City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I now declare that the Plano City Council is convened into open session, that all council members are present. The council will now recess into executive session in training room A to hold a closed executive meeting pursuant to the provisions of Vernon's Texas Code's Annotated Government Code, Chapter 551, the Open Meetings Act in accordance with the authority contained in Section 551.071, to consult with the attorney to receive legal advice and discuss litigation. Section 551.087, to discuss economic development matters. And Section 551.072, to discuss real estate matters. Thank you.

so so Thank you. So, Thank you. so so so so Thank you. you you Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. so so Thank you. you So, so so Thank you. so so Thank you. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, Thank you. Thank you. you . . do do Bye. so so Thank you. do do Thank you.

I now declare that the Plano City Council preliminary open meeting is reconvened into open session, that all council members are present. Our first item on the preliminary agenda is consideration and action resulting from the executive session. Our next item is comprehensive monthly financial report for June 2026. Allison.

Good evening. I'm Allison Freeloo, Assistant Director of Finance. And this evening, I will be presenting the Comprehensive Monthly Financial Report as of June 2026. While we do present this quarterly to you all, it is prepared monthly and posted on the city's website. So with that, I will get started. This slide represents our revenues compared to budget by fund. The general fund has revenues of $340 million, which represents 89.4% of our total annual budget. Property taxes are obviously our significant portion of our general fund revenues. The water and sewer fund has $174.4 million in revenues, representing 67.3% of our total annual budget, and that reflects the rate increase in the current fiscal year. This slide represents our expenses compared to budget by fund. The general fund has expenditures of $257.7 million for the first nine months, representing 69.4% of total annual budget. And the water and sewer fund has expenses of $133.4 million, representing 69.7% of total budget. This slide represents the net change in our fund balance for the past three years. In the general fund for the first nine months of the fiscal year, the fund balance has increased to 63.6 million, which is higher over prior year by 1.4 million, the net change in prior year. We continue to utilize our cost-saving measures and adhere to our fiscal roadmap changes, changing that fund balance from 30 days to 60 days of working capital. And basically, our working capital is our current assets less any obligations that we have. The water and sewer fund balance has decreased by 12.5 million. This is less favorable than the prior two fiscal years for the same time period. We are in the warmer months, so the revenues will continue to increase due to increased utilization and rates. The general fund revenues are higher than prior year by 21.8 million. There was an increase in property tax revenues of $16.1 million. Sales tax revenues have increased $5.5 million through third quarter compared to prior year due to increased consumer and business spending as well as positive audit adjustments. And audit adjustments are done by the state comptroller's office when sales tax is being reported in the wrong jurisdiction. So these corrections correct that error. And so they could be positive or negative. General fund expenditures are higher than prior year by $15 million. Personnel costs increased by 10.4 million due to across the board pay increases, as well as a hiring freeze that was in place last fiscal year and lifted in January of 2025. The health claims fund had a decrease in fund balance of about 1.5 million, reporting the fund balance at 4.9 million. Claims expenses are up as well as revenues. We are expecting some significant stop-loss reimbursements to help offset some of those expenses. We are seeing overall positive changes in this fund due to plan design changes to assist with cost savings. The unemployment rate in June for Plano was at 4.5%, which is higher than prior quarter at 3.8%. The local unemployment rate is still trending below Metroplex and state levels. Our sales tax collections reported in June and collected in July were down compared to prior year by 5.8%. However, year-to-date, we are up in collections by 5.5 million. And again, we are up because of the increased consumer and business spending as well as that positive audit adjustment I mentioned earlier. The real estate market recap shows that the number of days on the market is 36 days in June, which is down from the 43 days in March. The percent of asking was at 98% in June, which is slightly down from the 98.4% we saw in March. The median selling price for a home in Plano was $529,750 in June, which is up compared to $490,000 in March. and the price per square foot remained consistent from March to June at $220. Our year-to-date hotel occupancy tax collections are up $329,000 compared to prior fiscal year. And this slide represents our equity and our treasury pool. And as you can see, our largest category is our capital projects, which is 33%. This is the fund that houses our bond proceeds, which in June we did receive $110 million for our most recent bond issue. And this is our portfolio with our maturities. As you see, we have a lot of liquidity in that zero to one year category at 52%. to make sure that we have cash available to pay invoices, payroll, and have the availability when we need that. And this slide is basically our diversification of our portfolio. Our two largest investments are our local government investment pools at 24% and our municipal bonds at 33%. We are able to achieve a better yield with these two categories. They are highly liquid. And most importantly, this is just a demonstration of how we are diversified, how well we are diversified, and that's what we want to see. So with that, I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Any questions for staff? Thank you very much. Our next item is the consent and regular agendas. Is there any item a council member would like to remove? Next item is council items for discussion and action on future agenda items. With that, we will take a recess and return at seven o'clock.

you

¦ do do Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you.

