Kerrville’s City Council held its first meeting of 2018 on Tuesday evening, January 9, in council chambers. This meeting was a first test run for a new electronic agenda and electronic voting mechanism, which made for some slow-going for parts of the night’s agenda, as IT consultants had to help staff and council through some of the process of casting votes electronically. When this system gets up and running, it should help streamline the record-keeping process and make the meeting minutes more accurate. On the agenda for Tuesday night included several items of note.
The full video of the meeting is available here, and a summary is provided below.
Going to Bat for Little League
The council approved a measure to revise the fee schedule to allow the Kerrville Little League to use the Sports Complex free of charge during their 2018 season.
Back to Drawing Board for Sports Complex Pond
All bids for the Sports Complex irrigation pond and pump station were rejected because they came in over budget. Staff will revisit the scope of work in the bid request and will re-open the project for new bids.
Brew Fees Reduced
The city lowered the applicable fees for brew pubs to bring them in line with the amount that restaurants serving beer and wine pay for the same permits. Jeremy Walther of the local brew pub and restaurant Pint & Plow addressed council and discussed the need to lower this fee as part of an effort to encourage craft agriculture products and services.
Project Updates
City Manager Mark McDaniel gave some updates regarding some ongoing capital improvement projects.
- Singing Wind Drive Construction – Open for bids later this month.
- Parking Garage Maintenance – Advertising for bids beginning in March. Wrapping up design and scope.
- Reuse Distribution Lines – Riverhill Boulevard will be partially closed for part of the upcoming week as that line is installed.
- Sports Complex – Ribbon cutting on January 17 and open house on January 20.
Appointments to Boards
Council discussed most of the appointments in executive session, away from public view. Upon returning from executive session, the following appointments were made:
- Planning & Zoning – Reappointed three current members who were eligible for additional term: Don Barnett, David Jones, and Mike Sigerman.
- Library Advisory Board – Council filled three seats on the board and left one seat to be filled by Kerr County Commissioners Court as part of the new interlocal agreement with the county. The names of the three appointees approved at this meeting were inaudible, but we’ll add them here once they are made known.
- Economic Improvement Corporation – Council nominated Mark Bosma and Kent McKinney to fill the two vacancies created by the termination of James Wilson and subsequent resignation of Paul Stafford. Bosma is also the City Administrator for the City of Ingram. McKinney is a manager at Community First National Bank.
Upcoming
The next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 23, at 6:00 PM.
