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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

North Richland Hills City Council Meeting - January 27, 2026

City Council & Boards — Tuesday, January 27, 2026

BodyNorth Richland Hills, Texas

SessionCity Council & Boards

DateTuesday, January 27, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 53:58

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

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Unassigned speaker

1:02

Good

Speaker 1

1:02

afternoon, welcome to North Trudson Hills City Council work session.

1:05

It is 3 p.m.

1:07

and you know we pride ourselves on being the standard.

1:09

This may be the new standard, right, Kelvin.

1:11

And I'll call the Tuesday, January 27, 2026 City Council work session to order.

1:16

For those in attendance and watching from home, due to the inclement weather of January 26th, City Council meeting was canceled and the meeting has been reconvened under the Texas Government Code section 5510411 and 551045 due to catastrophic inclement weather that prevented the city council from convening the meeting as originally posted.

1:49

The city council will not take any action on the items listed in the discussion during the work session.

1:53

Any members of the public wishing to address the council excuse me regarding items listed in the work session agenda may do so during the public comments portion of the regular meeting.

2:22

Okay.

2:23

Um

Speaker 2

2:28

did you want to ask if there's any questions on regular council?

Speaker 1

2:32

Oh, it wasn't on mine.

2:35

We have a new system today.

2:37

Um with new bugs that are uh we're gonna document them and comb features.

2:46

Okay, so I'm going first to the first item in the council to have the opportunity to ask any questions for items on the regular agenda that the council has not uh clarified at this time.

2:55

Do I have any?

2:56

Moving on.

2:57

Now Paulette, new employee.

2:58

Okay,

Speaker 2

2:59

thank you.

2:59

So our fire department um has uh recently kind of readjusted some positions in there and and we now have a dedicated uh PIO for the fire department, and we've hired a new uh PIO for the fire department, and that's Will McAfee.

3:17

So Chief Tinney, if you want to come up and introduce and Will, if you want to say a few words.

Unassigned speaker

3:23

I

Speaker 3

3:23

already warned him about saying a few words, but you just shot that down.

3:26

But anyway.

3:27

All right.

3:28

Yes, we're we are very excited today to introduce to you guys uh new member of our team, uh Will McAfee.

3:35

He comes to us uh as our community engagement coordinator is the title we put on it, but also our PIO, our public information officer.

3:44

Uh he comes to us from the University of North Texas, uh, where he worked in recruitment and retention for the past five years.

Unassigned speaker

3:51

Uh

Speaker 3

3:51

we were very, very impressed with uh Will and his interview and feel like that his skill set is really gonna uh suit us very very well.

4:00

Uh he does have some deep roots within our department.

4:04

If you are looking at him and wondering how come he looks familiar, is he is Chief McAfee's son, our retired assistant chief that's fire chief and sellman now.

4:13

So that's uh that's a uh extra little plus for us.

4:16

We're very excited about as well.

4:18

Uh Will is uh holds uh bachelor's degree from West Texas AM and a master's of education from Oklahoma State University, and we couldn't be happier

Speaker 4

4:28

to have him here with

Speaker 3

4:29

us.

4:29

So you're welcome.

Speaker 1

4:32

Welcome board.

Unassigned speaker

4:34

And

Speaker 1

4:35

I and obviously you've grown up in it, so you actually understand it really, really well.

4:39

Maybe from a cynical point of view too, sometimes

Unassigned speaker

4:44

all

Speaker 1

4:44

right.

4:45

Next time is the purchasing policy updates.

4:47

Trudy

Speaker 5

4:51

forgot how quickly I was gonna be up on the agenda.

4:54

So good evening, Mayor and Council.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

Um, as you all know, the city did um hold a charter election change, and as a result, we needed to make sure that all of our policies for purchasing reflected those changes.

Speaker 5

5:07

But we've also had some other things to happen since that time that we want to be sure to bring council up to speed on.

5:12

So for this evening, we are going to discuss uh purchases up to 100,000, um, hub vendor changes from the state, and also our purchasing transparency award submission, which we had discussed with council last summer.

5:24

We certainly have to consider several things when it comes to our purchasing policy.

5:27

It is not just what's happening here at the city.

5:29

There's federal law, state law, our policies, and also what's happening in terms of dollar amount and also type.

5:35

All of those things determine what our process is.

5:39

Texas state law uh has set the competitive bidding threshold at uh for most municipalities right at 50,000.

5:46

I'm not sure why this is proceeding forward.