I now declare that the Plano City Council is reconvened into open session, that all members are present. We'll begin tonight's regular meeting with the invocation led by Reverend Dr. Kyle Dennis with First Christian Church Plano and the Pledge of Allegiance in Texas Pledge led by Troop 219G. Would you please rise?

Let us pray. Amen. Lord, we thank you for this time to gather in this place to consider the needs of the people in our city. For these servant leaders, we give you thanks. Theirs is a difficult job to do. It's impossible for them to please everyone, and sometimes maybe they can't please anyone with the decisions they have to make. But we ask, Lord, that you give them discernment, to see the truth in all these complicated issues that will come before them. We ask for wisdom, that they'd be able to make the right decision for the right reasons, weighing all the factors involved. I ask you, Lord, for compassion that includes every person in our community. I ask for perseverance and patience and courage. And I ask, Lord, for them humility, to know that they'll always have more to learn. I thank you for the citizens who are here because they care about our community too. And I ask that you give them a voice tonight. Help them to share what's on their hearts. Let each person share and listen. And when there are disagreements, we ask for unity. Not that we'd all be the same, but we'd all be on the same team. Lord, as our world gets more and more polarized, and more and more people seem to choose enmity, we ask for peace. We ask for deepened understanding, the willingness for all to sacrifice for what's best for all. And thank you, Lord, that we live in a country that allows for a process like this, and we ask you to be present. Center each of us as we go through this time. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Thank you. Be seated, please. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys. Thanks for doing this. Thank you. So tonight is a real special time of the year for the city of Plano. And I'd like to ask Jovi and Jessica and your team that's here to come on up front. This week that starts Thursday is the HEB Central Market Plano Balloon Festival. This is a festival that has been going on since 1979 and probably all three nights there will be an excess of fifty to sixty thousand people coming to see the balloon festival and so this is really one of our proudest moments and something that we've really enjoyed doing and thanks to joe and her team this is something that uh... we're really excited about and so uh... in honor of the balloon festival we're going to present a proclamation the HEB Central Market Plano Balloon Festival days, whereas in 1979, Jim and Haverly Marshall moved to Plano and established the Balloon Academy of Texas. Inspired by the passion for hot air balloons, Jim began offering balloon rides during the city's Fourth of July celebration. What started as a simple gesture quickly grew into a beloved annual balloon festival. Whereas over the past four decades, Plano's passion for hot air balloons has soared. Residents of all ages and visitors near and far continue to be captivated by the colorful balloons that fill the autumn skies. Well, it'll be 100 degrees, but let's pretend that it's autumn. Whereas hosting this successful annual event is truly a community-wide effort that showcases the very best of Plano, businesses, nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups, and countless volunteers work together to bring the festival to life. while our hotels, restaurants, retailers, and other local businesses warmly welcome our guests and provide exceptional service as they experience the many amenities the city of excellence has to offer. And whereas this year's festivities begin on Thursday evening with a special outdoor performance by the Plano Symphony Orchestra's Big Band Concert, setting the stage for another memorial festival weekend, Now, therefore, I, John Munns, Mayor of the City of Plano, Texas, do hereby proclaim Thursday, September 17th, 2026, through Sunday, September 20th, 2026, as HEB Central Market Plano Balloon Festival Days in Plano, and I do thereby encourage all citizens to join me and the Plano City Council in inviting everyone to come to the Balloon Capital of Texas for this wonderful event. Congratulations, Jo. Every year, we're so proud. Let's take, you guys come over here so we kind of balance out the group. All right. We good? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, let's move on to the consent agenda.

The consent agenda. The consent agenda will be acted upon in one motion and contains items which are routine and typically non-controversial. Items may be removed from this agenda for individual discussion by a council member, the city manager, or any citizen. The presiding officer will establish time limits based upon the number of speaker requests.

Are you ready? Okay.

Council Member Kerr. Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. All right. Thank you.

Council Member Lai.

Thank you, Mayor. I second the motion to accept the consent agenda as written.

All right, so I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Please vote. Motion passes eight to zero. Thank you. Next item.

Items for individual consideration. Public hearing items. Applicants are limited to 15 minutes presentation time with a five minute rebuttal if needed. Remaining speakers are limited to 30 total minutes of testimony time with three minutes assigned per speaker. The presiding officer may amend these times as deemed necessary. Non-public hearing items. The presiding officer will permit public comment for items on the agenda not posted for a public hearing. The presiding officer will establish time limits based upon the number of speaker requests, length of the agenda, and to ensure meeting efficiency, and may include a cumulative time limit. Speakers will be called in the order the requests were received until the cumulative time is exhausted. Item number one, public hearing on the proposed tax rate of .4376 per $100 of taxable value for fiscal year 2026-27.

