Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Meeting - April 30, 2026
Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Meeting - April 30, 2026
The Weatherford Municipal Utility Board held its regular session on April 30, 2026, at 12:00 PM in the City Council Chambers. Mayor/Chair Paul Paschall presided, with all board members present. The meeting included approval of consent agenda items, a discussion on a development review services contract amendment, a quarterly performance report, an executive session, and a citizen comment.
Consent Calendar
- Item 4.a: Approved the minutes of the Municipal Utility Board meeting held March 26, 2026.
- Item 4.b: Approved Resolution R2026-05 amending the FY26 Adopted Utility Budget. Both items were approved by a motion from Lindsay Hester, seconded by Heidi Wilder, with no discussion.
Regular Agenda Items
- Item 5.a: Authorized the City Manager to execute Amendment 1 with Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. for development review services in an amount not to exceed $20,000, for a total contract amount of $70,000 and an aggregate fiscal year expenditure of $1,199,500. The contract serves as a supplement to in-house review teams; funds are reimbursable from developers upon project completion. Staff reported that since FY24, Kimley-Horn reviewed 13 projects costing $147,000, with $41,000 already repaid, one project pending $24,000, and potential reimbursement of up to $81,000 for eight other projects. The motion passed with a motion by Ken Davis, seconded by Lindsay Hester.
Staff Reports
- Quarterly Performance Dashboard: Joe Farley, Director of Electric Utilities, presented the dashboard. Key points included:
- 66% of power supply costs are locked in via fixed-price contracts; the remaining heat-rate contract varies with natural gas prices, with only 25% of January 2027 fixed.
- Natural gas prices spiked to over $7 during Winter Storm Fern but returned to normal; the current effective price is $2.85/MMBtu, compared to the NYMEX price of $2.97/MMBtu.
- The 12-month average price is $3.12/MMBtu, below the NYMEX average of $3.77/MMBtu.
- The Rate Stabilization Fund stands at $15.6 million, within the guideline of $12–16 million.
- The electric rate for 1,000 kWh remains at 13 cents/kWh since September 2022, competitive with the average retail provider (13.2 cents), Tri-County (17.2 cents), and national average (17.7 cents).
- Among comparable municipal utilities, Weatherford's rate is slightly above average, with five utilities lower (e.g., Brownsville 9.6¢, Kerrville 10.8¢) and seven higher (e.g., Denton, Garland).
Executive Session
- The board recessed at 12:11 PM to enter executive session under Section 551.071 (consultation with attorney) regarding the Lake Weatherford Marina Lease Agreement. Upon reconvening at 1:17 PM, no action was taken on this item.
Citizen Comments on Non-Agenda Items
- A citizen (identified as a utility board member? The transcript notes "you never void your right to be a citizen when you're on the utility board") expressed difficulty resolving a bamboo issue on their property, requesting assistance. The mayor responded that help would be arranged.
Key Outcomes
- Consent agenda items 4.a and 4.b were approved unanimously (no vote tally specified, but motion carried).
- Item 5.a (Kimley-Horn amendment) was approved (motion carried).
- No action was taken on the executive session item (Lake Weatherford Marina Lease Agreement).
- No future agenda items were identified.
- The meeting adjourned at 1:19 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We sure are thankful that each of you are here today. Before we uh call our meeting to order, we're gonna have uh utility board member Lindsay Hester lead us in our invocation. Lindsay. Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the rain that you've sent our way this week. Father, we also thank you for the protection uh over this community during these storms. We pray for your wisdom and guidance as we deliberate today, and we ask your blessings on uh this community and the city and state in our country. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you for that, sir. Before we call our meeting to order, we uh don't do not have it on the agenda, but uh assistance manager Chad Marbutt has asked uh for just a moment with the microphone. Sir, yes, sir. So uh we just had a vacancy filled in the electric department recently, assistant director. Uh so just want to recognize Mr. James McGill. If you could wave to everybody, James. James, welcome, sir. So James has been with us uh just over two years and uh don't hold it against him. He is from California, but he's one of the good ones. He's a basic engineer, uh, had some history with the Navy, actually, mechanical engineering. Um several certificates worked in the field electric uh work and then has his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from uh Southern California Institute. And if you saw James in action at any of the recent outings, especially the Brazos transmission outing, uh glad to have him on the team, really took charge. And so appreciate you, James, and welcome to welcome to the seat. Welcome, James. You know, James, we're sorry it took you that long to get to Texas from California, kind of like Don Brooks, but we're glad you finally figured it out. So all righty, utility board, it's 1203 p.m. This time I call the meeting to order. Now so we have a quorum present. All utility board members are uh in attendance. Item three on the agenda is pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags be led by Howard McClarkin. One state under God. Thank you, Howard. Item four on the gend is cons is consent agenda items. Uh Utility Board, we have items 4A and 4B. 4A is considered approval of the minutes of your utility board held March 26, 2026, and then B is considered a underact upon approval resolution R202605, meaning the FY26 adopted utility budget. Appears that we have a motion for approval of the body by Lindsay Hester and a second provided by Heidi Wilder. Any discussion or conversations on items 4A or 4B before we call for a vote. Hearing none, please indicate yay or nay on your touch screens. And both of those items pass. Item five is regular agenda items. 5A is considered authorizing the city manager to execute amendment one with Kimley Horn and Associates Incorporated for development review services in an amount not to exceed $20,000 for a total contract amount of $70,000 and an aggregate aggregate fiscal year expenditure amount of $1,199,005. And we welcome Matt Lepler. Good afternoon, Mayor. Board members. So a little background, uh starting off fiscal year 20 2026. Um we had a contract with Kenley Horn for $50,000. To date, we've spent $48,000, and uh with that we've gotten five residential reviews and two commercial projects that they helped review us with. Uh we use Kimley Horn as a supplement to our in-house review teams to help with some initial uh looking at some of these development plans. So this amendment is for $20,000 additional funds that will help get us through the remainder of this fiscal year.
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