Fort Worth City Council Work Session Summary – May 5, 2026
Fort Worth City Council Work Session – May 5, 2026
The Fort Worth City Council held a work session on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, from approximately 7:30 PM. The meeting included employee recognitions, informal reports on city operations, and a detailed update on the 2050 Comprehensive Plan. No formal votes were taken.
Employee Recognitions & Awards
- Public Service Recognition Week (May 3-9, 2026) – Deanna Giordano, assistant city manager, highlighted the city’s 8,000 employees serving over one million residents, noting the city’s incorporation in 1873 with 500 public servants.
- Teen Court Achievement – William Rumely and Municipal Court Judge Patricia Summers announced that the Fort Worth Teen Court team placed second overall at the Texas Teen Court mock trial competition on March 28, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. The team of three teens – Sienna Schressa, James Jex, and Christina Azore – competed against 12 teams. The program is a voluntary alternative to adjudication for eligible teens.
- Fleet Division Gold Award – Marilyn Marvin and Brad Hunter reported that the city’s fleet received a gold award from the North Texas COG Clean Cities Initiative for clean transportation.
- Stormwater Utility 20th Anniversary – Jessica McAkren, Jennifer Dyke, and Lisa Biggs recognized the stormwater team. Since its creation in 2005 following catastrophic flooding in 2004, the utility has mitigated flooding to 125 homes in Westcliff and Greenfield Acres, installed high-water notification systems at over 60 locations, inspected 2,600 of the city’s 4,000 culverts, cleaned 1,600, and secured a $90 million grant for the Upper Libo flood mitigation project. The team also received the Texas Floodplain Management Association Excellence Award in 2025.
- Library Branding Iron Award – Dana Bergdoff announced that the Fort Worth Library received the 2026 Texas Library Association Branding Iron Award for its FY2024 annual report marketing campaign.
- Transparency Star – Jessica Rogers and team achieved the sixth transparency star from the Texas Comptroller’s Office for economic development. Fort Worth is one of 16 cities with all six stars, and the largest city to do so.
- Dana Bergdoff Fellowship – Dana Bergdoff was recognized for being named a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the highest level in the profession.
Informal Reports
- Quarterly Development Activity Report – D.J. Harrell was available for questions.
- Human Relations Commission Overview – Kristen Smith presented. The commission handles civil rights compliance (Fair Housing, EEOC, ADA). Top complaint categories: for fair employment – race/ethnicity, sex/gender, retaliation; for fair housing – disability, race, sex/gender. The commission is seeking community members to fill vacancies; a request for constituents will be sent to council.
- Multifamily Housing Recovery Program – Casey Thomas presented on funding availability.
- Neighborhood Street Project Timelines and Oversight – Laura and Pierre explained that neighborhood street bond projects take longer (average 430 days per lane mile) than resurfacing (40 days) due to full reconstruction including water, stormwater, curbs, sidewalks, and ADA ramps. Recent bond projects averaged a 54-day time extension (13% of contract time), mostly due to unforeseeable conditions. Liquidated damages of up to $650 per day are assessed for overruns. Discussions included improving communication with constituents via QR codes on signage, better contractor accountability, and prioritizing work near schools and hospitals.
- Water Customer Information System Replacement – Jan Hale was available for questions.
Comprehensive Plan Update (2050)
- Presenter: Jay Rankins of MIG, along with Eric Flatiger, provided an update on the 2050 Comprehensive Plan. The plan is a roadmap for growth and development over the next 25 years, mandated by the state for cities over one million. It covers land use, housing, economic development, parks, transportation, arts, infrastructure, and more.
- Engagement: Over 9,700 people engaged in-person through 110 pop-up activities and 45 focus groups; over 211,000 event attendees; 2,400 online survey respondents. A “Reimagined City” personality quiz (1,200+ respondents) showed top preferences: Walkersville (25%, walkable neighborhoods), Linkston (24%, transit-connected), and Green Haven (20%, green city).
- Vision Statement (emerging): “Fort Worth is a world-class city of thriving and connected neighborhoods, innovative businesses and industries, and vibrant places that enhance quality of life and provide opportunity for all.”
