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Record of Proceedings

Kerrville City Council Meeting - January 13, 2026

City Council & associated boards — Tuesday, January 13, 2026
BodyKerrville, Texas
SessionCity Council & associated boards
DateTuesday, January 13, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

1:02

Y'all ready?

1:09

Right.

1:10

I'm gonna go ahead and call to order the city council meeting for January 13th, 2026.

1:17

Let's uh I'll rise for the invocation and pledge of allegiance led by Councilmember Kent McKinney.

Speaker 2

1:27

Heavenly Father, thank you once again, as always, for all many countless blessings that we have on

Unassigned speaker

1:35

our

Speaker 2

1:36

city, state, and our country.

Unassigned speaker

1:39

We are

Speaker 2

1:39

especially grateful to uh to you for your help and providing the uh resources, people, and uh the planning and the work that's going forward.

Unassigned speaker

2:40

I

Speaker 2

2:41

legit.

2:49

I don't know.

Unassigned speaker

3:01

Do

Speaker 1

3:01

we have any announcements of community interest tonight?

Speaker 3

3:05

We sure do, sir.

3:06

Mayor, city council, good evening.

3:09

We have a few items of interest this evening.

3:14

It's been a while since our last meeting, and so there's been a ton of events uh take place in the community since we last spoke.

3:27

And we've had Carolers come by uh during the holiday season from Nemitz Elementary School.

3:33

There's also a new bird line at the trailhead number three in Kerrville Shiner Park, and just want to thank council members McKenney and Siegerman for their support at the unveiling.

3:46

Um,

Speaker 4

3:50

with a hundred people there, there were no birds, but that's okay.

3:54

We're gonna go back and we'll see them at some point.

Speaker 3

3:57

I also wanted to share on on this slide, and and thanks to Kelly Hagmire's great work.

4:02

Uh, we have fifteen applications in for the exterior enhancement grants, and the deadline for TERS number one is uh January sixteenth.

4:15

So just giving you a little bit of an overview, I won't be going into these numbers every single time, but I I find them interesting and helpful to understand what the public is interested in and what uh what is driving driving their interest and attention.

4:32

And one of the reasons the rainbow trout restock event uh was so high in interest was because that's one that we uh were tagging with the Texas Wildlife Department.

4:46

And so when you when you're tagging with another organization, you get a lot more coverage.

4:52

39,000 people viewed our river trail reopening, and um along with the proclamations, those were probably our top top interest items for for the season.

5:06

I also know that 160,000 views for another post about the river trail happened um, I believe on Kerbal Breaking News.

5:18

So overall, month to month there you do see fluctuation.

5:22

Total views for the city, there was 300,000, and for parks and rec we had 220,000.

5:29

Police, 1.2 million, because everyone is interested in what's happening for the police department.

5:37

At the same time, we're seeing a precipitous drop in followers because you see rise and decline of interest and cities because of events that have taken place recently.

5:51

Notable coverage.

5:52

I did want to point out that we've had about I don't know, about 25 media enquiries since we last spoke, and we've had many uh different topics covered, including um the Olympic pool renovations, reopening the river trail, got a lot of coverage, elections and campaign packets are getting covered, and then the park board updates for the bridge replacement.

6:20

There's there's a lot going

Unassigned speaker

6:23

on.

Speaker 3

6:30

While we did this, we also wanted to talk a little bit about routines.

6:35

You've now started seeing our media weekly roundups that we've been sharing with you, and we've also been able to cut our press releases down to four while maintaining and streamlining production more efficiently for our our our public.

6:51

We continue to do media alerts for our public like traffic roadblocks and everything as needed, and I did want to let everyone know that we have every intention of getting back on the schedule for monthly reports and quarterly reporting.

7:07

With my onboarding, it just got a little delayed.

7:09

So we appreciate your patience.

7:13

Moving forward, uh stealing I guess a little bit of Jay's thunder here, but Guadalupe Park Community Survey uh results, they had a lot of participation, 375 responses came in, mostly from the Kerrville and Ingram area codes, but we also had some surrounding zip codes as well.

7:36

The households typically had about 50% with children, and 11% reported accessibility needs basketball courts received second highest interest behind the sensory inclusivity playgrounds, and we'll continue to meet the public's interests and honoring the centrality of our community's commune with the river as we continue to restore and heal.

8:05

So just moving forward to highlight some upcoming events and look forward to the rest of January.

8:12

Make sure you're getting your tickets for the someone special dance, and tomorrow you uh can also join us for the rainbow trout restocking at Louise Hayes Park for any anglers out there.

8:26

I know it's it was already happening today, but I could not I could not uh get away without mentioning the National Rubber Duck Day and scaven scavenger hunt that took place at Butt Holdsworth Memorial Library just a couple of hours ago.

8:42

And of course, I want to remind everyone that city offices will be closed for Martin Luther King Day.

8:48

Thank you all.

8:49

Have a good

Speaker 1

8:49

one.

8:50

Thank

Unassigned speaker

8:50

you.

Speaker 1

8:53

Alright, we have some presentations, Chief.

Speaker 5

9:21

Aaron Council.

