City Council Meeting December 8, 2020

The City Council of Montgomery met via Zoom on December 8, 2020. Attending the meeting was Mayor Countryman, Councilmember Lacy, Councilmember Langley, Councilmember Wilkerson, Councilmember Davis and Councilmember Cronin.

Mayor Countryman read three letters from the public during the Public Comments section of the meeting. The letters were written by Cheryl Fox, Kambra Drummand as well as Bobby and Jennifer Skinner. All three letters were in opposition of a possible appointment of Bill Clevenger to the Montgomery Economic Development Corporation.

Chipotle Mexican Grill applied for a Wine and Beer Retailer’s Permit – This item passed unanimously.

Adoption of an Escrow Agreement between the City of Montgomery and Josh Cheatham for Montgomery Food Truck Park development – This item passed unanimously.

Adoption of an Escrow Agreement between the City of Montgomery and Devpoint, LLC for Kammerer 389-acre tract housing development – This item passed unanimously.

Authorizing Jones & Carter to prepare a Utility Economic Feasibility Study for Devpoint, LLC for the Kammerer 389-acre tract housing development – This item passed unanimously.

Annual renewal of operating permit for Cedar Crest Mobile Home Park – This item passed unanimously.

Annual election of Mayor Pro Tem – Councilmember T.J. Wilkerson was re-elected to continue as Mayor Pro Tem in a unanimous vote.

Ordinance amending the City’s level of participation in the Municipal Retirement System. – This new ordinance will add an additional cost to the city of approximately $50,000 for the remainder of the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Police Chief Solomon said his employees are focused more on improved health benefits than on retirement benefits. Chief Soloman said his officers complain about not being able to afford to insure their entire families because of the cost of the current health insurance policy. City Administrator Richard Tramm said city health benefits can not be changed at this time. – This item passed with Councilmember Davis as the lone vote against.

Ordinance for formal adoption of the City of Montgomery Comprehensive Plan – This item passed with Councilmember Wilkerson as the lone vote against.

Amendment to the City of Montgomery Policies and Procedures Manual in respect to Call-Out Pay and Longevity Pay – This amendment changes guaranteed minimum call-out pay from four hours to two hours which is in line with what is provided to the Police Department. This amendment also removes the one year waiting period for nonuniformed employees to receive annual longevity pay each December. – This item passed unanimously.

Ordinance to ammend city financial accounts to correct the deficit for audit purposes – This item passed unanimously.

Possible action to appoint Municipal Court Judge and Associate Municipal Court Judge – Item was tabled until a special meeting on December 22, 2020.

Appointment of Planning and Zoning Commission Members – Allyson Clark was appointed with dissenting votes by Councilmembers Lacy and Cronin.

Appointment of Montgomery Economic Development Board Members – Ryan Londeen, Jeffry Angelo, Rebecca Huss and Carol Langley were appointed. During the discussion, Councilmember Cronin accused new Councilmembers Langley and Davis of receiving “their marching orders” in relation to their appointment votes. Councilmember Cronin also berated city residents/business owners Cheryl Fox, Kambra Drummand as well as Bobby and Jennifer Skinner for “sad and dispicable” comments in the letters read during Public Comments. Councilmember Cronin said “nasty” letters and “hate-filled epistles” should not be written and presented during Public Comments. Mayor Countryman entered into a heated exchange with Councilmember Cronin after stating she had to read a “nasty letter” about herself from Councilmember Cronin and his husband and is glad to see he has “turned over a new leaf.”

City Administrator’s Report –

• The final Home Grant recipient moved in during November
• The City is in the process of reviewing the Statements of Qualifications on the City Engineer posting
• East End Commercial Construction – no activity on the KenRoc, HEB or Kroger developments. Starbucks is nearing completion of the building exterior. Chipotle, Ruthie Grace and HotWorx fitness studio are nearing completion. AutoZone is expected to begin construction soon next to McCoy’s Building Supply.
• Central Business District & Historic Downtown – two new businesses opened in downtown in November: Wings Over Montgomery and Naughty by Nature Apothecary
• Residential Development – 63 new homes have been completed in 2020.
• Hills of Town Creek Subdivision has had plans for a new 30-lot section approved. HOTC has completed building 62 homes with 22 more under construction and 16 lots available
• Montgomery Townhomes has plans approved for a 48-unit townhom project which began site construction in September.
• Terra Vista Subdivision has 61 single-family homesites with 42 homes complete, 4 under construction and 15 lots available.
• Town Creek Crossing has a planned development of 199 residential homesites and eight commercial reserves. No details on the timeline for construction at this time.
• Texas Water Development Board Funding – The City is utilizing $2.8 million in TWDB funding for water and sewer infrastructure projects.
• A study of the Town Creek and Anders Branch watersheds on the north side of the City is now complete, and projects identified in the study will be implemented with a portion of the $2.2 million General Land Office Severe Flood Mitigation Grant funds.

Discussion on City Administrator setting up a City Parks Steering Committee to be overseen by the City’s Public Works Director and City Administrator.

This is a basic summary of the events of the meeting. For a more detailed review of the meeting, the City of Montgomery posts the minutes of every meeting on the city website. The video recording of City public meetings are available on the City of Montgomery’s YouTube channel.