City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. It's 6 p.m. Welcome to the Shenandoah City Council meeting for May 27th, 2026. I see that everyone is here, so we do have a quorum. We're going to stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance and the short invocation given by Mr. Charlie Ballner.

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.

On the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight with gratitude for the opportunity to gather in service to our community. We thank you for the trust placed on our city leadership and for the dedication of those willing to serve. We offer special appreciation for our reelected councilman and mayor, whose continued leadership reflects the confidence and support of our residents. And we welcome our newly elected councilman as he begins this important chapter of public service. Grant each of them the wisdom, integrity, patience, and unity as they work together on behalf of all who call this city home. May the decisions made in this chamber always be guided by fairness, compassion, and a shared vision for the future. Help our leaders to listen thoughtfully, lead courageously, and remain focused on strengthening our neighborhoods, supporting our families and businesses, in creating opportunities that make our city an even better place to live for generations to come. Bless this council, our staff, our first responders, volunteers, and every residence who contribute to the spirit and success of our community. In his name we pray, amen.

Amen. Thank you, Mr. Ballman. All right, we're going to move on to... Item number five, Citizens Forum. Citizens are invited to speak for three minutes on matters related to city government that relate to agenda or non-agenda items. Speakers are asked to approach the podium and give their name and address before sharing their comments. In accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, responses to citizens' comments by members of the city council or any board or commission subject to the act are limited to statements of specific factual information or recitations of existing policy. Any deliberation or decision shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on a future agenda. The first speaker is Mr. Ron Raymager. Welcome back to City Hall.

Hello everybody. Here we grow again. I'm here to speak about the proposed assistant city administrator position. Over the past two decades, Shenandoah has experienced significant growth and transformation. From 2000 to 2010, the city added approximately 527 housing units, nearly doubling its housing stock while bringing the Portofino Shopping Center online. From 2010 to 2020, another 500 housing units were added, along with continued commercial expansion, including Metro park. At the same time, the city completed a major sewer plant expansion. And since 2021, the MDD has delivered more than 40 infrastructure projects. And by this fall, the Tamina water and sewer project will be complete. All of this was accomplished without an assistant city administrator. So the question is simple. If Shenandoah managed its most significant growth and most complex projects without this role, why is it necessary now? We're being asked to add a permanent position costing roughly $240,000 a year at the exact moment when major workload is ending. By the fall, the Tama project will be completed and demand for public works should be decreasing, not increasing. Coming on the heels of last year's tax increase, the proposal appears out of step with the concerns of residents. So I have a few questions. What responsibilities can't be handled by the current structure? What measurable outcomes will the position improve? Will this position be posted externally to bring in new ideas? Or has the decision effectively already been made? Shenandoah has long operated with a lean operational structure. supported by strong commercial revenue, allowing it to maintain one of the lowest property tax rates in the county. That approach has served the city well and it's worth preserving. So again, what has changed and why does it justify adding a permanent overhead that will take future council action to remove? If there's clearly defined need, it should come with measurable duties and outcomes. If not, we should be cautious about taking on ongoing costs without clear need. Thanks, guys.

Next speaker is Donnie McGinty. Donnie, welcome to your city hall.

I'm here just to comment on Lift up your mic. Oh, okay. That better? Yes. I'm here to talk about just the planning and zoning considerations. I live right in the corner of Savannah and Shenandoah, so I'm one of the properties impacted you know, about the new zoning changes. And so, and most of my concerns have probably already been passed on to you by Jim Pollard. And I really appreciate Jim. I see him at the line. From my point of view, he's the only communication I get from any of you people. But anyway, he listened to my concerns and, and, uh, But anyway, my consideration is this. What I want to point out is this. First of all, you know, I want you to look at future decisions as if you were in my house and they were doing this to your property. That's a consideration. Now, from what I've been told, and I've attended a previous planning and zoning committee, you know, print... Different people spoke, and I basically felt like they got ignored. Now, so, and I was basically told that, you know, you are going to do what you want to do regardless, and the decisions have already been made. Okay. Here's what I would ask for your consideration, because my property has taken a hit in fair market value because of what you're doing behind me. You know, that's just part of living where I live. I can accept that. But I feel like since you are going to be making money based on what you're doing behind my property, you should give me some proper considerations. The main thing I would like is just as we have at the city park, there's a very nice green zone between the back of the park and the residents behind them. I don't need one that big. I just want something to block what's going to be behind me. From my point of view, it enhances my property value, but it also enhances the value of the commercial property behind me. Now, I'm told that it's owned by Howard Buse or the Woodlands, and I've heard that they're usually follow the same rules that they do in the Woodlands as far as what they do with their properties. So I would think that would include something like that. That would make me a lot more happy. The other thing is, you know, when all of this started six or seven weeks ago, I didn't know it until they started doing the work. The contractor was dicking up my neighbor's driveway. A week later it was replaced. I figured they're going to do the same thing with mine, except mine was replaced six weeks later. It's very inconvenient not to have a driveway, to park down the street or across the street, to park in that parking lot where who knows what is going to happen at night.