9:22

Tonight I'd like to I have the honor to recognize the Kerbal Fire Department for earning the Department of State Health Services Rural Health Care Award.

9:30

The award honors an EMS agency health care facility or individual who has made a significant contribution to improving emergency medical care in the rural setting.

9:40

As the fire chief, I'm proud of their accomplishments and milestones that set them apart from other agencies.

9:46

This is more than the response to the Guadalupe flood, and instead focus on delivering progressive patient care

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation██████████████████18%
Procedural████████████████16%
Public Safety█████████████13%
Flood Recovery███████████11%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████10%
Arts And Culture████████8%
Community Engagement██████6%
Personnel Matters██████6%
Pending Litigation█████5%
Summary of Proceedings

Kerrville City Council Meeting - January 13, 2026

The Kerrville City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 6:00 PM at City Hall, 701 Main Street, Kerrville, Texas. Mayor Joe Herring Jr. presided, and Councilmember Kent McKinney led the invocation and pledge of allegiance. The council recognized the Kerrville Fire Department, issued a river trail recovery proclamation, heard two citizen comments, approved the consent agenda, passed three ordinances on first reading, authorized two grant applications and a Guadalupe Park rebuild agreement, and made an appointment after executive session.

Community Interest Announcements

  • City communications staff reported strong public engagement: 300,000 total city views, 220,000 parks and recreation views, and 1.2 million police department views. A river trail reopening post drew 39,000 views, and another river trail post on Kerrville Breaking News drew 160,000 views.
  • Staff noted 15 exterior enhancement grant applications had been received, with a Jan. 16 deadline, and promoted upcoming events including rainbow trout restocking at Louise Hayes Park and the city office closure for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Presentations and Proclamation

  • The Kerrville Fire Department was honored with the Texas Department of State Health Services 2025 Rural Healthcare Award. Fire Chief E. Maloney highlighted the department's whole blood program, 25 units of blood administered, the only mobile blood donation in Texas, a new EMS staffing model implemented in October 2024, updated standard operating guidelines under Dr. Stephen Harper, and community programs such as Stop the Bleed and CPR/AED training.
  • Mayor Herring proclaimed Jan. 13-Feb. 14, 2026 as 'Kerrville Strong, Back to the River Month' (agenda title: Moving Forward Together, Back to the Kerrville River Trail). The proclamation noted the removal of 1.7 million cubic yards of debris after the July 4, 2025 flood and encouraged residents to safely enjoy the reopened trail and parks. A photo contest using Kerrville parks and trails is part of the campaign.

Public Comments and Testimony

  • Mario Blato Jr., Chief of Government and Public Affairs for the San Antonio Food Bank, thanked the city and council and described the food bank serving more than 100,000 individuals weekly across 29 counties. He stated the food bank was present before, during, and after the flood and remains ready to mobilize in future disasters.
  • Glenn Andrew, a Kerrville resident, praised outgoing City Attorney Mike Hayes for nearly 25 years of service, calling his legal skills, integrity, and professionalism exceptional and saying his departure is a significant loss to the city and community.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved Resolution No. 03-2026 adopting the City of Kerrville Travel Policy.
  • Approved an interlocal agreement with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority for funding and construction through the Water Resources Preservation Grant Program.
  • Approved the City Council workshop minutes and regular meeting minutes from December 9, 2025.
  • The consent agenda was approved unanimously by a single vote.

Discussion Items and Ordinances

  • Public hearing and first reading of Ordinance No. 2026-01: changed zoning at 2905 Memorial Blvd from C-2 Light Commercial to C-3 General Commercial. Development & Planning Director D. Paxton said the former Wagon Master property is vacant, the change is consistent with the Future Land Use Plan, and the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval unanimously in December. Council opened and closed the public hearing and approved first reading.
  • Ordinance No. 2026-02: deleted Article VI 'Solicitations' from Chapter 30. City Attorney Mike Hayes explained the current ordinance has been challenged and that a revised, constitutionally sound ordinance will be brought back while preserving protections such as quiet hours. Approved first reading unanimously.
  • Ordinance No. 2026-03: amended the FY 2026 budget to reflect property value changes after the July 4, 2025 flood. Finance Director Julie Barnes explained the budget was adopted conservatively using the emergency tax rate; KerrCAD initially estimated worst-case losses near $65 million, but actual losses are about $3 million. The amendment increases property tax revenue by $600,000 over the current budget, transfers it to CIP, and restricts it for disaster-related expenses, mainly the 25% FEMA match and repair/replacement of general fund assets. About 54% of property taxes had been collected. Council was told this is not a new tax increase. Approved first reading.

Grant Authorizations

  • Resolution No. 01-2026: authorized the city's application for a Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, partnering with the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau Community Arts Program, with the city as pass-through. The grant is up to $25,000 with a 1:1 match from outside sources, and the City Manager is authorized as representative for the Our Town program. Approved unanimously.
  • Resolution No. 02-2026: authorized the City Manager to submit a Texas Commission on the Arts Arts Respond Project grant application on behalf of the Kerrville Cultural Arts District Committee. The grant is not to exceed $4,000 for marketing the new cultural district, and matching funds will come from outside sources rather than the city general fund. Approved.