5:49

Um, starting in 2007, we know that the Senate Bill 1173 changed that to be at 100,000, and then of course, we held our charter election with proposition proposition F that passed to allow us to update that amount to reflect state law.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Procedural███████████████████19%

Public Engagement███████████████████19%

Short Term Rental Regulations██████████10%

Budget Equity Analysis███████7%

Efficiency Audits██████6%

Economic Development██████6%

Engineering And Infrastructure██████6%

Waste Management██████6%

Government Ethics█████5%

Summary of Proceedings

North Richland Hills City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting - January 27, 2026

The City Council of North Richland Hills held a combined work session and regular meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, after being rescheduled from Monday, January 26 due to inclement weather (snowstorm) under Texas Government Code Sections 551.0411 and 551.045. The work session convened at 3:00 PM in the Council Workroom, followed by an executive session from 3:20 PM to 3:30 PM, and the regular meeting began at 3:38 PM in City Hall Council Chambers, adjourning at 4:08 PM. All council members were present: Mayor Jack McCarty, Place 1 Cecille Delaney, Place 2 Brianne Goetz, Place 3 Danny Roberts, Place 4 Matt Blake, Place 5 Billy Parks, Place 6 Russ Mitchell, and Mayor Pro Tem Kelvin Deupree (Place 7).

Consent Calendar

Approved 7-0 (motion by Blake, second by Mitchell): The consent agenda, including:
- Approval of minutes from the January 12, 2026 City Council meeting.
- Purchase of books from Brodart via Texas Comptroller State Contract No. 715-M2 for up to $170,000 (budgeted), with an option to renew for two additional one-year terms.
- Resolution No. 2026-009 authorizing application and acceptance of allocated funds for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission Special Projects Grant (Institute for Museum and Library Services Grants to States Program No. 45.310).
- Resolution No. 2026-011 adopting the 2025 Tarrant County Hazard Mitigation Action Plan.

Public Comments & Testimony

No members of the public signed up to speak during Public Comments (Agenda Item A.4) or Citizens Presentation (Agenda Item F).

Discussion Items

Work Session (3:00 PM - 3:20 PM):

New Employee Introduction: Fire Chief Stan Tinney introduced Will McAfee as the new Community Engagement Coordinator/Public Information Officer for the Fire Department. McAfee previously worked at the University of North Texas and holds a bachelor's from West Texas A&M and a master's from Oklahoma State University; he is also the son of the retired assistant chief.
Purchasing Policy Updates: Assistant City Manager Trudy Lewis presented changes due to Senate Bill 1173 (89th Legislature) raising the competitive bidding threshold from $50,000 to $100,000, and a charter amendment (Proposition F) approved by voters on November 4, 2025, eliminating the $50,000 threshold. New internal approval limits: directors up to $10,000 (previously $3,000), assistant city managers up to $50,000 (previously $20,000), city manager up to $100,000; anything over $100,000 goes to council. Competitive bidding process remains. Also discussed changes to HUB vendor requirements (replaced by Veterans Heroes United and Business Program per emergency order from state comptroller, effective 120 days with possible 60-day renewal). Staff is pursuing purchasing transparency award; submission delayed to February.
Town Hall Meetings for 2026: City Manager Paulette Hartman outlined plans: an April town hall on economic development and FIFA World Cup impact on DFW; an August town hall on the proposed FY 2027 budget; and a potential fall town hall if a bond election is called. Council members could suggest additional topics.
City Manager Report:
- Short-Term Rental Registrations: Managing Director of Community Services Stefanie Martinez reported 49 applications received since November 2025. Of those, 10 completed inspections and have permits, 5 inspections scheduled that week, and the rest are in process due to documentation issues (e.g., local management contact, back taxes). The city had estimated roughly 200 short-term rentals were operating before the ordinance.
- Efficiency Studies RFPs: IT efficiency study review complete; recommendation to council expected in March. RFPs for utility billing and facility audits received interest from over 2,500 vendors, with 86 documented downloads each; award recommendations expected in April.
- Spring Arts Event: First NRH Art Fest will be held April 11, 2026 from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM; call for artists sent out.
Future Agenda Items: No requests from council.
Executive Session (3:20 PM - 3:30 PM): Council met in closed session to consult with City Attorney regarding pending litigation (Jessie Goodfellow v. City of North Richland Hills, et al., Cause No. 352-366545-25; Travis Scott Gray v. City of North Richland Hills, et al., Civil Action No. 4-25CV1276-09) and economic development negotiations with a business prospect (Section 551.087). No action taken afterward.

