live within the city limits and you would need to live within your city district um of course I would hope all of us as city council people would encourage some qualified candidates to apply, but that's what I would, and then one at-large member as well.

I agree.

And that's the model that was presented. Personally, I would like just, I mean, this is the first time we've seen these options given to us. Myself, personally, I would like just a little bit more time to study it, look at it, make sure that whatever recommendation I personally am giving staff is the right one. This is a pretty substantial process and a substantial matter, and I don't think waiting a few days at least to, or until the next meeting to actually make the recommendation I don't think would hurt anything. I think it would be wise and prudent to wait just a little bit to make the recommendation, but me personally.

So if we're giving feedback tonight, will this come back as an action item? We can certainly bring this back as an action item at the very next council meeting.

We can certainly do that. You good with that? Okay.

I recommend that you add to the action item ends to that. One would be a DOJ interface to clear up the cobwebs with the federal side. Another would be a state interface. These would probably be council on both sides that feed into the charter group. And those two have to be dealt with before the charter can be dealt with.

And I appreciate that. We could certainly lean on the outside counsel that we hire to actually make those connections at the federal and the state level.

They have to be an expert in federal and have to be an expert in state. Those are going to be two different attorneys.

I think if I was going to make a recommendation tonight, my initial inclination would be to put appointment from the district.

We don't want to go through all this trouble and come in back.

That's it.

So would you all like for me to bring this, give you some time to think about it? Let me just finish with the presentation and then I'll ask for some final direction from you all afterwards. I have a question.

Go ahead, I'm sorry. Sorry. From the council in particular about do we want in the discussion a setting of criteria for the applicants? because of the complexity. I mean, those are little questions in this time to answer so that we have surety and for the openness to the public to make sure we don't have cronyism that we're trying to find the best candidates to serve on this critical committee. And so how do we address that? I don't know. So I need advice.

we could bring to you all sort of a draft application at the next council meeting so you could look at that, see what kind of questions we would include in that application so that it would help us to identify not only the individual where they live and then what experience they have and then maybe why they are interested in serving on the commission as well.

And if I understand this correctly, they're going to be guided by legal counsel through the process. And then ultimately it'll come back to us as a recommendation and we will make the final determination.

That's exactly right. You'll see that outline in the draft.

We don't necessarily have to have a committee of lawyers because they're going to be led by a lawyer if they represent the community and the interest of the community. That's a good point.

And you'll see the draft timeline outlined to you all where when you all give us the word go, then we would actually open up the application. We have a draft timeline of June to mid-June to mid-July for that application process, then provide you all those applications. If that's what you all choose to do, or unless you all choose to appoint without application, then that would go away. But if you did open it up to application, give you plenty of time to review those and be prepared then to come to whatever meeting that is to appoint that commission, you'd be ready to do that. We would then initiate the request for proposals process then in July, go through that process July and August, bring that recommendation back to the City Council. You could approve or appoint the members to the Charter Review Committee on August the 10th. And then the Charter Review Committee goes to work and is working very closely with the legal counsel on reviewing the charter and then ultimately developing recommendations to come back to you all as a city council. You all would then approve any amendments. The outside counsel would then draft the language that would go on the ballot for May 2027. but the charter amendment election would have to be called in early 2027, more than likely probably early February, what you would have to call that charter election.

And I'll just make one more kind of, highlight to something that I've seen on these boards and commissions. I wanna, if you guys could give me or give the applicants a better understanding of the time commitment of what this process would look like. I mean, theoretically, if we're going by this timeframe, fall, winter, but some sort of understanding of how many hours we're expecting a citizen to donate to this cause, I think is important. for them to understand before or during the application process. And I also would want to make sure that if we have someone that is on the commission and they aren't showing up, that we have some recourse to reappoint someone to make sure that we're getting the appropriate feedback.

You could select some alternates. In that case, you could select some alternates so that if someone is not able to continue to serve, then the alternate could step in, an alternate could step in. Yes, ma'am.

Do you feel like you got feedback?

I feel like I've got enough feedback. We'll have this as an item for action on the very next council meeting so that we can then move forward with initiating the process for the council, okay?

Thank you, sir. And with that, we will adjourn our regular meeting and pick up where we left off on our executive session going back into closed session at 7.47 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Okay, we're back in open session at 8.26 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

Mayor, I make a motion that for the interim city attorney firm will be Davidson, Torillo, Rehm, and Garza for a time undetermined until we don't need any more. I'll second.

I'll second.

Mayor Pro Tem Spradley moved for approval. Council Member Lebowski second. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor, does this need a roll call? All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries unanimously. And with that, we are adjourned.