carol@stormzero.com – Page 2

Honoring God & Country

Apparently, the Bastrop City Council doesn’t need the blessings of our Lord at Special Meetings. Nor do they need to honor our Country and our State.

Last night, Bastrop Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland opened the meeting and immediately moved to Citizen Comments. It felt odd and discomforting for elected officials to be conducting business without prayer and dutifully honoring our flag. The mayor pro tem and city manager need to modify their special meeting agenda template to include an invocation and the pledges immediately!

Texas Flag In ten years in elected office, I can’t ever recall starting a meeting without an invocation and flag salute. In our case, our Council President led the flag salute and an individual Council person offered the invocation, except for special occasions such as reorganization meetings or those where a new Council person was sworn in. There, we had invited guests.

Special meetings are simply council meetings called in addition to regularly scheduled meetings and for special purposes. They should open with a prayer and flag salutes just like regular meetings. But in the City of Bastrop, they don’t.

(Update 3/7/25) The “Rules of Procedure for the City Council and Boards & Commissions of the City of Bastrop, TX” revised on September 17, 2024, mandates the Pledges. It states “The Council shall recite the Pledge of Allegiance, first to the United States Flag, and then to the state Flag of Texas.” (emphasis added) That would apply to all meetings. It specifically refers to “regular” meetings of the City Council for invocations, making it optional for all other meetings.

I call on Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland and City Manager Sylvia Carrillo to immediately add an Invocation and Pledges to the United States Flag and Texas Flag to all City Council meeting agendas. No special guests need be invited to do so. The special guests aren’t the point. The prayers and pledges are.

Not doing so sends a message that prayer is unimportant and that there is no reason for elected officials doing their jobs to honor the flags of this great nation and state. Not doing so is a slap to every single person who has served in our armed forces and who has died for the freedoms enumerated in our Constitution and under which this Council operates.

Let’s get this fixed immediately.

Slow This Down

Public comments delivered by Carol Spencer at the 3/4/25 City of Bastrop Council Meeting.  The Council had multiple ordinances modifying its B3 Zoning Code on the agenda for 1st reading, with second reading and adoption one week later.

In college, I majored in French. I then joined IBM in computer sales. I was not a civil engineer, planner, surveyor or well versed in any other land use profession. So why was I appointed to our local planning board? I was treasurer of a citizens group involved in a local affordable housing issue. Development was exploding in our town, just like here. I knew that planning was a critical driver of what our community would ultimately look like. But my background meant I had a lot to learn.

This is where your citizens are today. They, like you and I, didn’t wake up one morning knowing what is a plat, what are setbacks, what’s an ADU, how is density calculated, what’s the relationship amongst development, school taxes, city & county taxes. They didn’t wake up knowing how to participate in the planning process: concept plans, public hearings, first readings, second readings, advisory reviews, conditional uses, and so much more.

SLOW THIS DOWN.

The last time y’all changed the code, it took 7 months with multiple listening sessions in the City. In a less formal environment, people could ask questions and learn. But not this time.

If you stay on this course, only 23 days will have passed from the first Planning & Zoning public hearing to final adoption by this Council, just a few more than that from the city-wide mailing. Take out weekends and holidays that city hall is closed, that’s only 16 working days. Sixteen days for average citizens to absorb what you’re doing, ask questions, understand the process, and attempt to have their voices heard both pro and con.

Lot layout with 2 ADUs I’m not opposed to most of what you’re considering. My main concern is that you’re ignoring density by not addressing ADUs on small lots. Lot with two ADUs So while you’re banning duplexes, you’re still allowing a single family home and 2 additional dwelling units on that same lot. Ban two dwelling units, but allow three by ordinance? That’s increased density. Is that really what you want to do?

SLOW THIS DOWN.

Indefinitely postpone these ordinances until your planners draft a full buildout plan showing what this city will look like when built out according to these new codes. Give your citizens time to absorb this information so they can make informed comments on these major changes to their city. That’s the responsible thing to do as elected officials.