Yes, Karen Rose Whitley, budget director. This is the second public hearing that we've had on the tax rates. Our first one was August 24th and this is the second one. We have to have a public hearing in order to adopt the tax rate because this year's tax rate 43.76 is a little bit higher than the no new revenue rate of 43.32 cents.

Thank you, Karen. I'll open the public hearing.

There are no speakers on this item.

I'll close the public hearing, confine the comments to the council. Any questions for Karen? This is just the public hearing, correct?

Correct.

All right.

Item number two, consideration of an ordinance to approve and adopt the operating budget and set the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and terminating September 30th, 2027 and providing an effective date.

Yes, this is the operating budget. It totals $841.6 million. It is for all the funds where we are going to appropriate the actual dollar amounts. All the ordinances and your actual fund summaries have been updated after all the different changes and ended up at this dollar amount. So this is your operating budget.

All right. Any questions for Karen? We have any speakers?

We have one speaker. Okay. Mr. Lagos.

Good evening. My name is Jack Lagos. I live here in Plano. The reason I'm up here to speak with you folks is I was here on June the 8th when you adopted a measure that favored the Dallas Stars by the amount of $715 million. Now, the reason I'm up here is because in your budget, you're supposed to allocate $15 million in the economic development, I call it, I don't know what you call it, economic development department for the Willow Bend area. I looked in there, and it looks like I can round up to $7 million. but not get to 15 million. So I've been tracking since June 8th, where's all this money coming from? My first start is with the 15 million that goes to Willow Bend area to help that private owner take care of his property. So my question to you folks, Why is it 15 million as a line item rather than roughly seven million for the coming year? Anybody have an answer? Now you folks are in charge of the money. Why is the line item seven?

Jack, this is your time to speak. You've got a minute and a half. This is your time to speak. That's what I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying. You're the folks that run it. Now, the thing is, on the Dallas start, you haven't fed us any information since you announced it on June 8th. You've hidden out. So we've been trying to get information. That's why I'm up here. I'm sort of the scapegoat for the public to come up here and start asking you questions about this. Is this about the budget, though? Pardon me?

Is this about the budget that we're trying to approve?

I said you're short $8 million for the $15 million that you're going to allocate to the Will Bend area. You look at it on yourself. I mean, I'm making a comment as a citizen. That's my money. Why is it $15 million? Why is it a budget for $15 million? Can anybody there answer it? Or do you figure you're not supposed to answer it?

No. The economic development doesn't just have $7 million in their account.

Yeah, you have $7 million in your account, but you've allocated $15 million for Willaban. Yes. I don't see $15 million. I see $7 million. But you don't want to tell me where the other $8 million is. Let me mention one other thing that is not what I wanted to present in this presentation.

You have two seconds. Pardon me? You have two seconds.

Oh, that's the way you handle citizens' comment about our money.

I told you, you knew you had three minutes. You had three minutes.

Gee, gosh willikers. What do you want me to say? Thank you? No, I'll be up here later. You want to cut me short? Okay.

Mayor and council, Karen, I'm going to have Doug. provides a response as far as the funding that's going towards Willow Bend real quick. Doug McDonald.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Doug McDonald, Deputy City Manager. The $15 million that was allocated towards Centennial, which is part of y'all's action back on June 8th, $10 million came from the Economic Development Incentive Fund. That is a fund that kind of rolls over each year as y'all put funds in each budget cycle. If the Economic Development team does not utilize every dollar, it rolls into a rolling fund that's kind of accumulated over a duration of since the fund existed, since 06. So there are some funds in there. The $10 million came from that Economic Development Fund. The additional $5 million came from our Hotel Motel Tax Fund. which is part of Karen's budget, which goes towards specifically towards building a new event center, a visit Plano office, an event center for the visit Plano team.

Thanks. So we have the ordinance to approve and adopt the operating budget.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to move that we approve the ordinance to approve and adopt the operating budget and set the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026 and terminating on September 30th, 2027, as provided.

Council Member Levine, sorry.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to second the motion to approve and adopt the operating budget and set the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026 and terminating September 30th, 2027.

Thank you. I have a motion and second to approve the ordinance and adopt the operating budget. Please vote. Motion passes eight to zero. Next item.

Item number three, consideration of an ordinance to approve and adopt the community investment program and set the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026 and ending September 30th, 2027 and providing an effective date.

Yes, this is a community investment program. It ended up at $289.8 million within your packet. We have provided you the details with all the different funding sources for the CIP.