Donnie, excuse me for interrupting, but you've run out of your three minutes. Okay. I'm going to have a city administrator get your number, and you and he can have a chat to follow up on what you just said.

And let me just, by wrapping up, say that Ruel came to my house yesterday. He heard all my concerns. He's addressing them, so thank you. Really, that should have been done six weeks ago. So that's just future consideration of how you can make the homeowners happier with what they don't have a choice in. Thank you. Thank you, Donnie.

Next speaker is Sarah Warmoth.

I'm Sarah Wormath, and I live at 11 Antonshire Court in Cantrell Forest. I come before you tonight, as I have done before, and I want to comment on this past election. I've commented before on how the council was going to become an old boys club, and boy has it. When there's an opening on a committee, council appears to immediately put one of their buddies into that position. For example, my husband tried several times to get on the planning committee and was never given the chance. Therefore, when it's done this way, you cannot properly vet people. You get people who rent, who have filed for bankruptcy, have credit problems, et cetera, and they end up on council because they're your buddies. So after this last election, why should anybody not in the club even try to run for council. Unfortunately, you are the ones hurting the city by not being open to new people who could bring new ideas. As of now, I do not know if I will vote in any forthcoming elections unless there are some changes made, because my vote won't make any difference. It makes me sad that it appears that this city does not seem to be a democracy. Thank you.

Thank you, Pam.

We don't have any more speakers, so we're going to move on to item number six. Administrative Ceremonial Oath of Office, the Mayor, Council Positions One and Number Five. Judge Keogh. Thank you for being here, sir, and thank you for participating in this.

Thank you for having me. It is truly an honor to be back here and to be able to do this with you all. and to issue these documents to you and your swearing in for your positions of mayor and council members. With that in mind, I want to tell you a short story. May I do that? Please. You know, I represented this area for two sessions, District 15, House District 15, Shenandoah, Oak Ridge, Woodlands, small portion of Conroe, small portion of Magnolia. And, you know, when I did that, I was like y'all, I was sworn in and I pledged my oath. And, you know, during that time period, there are always things that are going to challenge you once you decide you're going to do this and you're going to serve in public office. And one thing that came up for me was that I would have various people who would support me and they would give me financially some support. And there were various groups and PACs and lobby groups and the rest who would do that. And so one day, while I was serving on the Human Services Committee, there was a bill that came up. And in this bill, it was about offering high-powered energy drinks to people who were on, indigent people who had SNAP cars. And they were trying to pass the bill, because it had to be passed. And if they were going to add to this for the state of Texas, they had to get it voted on and brought out to the House, onto the floor, and through the Senate. And so as we talked about this particular issue, I'm thinking about what is the real purpose of what we're doing here? We're trying to help these people. Why are we offering them something like this when they could be offered things that are much better for them? You get to make these kinds of decisions. Well, they were trying to get it through the one section of the House where it would go to what was called local and consent. Local and consent is where if everybody agrees on the committee, everybody votes in favor, they will put it into a stack of bills and they will vote on these bills all at one time. And it becomes a done deal. So a lot of times people try and get these things into local and consent. Well, there was 12 of us on this committee, and as it came up for a vote on whether or not we should do this, they went one by one, and when they came to their voting, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and they came to me, and I said no. And they all looked at me like I was crazy. How could you not do this? What is there about this you don't understand? Not only that, they took a second vote. They did it again to see if I would change my mind, and I said no, you can't do that. So sure enough, it was then able to go onto the House floor when it eventually came up. And when it did, as I was walking in the front in the lobby area, you've heard the term lobbyists. The reason they call them lobbyists is because they wait in the front lobby for the legislators to come in so they can tell them what bills they want them to do or what handle or whatever. So I was approached by this lobbyist, and she said to me, she's Representative Keogh, she said, This is really important. I need you to do this. Please don't stand in the way of this bill. Pepsi is all over me to get this done. Isn't that interesting? I said, Sarah, I said, you know me better than that. Not a chance. I would never, ever do that. And the people of this community sent me here so that I wouldn't do those sorts of things. And she stormed off angry. Well, these people had given me some financial resources. Matter of fact, I think it was $500 maybe on this pack that they were involved in, this lobby group. And here comes the founder, the owner of the company, comes walking around the corner, and he comes walking up towards me while I'm standing in the lobby getting ready to go inside the chamber. And I walked up to him, and I said to him, I said, buddy, I said, great to see you. We shook hands. I said, I just want you to know that I really like doing business with people who like doing business with me. I like to support people who support me. And any time that I can do that, I will do that. And I know you probably feel the same way. Oh, yeah, Representative, we feel the same way. Well, the bill that you want me to work on that's coming on the floor today, I want you to know up front, I cannot support. But I'm telling you up front, And, you know, he looked at me and he said, you know, Keough, I got to tell you, you've got a lot of class. And he walked away, and I did not support the bill. It got passed, but I did not support it. And why was that the case? Because when I took this, I thought very seriously about my oath and to do the things that I think are right and true on behalf of the people that I represent, because we are a representative government. And that's why I did what I did. And so when I think about this today, I want to encourage you all, as you are in your positions, that you're going to have things come across your desk. You're going to have friendships that are going to come. And you're going to want to make decisions because you have special interests in the rest that you possibly could go in a particular direction. I just want to encourage you to really look clearly and think about what the words of the oath mean. So give me just a couple more minutes, Mayor. I just want to share a couple things about that. This is so important because when you administer the oath, whether it's the mayor or the city council, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the state of Texas, you are binding You are being bound to a fiduciary duty, a duty of stewardship that forms both a legal and ethical foundation for you. The text of the Constitution mandates that this oath is for all elected and appointed officials before they enter their duties. As a matter of fact, you have to take it, and if you don't take that oath, you can't sit and perform these duties. It's against the law. And you, the exact language that says in these, officials must swear they will faithfully execute the duties of the office and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States and of this state. This oath is not ceremonial, and failure to take it may mean the official never legally took office.