Thank you.

Dem Chairs Strike Again

Don’t be fooled. You’ve been told TX House Representatives, including HD-17 Stan Gerdes, voted to ban Dem chairs. That’s only true if you’re touching their side of the hair that they split to fool you.

The Texas GOP Legislative Priority list says “The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shall end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats and require all committees to be majority Republican.”

Their side of that split hair is that “committees” does not equal “Permanent Standing Subcommittees”. They fail to tell you that bills can be assigned to those subcommittees, that they can and are chaired by Democrats, that those committees can kill bills assigned to them, and they’re funded just like regular committees.

One Permanent Standing Subcommittee with a Dem chair is Property Tax Appraisal. Right out of the starting gate, Democrat Committee Chair Chris Turner has introduced a bill to require that counties reappraise properties annually. Tarrant County voted to do them every 3 years, along with limiting provisions for appraisal increases, and school districts (think teacher’s unions) are up in arms.

three dollar signs Doing appraisals every year is very costly. It requires a large staff, support systems, annual hearings for those who contest their appraisals, legal fees and more. Why do this? One big reason is because upping appraisals allows governing bodies (elected officials) to claim lowered or stable tax rates.

(Tax rate * (Appraised Value-Exemptions)) / 100 = Your Tax Bill

You see it all the time. Elected officials claim they lowered the tax rate. But your property taxes went up. That’s because the taxable value of your property went up. If they can’t raise your taxable value, then they’ll be forced to raise the tax rate to collect more and more money for government services.

There’s no reason at all to appraise properties every year. The Texas Constitution allows it to be done every 3 years. I came from a state that did it less often than that. We didn’t have “appraisal districts” with all the related expenses of such. And, as elected officials, we had to carefully manage spending in order to keep the tax rate from rising out of control.

Remember that equation above? Today in Texas, the biggest variable to bring in more tax dollars each year is the appraised value. We all know that because we’re getting slammed each and every year. And, elected officials continue to claim they presided over a stable or lower tax rate when running for re-election.

In the state I came from, the appraised values stayed constant from one appraisal to the next (often six to ten years). It was the tax rate that rose to bring in more tax dollars. When the ratio of total appraised value to total market value ran in the 60% range, we hired a professional appraisal company to re-appraise all properties to market values. When that was done, the amount raised in taxes before and after the appraisals had to be the same.

One time fee. One year out of six or seven. And, when we increased spending, the tax rate went up. If our city was growing and we had to provide expanded services, the added assessments of the new growth covered that. As elected officials, we couldn’t run behind the fiction of lower tax rates because they were directly related to our spending. It’s why my motto for more than 30 years has been “Take care of the spending and the tax rate will take care of itself”.

Annual appraisals are a waste of tax money. And, now, a Dem chair of a TX House subcommittee wants to mandate them. This is but one example of damage done by Dem chairs. Let’s hope the Texas House or Senate is smarter than that and defeats this bill before it ever gets out of that Property Tax Appraisal subcommittee.

What’s the Rush?

In 2019, the City of Bastrop adopted new development code ordinances. It took a long time because the City gathered a lot of public input prior to holding any Planning & Zoning public hearings or City Council public hearings.

The City held public meetings to “share future development plans and to solicit community input”. These were held on April 10 2019, May 9 2019, June 8 2019 and June 26 2019. The draft code, technical manual, and draft pattern book were released on May 24, 2019 so the public could review them. Another public meeting was held to solicit input on the technical manual on August 22 2019. The Planning and Zoning Commission did not take action to approve the code until September 26, 2019. The Council’s first reading of the new zoning ordinance was October 22 2019. The second reading and final adoption took place on November 12 2019.

From the first public meeting to final adoption was seven months.

