Killeen City Council Town Hall Meeting – November 7, 2024: Infrastructure, Public Safety, and Community Updates
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Killeen City Council Town Hall Workshop – November 7, 2024
The City of Killeen held a special City Council Town Hall workshop on November 7, 2024, at City Hall. The meeting featured presentations from the Mayor, council members, and staff on the city's major projects, including the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, road reconstruction, public safety technology, and community engagement. Public comments were taken, and council members provided updates and answered questions.
2040 Comprehensive Plan Update
- Mayor Nash King highlighted the plan's six "big ideas": fiscal responsibility, positive community culture, city image, downtown revitalization, safe efficient transportation, and vibrant neighborhoods/local businesses.
- Progress: 21% of the plan completed and 34% in progress within two years.
- Downtown: over $15 million in private investment, 62 new businesses, 12 public art installations, 162 jobs added, and 11 more buildings under construction.
Downtown Killeen Update
- The Mayor reported successful downtown events and a business directory listing 82 businesses.
- Public speakers (Candice Cooper, President of Downtown Merchants Association, and Aisha Shields, owner of Wicked Apple) expressed strong support for the revitalization and encouraged community participation.
Neighborhood Watch and Featherline Issues
- Councilmember Solomon described his own neighborhood watch initiative and the city's support for expanding such programs in District 2.
- Progress on Featherline: a right-turn lane and a four-way stop sign at Featherline and Chaparral were added.
- City Manager Kent Cagle announced that a Certificate of Obligation (CO) bond will fund Featherline Road improvements, including widening to three lanes with sidewalks, lighting, and landscaping. The preliminary CO bond items are expected in January 2025.
- Public commenter James Sills expressed opposition to rezoning before road improvements are complete, citing safety concerns and accidents along Featherline.
Road Reconstruction Update
- City Engineer Andrew Zegers provided status on bond-funded projects:
- Gilmer Street: under construction, expected completion July 2025.
- Watercrest Road: under construction, expected completion January 2026.
- Bunny Trail: under construction, expected completion August 2025.
- Willow Springs: design on hold, to restart in 2025.
- Rancier Avenue: design underway, construction expected to start 2026 with utility relocation first.
- Chaparral Road: multi-jurisdictional project, construction not expected until ~2028.
- Stagecoach Road: bidding to begin by end of 2024, construction for about 1.5 years.
- Councilmember Boyd highlighted the new Mohawk Road CO bond for a new connector road, which will improve access for a 400-home subdivision.
- City Manager Cagle noted the total value of road projects at nearly $200 million and explained the difference between maintenance (mill/overlay) and reconstruction.
Station 4 EOC and Support Facility Update
- Fire Chief presented the new facility at 9200 Tremere Road, which will include a fire station, emergency operations center (EOC), and support services building.
- Construction is on schedule for substantial completion by July 27, 2025, with station opening in Q3 2025.
- Funding shortfall led to removing the live fire training tower, but infrastructure was installed for future addition.
- Staffing: 411 applicants, 256 took the exam, 100 certified list; 24 new fire personnel to be hired, bringing total civil service staff to 263.
Real-Time Crime Center and Axon Project Update
- Police Chief reported:
- Real-Time Crime Center approved July 16, 2024; phase 1 (electrical) 90% complete, phase 2 (equipment) starting December 2024, phase 3 (training) to complete February 2025.
- Axon contract approved October 1, 2024: 286 body cameras received, fleet 3 in-car cameras installation begins November 19, 2024 (130 cars), 286 tasers expected by early 2026, 11 VR training kits already on site, plus drones, license plate readers, and unlimited cloud storage.
HUD Section 108 Legacy Challenge
- Tiffany McNair explained the Section 108 loan guarantee program: the city can borrow up to five times its CDBG allocation.
- Current CDBG allocation: $1.3 million, giving a borrowing authority of $6,631,145.
- HUD has set aside up to $250 million for the Legacy Challenge.
- City submitted its letter of interest on October 22, 2024; application deadline is July 1, 2025.