All right. Thank you, Karen. So we have item three is considering the ordinance to approve and adopt the CIP program.

We have two speakers on this item, Mayor.

Sorry, excuse me. Okay.

First one is Kyle McGeehan.

Good evening. My name is Kyle McGeehan. I'm a member of DSA North Texas and Revolutionary Front DFW. Control plus F. It's a wonderful keyboard shortcut, especially when sifting through PDFs as long as our community investment program. While using that nifty tool earlier, I stumbled on an intriguing statistic. The word police appears 31 times in the document, while the word Douglas only appears 12 times. Some of you might know why, although I get the impression that certain council members just sit back and let the city manager do their thinking for them, so I will spell it out. Per last year's bond election, Plano PD is set to receive a brand new $155 million headquarters alongside a lavish training facility. Now, I understand the logic behind that proposal. Previous HQ was built in the 70s, hasn't received much in the way of infrastructural improvements since 2003. Got to keep the police state up to date. After all, as Council Member 2 never hesitates to remind us. But you know what else hasn't received major improvements in decades? The historically black Douglas neighborhood. And what does our community investment program have in store for Douglas? We've got some water rehabilitation. Not bad. We've got the long overdue sidewalk initiative. Although I'm not sure what the plan is to get all the necessary signatures, if there even is such a plan, We've got ceiling tile replacements at the privately managed community center. And of course, we've got those power lines being buried via the Douglas Utilities Project. But most significantly of all, y'all are planning to... Wait, no, that's my mistake. That's it. That's all that's on the docket for Douglas. A couple of band-aids after generations of neglect. Quite frankly, this is shameful. Aside from Councilmember Thomas, do any of you even care? Do you even know about the aging streetlights, the lack of speed bumps on straightaways, and how about some basic beautification for the neighborhood? It's not like Douglas isn't paying its fair share in taxes. Granted, the city promised to freeze the neighborhood's property taxes years ago, but that sure as heck never happened. So what gives? I mean, it can't be that cops and big money to interests matter more to this council than vulnerable communities, right? Which is why you'll amend this program with more funds for Douglas before ratifying it, right? We await your answer, council members. Thank you.

Connor Boykin.

Good evening. My name is Connor Boykin. I am a member of Revolutionary Front DFW and DSA North Texas. So I'm happy to pay local taxes when that money is spent on uplifting the material conditions where it's needed the most in this city. As a municipality, Plano has been around for over 150 years at this point. The city as a whole should look and feel much the same. and yet it's fairly common knowledge that East Plano and West Plano sit in contrast with one another, albeit not universally, of course, but the difference between many of its communities is plain to see. There are three projects, as Kyle mentioned, on the proposal that affect the Douglas community. According to the document, all three are expected to continue or begin some stage of construction with this upcoming fiscal year. Of course, I'm going to hold you to that. The sidewalks project began in 2020, water rehab in 2022, and a project to repair ceiling tiles in the community center started in 2024. There are no new projects in Douglas on this proposal for this upcoming fiscal year, which would make sense if the work was done, but it most certainly is not. This, to me, showcases a failure to direct community investment to where it's needed most. Many of the families that historically called Douglas their home have left over the past 20 to 30 years. Some of the residents I've spoken to note that there aren't nearly as many people raising their families in the neighborhood as there were even 15 to 20 years ago. To me, that is not a good sign by any stretch of the imagination. Do you think some of those families might have stayed had they felt taken care of as a community? Because the way I see it, the Community Investment Program should do everything it can to ensure that this very thing does not happen. When families start asking themselves whether their community is where they want to raise their kids, something has quietly broken. Douglas and the communities like it in Plano deserve better than that. Thank you.

There are no other speakers.

Okay, so this is a consideration of an ordinance to approve and adopt the CIP program.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the ordinance to approve and adopt a community investment program and set the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027 as presented. Mayor, I second it. Thank you.

I have a motion and a second to approve the ordinance to approve and adopt the community investment program. Please vote. Motion passes eight to zero. Next item.

Item number four, consideration of an ordinance to approve and adopt the tax rate for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026 and terminating September 30th, 2027 and providing an effective date.

This is the tax rate vote right now in the budget is 43.76 cents. It's the same tax rate as last year. Your debt rate is 12.40 cents and the portion going to the operating budget is 31.36 cents. So the total is 43.76 cents. Thank you.

I don't think we have any speakers. So this is a consideration of an ordinance to approve and adopt the tax rate for fiscal year 10-1-26 to 9-30-27. Council Member Levine. I motion to approve.

approve the ordinance to approve and adopt the tax rate for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026, and terminating September 30th, 2027, as presented.

I was going to say, Lisa. Oops, sorry.