Why, then, is the City Manager Sylvia Carrillo trying to push through a new code in just 23 days? There’s always a reason when that happens. So, what’s the rush?

City of Bastrop P&Z Meeting Last night’s meeting agenda was far too long. The meeting started at 5PM. I don’t know what time it ended because I left at 9:30 when there were still two items to be discussed and voted on. There was a full house when it started. By the time I left, there were barely 25 people in the room.

City of Bastrop P&Z Meeting 9:30PM Even the Commissioners were exhausted. So exhausted, in fact, that one of them left the meeting. Another read a motion for setback code changes when he meant to read a motion for lot size code changes. He was so tired he didn’t even realize he was reading the wrong prewritten motion. Setbacks hadn’t even been discussed yet.

Four hour meetings are unfair to the governing body, but most especially to the public who have to work the following day, may have had to arrange child care or may be elderly. Again, what’s the rush?

For all the bloviating about drainage, street width, cost of street maintenance by Carrillo last evening, pushing this forward in such a short time frame only makes sense in the context of future development. What’s on the drawing board for which these changes are needed? What’s the rush?

Citizens need to remember that the Gateway development was defeated on May 14, 2024. That date is important because the developer can resubmit an application one year later: May 15, 2025. If Carrillo has her way, the new code will be adopted by March 11, 2025. That’s 2 months for the Gateway developers to have access to the new code to lay out a conforming development.

Previously, developers were required to comply with a grid layout of streets and roads-including the Gateway development. If these proposed changes become law, that will no longer be the case, facilitating a different design for this project and every other.

What else is on the drawing board? Are there mapping changes? Zone changes to specific areas? There’s something in Bastrop’s future for which these code changes are necessary, that’s for sure.

I spent eight years on a planning board, six years on a town council. I know this game. Nothing of this magnitude and effect on citizens gets rushed through this fast without an ulterior motive. It’s likely the Planning & Zoning Commissioners have no idea what it is, and perhaps only the Council majority that votes together knows. Maybe only the City Manager knows. But there is an ulterior motive that will reveal itself in time. Otherwise, what’s the rush?

J6 Choir: Let’s be Very Clear

Let’s be VERY clear about the J6 Choir controversy the Democrats used to delay the vote for Kash Patel as FBI director. Let’s be VERY clear.

The J6 Choir video that the Judiciary Committee Democrats are SO opposed to is one of incarcerated J6ers singing the National Anthem while President Trump cites the Pledge of Allegiance. The Democrats have now clearly shown their true colors. Shameful.

Watch the video that they object to, the patriotic video that they want to use to deny Kash Patel, a highly qualified individual, the Directorship of the FBI. Shameful.

These Democrats want to deny Kash Patel the Directorship of the FBI, but they were fine with these people serving in the Biden administration. Democrat Party Judiciary members have gone nuts and clearly shown themselves for the kooks they are.

A Fix Without a Problem

The City of Bastrop held numerous public hearings before it adopted the current zoning ordinance. The public had many opportunities to provide input. Modifications were made based on that input. The Council held public hearings on the ordinance to obtain more public input, and then it was adopted. That happened just 6 years ago in 2019.

As proven by the defeat of the Gateway project, the code worked. An over-intense project was proposed needing a zone change. When citizens came out to oppose the unfettered development on steep slopes behind Bucees, the developers modified their plan. They hoped they’d still get approval for a zone change so they could build their multi-million dollar project. That strategy did not work and the zone change request was defeated.

That, however, wasn’t the death of the project. It was just denied under current zoning. And the defeat only meant citizens wouldn’t see it again for 12 months.

But there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Why not change the entire zoning plan for the City of Bastrop? Make it so complex that citizens cannot absorb it all. Do it quickly before citizens realize what’s happening and why.

Developers do this all the time. Can’t get what they want one way, they try another tactic. Can’t get a zone change on a particular piece of property? Change city-wide zoning instead and buried deep within is the zone change that developer wanted all along.

