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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Watauga City Council Workshop on Facility Action Plan - May 11, 2026

City Council — Monday, May 11, 2026

BodyWatauga, Texas

SessionCity Council

DateMonday, May 11, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

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Unassigned speaker

0:11

Speaker 1

0:11

call to order the Warga City Council Workshop meeting Monday, May 11, 2026, City Hall Council Chambers.

0:18

First item is rule call, place one.

0:24

Place two.

Speaker 2

0:25

Chris Blackburn present.

Speaker 1

0:27

Place three.

Speaker 2

0:28

Lovey Downey present.

Speaker 1

0:31

Place four.

0:32

Andrew Neal present.

0:34

Place five is vacant.

0:36

Place six.

Speaker 3

0:37

Mark Taylor present.

Speaker 1

0:40

Place seven.

0:42

Jan Hill present.

0:44

Mayor Art Minor present.

0:46

Next up announcements.

0:49

We'll just do anybody have any announcements this time.

0:54

All right, moving on.

0:56

Any requests for public comment or public testimony, Miss Prosky?

Unassigned speaker

1:00

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1

1:05

All right, item one presentation discussing consideration of facility action plan for the police animal control and the library facilities.

1:13

Ms.

1:13

Gibson.

Speaker 4

1:15

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

1:17

Tonight's presentation will be a collaborative effort with the team.

1:22

We've got Chief Lewis, myself, Jennifer Calvert, as well as Lana presenting parts of this presentation.

1:33

We have been working hard to put this together for you for our post bond action plan.

1:41

What we're trying to do here is present to council our thoughts on some of the priority projects within our facilities.

1:58

Following the bond election that did not pass, unfortunately.

2:06

So we have to act and fix some of those immediate needs and concerns.

2:37

So again, uh tonight's uh mission is really you know, alignment that we're all on the same page on our post auction post bond action plan.

2:50

So we know that we have critical facility needs, um, and a lot of their maintenance of fixes are short-term fixes, but but things that must be done.

3:03

Um both propositions of the library and the police and the animal shelter, both of those did not pass, and um but it's about a 60 percent um to 40 uh loss there.

3:18

So we did hear very strongly from the community um on some issues, and most of them were regarding around the impact on the tax rate.

3:28

So really going forward, we're trying to find different ways to address the facility needs with a lesser tax impact.

3:38

But what we do know is we still need to move forward.

Unassigned speaker

3:41

Speaker 4

3:41

again, uh tax impact.

3:44

Um, I talked to several with our bond uh town halls, I talked to several residents that were like, you know, even uh those that really felt like hey, we need we need to do something with our facilities, but it was gonna hit their pocketbook um too intensely.

4:00

Um so we did have some questions on you know, can we phase these projects?

4:06

Um and that is something that that's not a you know, it's maybe a possibility to do some minor renovations and things, but it's not gonna fix those space issues that that that we're having in in all the different facilities.

4:21

Um also you know, just enhancing communication.

4:25

Um we did have several town halls, um not a whole lot of attendance there.

4:31

Uh we did have a lot of uh hits on our media pages and um you know pushed information out that way, and we had views uh for all of the videos that we had, but we didn't have a lot of people going through our facilities to see those needs.

4:47

And you know, you can put things uh in a video, but it it makes much more of an impact if we have um people going through the facilities that we can explain, you know, what what's lacking in them.

5:00

Um, and also, you know, transparency and timing is just uh timing more on the financial impact, um, a lot of things going on at that time in November, um, where we had the government shutdown and different things, and and that did also you know, likely play a part um in the bond election results.

5:19

So as we said, we need to do something.

5:22

Um replacement costs just keep escalating.

5:27

Uh we did look at the facility needs uh assessments.

5:34

We looked at that again, and and we were seeing that you know, each year it's between seven and nine percent inflationary increase by not you know replacement of our facilities.

5:46

And also with maintenance um uh putting those maintenance items off, um, we have those those costs increasing as well.

5:55

We have operational inefficiencies throughout either all of our facilities right now.

6:00

Um, and some of our facilities, quite frankly, is hard to work there.

6:04

Um it's they're not great places to work for our employees.

6:08

So that's a huge concern, and you'll hear from both the police chief and um and the library director regarding that.

6:15

Uh also, you know, these are having impact on service quality uh to our citizens, so they are the ones suffering as well.

6:24

So looking forward uh with this action plan, uh we're looking at fiscal responsibility.

6:29

What can we afford?

6:30

Uh can we phase in uh some of these items?

