After swearing in its new members, Mayor Chad Major, Place 4 Brian Murrell and Place 5 Mike Wilson, council returned to business, starting with the reappointment of Place 6 Andrew Ambrosio as Mayor Pro Tem despite Ambrosio’s pending runoff election in June.
The agenda concluded with a conversation about formal opposition to three Senate bills which will each take considerable power out of cities’ hands, allowing developers to further dictate the way they impact the towns they build in without oversite from the local municipalities who will carry that burden forward.
“Staff’s recommendation is going to be to not do this as a council or a city, but to do this on an individual basis,” City Manager Britt Lusk said. “May 28 in the final vote for the House on Senate bills. By the time we drafted a letter and brought it back to the May 22 council meeting, many of the bills will have already made it to the floor. I think you would have more impact to each write a letter to oppose these bills and to encourage the citizens of Pilot Point to do the same.”
The original request from the Planning and Zoning Commission was for staff to present an action item to council with a drafted letter, though that request came on May 8, with Tuesday’s meeting being the first time the council has gathered since then.
“We understand the importance and understand why P&Z is passionate about the impact this has on our city,” Lusk said. “For council to act tonight, we would have had to have direction from council to compose a letter stating what council wanted it to be composed of. Since we had not had the opportunity get that direction, ... we were not able to draft something until we were able to talk to you.”
William Harrison, who sits on P&Z but said he was speaking as an individual when he addressed the dais, expressed discontent with the initially proposed course of action.
“We had wanted, and I thought it was noted by our staff at that meeting, that we bring this to y'all to act on sending a letter to all our representatives,” Harrison said. “As important as it is, we needed to get something done the next couple of days, not wait till the 22nd, this is an ASAP kind of thing that needs to be done.”
Wilson, also a member of P&Z prior to his election, suggested expediting the process to still allow the council to present a united opposition.
“I think we all feel about the same way about these bills,” Wilson said. “Can we have him get with [Lusk] to compose a letter from the city?”
Council unanimously approved giving Major that authority, though he, and several other members, still urged citizens to send their own individual messages in addition.
“You can make a difference as an individual,” Major said. “It doesn’t have to have the logo. Just send a message. I want to go out and say your voice is heard, and it’s something as simple as [sending a message]. Brent Hagenbuch as well as Jared Patterson responded within minutes to my request.”
The bills in question are SB 2522, SB 844 and SB 673.
Representatives who represent the citizens of Pilot Point include:
David Spiller, who can be reached at [email protected] and 512463-0526, Shelly Luther, who can be reached at [email protected] and 512463-0297, and Jared Patterson, who can be reached at jared.patterson@ house.texas.gov and 512-463-6498.
Hagenbuch is the area’s senator and can be reached at brent.hagenbuch@senate. texas.gov and 512-463-0130.