It’s all about money. The profits from major developments run in the tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. So, they get Council people out of the way who might or do oppose their plans and install Council people who vote “yes” for the zone changes because they’re in the developers pocket or they just aren’t “minding the store”. (Sound familiar? Get rid of Lyle Nelson and pro-Gateway Council member(s) remain.)

No matter how it happens, the developer gets its development, citizens be damned. Once the code is modified and the proposed development meets the zoning criteria, the development gets approved.

It’s odd the code is being re-written and shoved through so quickly. Odd, too, is that it’ll be adopted just in time for Gateway to be refiled, only this time, a zone change won’t be needed making that development harder to defeat.

I’ll be very surprised if this isn’t what happens. The only thing that will change is if citizens come out in droves and express their opposition to these zone changes. Waiting for future development projects is just too late.

Effecting Charter Changes

If you live in the City of Bastrop, you may remember quite a few charter amendments on your ballot last November. Two failed. All the rest passed.

November? That’s almost 3 months ago. Are the changes in effect yet?

Good question. So, let’s figure that out. State law allows charter changes to be placed on the ballot. Citizens vote. If citizens approve a change, there are other steps that must be taken before they are law.

According to Texas law: Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter 9, Sec. 9.005(b):

Sec. 9.005. ADOPTION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT.
(b) A charter or an amendment does not take effect until the governing body of the municipality enters an order in the records of the municipality declaring that the charter or amendment is adopted.

Has that been done? Well, it’s all a bit confusing and more of the sloppy government in the City of Bastrop that I’ve written about before.

The election was November 5, 2024.
On the November 12, 2024 City Council agenda was a draft “first reading” ordinance (2024-41) certifying the results of the election. This was deferred to a future meeting because final vote tally had not been sent to the City Council.
On the December 10, 2024 City Council agenda was a draft “first reading” ordinance (2024-41) certifying the results of the election. All questions except J were approved by the City Council as canvassed.
On the January 14, 2025 City Council agenda, more than 2 months after the election, was a draft of a resolution (rather than the previously adopted ordinance for second reading) (2025-07) certifying the results of the election.
As written, that resolution provided for the “adoption of Propositions A, B,C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and M.
On January 13, 2025, after reviewing the agenda, I emailed several City Council members and the Mayor letting them know that this verbiage was incorrect and that Proposition L had, in fact, been defeated by the voters. Further review showed that Proposition G had also been defeated.
At the meeting of January 14, 2025, a motion was made to modify the City Secretary’s written resolution to provide for the “the adoption of Propositions A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, K, , and M; and the rejection of Propositions G and L.”
With that modification, the resolution certifying the results of the November 5, 2024 was finally adopted on January 14, 2025.

So, with all those delays, the City Manager bought almost three months more to move into the City limits. The current charter requires her to live in the City limits, but the City Council somehow gave her a pass. Voters reaffirmed that provision on November 5, 2024. So, has she moved into the City limits?

There are a couple of other legal steps once the Council has certified the results. Under Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter 9, Sec. 9.007:

Sec. 9.007. CERTIFICATION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT.
(a) As soon as practicable after a municipality adopts a charter or charter amendment, the mayor or chief executive officer of the municipality shall certify to the secretary of state an authenticated copy of the charter or amendment under the municipality’s seal showing the approval by the voters of the municipality.

(b) The secretary of state shall file and record the certification in his office in a book kept for that purpose.

And, last, the City Secretary must record the changes either on microfilm or in a “book kept for that purpose.” As of this writing, the changes have not been recorded on the City’s website.

Sec. 9.008. REGISTRATION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT; EFFECT.
(a) The secretary or other officer of a municipality performing functions similar to those of a secretary shall record in the secretary’s or other officer’s office a charter or charter amendment adopted by the voters of the municipality. If a charter or amendment is not recorded on microfilm, as may be permitted under another law, it shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose.