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November 30, 2025 – Volume 8 Number 48

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Our Analysis of the “Investigation Report” continues.

* EDC hears executive session item on the YMCA building remodel.

SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, December 9: KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, December 9: Parks Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, December 16: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 18: P&Z meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, December 23: EDC Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 25: Christmas.

…..

KNOW WHAT YOUR CITY IS UP TO...

Your City Council

The city council did not meet last week. Their next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, December 16.

* * * * *

Leftovers:

The “Investigation” was listed on the executive session agenda for the October 21 meeting. Council Member Kobeck came out of executive session and made the motion to waive the attorney-client privilege and release the investigation report to the public. That motion was approved, 4-0. Unfortunately, I have not found it on the website. I had also made a public information request (PIR) for a copy and on Wednesday (November 5) I DID finally receive a copy.

WOW!!! There is enough there to keep coverage of this for months. This issue we look at was the investigation hi-jacked by the city attorney and city manager.

We have taken the .pdf Investigation Report and converted to text (far from 100% perfect) and tried to make improvements at: http://www.arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_13.html .

Was the Investigation Hi-jacked by the city attorney and city manager?

From the Investigation Report (the Thelma Kobeck interview is covered on pages 16-18), that interview starts with:

“Initially, Councilwoman Kobeck reported to Ms. Chowdhury that, although the City councilmembers approved hiring a third-party for this investigation, the councilmembers were expecting additional discussions to approve the scope of the investigation. According to Councilwoman Kobeck, Council did not have a chance to define the scope of the investigation before the investigation started.”

Also from the Investigation Report (the Jeff Nevarez interview is covered on pages 21-22), a footnote from the start of that interview states:

¹⁷ At the outset, Councilman Nevarez reported to Ms. Chowdhury his concerns about the scope of this investigation being limited to Griffith's complaint. Councilman Nevarez believed the scope of the investigation should have been further defined by City council.

So what happened? Multiple council members are stating they were expecting the council to define the scope of the investigation and THAT DID NOT HAPPEN.

The [commentary: politically motivated witch hunt] “investigation” came about because of a specially called meeting of May 1, 2025, two days prior to election day. The meeting had two action items and the interviewing of the P&Z applicants in executive session. The agenda can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3615/files/agenda/10084 . The meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rtKoyQ1LXU .

(4:50) Start of May 1 meeting. All council members were present. They considered the P&Z interviews first.

(6:39) They started by going into executive session to interview potential P&Z appointments. When they returned to the open session (1:17:52), they appointed Jeff Madrid to the vacant P&Z position with a 5-0 vote. The thing to note here is about 7:12, none of the council members wanted to make a motion to go into executive session until it was very clear that this was only for the purposes of the P&Z appointments and NOT with another/last agenda item. Council members wanted the investigation item to be discussed in the open.

(1:32:07) The second discussion/action item was a discussion and possible action on a [very politically motivated] complaint, found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3615/files/attachment/12100?fbclid=IwY2xjawN3YuZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFSeDVlY256T2V2U2RDajBlAR4hCPHSZNyft3hxrstLXrLz67RHxvkyufDAOJ8rH2UYvxn_HZp4kzkXGeRBIA_aem_-7iMJch8PzrGKhLOvxPYQw . There were two speakers. The first was disgusted by the leaked e-mail. The second spoke on the complaint in the packet and the Enclave Development.

The mayor discussed/worked through several of the other issues. The city attorney stated how campaign finance issues should go through the Texas Ethics Commission; Criminal misconduct issues need to go through the District Attorney's office. Council members Kobeck and Gary also filed their Texas Ethics Commission letters regarding portions of the complaint. During the discussion it was mentioned how there are several other complaints besides the one linked above. About 1:39:07 the city manager suggested going into executive session. None of the council members made such a motion. About 2:07:00 the city attorney stated how the process might happen. About 2:11:13 they discussed the next steps. The motion, “I make a motion that we task the city attorney with finding us a law firm who could investigate this,” was approved, 5-0. [It states “find”, not run/manage/etc. I believe the council was expecting to interview and decide the scope in a future executive session.]

The council voted, 5-0, to have the city attorney nominate law firms that specialize in this field to conduct a 3rd party investigation and develop possible guidelines for the future. In the following weeks there were NO VOTES in public approving a firm or defining a scope.

So, it certainly appears that signing a contract with the selected firm to investigate only the Griffith complaint was a decision made by the city attorney and city manager [who signed the contract] and got NO approval from the city council. Why did these two decide the scope and not the city council? (Note: these same two played major roles in the year-long delay of the senior tax freeze benefiting seniors.) Was there something in one of the other issues [left out of the scope] that presented a problem?

* * * * *

Previous Analysis:

Results: The evidence does NOT confirm…

See the November 9, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Witch Hunt?

See the November 16, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Jeff Nevarez interview – Our Part I

See the November 16, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Jeff Nevarez interview – Our Part II

See the November 23, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

* * * * *

Last Week

Last week the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) did meet on Tuesday, November 25.

This Week

There are no meetings scheduled this week.

Public Hearings

On Tuesday, December 16, the city council will hold a public hearing on PZ25-17 to change the zoning from MF (multi-family) to a planned development at 3100 Joplin Road.

On Thursday, December 18, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ25-19 to change the zoning from C-1 (restricted commercial) to C-2 (general commercial) at 708 Corey A. Edwards.

On Thursday, December 18, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ25-20 to change the zoning from R-1 (large lot single-family residential) to a PD (planned development) at 4365 & 4431 Dick Price Road.

On Thursday, December 18, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ25-21 to change the zoning from C-2 (general commercial) to I (Industrial) at 7205 Hudson Village Creek Road.

???, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ25-15 at 836 Valley Lane for replats.

EDC

The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) met on Tuesday, November 25. The agenda packet can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3595/files/agenda/10396 . The meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbMioLr-s-g .

(3:42) Start of meeting.

(3:57) Financial (reports).

(7:36) Executive session. That portion of the agenda included legal discussions/negotiations on the YMCA building update and possible renewal of the consultants CP2. They reconvened about 1:41:44. There were no actions taken on executive session items.

P&Z

The next P&Z meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 18.

Other News....

TAD Rates

Tarrant Appraisal District has published the tax rates (October 2025) for the county. Kennedale has now dropped to the eighth highest municipality. [https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2025TaxRates.pdf ].

Top eleven of 41 (everyone else is < 0.65)

1. Everman 1.0260800

2. Sansom Park 0.8457840

3. Blue Mound 0.8138000

4. River Oaks 0.7439910

5. Burleson 0.7218000

6. White Settlement 0.7147780

7. Forest Hill 0.7004660

8. Kennedale 0.6961900

9. Pelican Bay 0.6762930

10. Fort Worth 0.6700000

11. Grand Prairie 0.6600000