Guadalupe Park Rebuild Agreement

  • Parks & Recreation Director J. Brimhall presented the agreement with Whirlix for installation of an inclusive playground and basketball courts at Guadalupe Park. A community survey drew 375 responses: about 50% of households had children, 11% reported accessibility needs, and basketball courts received the second-highest interest behind sensory-inclusive playgrounds. Councilmember Harris had previously suggested adding basketball. The agreement totals $636,119, with the remainder of the $750,000 committed by the foundation and NBA used for other repairs and site improvements. Council authorized the City Manager to finalize and execute the contract under board contract No. 781-25. A target completion by end of first quarter 2026 was described as ambitious.

Executive Session and Appointment

  • Council moved into executive session under Texas Government Code 551.074 to discuss administrative personnel regarding the City Attorney.
  • After returning at 7:08 PM, council unanimously appointed William Tosh as interim City Attorney, effective Monday, February 2, 2026.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent agenda approved unanimously.
  • Ordinance 2026-01, Ordinance 2026-02, and Ordinance 2026-03 approved on first reading.
  • Resolution 01-2026 and Resolution 02-2026 approved, authorizing grant applications.
  • Guadalupe Park rebuild agreement with Whirlix authorized.
  • William Tosh appointed interim city attorney effective February 2, 2026.
  • No items were requested for future agendas, and the meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Y'all ready? Right. I'm gonna go ahead and call to order the city council meeting for January 13th, 2026. Let's uh I'll rise for the invocation and pledge of allegiance led by Councilmember Kent McKinney. Heavenly Father, thank you once again, as always, for all many countless blessings that we have on our city, state, and our country. We are especially grateful to uh to you for your help and providing the uh resources, people, and uh the planning and the work that's going forward. I legit. I don't know. Do we have any announcements of community interest tonight? We sure do, sir. Mayor, city council, good evening. We have a few items of interest this evening. It's been a while since our last meeting, and so there's been a ton of events uh take place in the community since we last spoke. And we've had Carolers come by uh during the holiday season from Nemitz Elementary School. There's also a new bird line at the trailhead number three in Kerrville Shiner Park, and just want to thank council members McKenney and Siegerman for their support at the unveiling. Um, with a hundred people there, there were no birds, but that's okay. We're gonna go back and we'll see them at some point. I also wanted to share on on this slide, and and thanks to Kelly Hagmire's great work. Uh, we have fifteen applications in for the exterior enhancement grants, and the deadline for TERS number one is uh January sixteenth. So just giving you a little bit of an overview, I won't be going into these numbers every single time, but I I find them interesting and helpful to understand what the public is interested in and what uh what is driving driving their interest and attention. And one of the reasons the rainbow trout restock event uh was so high in interest was because that's one that we uh were tagging with the Texas Wildlife Department. And so when you when you're tagging with another organization, you get a lot more coverage. 39,000 people viewed our river trail reopening, and um along with the proclamations, those were probably our top top interest items for for the season. I also know that 160,000 views for another post about the river trail happened um, I believe on Kerbal Breaking News. So overall, month to month there you do see fluctuation. Total views for the city, there was 300,000, and for parks and rec we had 220,000. Police, 1.2 million, because everyone is interested in what's happening for the police department. At the same time, we're seeing a precipitous drop in followers because you see rise and decline of interest and cities because of events that have taken place recently. Notable coverage. I did want to point out that we've had about I don't know, about 25 media enquiries since we last spoke, and we've had many uh different topics covered, including um the Olympic pool renovations, reopening the river trail, got a lot of coverage, elections and campaign packets are getting covered, and then the park board updates for the bridge replacement. There's there's a lot going on. While we did this, we also wanted to talk a little bit about routines. You've now started seeing our media weekly roundups that we've been sharing with you, and we've also been able to cut our press releases down to four while maintaining and streamlining production more efficiently for our our our public. We continue to do media alerts for our public like traffic roadblocks and everything as needed, and I did want to let everyone know that we have every intention of getting back on the schedule for monthly reports and quarterly reporting. With my onboarding, it just got a little delayed. So we appreciate your patience. Moving forward, uh stealing I guess a little bit of Jay's thunder here, but Guadalupe Park Community Survey uh results, they had a lot of participation, 375 responses came in, mostly from the Kerrville and Ingram area codes, but we also had some surrounding zip codes as well. The households typically had about 50% with children, and 11% reported accessibility needs basketball courts received second highest interest behind the sensory inclusivity playgrounds, and we'll continue to meet the public's interests and honoring the centrality of our community's commune with the river as we continue to restore and heal. So just moving forward to highlight some upcoming events and look forward to the rest of January. Make sure you're getting your tickets for the someone special dance, and tomorrow you uh can also join us for the rainbow trout restocking at Louise Hayes Park for any anglers out there. I know it's it was already happening today, but I could not I could not uh get away without mentioning the National Rubber Duck Day and scaven scavenger hunt that took place at Butt Holdsworth Memorial Library just a couple of hours ago. And of course, I want to remind everyone that city offices will be closed for Martin Luther King Day. Thank you all.

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