And you all know what the words preserve, protect, and defend means.

But I have to tell you, there's a connection between Texas Constitution and the US Constitution. And in the first article, it says, Texas is a free and independent state. It is subject only to the Constitution of the United States. And the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the union depend upon the preservation of the right to local self-government unimpaired to all the states. So what we do when we take an oath is we don't pledge this to each other. We pledge this to, that we will do this, and you do it in front of people. You pledge your loyalty. Your first responsibility is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the laws of the United States into the state of Texas. And it becomes a fundamental governing document for everything we believe. So when you are in a conflict and you say, well, I really, you know, I just, he's a good friend of mine. I just need to do that. Resist that temptation. You can. And it is difficult at times. But I believe that if you do that, you will do the best service that you could ever do to this community. to the people that are around you, the people that you love, by doing the right thing always. And I promise you, when you do that, you'll have great success. And so with that, the first oath of office that I would like to do today would be to our mayor. John, if you would come forward, and with me, and let's go through this together, if we can. Mayor Escada. Raise your right hand. I, John Escada, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of mayor of the city of Shenandoah, of the state of Texas, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, And defend. And defend. The Constitution and the laws of the United States.

The Constitution and the laws of the United States.

And this state.

And this state.

So help me God.

So help me God.

Mayor, congratulations. Thank you. Well done. Thank you. And if you would, before you step down, just sign that right there. And now, Ernest Sumrall, come forward if you would, please.

You can raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Ernest Sumrall, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office, place one, City Council of the City of Shenandoah, of the City of Shenandoah, and of the State of Texas, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of this state, so help me God. Congratulations, Ernest. There you go. Signed in front of everyone. This is yours. Thank you. Appreciate it so much. Jason, thank you.

All right.

Frank Robinson. If you'd raise your right hand, Frank, and repeat after me. I, Frank Robinson. I, Frank Robinson. do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of place five, city council of the city of Shenandoah, of the state of Texas, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend The Constitution and laws of the United States.

The Constitution and laws of the United States.

And this state, so help me God. And this state, so help me God. Congratulations, Frank. So happy for you. Sign that right there. Congratulations. God bless you, brother. I want to encourage you with one last thing, if I can. Thank you all. What a great honor it is to be here. You know, as you do this, sometimes you're going to make decisions that are going to be polarizing. You just can't get away from it. You're going to have people that agree and have people that disagree. I would encourage you in that as things are said and as people say what they might say or whatever they might do. I'm going to give you a scripture. It says this. It was a scripture from Timothy or from Paul to Timothy. It says, For this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men I want to encourage you to do what you know is right and just keep doing good. And when you get ready to bail out, get up out of your chair, out of your bed, and go out and do something good and let people see your heart. And if you do that, they will follow you anywhere. Thank you all very much. God bless you. God bless Shenandoah. What a great place. Thank you. Thank you, Judge. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you very much for doing that, Judge. It means a lot to us. We're going to move on to item number seven, introduction of new employee. I love this part. Thank you, Judge. Jason, thank you.

