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Record of Proceedings

Richland Hills City Council Work Session & Regular Meeting - April 27, 2026

City Council — Monday, April 27, 2026
BodyRichland Hills, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateMonday, April 27, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.

Speaker 1

3:01

Okay.

Unassigned speaker

3:02

All

Speaker 1

3:02

right.

3:02

Mike's on.

Speaker 2

3:03

Mike

Speaker 1

3:04

on.

3:04

All right.

3:05

Good evening, everyone.

3:06

I call the City of Richland Hills City Council Workshop of Monday, April 27, two thousand twenty-six to order at five thirty PM.

3:16

We'll start with item A.

3:17

That's discuss items listed on tonight's City Council agenda.

3:21

No action will be taken, and each item will be considered during the regular session.

3:25

So does council have any items that they want to talk about at this time?

3:30

Okay.

3:31

Moving on to item B.

3:33

Bioletic street survey program.

3:35

Jason, would you like to introduce this item?

Speaker 2

3:38

So thank you.

3:43

Kelly Morris is going to come up and give you an update on the street survey tool that he's been utilizing with his team out in the field.

3:51

And if you recall, they can put a device on their work trucks, drive the city streets as they're out and about, and it's scanning the pavement and taking inventory of different things.

4:03

And so I'll let him take it from here.

Speaker 3

4:23

It allows us the city to scan our own streets, and we can scan them as many times as we want throughout the year, consistently updating as projects progress.

4:35

After we do our scan, AI in turn creates a pavement condition and index score.

4:40

Basically how we score our streets from 100 being the best to 1 and 0 being the worst.

Unassigned speaker

4:48

We

Speaker 3

4:48

have taken our data from biolytics and combined it with HAFS GIS system.

4:52

Now that we can integrate our underground utilities with our above ground utilities.

Unassigned speaker

4:59

The

Speaker 3

4:59

cost for bioletics for the first year was 17,000.

5:03

There's that initiation cost.

5:05

The first year after is going to be 13,500.

5:10

Cost of competitors we had rough quotes on was around 60,000.

5:13

And that was for one scan only.

Unassigned speaker

5:16

This

Speaker 3

5:16

would be funded out of our fiscal year 26 utility

Unassigned speaker

5:20

fund.

Speaker 3

5:22

This is our initial scan.

5:24

Like I said, we can do more scans.

5:26

We were missing some segments here, and we we found better ways.

5:30

If you go up and down the street both ways, you collect a little bit more data.

5:34

It gets a little more specific.

5:35

So we're still in the process of that, but here's just a teaser of the initial

Unassigned speaker

5:38

scan.

Unassigned speaker

5:39

As you

Speaker 3

5:40

see on the top right,

Unassigned speaker

5:41

we

Speaker 3

5:42

didn't get the greatest score of a 48, but this does help us and put points us in a direction.

5:49

Something that we are takes away our bias, right?

5:52

We're we're not just going for the streets we think need improvement.

5:55

This is basically it's color coding it for

Unassigned speaker

5:58

us.

Speaker 3

6:01

Here's a side-by-side from the PCI taken back in 2017.

Unassigned speaker

6:06

I

Speaker 3

6:07

tried blowing them up as big as I

Speaker 2

6:09

could, but this is one that uh we did with one of those third party companies.

6:14

It was a one-time scan, and we passed on that information to half associates.

6:20

So this is, I mean, you can kind of see some of the streets that Kelly's team has worked on over the last year or so that were not green on the right, and they're now they're green on the left.

6:32

So uh it's

Speaker 3

6:33

definitely you kind of see the roadways that weren't as bad, but now they are they're getting to the point of needed replace.

6:48

Here's a shot of our the 0 to 25.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural███████████████████████████████████35%
Economic Development████████████████████████24%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████11%
Public Engagement█████5%
Taxation Policy█████5%
Water And Wastewater Management████4%
Zoning And Land Use████4%
Youth Programs████4%
Parks and Recreation██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Richland Hills City Council Work Session & Regular Meeting - April 27, 2026

The Richland Hills City Council convened for a Work Session at 5:30 PM followed by a Regular Session on April 27, 2026. The Work Session included presentations on a new street survey program, the Economic Development Strategic Plan, and a holistic review of city fees. The Regular Session featured a public hearing on youth program standards, approval of engineering contracts, a resolution supporting federal funding, and the recognition of Interim City Secretary Lisa Boyd.

