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Record of Proceedings

City Council Meeting - February 4, 2025: Transit Update, Homeless Shelter Funding, Recall and Bond Elections

City Council & Commissions — Tuesday, February 4, 2025

BodyKilleen, Texas

SessionCity Council & Commissions

DateTuesday, February 4, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 3:17:41

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

2:10

How do I do this, sir?

2:12

Let's go.

2:12

Thank you.

2:13

Thank you, everyone, for attending our meeting of our city council for today, February fourth.

2:18

The time now is three o'clock PM, and we're gonna go ahead and do our a call to order.

2:22

Let the record indicate that on the dice now we are less uh Councilmember Solomon and Councilmember Cobb.

2:30

We're gonna start with our invocation.

2:41

With us we've got Mr.

2:42

John Hahn.

2:43

Thank you, sir.

2:46

Mayor, Council, I'm just so thankful to be able to be here and pray over y'all today.

2:51

Um we're so excited to be part of this community.

2:55

Born and raised here, love this community, and we just want you to know that at Encounter City Church, we just really want to be here to support.

3:03

So we want to open this line of communication up so that if you need us in any way that we can be a love in this community, we're here for that.

3:12

So thank you so much.

3:13

So let's go to the Lord in prayer, please.

3:15

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this opportunity.

3:18

I thank you for this council.

3:20

I thank you for the wisdom that you give them each and every day to to run this city.

3:25

Thank you for just letting them have the strength to step up and fill the gaps.

3:31

As a church we were called to come into community with our leaders and to fill those gaps, so we just ask you to use us to show love, unity, and wisdom in this city.

3:55

But just know that love conquers all.

5:03

Second.

5:04

We have a second by councilmember Sigara.

5:09

All in favor.

5:14

Please vote yes.

5:15

Any opposed, vote no.

5:34

All right.

5:35

It looks like we've got a vote of four in favor of approval of the agenda.

5:41

Next, we're gonna move on to our presentations.

5:44

Keep in mind, Council that we've got three minutes, three times each on each of these uh presentations.

5:49

If you have any questions, we're gonna begin with uh PR 25-002.

5:56

We see a Hill Country Transit District update.

6:00

Mr.

6:01

Darrell Well, I'm sorry, it we had Daryl on the uh agenda, but this is Raymond Swarz here uh for Hill Country Transit District.

6:09

Thank you.

6:09

Thank you.

6:10

For the record, Raymond Sware is general manager of Hill Country Transit District.

6:15

I'm here to share some good news about uh Hill Country Transit District.

6:20

Uh uh Hendrickson Transportation Group, who who I work for was hired uh to through a contract to provide general management services and to chart a path forward uh with recommendations on how we would transform the transit district.

6:35

So before I share a little good news, I want to share kind of where we've been, so to provide some context.

6:40

Um a consultant was hired before we came in as uh the program managers um to manage the system, and these were the highlights of what we were hearing from stakeholders that the service was unreliable, as you are probably aware.

6:57

Uh the service tended to run one hour in a in one direction, so if you had to go in the opposite direction, it could take you up to two hours.

7:05

There was a lack of equity across the system.

7:08

Um wasn't really meeting the community needs, is what we were hearing.

7:11

Um I'm sure it was serving some needs, but not all the community needs.

7:16

Um I think there was a primary focus on seniors and disabled, and a lot of folks felt like the transit system was primarily for that purpose.

7:25

Um there was poor service coverage, inadequate weekday services in some of our member cities.

7:32

They had a literally in Harker Heights, it was in the middle of the day, there was no service, so they received service in the morning and in the afternoon, but not in the middle of the day.

7:40

Um it didn't operate late enough.

7:43

There wasn't technology readily available on the vehicles.

7:47

Um there was a poor route design, the service was too sparse.

7:52

Um, and we wanted to diversify our funding sources.

7:56

There was lack of clarity on the operational performance.

8:00

There was a general uh feel that communication was not great between the transit district and our stakeholder communities.

