By George Slaughter
Frank Carroll
The Katy City Council Monday postponed a vote on Mayor Bill Hastings’s choice of Council Member-at-Large Chris Harris to serve as mayor pro tem.
Ward A Council Member Frank Carroll tagged, or postponed, the item until the next council meeting, set for August 12.
Carroll’s move came after proposing that the current mayor pro tem, Ward B Council Member Durran Dowdle, remain in that role until after the city budget process in October. Carroll suggested that Harris can be approved as mayor pro tem then.
Monday was the second consecutive council meeting at which the mayor pro tem position highlighted the agenda. At its July 8 meeting, Hastings nominated Harris for the position. Hastings has said he couldn’t be everywhere at once and he expected Harris, as mayor pro tem, to stand in on occasions where he couldn’t be there.
Carroll and Ward A Council Member Janet Corte have said that Dowdle, who was first elected to the council in 2014 and has been mayor pro tem since March 2017, has the needed experience to guide an otherwise relatively inexperienced council. After Dowdle, the senior members of the council would be Corte and Harris, who were elected in May 2018.
Carroll joined the council later that year and was elected to a term in his own right in May. Hastings and Ward B Council Member Jenifer Jordan Stockdick were also elected in May.
After Harris’s nomination failed at the July 8 meeting, Hastings vowed that he would renominate Harris at every subsequent meeting until the nomination was approved. Hastings kept his promise Monday.
Carroll said Monday’s events were a “continuation of no discussion and not working together, and that’s why I proposed Durran Dowdle stay on” until after the budget gets approved. He said keeping Dowdle as mayor pro tem would “assuage people’s fears about the budget process” and added that the budget would be the largest in Katy history.
Carroll used an analogy to describe the mayor’s council support. Carroll said he believed his wife supported him through thick and thin, but she did not agree with him all the time. In the same way, Carroll said, the council did not “rubber stamp” everything done during former Mayor Chuck Brawner’s time in office, nor would it “rubber stamp” things now that Hastings is mayor. But, Carroll said, everyone on the council was willing to discuss things.
Hastings said that in his 23 years with the city, every successive budget has been the largest in Katy history.
The council last year adopted a $28.5 million budget for 2018-19, and kept the tax rate to fund it the same as the 2017 rate. The budget is an 8.5 percent increase from the 2017 budget of $26.1 million.
The mayor nominates the mayor pro tem, who must be approved by the city council. The mayor pro tem serves in the mayor’s absence and must be a council member.
City to Cover Recycling Charge Increase
The council Monday voted to absorb an 87 cent-per-unit rate increase from Republic Industries, with which the city has a contract for garbage and recycling services. Total cost is approximately $4,500 per month.
Council members asked City Administrator Byron Hebert whether the city could absorb the costs until city budget discussions in October. He said yes.
David Aguilar, Republic Services municipal services manager, said the request is in response to a global recycling crisis in China has forced communities around the United States to reconsider its recycling practices.
Other Actions Taken
In other action Monday, the council:
- Approved a request to serve alcohol at Crown Pizza, 6191 Highway Blvd., #302A.
- Reviewed the city’s third quarter investment report, bank statement, and check register through June 30.
- Approved the May 13 city council meeting minutes.
- Approved the 2019 Watermelon Dash at Cane Island, set for August 10.
- Approved the Fifth Annual Graeme’s Run, set for February 22, 2020.
- Approved a $15,000 dues payment to the Waller County Economic Development Partnership.
- Accepted public sanitary sewer extension improvements along Woodcreek Commons Shopping Center and sanitary sewer improvements along Nelson Way.
- Approved a 17.75-acre final plat for Cane Island, in Waller County.
- Approved a 4.7-acre final plat for Woodcreek Reserve, in Fort Bend County.
- Approved three final plats for Young Ranch, in Fort Bend County.
- Authorized the Katy Development Authority to use up to $1.05 million in METRO funds for Katy-Fort Bend Road paving and related improvements. The council also authorized the authority to use up to $66,377 in METRO funds for the Cane Island Parkway concrete paving improvement project.
- Awarded a $198,750 bid to K3 Resources, LP, of Brookshire, for hauling sludge and land disposal. The total project cost is $217,025, which includes the bid amount, contingencies, and bid package preparation and cost.
- Awarded a bid for grounds maintenance and mowing to Earth First Landscapes, LLC, of Katy.
- Awarded a bid for janitorial services for city facilities to Ambassador Services, LLC, of Katy.
- Awarded a bid for gasoline and diesel fuel to Colorado County Oil, of Columbus.
- Authorized the issuance of up to $4.58 million of unlimited tax bonds by the Fort Bend-Waller County Municipal Utility District No. 3.
- Approved a 10/20 year write off for $17,258.78 in Fort Bend County property taxes.
- Authorized Hastings to sign a physical security proposal with DataVox for a camera system at the Katy Municipal Court.
- Authorized Hastings to sign an amendment to the Spectrum VoIP leasing agreement for additional phones and services.
- Authorized Hastings to sign a GIS professional services scope of work and maintenance agreement with ViewPro GIS.
- Authorized Hastings to sign a stormwater management interlocal cooperation agreement between the city, Woodcreek Reserve Municipal Utility District, and Fort Bend utility districts 161, 163, and 199.
- Authorized Hastings to sign a medical services agreement, pending final legal review from the city attorney. The person who serves in this role provides medical director services in support of Fire Department operations.
- Authorizing Hastings to sign an interlocal, or affiliation, agreement, between the city and the Katy Independent School District Emergency Medical Services education program for education and training purposes.
- Passed an ordinance that amends the city’s water conservation and drought contingency plans to be in line with the Texas Water Development Board and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.