- Potential projects include mixed-use development, homeless shelter expansion, North Killeen revitalization, and library expansion.
Ways to Get Involved
- Lori Wilson promoted the Citizens Academy (8-week program starting January 16, 2025), the Citizens Police Academy, board and commission vacancies, and city alert systems.
Public Comments and Testimony
- Sean Price asked about 2040 plan revisions and timeline.
- Candice Cooper (Downtown Merchants Association president) expressed support for downtown revitalization and described a successful Halloween event with over 400 attendees.
- Aisha Shields (Wicked Apple) described her successful business and partnership with community organizations.
- William Davis Jr. raised a concern about street deterioration in Regency Place and requested repair.
- James Sills opposed Featherline rezoning until road improvements are completed, citing safety and accident statistics.
Key Outcomes and Next Steps
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting was informational.
- CO bond items for Featherline Road will come to Council in January 2025.
- Road reconstruction projects are proceeding on established timelines; a comprehensive street rating survey will be presented to Council soon.
- Fire station and EOC construction remains on schedule for 2025 completion.
- Real-Time Crime Center expected to be fully operational by February 2025; Axon equipment rollout continues.
- HUD Section 108 application process is underway; public comment period will follow.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you all for coming out tonight to our special city council town hall workshop. We are waiting on one more council member. Council Member Cobb and Councilmember Avarez will not be here tonight due to family.gov and go under City Council and their contact information, email and phone numbers there. So as soon as we get another council member, we will start our town hall workshop. I apologize, it is 503, and I will call this meeting to order for the record. Council member cop and council member Abaras is not present due to family. Uh and Mayor Pro Tim is in route, I think. With that being said, I will turn over our special city council town hall workshop to Mr. Kent Cagle who will be the moderator for tonight. Thank you. Well, welcome to everybody that showed up. Thank you. This is the annual special workshop. The council set this up about three years ago to have this workshop uh around the beginning of the fiscal year. And um I think one thing everybody's curious about is why it's not just an open forum. And it's a double-edged sword. If you have an open forum that there can, when the council meets in a quorum, they can't discuss city business unless it's on an agenda. So people could come up and say things, but they couldn't get they there couldn't be a back and forth discussion. You can give simple answers of what the city law or city policy is, but that's all you can do. You can't discuss the issues. So what we did, we put together a number of issues that we're working on that are high dollar, that are in the we think are in the public interest right now. And so those are things we'll have a presentation. Um the mayor will start off and then um council member Solomon, then we'll have a number of staff reports, and then after that we can discuss any of the of the items that are on the agenda. And if you have things that you want to talk about or questions that you want to get answered that are not on the agenda, we have some cards over here if you want to put any type of contact information you want on there and what your question or what your issue is, and we'll we'll get back to you. Somebody from staff will get back to you, or if if you want to uh address it specifically to a council member, they could get back to you individually after after this uh town hall. So with that said, um mayor, I think we're gonna bring up the uh PowerPoint and Mayor Nash King will start off uh with the 2040 plan update. Thank you. All right. Well, they're working that out. Thank you all for coming. Can you can you hear me in the back, sir? Can you hear me? Yeah, okay. Thank you, Mr. Roman. Thank you all for coming. This is just an update on what the city of Colleen have done, and that includes council giving directions. But the work is done for our staff by Mr. Cagle and our assistant city manager of Mrs. Wilson. Uh they do the daily operation of the city, but our executive rectors and employees, they make it happen. So it's truly amazing what we have accomplished this year as we get ready to close out, and I thank the council for giving us the opportunity to come and have this town hall with our resident. It is very significant, and it's important that we get the opportunity to see different faces. And I thank you all for taking out of your busy schedule to come here this afternoon. With that being said, there we go. This is my agenda for tonight for this afternoon. It's so weird because we always it's not yes, it's after five, so this evening I should say. So it's so weird because we always meet at three o'clock in the afternoon. So what's important to me, and also the council, and also to our staff. The 2040 comprehensive plan for the individuals that are looking or do not know about the 2040 comprehensive plan.
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