6:35

Um we even with the maintenance items, we may not want to hit you know this next year's budget all at once.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Facility Management███████████████████████████████31%

Engineering And Infrastructure██████████████14%

Budget Management███████████11%

Capital Planning██████████10%

Public Engagement█████████9%

Public Safety██████6%

Animal Welfare█████5%

Procedural████4%

Parks and Recreation████4%

Summary of Proceedings

Watauga City Council Workshop on Facility Action Plan - May 11, 2026

The Watauga City Council held a workshop on May 11, 2026, to discuss a post-bond facility action plan for the Police Department, Animal Control, and Library following the failure of a bond election. Staff presented prioritized short-term fixes and long-term funding strategies to address critical facility needs with minimal tax impact. Council members provided feedback on prioritization and next steps.

Discussion Items

Post-Bond Action Plan Overview: City staff (Ms. Gibson) presented the facility needs assessment, noting the bond failed with roughly 60% opposing. Community concerns centered on tax impact. Replacement costs are estimated to escalate by 7-9% annually. Updated pricing estimates a police facility at $32 million, an animal shelter at $11 million, and a library at $32 million. Staff recommended a hybrid approach of immediate critical fixes combined with a future bond package.
Police Department Needs: Chief Lewis outlined priority projects. Functional upgrades include fire bay conversion for office space, Connex ammo storage to address mold and floor sagging, power upgrades, and Sally Port expansion for property storage. Health and safety needs include parking lot security fencing, lighting, concrete bollards, gate systems, and dehumidification. When asked about the building's substructure, Chief Lewis stated it is not fixable and that proposed fixes are only short-term "band-aids," with a full facility replacement being the only long-term solution.
Library Needs: Library Director Lana detailed facility deficiencies, including ADA compliance issues with entry doors and restrooms, lack of security cameras (following an incident where staff was assaulted), climate control problems, inadequate power, and severe space constraints that prevent age group separation and cause customer frustration. Staff are exploring partnerships with Parks and Recreation for programming space.
Animal Control Needs: Chief Lewis also presented animal shelter needs, including perimeter fencing replacement, security camera system upgrades, lighting upgrades, synthetic turf, a 65 kW generator (no backup exists), and a $250,000 industrial dehumidification system. Councilman Neal inquired about the limited camera system and downtime during power outages.
Funding Options & Debt Strategy: Jennifer (Finance) presented two main debt options for a future police or library facility. Option 1: Issue $37 million in 2029. Option 2: Issue $37 million in 2031. Both options would require a successful bond election for the animal shelter in 2026 or 2027, a cash defeasance, no debt in 2026, and a 3.5% annual increase in assessed value. Alternative funding for smaller projects could come from tax notes (5-7 year amortization) and reprioritizing the 5-year CIP.

Key Outcomes

Council Direction on Prioritization: Councilman Taylor and Councilman Neal expressed support for prioritizing the Police Department for long-term replacement due to structural safety concerns, while Councilman Neal emphasized the Library's role as a vital community "third place." A councilmember spoke strongly in favor of upgrading the Animal Control facility. Councilwoman Hill stressed prioritizing items related to legal ADA compliance deadlines.
No Formal Action Taken: As a workshop meeting, no votes were taken. Councilmember Downey requested that staff gather further questions and bring the item back for a repeat discussion to achieve clearer consensus, expressing personal concerns about debt vehicles and pending state legislative impacts.
Future Bond Path: Council broadly agreed that a future bond election is necessary within two-plus years, likely paired with a bond committee to improve public engagement and education on facility needs and tax implications.