8:08

Um the performance reports that were being produced weren't useful to make management decisions uh to serve as business intelligence, uh ridership uh needed to be tracked more closely.

8:20

We've been on multiple years of declining ridership.

8:25

Um there was a general feeling that mobility was important for seniors, low-income residents, students, and commuters uh across the board.

8:35

Folks, I think we're really focused on more regionalism as opposed to local.

8:40

Um we needed to serve both, obviously, and there was a general feeling that access to medical care um required long trips and that Coleen and Temple were uh large economic and recreation hubs and needed to be better served, and there was interest in bringing Fort Cav into the regional system because it represents such a large part of our community, and there was a desire from Fort Cav to have better mobility on the base.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Homelessness████████████████16%

Public Engagement█████████████13%

Transportation Safety███████████11%

Election Process█████████9%

Community Engagement██████6%

Economic Development██████6%

Procedural█████5%

Technology and Innovation█████5%

Fiscal Sustainability█████5%

Summary of Proceedings

City Council Meeting – February 4, 2025

The Killeen City Council met on February 4, 2025, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chambers. Mayor Debbie Nash-King was absent; Mayor Pro Tem presided. Councilmembers Jessica Gonzalez, Ramon Alvarez, Michael Boyd, Joseph Solomon, Nina Cobb, and Riakos Adams were present (Cobb and Solomon arrived at 3:04 and 3:05 respectively). The agenda included a presentation from the Hill Country Transit District, a consent agenda with five items, ordinances ordering general and special elections (including a recall election for District 4 Councilmember Michael Boyd and a bond election), and a discussion of the Financial Governance Policy. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn.

Consent Calendar

RS-25-016: Approved a $350,000 funding agreement with Families in Crisis, Inc. for the Friends in Crisis homeless shelter operating expenses, using fiscal year 2024 surplus fund balance. The agreement covers operations through September 2025.
RS-25-017: Approved termination of the Employee Benefits Trust Fund effective February 4, 2025, as the trust no longer provided savings.
RS-25-018: Approved a petition to release approximately 19.961 acres from the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) located on FM 2484, per Senate Bill 2038.
RS-25-019: Authorized the issuance of certificates of obligation (COs) for capital projects (Featherline Drive, Mohawk Drive, Chaparral Road, Golf Course improvements, Fire Station #5 rebuild) in a maximum principal amount of $29 million; directed publication of notice of intent.
RS-25-020: Approved joint election contracts with Killeen ISD and Central Texas College for the May 3, 2025, election, with estimated total cost of $73,000 shared one-third each. All consent items were approved unanimously (6–0).

Public Comments & Testimony

Michael Frenino opposed the bond election for a new city hall, calling it a vanity project and arguing the city should focus on economic development and infrastructure. He criticized the city manager’s record.
Dr. Cameron Cochrane questioned the legality of the recall petition and criticized the proposed CO projects, particularly the Mohawk Drive extension and golf course funding. He also raised ethics concerns about the bond election and the city manager’s statements at a county meeting.
David Laws urged citizens to vote against the bond election, arguing it would burden future generations with debt.
James Sills supported Featherline Drive improvements but urged the council to provide detailed return-on-investment metrics for the city hall bond. He emphasized community engagement.
Candace Cooper (Downtown Killeen Merchants Association) asked for partnerships to address homelessness and praised new downtown businesses. She urged better marketing for Friends in Crisis and requested that the council consider all downtown businesses equally.
Christy Wilbanks questioned the CO project list changes and the city manager’s statements about committing $6 million to Chaparral Road before council approval. She also requested clearer voter information for the bond election.
Sean Price opposed the new city hall, advocating instead for renovating the historic building. He supported funding for Families in Crisis but called for better oversight.

