The Fort Worth City Council held a work session on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, from 1:00 PM to 3:52 PM (with a brief recess from 1:02 PM to 1:56 PM). The meeting included staff reports, employee recognitions, presentations on the Convention Center expansion and naming rights, an economic development agreement, a proposed charter election, and requests for future agenda items. No public comments were heard.
Council, I think we can get started. Welcome to our city council work session. Today is Tuesday, February 3rd, all day. I will call us to order. And turn it over to Jay Chopa, I think, for staff announcements. Good afternoon. Um, I do would like to start off by uh calling up DJ Harrell uh to recognize his department for this current uh recent uh accolades that they received, and in fact he's got a little video he'd like to show. So DJ being number one in permitting really embodies our one city one team mentality. Leadership has had this vision for years of streamlining development in the city of Fort Worth, being innovative, forward-thinking, and propelling Fort Word to the top spot in permitting efficiency, energizing our community with smart growth concepts as well as orderly development. The addition of the customer center on the fifth floor of City Hall is just more evidence of our commitment as a city of Fort Worth to bring all development services under one umbrella. We've streamlined the whole process by having the fifth floor designated to customers to come directly. So with the new consolidation, we're very customer focused. I think that shows from our kiosk to our information desk to our walk-in area. So this just shows that our team can keep up with continued growth and still process permits effectively and efficiently. We work really hard to foster a get to yes mentality, ownership in every project. But it's taken getting the right people to come and work for us to realize the success. We are here for the customers. We wouldn't have this ranking, we wouldn't be the 10th largest city if it wasn't for customers coming in and needing our assistance and just having a great team who works well together. This recognition serves to energizes even more. We have a great core team of individuals that are empowered to make decisions as well as they have a sense of community and a sense of pride in the city of Fort Worth and what we're building here. Because we're working to build the best city in the country. One city, one team. Good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor Matty Parker, Council, City Manager Choppa. I thank you for this opportunity to stand before you represent an amazing group of individuals that work extremely hard every day to realize your collective vision and set the you know and work on the policies that you guys have set for the city of Fort Worth. I brought a gang of them with me. I'm gonna ask them to make their way closer and potentially get a photograph with you all. Um but you know, the important thing that I wanted to leave you guys with, it's it's a one-city, one-team concept. You know, for years you guys have set the vision and invested in um development in the city of Fort Worth, and we've realized a lot of the gains year over year because of that investment. Uh in fact, on last year we were here celebrating um uh we were ranked number one in Texas for permitting and zoning. And this year we're here celebrating rank one number one in the nation, right? So who knows what's next, right? So thank you. So again, it's uh the work of multiple departments, multiple stakeholders, our development community has been a huge support, but most of all your vision is set um you know the path for our success. Thank you so much. Thank you. I think we are gonna take a picture, council, but everyone on this diocese is probably guilty of calling you, DJ or someone else on your staff when there's a problem. We probably don't do a good enough job calling you when we get praise and thanks from the city of Fort Worth and people in it. They've seen a difference, and your leadership is incredible. Your entire team should be commended. You work tirelessly. We are one of the fastest growing cities, so as a result, your staff has to try to keep up with that amount of growth and progress that's happening. And I know that you're not done yet. Again, you mentioned the development community. They're also really proud to work with you. Um, the development advisory committee, real estate council, and others um have all been collaborative, which we appreciate. I don't think we'd be here without that. And also the continuity of leadership between David Cook and now to Jay and all the management team really focused on this to support you and your service and your team, and also the other departments that you interface with, whether it's TPW or water. So this is a big deal. We recognize that, and I think this entire council is incredibly proud to work with all of you.