Meeting Transcript

I call to order the Warga City Council Workshop meeting Monday, May 11, 2026, City Hall Council Chambers. First item is rule call, place one. Place two. Chris Blackburn present. Place three. Lovey Downey present. Place four. Andrew Neal present. Place five is vacant. Place six. Mark Taylor present. Place seven. Jan Hill present. Mayor Art Minor present. Next up announcements. We'll just do anybody have any announcements this time. All right, moving on. Any requests for public comment or public testimony, Miss Prosky? Yes, sir. All right, item one presentation discussing consideration of facility action plan for the police animal control and the library facilities. Ms. Gibson. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight's presentation will be a collaborative effort with the team. We've got Chief Lewis, myself, Jennifer Calvert, as well as Lana presenting parts of this presentation. We have been working hard to put this together for you for our post bond action plan. What we're trying to do here is present to council our thoughts on some of the priority projects within our facilities. Following the bond election that did not pass, unfortunately. So we have to act and fix some of those immediate needs and concerns. So again, uh tonight's uh mission is really you know, alignment that we're all on the same page on our post auction post bond action plan. So we know that we have critical facility needs, um, and a lot of their maintenance of fixes are short-term fixes, but but things that must be done. Um both propositions of the library and the police and the animal shelter, both of those did not pass, and um but it's about a 60 percent um to 40 uh loss there. So we did hear very strongly from the community um on some issues, and most of them were regarding around the impact on the tax rate. So really going forward, we're trying to find different ways to address the facility needs with a lesser tax impact. But what we do know is we still need to move forward. Um again, uh tax impact. Um, I talked to several with our bond uh town halls, I talked to several residents that were like, you know, even uh those that really felt like hey, we need we need to do something with our facilities, but it was gonna hit their pocketbook um too intensely. Um so we did have some questions on you know, can we phase these projects? Um and that is something that that's not a you know, it's maybe a possibility to do some minor renovations and things, but it's not gonna fix those space issues that that that we're having in in all the different facilities. Um also you know, just enhancing communication. Um we did have several town halls, um not a whole lot of attendance there. Uh we did have a lot of uh hits on our media pages and um you know pushed information out that way, and we had views uh for all of the videos that we had, but we didn't have a lot of people going through our facilities to see those needs. And you know, you can put things uh in a video, but it it makes much more of an impact if we have um people going through the facilities that we can explain, you know, what what's lacking in them. Um, and also, you know, transparency and timing is just uh timing more on the financial impact, um, a lot of things going on at that time in November, um, where we had the government shutdown and different things, and and that did also you know, likely play a part um in the bond election results. So as we said, we need to do something. Um replacement costs just keep escalating. Uh we did look at the facility needs uh assessments. We looked at that again, and and we were seeing that you know, each year it's between seven and nine percent inflationary increase by not you know replacement of our facilities.

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Watauga City Council Workshop on Facility Action Plan - May 11, 2026

Discussion Items

Post-Bond Action Plan Overview: City staff (Ms. Gibson) presented the facility needs assessment, noting the bond failed with roughly 60% opposing. Community concerns centered on tax impact. Replacement costs are estimated to escalate by 7-9% annually. Updated pricing estimates a police facility at $32 million, an animal shelter at $11 million, and a library at $32 million. Staff recommended a hybrid approach of immediate critical fixes combined with a future bond package.

Police Department Needs: Chief Lewis outlined priority projects. Functional upgrades include fire bay conversion for office space, Connex ammo storage to address mold and floor sagging, power upgrades, and Sally Port expansion for property storage. Health and safety needs include parking lot security fencing, lighting, concrete bollards, gate systems, and dehumidification. When asked about the building's substructure, Chief Lewis stated it is not fixable and that proposed fixes are only short-term "band-aids," with a full facility replacement being the only long-term solution.

Library Needs: Library Director Lana detailed facility deficiencies, including ADA compliance issues with entry doors and restrooms, lack of security cameras (following an incident where staff was assaulted), climate control problems, inadequate power, and severe space constraints that prevent age group separation and cause customer frustration. Staff are exploring partnerships with Parks and Recreation for programming space.

Animal Control Needs: Chief Lewis also presented animal shelter needs, including perimeter fencing replacement, security camera system upgrades, lighting upgrades, synthetic turf, a 65 kW generator (no backup exists), and a $250,000 industrial dehumidification system. Councilman Neal inquired about the limited camera system and downtime during power outages.

Funding Options & Debt Strategy: Jennifer (Finance) presented two main debt options for a future police or library facility. Option 1: Issue $37 million in 2029. Option 2: Issue $37 million in 2031. Both options would require a successful bond election for the animal shelter in 2026 or 2027, a cash defeasance, no debt in 2026, and a 3.5% annual increase in assessed value. Alternative funding for smaller projects could come from tax notes (5-7 year amortization) and reprioritizing the 5-year CIP.

Key Outcomes

Council Direction on Prioritization: Councilman Taylor and Councilman Neal expressed support for prioritizing the Police Department for long-term replacement due to structural safety concerns, while Councilman Neal emphasized the Library's role as a vital community "third place." A councilmember spoke strongly in favor of upgrading the Animal Control facility. Councilwoman Hill stressed prioritizing items related to legal ADA compliance deadlines.

No Formal Action Taken: As a workshop meeting, no votes were taken. Councilmember Downey requested that staff gather further questions and bring the item back for a repeat discussion to achieve clearer consensus, expressing personal concerns about debt vehicles and pending state legislative impacts.

Future Bond Path: Council broadly agreed that a future bond election is necessary within two-plus years, likely paired with a bond committee to improve public engagement and education on facility needs and tax implications.

Meeting Transcript