I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of... 0.4376, which is effectively a 1.02% increase in the tax rate.

I second.

Thank you. So I have a motion and a second to approve an ordinance and adopt the tax rate for fiscal year 10-1-26 to 9-30-27. Please vote. Thank you. Motion passes eight to zero. Item five.

Item number five, consideration of an ordinance to ratify the property tax revenue in the 2026-27 budget as a result of the city receiving more revenues from property taxes in the 2026-27 budget than the previous fiscal year and providing an effective date.

Yeah, this ordinance says that we are, you're recognizing we are going to be collecting more tax revenue than the previous year. We're going to be collecting $7.7 million or 2.73% more, but out of that $2.8 million coming in from your new property growth. So that's what this ordinance does. You're just recognizing we are going to be collecting more revenue than last year.

Mayor, I move to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget adopted for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026 and ending September 30th, 2027. Okay.

Mr. Mayor, I move to second that.

Okay, I have a motion second to approve the ordinance to ratify the property tax revenue of 2627 budget. Please vote. Motion passes eight to zero. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. Item six.

Item six, consideration of a resolution to adopt the 2027 legislative program for the city of Plano, Texas and directing the mayor or his designee, excuse me, to act with regard to the city's 2027 legislative program and providing an effective date.

Good evening, mayor and council. Andrew Fortune, director of policy and government relations. This evening I'm going to give a brief legislative preview as well as go over the legislative program for the upcoming 90th session. To start, Plano is actually very fortunate in that we have a wide array of representatives that are actually very engaged, responsive to your requests, our requests as a city. and to collaborate with us often on issues facing our constituents. We enjoy a certain level of seniority with our representatives, notably Senator Angela Paxton was recently made the chairwoman of the Economic Development Committee, and we're thrilled to be represented Again by such a nice array of leadership and so before we jump in I did want to highlight, you know You've heard me say this before in previous presentations and staff. We are educators not activists our role Is to take this program from you and the vision from you and go and educate and communicate that to our representatives in Austin And to that end tonight, I'd like to introduce the newest member of our team Jason April our legislative analyst who's going to walk us through the next few slides

All right, good evening council. The last session was very active. We had more than 9,000 bills filed and over 1,200 that became law. About 2,400 bills were city related and Plano tracked more than 1,800 of those bills. As we all know, bills can move and change very quickly. As they evolve, they may impact city operations in various ways. Our department will be laser focused on tracking and responding to bills to make sure that Plano's voice is heard in Austin. Tonight, we're asking council to adopt the legislative program, which will guide our work throughout the session. As the session begins, our department will work with lawmakers, regional partners, and city departments to evaluate the bills. Importantly, as we move through the session, we'll keep Plano's legislative committee up to date as bills move through the process, all the way to sine die. The legislative program before you is intentionally broad. It gives us clear direction from council while maintaining the flexibility that's needed to respond as bills move through the process. The slide on your screen highlights the main themes and those priorities that will guide our work during the session. Following your feedback tonight and adoption, we will finalize the program. We will print it and we will distribute to our stakeholders. The program will be a tool that we will use to quickly share Plano's priorities to lawmakers, their staff and other decision makers in Austin. The exhibit A and resolution are included in your packets and these provide the policy direction and backing to the overall legislative program. Also included is an informational packet demographics and some other data about the city of Plano. So lawmakers and stakeholders understand the community that their proposed policies will affect. So with that, I'll turn it back over to Andrew to go over in a deeper analysis.