Regular Meeting:

Public Hearings (Continued to February 9, 2026):
- C.1 – 52nd Year Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program: City Engineer Nathan Frohman presented the proposed project reconstruction of Wendell Court South (680 linear feet) with reinforced concrete pavement. Estimated CDBG funding: $287,000; total project cost $534,000; gap covered by prior CDBG savings and Preventative Street Maintenance Program. Public hearing opened with no speakers; motion to continue passed 7-0.
- C.2 – Ordinance No. 3943 to close Colorado Boulevard to through traffic between Harwood Road and Boulevard 26: Assistant City Manager Caroline Waggoner presented data showing the street acts as an unintended cut-through bypass. 21 homes with direct frontage; closure would leave three access points per side. Majority of directly affected residents support closure. Staff recommended a phased approach: temporary barricade, then permanent emergency access gate within 6 months. No public speakers; motion to continue passed 7-0.
D.1 – Short-Term Rental Permit Deadline Extension (Ordinance No. 3944): Approved 7-0. Extends initial registration deadline from January 31, 2026 to February 28, 2026, due to delays in third-party notice issuance. Only applies to initial registration year.
G.1 – Republic Waste Services Contract Extension: Approved 7-0. Authorizes City Manager to execute second and final amendment extending solid waste and recycling services contract for one year to expire January 31, 2029. Annual CPI-based increase capped at 5%; Republic agreed to 4% increase for this extension.
G.2 – First Amended NEFDA Interlocal Agreement: Approved 7-0. Makes DFW Airport a member of the Northeast Fire Department Association (NEFDA). DFW joins as a participating partner contributing resources without drawing from the association.
Announcements (Council Member Blake):
- Polar Plunge on February 7 benefiting Special Olympics Texas.
- Texas Senate District 9 runoff: last day to vote early is January 27; Election Day January 31.
- Daddy/Daughter Valentine’s Dance on February 21 at NRH Centre (tickets sell out).
- Kudos to Julie Adkins and Jennifer Mills at NRH Senior Center for their outstanding leadership and dedication.

Key Outcomes

Consent Agenda: Approved 7-0.
Public Hearings (CDBG & Colorado Boulevard closure): Continued to February 9, 2026 by unanimous votes (7-0 each). Public may submit written comments via email until then.
Short-Term Rental Deadline Extension (Ordinance 3944): Approved 7-0, extending registration deadline to February 28, 2026.
Republic Waste Contract Extension: Approved 7-0, with 4% CPI increase instead of 5%.
NEFDA Interlocal Agreement (DFW Airport membership): Approved 7-0.
Executive Session: No action taken.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, welcome to North Trudson Hills City Council work session. It is 3 p.m. and you know we pride ourselves on being the standard. This may be the new standard, right, Kelvin. And I'll call the Tuesday, January 27, 2026 City Council work session to order. For those in attendance and watching from home, due to the inclement weather of January 26th, City Council meeting was canceled and the meeting has been reconvened under the Texas Government Code section 5510411 and 551045 due to catastrophic inclement weather that prevented the city council from convening the meeting as originally posted. The city council will not take any action on the items listed in the discussion during the work session. Any members of the public wishing to address the council excuse me regarding items listed in the work session agenda may do so during the public comments portion of the regular meeting. Okay. Um did you want to ask if there's any questions on regular council? Oh, it wasn't on mine. We have a new system today. Um with new bugs that are uh we're gonna document them and comb features. Okay, so I'm going first to the first item in the council to have the opportunity to ask any questions for items on the regular agenda that the council has not uh clarified at this time. Do I have any? Moving on. Now Paulette, new employee. Okay, thank you. So our fire department um has uh recently kind of readjusted some positions in there and and we now have a dedicated uh PIO for the fire department, and we've hired a new uh PIO for the fire department, and that's Will McAfee. So Chief Tinney, if you want to come up and introduce and Will, if you want to say a few words. I already warned him about saying a few words, but you just shot that down. But anyway. All right. Yes, we're we are very excited today to introduce to you guys uh new member of our team, uh Will McAfee. He comes to us uh as our community engagement coordinator is the title we put on it, but also our PIO, our public information officer. Uh he comes to us from the University of North Texas, uh, where he worked in recruitment and retention for the past five years. Uh we were very, very impressed with uh Will and his interview and feel like that his skill set is really gonna uh suit us very very well. Uh he does have some deep roots within our department. If you are looking at him and wondering how come he looks familiar, is he is Chief McAfee's son, our retired assistant chief that's fire chief and sellman now. So that's uh that's a uh extra little plus for us. We're very excited about as well. Uh Will is uh holds uh bachelor's degree from West Texas AM and a master's of education from Oklahoma State University, and we couldn't be happier to have him here with us. So you're welcome. Welcome board. And I and obviously you've grown up in it, so you actually understand it really, really well. Maybe from a cynical point of view too, sometimes all right. Next time is the purchasing policy updates. Trudy forgot how quickly I was gonna be up on the agenda. So good evening, Mayor and Council.

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