So Craig Cox is a United States Army veteran who has served in Afghanistan as an infantryman. So there was a little bit of a joke beforehand. I told him I changed his bio up to be a Navy man. Since beginning his law enforcement career in 2019, he has served in several roles, including jailer, patrol deputy, field training officer, and investigator with Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. Craig earned his bachelor's degree in public policy and is currently completing his master's degree in public administration, which he expects to finish in the fall. Outside of work, he enjoys exercising and spending time with his family.

All right, sir.

Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Craig Cox. Do you solemnly affirm. Do you solemnly affirm. That I will faithfully execute the duties. That I will faithfully execute the duties. Of the Office of Police Officer. Of the Office of Police Officer. Of the State of Texas. Of the State of Texas. I will never bring dishonor upon my integrity. I will never bring dishonor upon my integrity. The badge of my office. The badge of my office. Or the Shenandoah Police Department. Or the Shenandoah Police Department. My character will remain impeccable. And I will never betray the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I promise to uphold the Constitution, the laws of the United States of America, and the state of Texas, so help me God.

I haven't talked to anybody yet.

Thank you and welcome to Shenandoah. We'll move on to item number eight. Final report in public hearing regarding proposed special use permit for medical services restricted for a special use permit for Blue Fish Pediatric Clinic located at 29801 Interstate Highway 45 North Shenandoah, Texas.

Yes, Mayor and Council. This property makes up just south here of City Hall, partially the vacant concrete pad and the existing two-story structure. Bluefish Pediatric is seeking to purchase that property, demo the existing facility, and reconstruct a single at 8,800 square foot medical office. The property is located within our neighborhood servicing zone and does require a use permit for the medical use. The Planning and Zoning Commission did review this request and recommend its approval.

Great.

I'm going to open up the public hearing on this item at 6.31 p.m. Is there anyone here to speak on this item? If there is no one, we're going to close the public hearing at 6.31 p.m. Item number nine, discussion of possible action to adopt the following ordinance. An ordinance of the City of Shenandoah, Texas, amending the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 102, granting a special use permit for medical services restricted for bluefish pediatric located at 29801 Interstate Highway 45 North, Shenandoah, Texas, providing for a penalty in the amount of $2,000 for violations thereof, providing severability, and providing for an effective date. Can I get a motion?

So moved.

We have a motion by Councilman Robinson. Second. Seconded by Councilman Brott. Discussion?

What exactly is that building? Is that that big white building that has been for sale for years?

It is, correct.

That's awesome.

When can they demolish it?

Laughter

So I think once these entitlements are secured, their property will change ownership. And I believe civil and architectural are already engaged in that. So we should see, just like with the neighboring site, we should see movement quickly on that.

Other than just pediatric services, anything additional? Or is it just general pediatrics?

We have representatives here tonight with the application. If you want to specifically address that.

They're interested in the type of services that you'll be providing.

My name's Austin Haynes. I'm the civil engineer on the project. They are a pediatric clinic. My kids both attended at different locations than the one in the woodlands, which will be relocated to this location if you all do approve it. But yeah, pediatric services, general care for children.

Okay, great. That's awesome.

Yes, sir.

That's great. Thank you. Any additional questions?

No, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, if there are no more questions, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The motion carries. Welcome to Shenandoah. We're going to move on to item 10, discussion of possible action to adopt the following resolution.

A resolution of the city... Mayor, do you want to move that to last...

Oh, that's right. Yeah, okay. We're going to move this item until after the executive session. Thank you. Item number 11, discussion and possible action to approve the sale of .8121 acres of city-owned property.

Yes, Mayor and Council, this is... Almost an acre of land the city owns right at the traffic circle at David Memorial and Shenandoah Park. And we put that up for auction several months ago. This was the winning bid. And they have... And so we just need formal council approval for the sale, and they are ready to close as soon as this Friday for $355,000, which was $5,000 over the appraised value.

Okay.

Mr. Mayor, a motion to approve the sale?

I have a motion to approve the sale by Councilman Brott. Seconded. Seconded by... Okay. Councilman Sumlo. Any discussion? What's going on the site?

Right now, they plan on making that soccer field. They own the property just to the left, and so I'm guessing that they're planning in the few years to do something... more substantial. They have asked to have the property rezoned commercial corridor. So they're planning on something other than soccer.

