Richardson City Council Meeting February 13th, 2023

Councilman Dubey (Place 1) is absent. All other councilmembers are present as well as City Manager Don Magner and City Secretary Aimee Nemer.

Councilman Hutchenrider leads a prayer and the pledges.

Minutes of previous meetings are approved unanimously.

Two public speakers are present. The first is a representative from Comets for Better Transit, a UTD based organization of students who support transportation system improvements. He states that the organization supports the city’s Active Transportation Plan. He commends the city for collaborating with the community in this plan. The second speaker asks the city council to support a resolution asking for extended hours for the DART Silver Line. She cites transportation for college students taking night classes, transportation to the airport for early morning flights, and reducing drunk drivers as beneficial reasons for extending service hours.

Next, the city presents the 2022 Community Revitalization Awards. Awards are presented to a variety of residential and commercial property owners who renovated or rebuilt properties that the selection committee deemed impactful to the surrounding community.

Council then considers two resolutions. The first is to order the May election for Mayor and City Council. The second is to order a Bond election. Both pass unanimously. The bond election will be for $46 million.

The consent agenda also passes unanimously. This consent agenda includes passing two new ordinances which reflect the recently approved special permit for the golf range on Waterview Pkwy and the increase in the residence homestead tax exemption. It also includes a resolution allowing the city manager to negotiate an interlocal agreement with Dallas County for transportation improvements. Five bids are also included in the agenda. The Napier Dr. reconstruction gets awarded to Aushill Construction for approx. $500k. FBS gets the award to fulfill the city’s screen-printing needs for the year, an estimated $60k contract. Nortex gets the award to fulfill the city’s pavement leveling needs for the year, an estimated $100k contract. Sunbelt Pools gets the award to maintain the city’s pools for the year, an estimated $240k contract. Finally, the last bid goes to Marathon Fitness for approx. $60k worth of fitness equipment for the fire department.

Council highlights the recent Access + Inclusion event and then convenes into closed session. After returning from closed session, two motions are read. The first authorizes the city manager to negotiate the sale of approx. 5 ½ acres at 75 & E. Plano Pkwy (Plano, TX) to the Richardson Improvement Corporation for the purpose of reselling to TCRG Opportunity. The second motion appoints Ken Southard to Vice-Chair of the CPC. Both pass unanimously. (JN: Ken Southard is Mayor Voelker’s former campaign treasurer, a fact I just like to remind people of. Regarding the first motion, the Richardson Improvement Corporation is a citywide nonprofit that supports the city’s parks and open space. City Manager Don Magner and Parks & Rec Director Lori Smeby are the current officers of the nonprofit. They do not receive any compensation from the nonprofit. As best I can tell, this motion allows the nonprofit to resell this unspecified tract of land to raise funds. It’s not entirely clear what entity is selling the property to the nonprofit. The ultimate buyer, TCRG Opportunity, is a construction company.)

Meeting adjourned.