Discussion Items

Hill Country Transit District Update (PR-25-002): General Manager Raymond Swarz presented improvements including 30-minute commuter service, 10-minute microtransit wait times, a 15–20% ridership increase, and 95% customer satisfaction. The district is restructuring to focus on urban areas and will integrate remaining rural counties by March 1, 2025. Councilmembers asked about safety, hours of operation, and future expansions. No action taken.
Financial Governance Policy Updates (DS-25-003): Finance Director presented proposed changes to align the policy with new ERP systems, GASB standards, and current rate ordinances. Council discussed and will consider adoption at the February 18, 2025 meeting.

Key Outcomes

Consent agenda approved 6–0.
OR-25-002 (General Election for four district council seats) approved 6–0.
OR-25-003 (Special Election for recall of District 4 Councilmember Michael Boyd) approved 5–1; Councilmember Cobb voted no. The recall election will be held May 3, 2025, on the same ballot as the general election; if the recall passes, Boyd would be removed from his current term (ending 2025) but could still run for the new term.
OR-25-004 (Special Election for a bond election to fund a new city hall and municipal complex) approved unanimously 6–0. The bond asks for up to $155 million; estimated tax impact for a $225,000 home is $4.22 in the first year and up to $20.16 when fully issued, decreasing over time.
The council will continue discussion of the Financial Governance Policy on February 18, 2025.
The meeting adjourned to a special meeting regarding the Employee Benefits Trust Fund.

Meeting Transcript

How do I do this, sir? Let's go. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for attending our meeting of our city council for today, February fourth. The time now is three o'clock PM, and we're gonna go ahead and do our a call to order. Let the record indicate that on the dice now we are less uh Councilmember Solomon and Councilmember Cobb. We're gonna start with our invocation. With us we've got Mr. John Hahn. Thank you, sir. Mayor, Council, I'm just so thankful to be able to be here and pray over y'all today. Um we're so excited to be part of this community. Born and raised here, love this community, and we just want you to know that at Encounter City Church, we just really want to be here to support. So we want to open this line of communication up so that if you need us in any way that we can be a love in this community, we're here for that. So thank you so much. So let's go to the Lord in prayer, please. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this opportunity. I thank you for this council. I thank you for the wisdom that you give them each and every day to to run this city. Thank you for just letting them have the strength to step up and fill the gaps. As a church we were called to come into community with our leaders and to fill those gaps, so we just ask you to use us to show love, unity, and wisdom in this city. But just know that love conquers all. Second. We have a second by councilmember Sigara. All in favor. Please vote yes. Any opposed, vote no. All right. It looks like we've got a vote of four in favor of approval of the agenda. Next, we're gonna move on to our presentations. Keep in mind, Council that we've got three minutes, three times each on each of these uh presentations. If you have any questions, we're gonna begin with uh PR 25-002. We see a Hill Country Transit District update. Mr. Darrell Well, I'm sorry, it we had Daryl on the uh agenda, but this is Raymond Swarz here uh for Hill Country Transit District. Thank you. Thank you. For the record, Raymond Sware is general manager of Hill Country Transit District. I'm here to share some good news about uh Hill Country Transit District. Uh uh Hendrickson Transportation Group, who who I work for was hired uh to through a contract to provide general management services and to chart a path forward uh with recommendations on how we would transform the transit district. So before I share a little good news, I want to share kind of where we've been, so to provide some context. Um a consultant was hired before we came in as uh the program managers um to manage the system, and these were the highlights of what we were hearing from stakeholders that the service was unreliable, as you are probably aware. Uh the service tended to run one hour in a in one direction, so if you had to go in the opposite direction, it could take you up to two hours. There was a lack of equity across the system. Um wasn't really meeting the community needs, is what we were hearing. Um I'm sure it was serving some needs, but not all the community needs. Um I think there was a primary focus on seniors and disabled, and a lot of folks felt like the transit system was primarily for that purpose. Um there was poor service coverage, inadequate weekday services in some of our member cities. They had a literally in Harker Heights, it was in the middle of the day, there was no service, so they received service in the morning and in the afternoon, but not in the middle of the day. Um it didn't operate late enough.

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