- Place Types Approach: A new method replacing the traditional land use map, addressing built form, scale, and infrastructure. 12 place types organized around live, play, work (e.g., neighborhood low, community mixed-use, innovation flex, preserve/conserve). Examples: Alamo Heights, South Main urban village, Alliance, Foundry District.
- Economic & Housing Trends: Fort Worth has grown to over 1 million people, projected to reach 1.3 million by 2050. The city trails Dallas, Houston, and Austin in total jobs and white-collar employment. Over 70% of housing is single-family detached, while household composition has shifted: 68% of households are now adult singles or couples without children, compared to less than 60% in 1970. Only 10% of neighborhoods are location-efficient (near jobs/shopping), leading to higher transportation costs despite lower housing prices.
- Growth Scenarios: Four scenarios were presented: Business as Usual, Monocentric Core (downtown focus), Urban Village Network (suburban and urban villages), and Polycentric City (multiple large centers). Community feedback favored alternative scenarios over business as usual, with support for additional centers and village concepts. A virtual open house and online feedback will continue through May 2026; a public review draft is targeted for December 2026.
Key Outcomes
- Upcoming Event: Press conference on May 12, 2026, at 10:00 AM at City Hall to promote the illegal gunfire campaign.
- Triple-A Bond Rating: City Manager Jay Choppa announced that S&P Global Ratings assigned a AAA rating to the Water Department’s bonds for the first time.
- Future Agenda Item: Councilmember Craig requested information on call volume to assisted senior living centers for fire/EMS to assess potential fees.
- The work session concluded with acknowledgments of staff efforts.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, council, I think we can get started. I will call our work session to order. Good afternoon, and Jay, over to you. Good afternoon. Um, I'd like to start off by making an upcoming event. Next Tuesday, uh, 5 12, May 12th at 10 a.m., we will be having a little press conference here at City Hall to talk about and put out more publicity about the illegal gunfire campaign that we've started. And so um welcome, we welcome any city council members that'd like to attend. Under organizational updates and employee recognition, I'd like to start off by calling up uh Jessica McAkren to recognize our stormwater team. You know what? We will postpone this because I don't see the team here. It's a nice day, so they're cleaning. I'm gonna postpone it. We're gonna come back. All right. It's not raining, so they're actually preparing. Uh, okay, then we'll jump to the next one. Diana Giordano, assistant city manager to recognize Public Service Recognition Week. All right, afternoon, mayor council. Um, I'm Deanna Giordano, city uh assistant city manager, and it's public service recognition week, so May 3rd through the 9th. So we want to be able to, this actually has been celebrated since 1985 for both federal, state, and local government employees, and it provides us with an opportunity to celebrate our employees here in the city of Fort Worth. And those are the individuals that uh bring a level of dedication and integrity and professionalism to our city to make sure that every day behind the scenes it's keeping our community safe, thriving, and moving forward. So I'm gonna take just kind of a brief walk down memory lane and to remind us that the city was incorporated in 1873 with a population of just 500 employees. That year the city hired their very first public servants. Their jobs were to keep the city safe and deliver essential services to its residents. Now, fast forward more than 150 years, one million residents and over 8,000 employees. Um, and the core of the public servants, what they do is still the same to keep the city safe and to provide essential services. So a lot has changed in terms of growth, but this core of what we do uh is still the same. I'd like to add that our city, particularly here in Fort Worth. I hope you're as proud of them of our employees as I am, because they are the very best public servants that I have seen. They're highly skilled with top-notch expertise. They not just only do their jobs, but they do it very well. They come to work every day to execute your vision, the community visions, and making sure that we operate as one city and one team. So please join me in thanking the resident the members of our city team for public service recognition week. So I'm gonna look to the audience. If you're a city employee, if you would kindly stand to be recognized. That's most of you. And anybody that's watching online, give your hand give yourself a pat on the back because you all deserve the recognition for keeping Fort Worth thriving and moving forward. Thank you. I saw our chief financial officer didn't stand. I think he didn't. He doesn't like the condition of the budget. Yeah. He doesn't want to acknowledge it. Um, William Rummely from our courts department to recognize uh our teen court program. Thank you, Mr. City Manager, Mayor, and City Council. I'm just gonna turn this over to the chief judge. We just want to recognize our teen attorneys and uh the coaches that helped them. And I think we have a presentation. Good afternoon, mayor, council members, city manager Chapa, staff, and guests.
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