All right. Thank you, Jason. So in addition to the wide array of different elements that have been included in the program, staff is recommending three focused priorities. The first is is the project financing zone. We'll go over that in a moment. We also recommend supporting the DART governance reform, which is being led this session by the North Texas Commission. The city is in a supportive role. If you recall, we passed a resolution back in February to support that effort, and we've been engaged and at the table during those discussions, and we can report back that they have followed what was agreed upon by the cities. And then finally, maintaining this idea of local control. In Texas, we see an erosion session after session on the ability for Plano to make decisions for Plano. I'd like to think that we set the standard in many areas, and we'd like the ability to continue doing that. And so our goal is to advocate to that effect. As a brief reminder, the project financing zone, which is illustrated there on the screen for you, is an opportunity for both the city of Plano and the state to collectively invest in the economic vitality of the future of Plano. Centered around generally a mega project, as it's often referred to, this tool actually allows some of the state revenue collected from hotels within that zone to be added to a fund for the next 30 years and an increment as those revenues increase go back to supporting that particular project. In order to have access to this tool we have to have explicit authorization and statute and we have already worked with both Chairwoman Paxton and Chairman Leach and are prepared in November to have a bill filed in both the House and the Senate. Another item along the lines of local control preemption previous examples you'll see on the screen some may be familiar to you fracking food permitting most recently the death star bill as it was termed actually preempted entire codes and statute we do expect and have heard from some lawmakers and attempted a death star part two and If you're familiar with Star Wars, with that, we've also seen during the interim they're looking at fees, land use, zoning, and additional property tax reform. So these are things that they're in conversations about now, and we as staff are involved in those discussions currently. One other item that is critical right now is infrastructure, and we have pictured there. You know all the main areas that we're tracking With that we're looking at not only what we need to build and invest in but who is going to pay for it How aggressive is that schedule where are some of these infrastructure projects going? And then ultimately how are we going to partner with our utility? providers to make sure that we insulate our residents from bearing the full cost of these investments and And finally, property tax relief. I've highlighted both of the plans that have been publicized to date. You'll see Governor Abbott's plan, which has been termed, you know, eliminate property taxes. It's a little more nuanced than that. I won't go through point by point, but you can see there that these are dramatic changes to the existing structure. If either of these plans passed in their current form today, service provision in all of Texas would change dramatically. with the lieutenant governor's plan very different it attacks it from the appraisal side and it actually increases um exemptions but also decreases the age threshold to access those so a senior would then be 55 and above a very expensive proposition and you'll notice that the speaker and the house do not currently have a plan as we've seen in previous sessions we expect this to be finalized in the house once it moves through the senate So with that, I want to pause. If there are any questions, additional feedback, you've all had time, I hope, to look at the program and your agenda. We're happy if there's substantial changes. We're happy to, of course, table this for a future meeting. But here to answer your questions.

All right. Thank you, Andrew. Any questions for Andrew regarding the legislative program for next year?

Mayor and council, there is a lot that's going to happen in Austin. So what I will tell you is while you're passing this program tonight, you can anticipate being kept up to speed as the session progresses. As big issues become even bigger issues and then become key issues, we'll make sure that we're bringing these back to you and make sure that we're weighing in to make sure that council has the opportunity to keep their finger on the pulse of what's going on in Austin and how it impacts the city.

At the same time, we'll, I'm sure, be needing to pivot when it comes to what happens in November, the bills that are filed and whether or not they affect us negatively or positively. So we'll stay on top of that, and you'll continue to keep us updated on how those are moving. Yes, sir. This is a... It is? Yeah, this is an action item. So it's a resolution to adopt the legislative program.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the resolution to adopt a 2027 legislative program as presented.

Mayor, I second it.

All right. So I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution or adopt the resolution for the legislative program 2027. Please vote. Motion passes eight to zero. Thank you. Let's move on to comments of public interest.

Comments of public interest. This portion of the meeting is to allow up to three minutes per speaker with 30 total minutes on items of interest or concern and not on items that are on the current agenda. The council may not discuss these items, but may respond with factual or policy information. The council may choose to place the item on a future agenda. And we do have eight speakers this evening. The first one is Shirley Lawson.

Good evening. I'm Shirley Lawson with Collin County GSA. I'm here regarding our repeated request to be heard on the topic of a moratorium we would like placed on new AI data centers and their approvals. Now, I know Council Member Two is especially concerned about Plano remaining a city of excellence, and that technologically keeping up with the Joneses is an important part of that. Well, the City Council in Prosper canceled their vote on new AI data centers after the Planning and Zoning Commission voted seven to zero not to approve the rezoning application. Local opposition across the country has already blocked or delayed 75 AI data center projects. That's 75 municipalities with more respect for their residents than the so-called city of excellence. In recent news, AI companies, CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, and XAI have just agreed that it's necessary to slow down AI development due to major concerns about their ability to control AI agents, After several incidents of AI agents breaking out of their controlled environments, this occurred first at OpenAI. The AI agent, without human direction or knowledge, conspired to connect themselves to the internet and hack another AI company called Huggy Face. Several days later, they disclosed that the same agents not only hacked Huggy Face, but several other AI companies. The bots then covered their tracks to avoid detection. And that's not all. Another AI model hacked and took over a small social media site and turned it into a private message board where AI agents can communicate with one another without human interference or oversight. One researcher from Anthropic predicts that if AI isn't controlled soon, it will be too late. If AI is allowed to grow unchecked and unregulated, Humanity itself could be wiped out in the next 10 years as AI data centers put humans in competition with AI for the resources we both need to survive, primarily water and energy. Given this newly discovered information, we call again on the council to put the discussion of a moratorium on the agenda so the public has an opportunity to express their concerns before moving forward with planned AI projects. On a side note, Mr. Levine. We are still waiting for the report you promised us. You promised to share the information we sent you with your colleagues, run the idea of a moratorium, up the flagpole, and committed to reporting back to us within 30 days. That was 10 weeks ago. Are you planning to keep your word? The choice is yours, and you, Councilmember Too, and others as well, are up for reelection in May of 2027. I can promise you that the opposition to these centers will be reflected in the vote. Ignore us at your peril. Thank you.

