Arlington City Council Special Meeting – September 16, 2025: TAD Appointments, Technology, Public Safety, Community Development
Arlington City Council Special Meeting – September 16, 2025
The Arlington City Council convened in special session on September 16, 2025, at 2:00 PM, beginning with an executive session to discuss real property and economic development. The open session commenced at 3:30 PM and adjourned at 4:20 PM. Mayor Pro Tempore Barbara Odom-Wesley presided in the absence of Mayor Jim Ross. Councilmember Raul Gonzalez participated virtually due to illness. Key topics included Tarrant Appraisal District board nominations, a technology priority update, commercial vehicle parking enforcement, towing authority under Senate Bill 857, committee reports on electricity procurement, farmers market expansion, HUD grant performance, and the Housing Finance Corporation budget.
Tarrant Appraisal District Board Appointments
- Ethan Klos, Treasurer, presented the process for nominating two candidates to the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) Board. The City of Arlington holds 91 of 2,000 votes (4.5%), and nominations will be considered at the October 14, 2025 council meeting. Councilmember Pham nominated Ms. Sayada Sayed, expressing that the current board has not served Arlington’s interests, citing a $25 million budget shortfall. Councilmember Hogg emphasized that nominees should be willing to address the council. It was agreed to invite all potential nominees to speak at a future work session before the vote.
Council Priority – Leverage Technology
- Deputy City Manager Lemuel Randolph presented the third-quarter report on the leverage technology priority. Highlights included a new e-citation system for police (trespass warnings and tow cards), a mobile app for Arlington Water customers to track usage and set alerts, and an online special event permit system. The phishing snag rate was reported at 16% (target 2%), requiring additional training. Smart water meter installations are exceeding targets, with over 5,000 per quarter. AI training enrollment reached 371 employees, 56% self-initiated. The next report will be the final formal update as this priority will be embedded into others.
Commercial Motor Vehicle Parking Violations
- Police Chief Al Jones reported that since January 2025, nearly 3,000 parking citations have been issued for commercial motor vehicles. Enforcement begins with a warning, then a citation, then towing for repeat offenders. Councilmember Hogg noted frequent complaints and asked citizens to use the non-emergency line for quicker response. Councilmember Pham requested a staff study on the boundary between Arlington and Fort Worth on Green Oaks Boulevard to potentially install no-parking signs for commercial vehicles.
Senate Bill 857 Update (Towing Authority)
- Chief Jones explained that SB 857 expands police authority to tow vehicles for lack of registration, insurance, or a valid driver’s license, but emphasized officer discretion. Councilmember Galante requested data on the number of citations and warnings issued for no insurance or license. Councilmember Pham expressed concern about an incident where an unlicensed driver was allowed to leave after an accident; Chief Jones said such cases should be brought to his attention.
Finance and Audit – Electricity Provider RFP Updates
- Councilmember Hunter, Chair, reported that the committee reviewed proposals for a new electricity provider. The current contract expires December 2026. Staff recommends pursuing contract language with two finalists and aims to return to council within six months for authorization to negotiate a new contract.
Community and Neighborhood Development – Farmers Market and CAPER
- Councilmember Boxall, Chair, reported the committee’s discussion on the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market. Between March and July 2025, the market attracted about 15,000 visitors, with high satisfaction from a survey. The committee directed staff to promote the market on city social media, consider seasonal themes, explore a pavilion, and provide license language to allow expansion and year-round operation via administrative approval.
- The committee also reviewed the PY 2024 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). The city invested $4.9 million in federal CDBG, ESG, and HOME funds, benefiting over 27,000 residents. Performance targets were mostly met. The committee requested exploration of expanding the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area, assessing street outreach effectiveness, and encouraging more nonprofits to apply for HUD grants.
Arlington Housing Finance Corporation – FY26 Budget
- Councilmember Hunter reported the committee approved the FY26 budget. Revenues are projected at $75,000 (including $247,000 in payments in lieu of taxes), expenses at $233,000, resulting in a net of $534,000. The budget supports the general fund.
Appointments to Boards and Commissions
- City Secretary Alex Busken noted 24 appointments to boards and commissions are scheduled for the evening council meeting.
City Council External Committee Report – Regional Transportation Council
- Councilmember Pham reported that the RTC approved funding for transportation education, transit safety targets, updates to the public transportation plan, and formula funding for Arlington’s HandyTran and on-demand service. A new Transit Vision Subcommittee will meet twice monthly.