Work Session Discussion Items

  • Vialytics Street Survey (Item B): Kelly Morris presented a new pavement scanning program utilizing cell phones mounted on city trucks. The initial scan gave the city an overall Pavement Condition Index (PCI) score of 48, which staff later noted had improved to the mid-50s. The first-year cost is $17,000, funded through the FY26 Utility Fund. The data is integrated with the city's GIS, allowing for overlay with utility infrastructure. Council directed staff to make street condition data publicly available on the GIS portal to improve transparency and prioritize projects ahead of the May 2nd street bond vote.
  • Economic Development Strategic Plan (Item C): City staff presented a draft strategic plan focusing on leveraging Opportunity Zones (with a July 1, 2026 nomination deadline) and New Market Tax Credits to catalyze private investment. Key recommendations included dissolving the underperforming Baker TIF, freeing its $1 million balance and $350,000 annual increment for the general fund to offset sales tax shortfalls. The proposed fiscal strategy involves a potential voter-approved general obligation bond paired with a homestead exemption. Staff outlined "three disciplines": avoiding subsidies without improved tax productivity, not acquiring land without a clear exit strategy, and maintaining conservative financial projections.
  • Water, Wastewater, Drainage, and Other Fees (Item D): Staff recommended delaying a previously scheduled rate increase to conduct a comprehensive city-wide fee review, covering water, sewer, drainage, impact fees, court costs, and building permits. The objective is to introduce a single, omnibus fee ordinance with the Fiscal Year 2027 budget in October.

Executive Session

The Council convened in Executive Session to discuss personnel matters, including the appointment, employment, and duties of the City Secretary and the evaluation and duties of the City Manager. Upon reconvening, the Council thanked Interim City Secretary Lisa Boyd for her service.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Cindy Gillard: Addressed the council to express profound gratitude to the Richland Hills Police and Fire Departments for their compassion following the recent death of her wife. She requested patience from the community as she navigates the grieving process.

Consent Calendar

The Council approved the April 13, 2026 meeting minutes and excused the absence of Councilmember G.W. Estep. Item C (Resolution 646-26 for the purchase of Rifle Resistant Body Armor) was removed from the consent calendar at the request of staff to correct grant language and was tabled to a subsequent meeting.

Regular Session Discussion & Decisions

  • Youth Program Standards (Ordinance 1542-26): Following a public hearing, the Council approved the 2026 Standards of Care for youth programs provided by The Link. Amendments proposed by Councilmember Roland G. were incorporated, including changing the served age range from "3 to 12" to "5 to 12", correcting booster seat language, and changing "expected abuse" to "suspected abuse."
  • Cecil Drive Reconstruction (Task Order #005): The Council approved an amended task order with Halff Associates totaling $108,600 for engineering services on the Cecil Drive Street Reconstruction Project, which included an additional $22,000 for a required flood study.
  • Booth Calloway Road Federal Funding (Resolution): The Council approved a resolution of support for a federal Community Project Funding request of $6,000,000 for the Booth Calloway Road Reconstruction and Utility Replacement Project.
  • Capital Improvement Program Management (Vieste, LLC): The Council approved a $90,000 agreement with Vieste, LLC for professional services related to program management and development of the city's Capital Improvement Program.
  • Zoning Case Withdrawn: The applicant for Ordinance 1540-26 (Planned Development at 6557 Baker Blvd) formally withdrew their application.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Agenda: Approved with the exception of Item C, which was tabled.
  • Ordinance 1542-26: Adopted with three amendments proposed by Councilmember Roland G. All council members voted in favor.
  • Task Order #005 (Cecil Drive): Approved at $108,600. All council members voted in favor.
  • Booth Calloway Resolution: Approved to support a $6 million federal grant request. All council members voted in favor.
  • Vieste Agreement: Approved at $90,000 for CIP program management services. All council members voted in favor.
  • Next Steps: The Economic Development Strategic Plan will be made publicly available on the city website. The comprehensive fee review will be presented to council in the summer with an October 1, 2026 implementation target.
  • Appointment: Interim City Secretary Lisa Boyd was recognized for her service following the Executive Session.

Meeting Transcript

Okay. All right. Mike's on. Mike on. All right. Good evening, everyone. I call the City of Richland Hills City Council Workshop of Monday, April 27, two thousand twenty-six to order at five thirty PM. We'll start with item A. That's discuss items listed on tonight's City Council agenda. No action will be taken, and each item will be considered during the regular session. So does council have any items that they want to talk about at this time? Okay. Moving on to item B. Bioletic street survey program. Jason, would you like to introduce this item? So thank you. Kelly Morris is going to come up and give you an update on the street survey tool that he's been utilizing with his team out in the field. And if you recall, they can put a device on their work trucks, drive the city streets as they're out and about, and it's scanning the pavement and taking inventory of different things. And so I'll let him take it from here. It allows us the city to scan our own streets, and we can scan them as many times as we want throughout the year, consistently updating as projects progress. After we do our scan, AI in turn creates a pavement condition and index score. Basically how we score our streets from 100 being the best to 1 and 0 being the worst. We have taken our data from biolytics and combined it with HAFS GIS system. Now that we can integrate our underground utilities with our above ground utilities. The cost for bioletics for the first year was 17,000. There's that initiation cost. The first year after is going to be 13,500. Cost of competitors we had rough quotes on was around 60,000. And that was for one scan only. This would be funded out of our fiscal year 26 utility fund. This is our initial scan. Like I said, we can do more scans. We were missing some segments here, and we we found better ways. If you go up and down the street both ways, you collect a little bit more data. It gets a little more specific. So we're still in the process of that, but here's just a teaser of the initial scan. As you see on the top right, we didn't get the greatest score of a 48, but this does help us and put points us in a direction. Something that we are takes away our bias, right? We're we're not just going for the streets we think need improvement. This is basically it's color coding it for

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