All five Council members were present on June 23, and every recorded vote was 5–0. The meeting ran from 6:00 PM to 10:15 PM.
The night’s central thread was the Home Rule Charter and data centers. After executive session, the Council voted to have a charter committee appointed and charged with correcting election dates and adding a section to the proposed charter that would prohibit data centers — but then tabled the ordinance calling the November 3 election a third time, leaving the timeline unresolved with the August 17 deadline approaching.
On infrastructure, Councilmember Contreras outlined a possible $6 million tax note to fund road work including Squaw Creek, and the Council approved the West Oak HB 500 water-grant amendment ahead of its July 30 deadline. It also approved the digital pylon sign SUP for The District after residents raised concerns about the sign’s message timing, heard the Comprehensive Plan survey results, and directed a back-dated stipend for the Interim Police Chief.
This account is drawn from the official June 23 meeting minutes. Present: Mayor Teresa Palmer and Councilmembers Eric Contreras, Chawn Gilliland, Buddy Wright, Scott Smith, and Nathan Crummel (Mayor Pro Tem), with City Manager Toni Fisher and City Attorney Andy Messer. The items below are ordered by significance rather than by agenda number; the agenda item number appears on each.
The charter items came after executive session. On the Council’s appointment item, Councilmember Contreras argued that the strongest way to keep data centers out of Willow Park would be to write a prohibition directly into the Home Rule Charter, which he described as the city’s constitution — a provision that, once adopted, could only be changed by another election and not for at least two years. On a motion by Contreras seconded by Councilmember Smith, the Council voted for the City Council and Mayor to appoint a charter committee with a specific charge: to amend several items, including correcting dates, and to create a section adding a prohibition on data centers. The companion items for a separate Mayor appointment (Item 17) and for proposed charter amendments (Item 19) were passed over with no discussion or action.
Then, on Item 20 — the update from the City Attorney and the vote on the ordinance actually calling a November 3 election on the charter — the Council tabled the matter again. Gene Martin, who chaired the previous charter commission, urged the Council to reappoint the same commission so it could make the needed corrections within about two weeks and bring the charter back in time for the ballot. Following discussion, the Council voted to table the election ordinance to the next meeting. It is the third straight meeting at which that ordinance has been tabled, after the May 12 and June 9 meetings.
An ordinance calling a November 3, 2026 election on the Home Rule Charter must be adopted by August 17, 2026. With the charter draft still awaiting corrections and the election ordinance now tabled three meetings running, the window is narrowing; if the pieces are not finalized by mid-August, a charter vote would have to move to a later election date.
Councilmember Contreras used this item to sketch a possible financing path for street work, including the Squaw Creek Road project. He asked what it would take to approve a roughly $6 million tax note for road repairs, noting that because the city comes off a debt cliff next year, the tax rate would not necessarily have to change to absorb it. A tax note must be repaid within seven years, he noted, compared with the 20-to-30-year term of a certificate of obligation.
The catch is water. A roads package could include Squaw Creek’s street portion, but not its water-line replacement — those new water lines depend on the city winning the HB 500 grant, which would bring roughly $10 million toward the improvements. Contreras noted that Squaw Creek being “shovel ready” would earn the city points in that grant application. No vote was taken; the item was a discussion of options, and the next step would be identifying the worst roads to prioritize.
Following a public hearing, the Council approved a Specific Use Permit for a new multi-tenant pylon sign with an electronic digital message component at The District at Willow Park, on the roughly 1.29-acre tract at Lot 8R1, Block B of the Crown Pointe Addition. During the hearing, two residents raised concerns about the sign’s digital message changing every 8 to 10 seconds — one describing it as a potential traffic hazard from flashing too frequently. City Planner Chelsea Kirkland told the Council that the Planning & Zoning Commission had approved the sign with that message-change interval. The motion to approve, by Councilmember Smith and seconded by Councilmember Gilliland, carried 5–0.
The Council approved Resolution 2026-30, amending its earlier Resolution 2026-26 to add additional water-line replacement projects to the West Oak Subdivision application for the Texas Water Development Board’s HB 500 grant program. The amendment strengthens the application ahead of the July 30 filing deadline for the one-time, 100-percent grant funding. The motion was made by Councilmember Contreras and seconded by Councilmember Gilliland.
City Manager Toni Fisher introduced Robert Hanna of ZacTax, the city’s consultant, who presented the results of the community survey for the Comprehensive Plan update. The survey drew several hundred responses over a twelve-week window this spring, reached through mailed postcards with a QR code, posters at local businesses, Facebook posts, and utility-billing inserts. The consultant summarized the takeaway as a community that wants the city to grow with care and protect what residents value. No action was taken.
WPCN has published a fuller, neutral summary of the survey findings — what respondents said about growth, roads, property taxes, and small-town character — with links to the official report and the project site. Read our Comprehensive Plan summary →
Coming out of executive session, the Council took one open-session personnel action: it directed the City Manager to research an appropriate stipend for the Interim Police Chief and to back-date it to the point at which he became interim. The motion was made by Councilmember Gilliland and seconded by Councilmember Wright.
A presentation on a federal funding grant to certify Willow Park police officers through ICE — brought by Councilmember Gilliland with Interim Chief Quincy Hamilton — was tabled until a representative can be present to speak to it. The item was later noted for return on a future agenda.
Mayor Palmer, who requested the item, opened a discussion of the city’s legal expenditures. She noted that many small cities retain a single attorney rather than a panel of specialized attorneys like the Messer Fort firm the city uses, and stressed the importance of avoiding situations that lead to further litigation given how much the city has spent on attorney fees in its current cases. City Attorney Andy Messer said boundary lawsuits are a difficult but worthwhile fight, and that the prevailing party in such a case is often refunded its attorney fees as part of a settlement. A resident suggested the Council also weigh travel costs, since the firm’s attorneys travel from Plano. City Manager Toni Fisher praised the firm’s service. No formal action was taken.
The Council recessed into executive session at 7:48 PM under Chapter 551 and reconvened at 9:15 PM. The closed items were the Fort Worth/Aledo annexation lawsuit (City of Aledo and City of Fort Worth v. City of Willow Park, Beall-Dean Ranch and Parker County, cause CV26-0175); the Willow Park v. Halff & Associates litigation tied to the Fort Worth Water Project; charter and charter commission legal issues; and a personnel matter covering the Interim Police Chief and Interim Assistant Chief. The only open-session action reported afterward was the back-dated stipend direction noted above.
The Council approved its consent agenda in a single motion: the June 9 minutes; Resolution 2026-28 and Resolution 2026-29, updating the authorized signatories on the city’s bank accounts and on the Police Seizure Fund; and Resolution 2026-31, supporting the appointment of Parker County Judge Pat Deen as Primary Voting Representative and Wise County Judge JD Clark as Alternate to the Regional Transportation Council.
In closing comments, City Manager Fisher thanked Public Works for its response to a June 10 water leak on Squaw Creek and the Police Department for locating a missing child within about twenty minutes. The Council also noted community events, including the city’s Willow Spark celebration at The District.