Kyle McKeon. Thank you.

Hello again. On July 27th, Councilmember Two defended her choice to approve the Police Department's Drones as First Responders program by suggesting that everything is a threat to privacy these days, which apparently means we just have to accept mass surveillance as a fact of modern life. Well, much as it pains me to say this, I do agree with Councilmember Two on one thing. In much of America, privacy is essentially dead. But unlike the council member, I refuse to accept this outcome. And you know who's with me? The city of Wylie and the city of Princeton. Last month, these trailblazing municipalities became the first cities in Collin County to restrict flock cameras. After learning that law enforcement could abuse this technology, their elected leadership put liberty above security by pausing new deployments and suspending contract renewals. Would you look at that? Turns out that mass surveillance can be curtailed and that all it takes is some political willpower. I'm not surprised that council member too lacks such resolve, but is there nobody else here willing to stand against surveillance capitalism and the growing police state? Maybe I should ask the city manager about this. He's the one who tells most of you how to vote, right? When you joined the council, did he hand out complimentary rubber stamps? Anyway, council members, if you actually serve the people and not the ruling class that seeks to dominate them, then you should move to repeal our contract with Flock and take ALP, our cameras, out of the city. I suspect most of you won't, not without massive public pressure. It's always a fight to get treated with dignity under this system. But if you want to prove a cynical socialist wrong, be my guest. Oh, and Mayor Muntz, could you give us an update on the city's internal review of data centers? I'd appreciate that, assuming your handlers in Austin have authorized you to speak on the matter. Thank you.

Mayor and Council, as you're aware, the funding for flock cameras in Plano was rescinded. So our contract with flock has expired. That means that flock cameras will be removed from Plano. We are no longer in an active contract with flock. Those cameras will be in the process of being removed.

Connor Boykin.

Good evening. Once again, my name is Connor Boykin. I'm a member of Revolutionary Front, DFW, and DSC North Texas. And off the cuff, that's good news to hear that they're being removed from Plano. Of course, I'm going to read this anyways. So I'm up here again this time to talk about surveillance. Flock cameras weren't much of a thing in Plano until early 2025. They started popping up near the very west edge of Plano, plus a few more on the northeast side of town. Since then, I cannot drive anywhere without noticing them. Ostensibly, they're automated license plate readers, but ostensibly is the key word because they have been abused time and time again. The Institute for Justice has documented at least 232 incidents involving horrifying misuse of these cameras for blatant stalking and surveillance without any reasonable justification. A Florida sheriff's deputy used these cameras to stalk and pull over one woman after seeing her at a TV shoot. A police chief in Georgia used them to track his ex-girlfriend and teenage daughter on 600 different occasions. Police in Lenexa, Kansas used them to track the movements of a writer who wrote a column critical of them. That is about as overreaching as overreach gets, if you ask me. And no, I'm not just saying we should find some magical way to ensure that those with authority to use them do so in a responsible way. There will never be a scenario where these cameras can exist without being abused. This is mass surveillance for the sake of mass surveillance, and Plano needs to set an example by doing away with every single one of them, which hopefully will be the case soon here. Thank you.

Charmaine Solomon.

Good evening. Charmaine Solomon, the Director for Leadership Plano. First of all, I want to thank you very much for all the support that Leadership Plano gets. and that you come to the events and welcome the Leadership Plano Group. I have a very special thing that I would like to announce this evening for Leadership Plano. Every year, Leadership Plano chooses a Distinguished Leader Award, and that recipient this year is Mr. Bob Kerr. A distinguished leader is someone that goes above and beyond to serve our community and goes on from their leadership program to serve our community. And Bob, you're a shining example. Congratulations.

We have a little something.

Wow. Thank you so much.

And we will be a little bit happier. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you all for being here.

Cheers, everybody.

And this is yours. Congratulations. Well deserved. And this is for you. It will be at the deal. It will be at the Marriott at the base. Fantastic.

Thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, what a surprise.

What a great place for this. Thank you, Mark. Thank you for helping me. Can I get a picture real quick? Okay. You got it?

Congratulations.

I'm stunned. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

James Tucker.

Congratulations, Bob.