Any additional questions? If not, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. We're going to move on to item 12, Civic Club updates.

Somebody tall must have been up here. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight will be brief. We only have one event, amazingly enough, coming up. That will be on June the 27th, which will be our independent celebration at the main city park. We have, I believe it's 13 different water events that evening. So it should be bigger and better than it's ever been before. We'll put it on social media for sure, but make sure you bring your bathing suits to the event because there will be water slides. Oh, come on, Charlie. I was like, like the shorts with the little suspenders over top. I can totally see that. But anyways, I know one of the things that I do know that we are actually two of the things is I believe we have two of the largest water slides that are even available. for that event. So it should be absolutely awesome for the attendees. We'll have parking as normal at the pool. And then, of course, the pool is actually open. So for Shenandoah residents, after they wrap up all of the fun at the Independence Celebration, they'll be able to make their way over to the Mary Case Pool. And that's about it. But, oh, it's from 10 to 12. 10 a.m. Not 10 p.m. 10 a.m. to 12 noon that day.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, Chairman.

We're going to move on to Item 13, City Administrator O'Pease.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. The only two updates I have today are the Waterwell 3. I wanted to give you an update on that. We're about two weeks out from having that project complete as far as the replacement of the motor. And also in regards to the monthly reports, we're going to be working on a refresh. And so you're going to see a different look hopefully by next month. And you'll have a different look on the monthly reports. And that is something also we're going to incorporate into our constant contact piece that we have sending out to folks that register for that. So we're going to be promoting that information out there just to give folks the community, updates, and reporting on city operations. So that is all I have for you at this time.

Great. Thank you, Sam. Thank you. All right. We want the council inquiry. Councilman Summerlin.

Nothing.

Councilman Summerlin.

Nothing at this time.

Councilman Pollard. I know at the last council meeting, the city administrator told us that he made some changes at the city park. He put up new signs, and he's got the lights go off automatically at 9.30 at night, which is good, really addressing the needs of our citizens that live in that area. I was curious. I went by and I took pictures of them. And I'll be posting them on Facebook to make sure local residents know that that stuff was done. But those signs are up there. They're right on there. The basketball court and the tennis courts very clearly so that people are out there. They know that they can't get there before 8 o'clock in the morning and they have to leave before 8. 930 at night by punishable by law and I just wanted to thank you guys for doing that The other thing I wanted to which is new I guess I don't think anyone Has seen said too much about it and a lot of people don't like to take credit for what they do But our Public Works Department took it upon themselves to go out and as you know, they're always looking at what we can do for public safety and They replaced all of the signs, the caution signs around the community. I think there's 13 of them, but they're real bright yellow, beautiful signs. So whenever you're coming across those crosswalks, It's going to make it easier for residents to passersby to see. You need to slow down because this is a place where people can walk across. But thanks, Public Works, Joseph and Raul. You guys are always on top of stuff, and it's really important for our residents. They love it, and we appreciate what you're doing there.

You're welcome. That's all I have. Thank you. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. I'm good. Councilman Robinson.

Just a couple of things, Mayor. I just wanted to follow up from our last council meeting, and can we get a status on the speed indicator sign situation?

So I got some information that they should be delivered by July 18th.

Oh, great. All right. Thank you so much. And the other is just to Lisa. If you would just remind us all about returning to the discussion on the reserve policy, we're going to discuss that during the budget cycle, is that right?

Yes, so I did the presentation on the analysis with the GFOA framework to show kind of the healthy level of reserves for the general fund and we will be bringing that back towards either in the budget workshop or we'll add it as an item during budget discussion in some of the other meetings and then discuss it and then make motion from there.

Thank you. Thank you very much. That's all I have. All right.

I don't have anything to add at this time. We're going to move on to executive session. City Council will recess the regular meeting and go into closed executive session at 6.42 p.m. According to the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of Texas Government Code, Vernon's Texas Code is annotated in accordance with the authority contained in the Texas Government Code as follows. Texas Government Code 551.074, Personnel Matters. The authority of a city administrator. We are going to recess and go into executive session now We're going to reconvene the meeting at 720 No final action decision or vote with regard to any matter considered in the closed meeting was made during the closed session session. We are going to table item number 10, discussion of possible action to adopt the following resolution. Resolution of city council of the city of Shenandoah, Texas, establishing the position of assistant city administrator, authorizing the city administrator to take all necessary actions to implement the position. All right. At this time, there is No further business to discuss. It is 7.20 p.m. We're going to adjourn this session of the City Council.