The Arlington City Council held its regular meeting on January 7, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber. The meeting included a special presentation, approval of consent agenda items, public hearings on zoning cases, and citizen participation. All votes were unanimous (9-0) unless otherwise noted.
Well, good evening, everybody, and happy new year. I hope everybody had a blessed holiday season, a very wonderful Merry Christmas, and a happy new year. Welcome back to the Arlington City Council in our first session of twenty twenty five. No better way to start the new year off than inviting our good friend Pastor Gary Hutchinson forward from Grace Community Church to lead us in an invocation. Good to see you, Pastor. Happy New Year to you. So there's this guy who wanted to talk to God. He lived in California. He went to a church. And the pastor said, Well, you have to use the phone in the back. It's the golden phone, and it costs you 10,000 to talk to God. He said, $10,000, forget about it. So he left California. He went and made his way to Arizona. Got to Arizona, he found a church, asked the pastor. He said, I want to talk to God. The pastor says a golden phone in the back. It'll cost you 10,000 dollars to talk to God. He said, $10,000, forget about it. He made his way to New Mexico. Same thing. Golden phone in the back, $10,000. He said, What's up with us? He made it to Texas. He goes to this church in Texas, talks to the pastor, says, I want to talk to God. Pastor says, There's a phone in the back, it'll cost you 10 cents. Talk to God. He said, 10 cents is 10,000 everywhere else. He says, son, you're in Texas now. It's a local call. I say that because now y'all know why we started off with this pastor, all right. Well, you want to just say we aren't blessed. We're a blessed state. We're a blessed city. And a big reason why we're so blessed is because of you and your service. And I just want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for what is most of the time for all of you and your staff a thankless job. A lot of times the only time you hear from citizens is when they complain about something. I know because I've been one of those citizens in the past. But I just want to thank you. And I want to pray God's blessing over you and over our city. Let's pray. Father, thank you for these men and women, Lord, who are willing to serve long hours. Most people don't realize the amount of time and energy they put into it. That's and they get very little thanks for it. It's not glamorous. It's because they care about our city. They care about the people in the city. So I ask you in Jesus' name, Father, would you bless them and bless everything that matters to them? And would you bless Arlington and the residents of Arlington?