Legislative Update
- Natalie Raulston, Intergovernmental Relations Manager, noted the second special legislative session has closed; a third has not been scheduled. She also confirmed that a bill requiring training for appraisal board members passed and will take effect January 1, 2026.
Evening Agenda Items
- Chief Jones directed council to memo item 8.7 regarding fire permit fee adjustments, clarifying that a fee for fire plan review was removed as it is covered by Planning and Development Services.
Future Agenda Items
- Councilmember Pham requested a staff study to identify the Arlington–Fort Worth boundary on Green Oaks Boulevard near Dottie Lynn Road and consider installing no-parking signs for commercial vehicles within Arlington limits. Staff will review the boundaries.
Key Outcomes
- The council will formally consider TAD board nominations on October 14, 2025, with potential nominees invited to speak at a prior work session.
- The Housing Finance Corporation FY26 budget was approved by the committee and will proceed to the full council.
- Staff was directed to promote the farmers market, explore expansion, and pursue license amendments.
- Staff will report back on commercial vehicle parking boundary study.
- No formal votes were taken during the special meeting; action items are scheduled for future meetings.
Meeting Transcript
Hey Raul, can you hear us? I'm Barbara Odom Wesley, Mayor Pro Tim. In the absence of the mayor, I'm calling to order the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 16th at 2 o'clock PM. City Council will now go into closed session at 2001 on September 16th, in accordance with the following sections of VTCA government code, chapter 551, section five five seven, point zero seven one, consultation with attorney, section five five one, point zero seven two, deliberation regarding real property, and section five five one eight seven. Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Barbara Odom Wesley. And in behalf of our mayor, Jim Ross, who's out of town, I am presiding over the afternoon City Council meetings. And the meeting is called to order at three thirty PM. Three point one. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am here to talk about one of your favorite topics, the Terrant Appraisal District board appointments. We're going through this process just like we did last year at this time. The types of entities, you've got 21 ISDs, 42 cities, the county, the college, the water district, um the top five entities as far as size and number of votes are the city of Fort Worth, Fort Worth ISD, the county, AISD, the college, um, and we are the seventh largest. Kennedale ISD is the sixth largest. Um, and so historically, we've done five nominees at a time, and so there have been five thousand votes. Now, since there's only two up for nomination, there are going to be two thousand votes. Uh, we will have ninety-one of those votes, or a little bit above four point five percent. The TAD has added six conservation and reclamation districts, so which now gives them 17 votes out of the 2000, so it's less than one percent of the total votes. Um, the six are as you can see on the list with the um Terrent Regional Water District being the largest and Viridian being the second largest. Hoping I hit it. Um, the calendars you can see is uh the chief of praiser supposed to calculate the votes, he's already actually done that. They then expect nomination of candidates by all of the different boards and big councils, school district boards, whoever else wants to uh put forward nominations. So your next council meeting is October 14th. If you have interest in nominating anyone, that's when we will have uh that put in front of you on that council evening's agenda. Uh they will receive all of the uh will receive ballots back October 30th. That's when we'll know who all has been nominated, and then because we are not one of the uh top seven or top six um votes which have at least five percent. Our nominations actually are our votes aren't due until December 15th. So this nominating process, as I said, uh Ms. Burgess and Mr. Alford are in this schedule. The next time we you will have the chance to appoint anyone will be two years from now. And at that point, Mr. Blalock, Mr. Campos, and Ms. Pena will be up for nomination, and then it'll happen every two years thereafter, going from two to three back and forth. Um, as you look at it, depending upon the number of of candidates. If long as there are at least three candidates to guarantee an appointment, you would need at least 667 votes or about a third of the votes. No individual entity has the ability to appoint someone by themselves. If the ISDs all collaborated together, they could control one of the two. Um as stated before, only the top uh five. If you have more than five percent of the vote, they have to have voted by October uh November 30th, otherwise we get until December 15th. Um and I believe this is the information I've already told you about the other elected board members, three of them are elected by the public. The next time those three will come up will be next November in 2026, and thereafter they will be on four-year terms. The county assessor tax assessor collectors also on a four-year term, but his next cycle will be in 2028. So you can see how it is now staggered between the two nominated, three elected, three nominated, one elected, just back and forth. So every year there will be new blood on the board or the potential of new blood on the board. And with that, your next steps are October 15th to nominate any candidates that you have interest in, um, and then receiving the ballot by the end of October, and then we will make a decision and vote on that December 9th. We have until the 15th, but December 9th is a scheduled uh council date.
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