This is the first meeting under the Council’s new once-a-month schedule, and the open agenda is short. The main votes are a final plat for Alameda Estates, a 10-lot subdivision of one-acre home sites on Ranch House Road (Item 5); two resolutions to pursue a federal Community Development Block Grant for a future water project, with a $75,000 local match (Items 6 and 7); and a new mobile device and cell phone policy, paired with a request to reimburse city cell phone fees (Item 9). Routine items include the annual investment policy, the city’s official newspaper, and the city’s vote for a Texas Municipal League regional director.
The closed session covers four matters: the police chief position, the City Manager’s annual review, the Beall-Dean Ranch annexation lawsuit settlement, and economic development negotiations with a party listed as James Assets Development.
Presiding: Mayor Teresa Palmer. Council: Eric Contreras, Chawn Gilliland, Buddy Wright, Scott Smith, and Nathan Crummel (Mayor Pro Tem). City Manager: Toni Fisher. Invocation: Pastor Ted Kitchens, Christ Chapel Baptist Church. Agenda: 16 numbered items, including a four-item executive session. Posted: October 14, 2026.
According to the draft minutes on this agenda, the Council at its September 22 meeting voted 4 to 0 (Councilmember Gilliland absent) to join the new Parker County Public Utility Agency, set commercial zoning on the two Oxer Survey parcels, approve the Tractor Supply final plat, adopt the FY 2026-2027 utility fee ordinance, and approve the voter information document for the November 3 certificate-of-obligation election. With only four people applying for the Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee, no committee was appointed; the city is holding public workshops instead. After closed session, the Council voted 4 to 0 to accept and sign the mediated settlement agreement and mutual release in the Beall-Dean Ranch lawsuit, and took action on a personnel matter. Those minutes, along with the September 15 special meeting minutes, are up for approval on this agenda.
The meeting opens with the invocation (Pastor Ted Kitchens, Christ Chapel Baptist Church), the pledges, and the Mayor’s standing comments, including a Bible verse and a business recognition. Public comment follows, limited to five minutes per person. No Council action.
Three routine items pass in one motion unless a member pulls one. Item 2 approves the minutes of the September 15 special meeting and the September 22 regular meeting. Item 3 (Resolution 2026-41) is the city’s annual review of its investment policy, which the state Public Funds Investment Act requires every year. The policy keeps city investments conservative: an average maturity of one year or less, no single investment longer than two years, deposits collateralized at 102 percent, and investment pools capped at 15 percent of the portfolio. Item 4 (Resolution 2026-40) names The Community News as the city’s official newspaper for legal notices in FY 2026-2027, with The Weatherford Democrat as a backup when needed.
The Council will consider the final plat for Alameda Estates, which divides a 12.032-acre tract on the east side of Ranch House Road into 10 residential lots (Block 1, Lots 1 through 10). The property (Parker CAD IDs 36676 and 36709) is already zoned R-1, and staff describes the plan as one-acre custom homes. An unoccupied house on the site is slated for removal. The owner is Boggy Land Co., LLC.
Staff says the plat meets R-1 zoning, the city’s street standards, and the Future Land Use plan, and recommends approval as presented. The Planning and Zoning Commission approved it on October 13, on the condition that all staff comments are addressed. The developer plans to attend.
A final plat is largely a technical step: when a plat meets the city’s rules, Texas law generally requires the city to approve it. The zoning is already in place, so this vote decides whether the lot layout meets the standards, not whether homes can be built here.
Two linked resolutions start the city on a 2027-2028 Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). These are federal funds that the Texas Department of Agriculture awards competitively to smaller cities, often for water and sewer work. Item 6 awards a contract for writing the application and administering the grant, chosen through a request for proposals. Item 7 authorizes the city to submit the application and commits $75,000 in local matching funds, with the source of the match to be determined before any award.
The packet leaves several key details blank: Item 6’s draft resolution does not fill in the selected firm or the contract amount, and neither resolution states how much grant money the city would seek or which water project it would fund. Those details should come out in the presentation. CDBG projects generally have to benefit mostly low- and moderate-income residents, so which part of the city the project would serve is worth listening for.
The Council will cast the city’s ballot in the election for the Texas Municipal League’s Region 8 director. TML is the statewide association of Texas cities, and each region elects a representative to its board. The packet does not include the ballot or the names of the candidates.
Placed on the agenda by Mayor Pro Tem Crummel, this item has three parts: approving reimbursement of “discretionary city cell phone usage fees,” discussing a reimbursement policy and a budget for those fees, and adopting a new Mobile Device and Telecommunications Policy by resolution. The resolution notes that the city’s Employee Handbook was last revised in 2015 and says the policy would set standards for public money spent on phones and devices used by both employees and city officials.
Under the proposed policy, city phones and accounts remain city property and are for city business only. International calling, roaming, and data would be turned off by default, and any exception would need prior City Council approval, requested in writing at least ten business days before travel. Unauthorized international charges would be the user’s personal responsibility. Only city IT staff could install or change apps, apps that auto-delete messages or block record-keeping would be prohibited, and every user would sign an acknowledgment form.
The packet does not say whose cell phone fees would be reimbursed, how much they total, or what budget amount is proposed, so those details should come out in the discussion. The ban on auto-deleting message apps also matters for public records: messages about city business on city devices are generally subject to the Texas Public Information Act.
The Council recesses into closed session for four matters. Item 10 is the police chief position, which the Council also took up in closed session on September 15 and September 22. Item 11 is the City Manager’s annual review. Item 12 is the Beall-Dean Ranch annexation lawsuit filed by Aledo and Fort Worth (Cause No. CV26-0175), again listed under the “Mediated Settlement Agreement & Mutual Release.” Item 13 is a legal consultation and economic development negotiations with James Assets Development; the agenda gives no other details about the project.
The Council already voted September 22 to accept and sign the Beall-Dean settlement, according to the draft minutes, so this listing may cover follow-up on that agreement; the agenda does not say. Any action on the police chief, the City Manager’s review, the lawsuit, or the economic development item would have to come in open session after the Council reconvenes. WPCN reports these from what is stated on the public record, not from the substance of closed-door discussions.
City Manager comments, including two community events: Fall Fest on Saturday, October 24, from 10 AM to 2 PM, and the second Comprehensive Plan public workshop on Saturday, November 21, from 10 AM to 1 PM at City Hall. Council and Mayor comments and future agenda-item requests follow. No action.
A light open agenda. The Council will vote on a 10-lot subdivision of one-acre home sites on Ranch House Road and start an application for a federal grant for a future water project, with a $75,000 local match. It will also take up a new policy on city phones and devices, along with a request to reimburse cell phone fees. The packet leaves out several details on the grant and the reimbursement, so listen for them during the meeting.
Watch the closed session. It covers the police chief search, the City Manager’s annual review, the Beall-Dean lawsuit settlement, and a new economic development item. Any action would come in the reconvened open session, and WPCN will report it from the record.