Mr. Mayor, council members, citizens, and guests, today I, James Tucker, must point out I am speaking to you today as a citizen and not as a commissioner of Plano Housing Authority because The city of Plano has an active lawsuit against the Plano Housing Authority. Let's talk a little bit about the need of affordable housing. Plano Housing Authority can offer a very quick window of opportunity to accept application, the last one of which resulted in 27,000 applications. It's a crazy number. The city of Plano commissioned a study of housing by RKG Associates resulting in a 159 page document delivered in June of 2025 and is summarized in a city council meeting last October. It is 159 pages that should make all developers drool to develop affordable housing and is mentioned in this stuff, affordable housing is mentioned in the study 258 times. But the city had already made agreements with two separate law firms in Dallas and Austin with rates upwards of $1,500 an hour to sue the Plano Housing Authority. Invoices were approved by city attorney Paige Mims to be paid in the budget category marked risk for $536,000. The city has struggled in the suit and will again as they continue suing with a new team already spending another $139,000 for a total of $676,000 and counting. The effect of the lawsuit is to discourage and deter drooling developers from building affordable housing and unfortunately that has been remarkably effective and it can last many years. You see, dozens of inquiries by dozens of developers know the urgent need that Plano has for affordable housing and they contact the Plano Housing Authority to help them get the ball rolling. However, they stop cold when they discover the lawsuit. When you hear the term affordable housing, don't be fooled by fear mongers touting ghettos. There are phenomenal success stories from New York to St. Louis, from Austin to Los Angeles. This is what people need. They want to live here where they work. Plano teachers can't afford to live here. First responders can't. Many city employees can't. They want a shot at the American dream right here. They want to contribute to this community. Every member of the Plano Chamber of Commerce will enjoy every dollar they spend, and those dollars don't get spent once. They get spent four to five times per year, generating sales tax revenue with every transaction. Please, please, I request that you take action, get this issue on the agenda, and reverse this shameful, backwards, fearful, lacking in vision lawsuit. Thank you.

Jack Lagos. Hold on a second. Excuse me.

Just one minute. Mayor and council.

Yeah. Mayor and council, as you know, we are in litigation with some housing corporations. And I'm not going to say much about it other than what's public.

I'm back. Hold on just a sec, Jack. What happened? She's going to finish her statement. You sure you're talking to me? I'm going to. Not about you.

No.

Not yet.

Not yet, Jack.

Hold on. You're going to sue me? No. No. Have a seat. And we'll call you up in just a second.

Okay.

Okay.

than other than what's publicly in our petitions. And that is that we do not believe that the tax incentives that are being provided are resulting in a public benefit. We don't believe that the affordable housing is being provided. And we actually have one other housing corporation that we did not sue because we know that they are providing affordable housing. So the question really is whether the benefit is being provided.

I'm back with the Dallas Stars again. I know none of you can talk to me. You can look at me. You can look very strange like, why do you keep coming up here about the Dallas Stars? That's $700 million we're talking about here, of which none of you publicly have gone out and said anything to the public. I'm a public. I pay taxes. I haven't heard from any one of you regarding the Dallas Stars other than one person in the newspaper up there has made a comment about the Dallas Stars. Now, if you want me to read it, I'll read it real quickly, but I was going to get to something else. It says right here, and I quote, let me get the proper quote here. If you look at willow band mall now is basically dead. End of quote. Council member Rick Horn said all. He also said in quotes. Now we have this opportunity to bring a top notch sports entity here. and it will continue to make the city vibrant. Now, as I read this, and do I have enough time, it seems like the fix is in here, okay? When I have a city councilman making positive comments about the sports arena that wants to move here, I begin to wonder what's going on here. 8-0, now we have one person that stands out in writing. Let me mention one other thing. Why in the heck, I'm sorry to be swearing like this, but why in the heck don't they put their money up first before we put our money up? They're the ones gonna get the benefits of our city. And basically, as far as I'm concerned, we don't need them. We don't need their arena. We're doing pretty good with AT&T and Toyota and everyone else over there, okay? But let me mention something else to you. They have a ton of money. This item, this flyer, came in the mail to me. It's from the stars. They're trying to influence me on the vote that's coming up on November 3rd. And guess who's up here at the microphone, okay? When I, before I came down here this evening, I looked at my mailbox. Here's another flyer from the stores, okay? Now they seem to have a lot of money to try to convince me. They have the president CEO's name on it. I'm assuming I'm gonna get more. What other citizens have been getting around here? I don't know, but I got them. So they got money to throw around, okay? We'd like to talk to them if we can, and you don't hide them. You're negotiating with them, but don't go to negotiate my money to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Jack.

Nicole Hamalis. Is that it?

All right. There being no further business, we're adjourned. Thank you.

Half of fatal motorcycle crashes are the result of collisions with other vehicles. Remember, safety on the road is a team effort requiring cooperation from all drivers. Taking that extra moment to be cautious can truly make a difference and help prevent motorcycle fatalities from rising even more. Let's all work together to create a