May 11, 2025 – Volume 8 Number 19

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Happy Mothers Day.

* City Council public hearing for old dragstrip announced for the May 20 council meeting.

* City council to meet Tuesday for election processing.

* Kidfish is Saturday

 

SCHEDULE:

Sunday, May 11: Mother’s Day.

Tuesday, May 13: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 13: KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 13: Parks Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 17: Kidfish, 8:00 a.m.-noon.

Tuesday, May 20: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 22: P&Z meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Monday, May 26: Memorial Day Holiday.

Tuesday, May 27: EDC Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 27: Early voting starts for the June runoff.

…..

Senior Tax Freeze

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_10.html

 

Texas Open Meetings Act Violations???

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_9.html

 

City Council Grades:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_26.html

 

Kennedale Observer website:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/index_3.html

 

Latest Kennedale Observer newsletter:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_44.html

 

Kennedale Observer city council grades:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_26.html

 

KNOW WHAT YOUR CITY IS UP TO...

Your City Council

The city council will meet this coming Tuesday, May 13, for a meeting for election processing purposes. They then will meet for their regular monthly meeting Tuesday, May 20.

This Tuesday's agenda can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3629/files/agenda/10101 . The agenda includes the consent agenda (acceptance of certification, ordinance of canvassing of election results, and an ordinance calling for the runoff election) and presentations (oath for David Glover, oath for Jeff Nevarez).

 

May 3 Unofficial Municipal Election Results

Place 1:

Goff 293 38.5%

Glover 468 61.5%

 

Place 3:

Ray 103 13.55%

Hollins 293 38.55%

Michels 364 47.9%

Michels and Hollins will be in a June runoff election.

 

Place 5:

Nevarez 378 50.1%

Connor 197 26.1%

Burns 179 23.8%

 

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June 7 Runoff

The June 7 runoff election will see early voting from Tuesday, May 27 – Tuesday, June 3.

Kennedale's voting location will be held at Dover Fellowship Hall at 208 Municipal Drive, not the Community Room at the Kennedale Public Library.

 

Place 3: My choice is Amanda Hollins

Amanda Hollins

( http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_21.html )

Ms. Hollins is a political newcomer. She scored very highly in the scoring system and potentially will make an excellent council person.

Michels (i)

( http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_80.html )

Mr. Michels, the incumbent, has a current Kennedale Observer grade of “C”. As a former employee, he has a lot of “Kennedale” knowledge. He voted in opposition to a rubber-stamp in November 2023 on the nuisance ordinance update.

 

Commentary – May 2025 Election

In my opinion the May 2025 Election should have been about the missing senior tax freeze. The public was told in April 2023 they would be getting a senior tax freeze and it would not effect the city until 2025 (which is the October 2024 tax statements). Fate, Texas voted on their senior tax freeze two months after Kennedale voted (June 2023) and their seniors saw the benefit on the October 2024 tax statements.

In June 2023 when the item was being discussed before the vote (and also the staff report), there was NO MENTION that the ordinance was any different then what was expressed/communicated at the April 2023 meeting. [I e-mailed the five voting members of that council, three e-mailed back that the current process/timing was not what they were expecting. The two incumbents refused to answer.] There was NO MENTION “that the ordinance will be in full force effective January 1, 2024” meant it was only a cap loading year and would not help seniors on their October 2024 statements.

At the June 2023 discussion, even after the finance director stated, “Budget impact is minimal” the ones that claimed they knew the implementation delay at the time of the vote, did NOT CARE about seniors enough to ask or comment if the process could be modified to help the seniors sooner.

Then at November 2024 the city manager addressed the situation because seniors had discovered they had received their promised tax ceiling on their statements. The city manager's claim was the senior tax freeze was happening as intended... City administration has done a MAJOR INJUSTICE to the seniors. Should we ask the Steeplechase - East residents about city administration and major injustices?

The senior tax freeze should have been the major election issue. Unfortunately, certain individuals were able to generate a lot of smoke about TGAA (Texas Government Accountability Association). Yes, there is money flowing from candidates to their consultant's company. There is nothing abnormal about that. If you have TGAA money flowing to candidates, that would be another story. Somehow the belief of this TGAA smoke was that TGAA owned certain votes because those candidates paid their campaign consultant?

The planned development zoning change for the old dragstrip should have also been an election issue, but the company was able to postpone the vote from March to now, on May 20, so some of their votes would not be hurt by voter retaliation.

 

Senior Tax Freeze

Back in June of 2023 the city council approved a senior tax freeze. The three-page ordinance can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3288/files/attachment/11739 . This would be applicable for the city portion of property taxes where properties have a homestead, and the owner is 65 or older. The KISD, the county, and Tarrant County College also have senior tax freezes.

Apparently, this did not happen for City of Kennedale residents. So, what happened or did not happen? The city manager [poorly] addressed the issue at the November 2024 council meeting. [The “official” stance of the city manager and city attorney and backed by the three incumbents running in this year's election, is that the tax freeze is happening, as planned.]

The city administration has done a MAJOR INJUSTICE to Kennedale seniors by a) writing an ordinance incorrectly and/or b) failing to explain how the ordinance was to start back in June 2023. For example, Fate, Texas, in Rockwall County, implemented a senior tax freeze (with the ordinance written correctly) in August 2023, two months after Kennedale, and their seniors saw a freeze on their October 2024 statements. The major difference between the two ordinances is the Kennedale ordinance states effective January 1, 2024, while the Fate ordinance states effective immediately.

The November 2024 city council meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFR_rKkFyg8&t=3116s . The discussion of the item begins at about 47:36.

Some quotes:

48:16 Mr. Hull: “Currently, the ordinance is written where it takes effect in 2024.” [Meaning IF the city attorney wrote the ordinance correctly it would have helped seniors with their October 2024 statements, but since he didn't, it won't.]

 

48:46 Mr. Hull: “The ordinance does not read for 2023 that was not even the intent...” [Not true. He wants you to go back to the June 2023 city council meeting but let us instead go back to the April 2023 Work Session on the subject. (See timeline below for April's council meeting information.) Mr. Hull states, “So ultimately, the tax [freeze] would not affect us until the 2025.” [2025 IS THE OCTOBER 2024 TAX STATEMENTS. These are the statements that DID see an increase, but back in April 2023, based on the city manager's own words, the tax freeze should have affected.]

 

49:15 Mr. Hull: “Even then [June 2023] it was indicated and confirmed the tax freeze takes place in 2024.” [Here's the problem. In basic English the expectations of “2024” meant the October 2024 Statements. There is no prerequisite for council members to be a lawyer, or in this case, a specialized tax lawyer. The expectation is the city attorney and/or the city manager would explain to the council members any fine points of the law that would make a difference on any subject. At NO point in April 2023 or June 2023, was anything stated to council members of the significance of a January 1, 2024 start date.]

 

49:36 Mr. Hull: “So with everything that is being said with reference to when we filed it, when we didn't file it, if we did, if we didn't is minute.” [NOT TRUE. If it had been filed in a timely fashion TAD could have pointed out the required changes to make it match Mr. Hull's April 2023 statement. When TAD did finally get it in November 2024, they made suggested changes on another part of the ordinance that needed modification. The city DID modify that other part of the ordinance and passed the modification a month later at the December 2024 meeting.]

 

50:05 Mr. Hull: “We have looked at the possibility, even as someone made a comment, about doing a reimbursement. Unfortunately, we cannot do that on the legal side. So even if the intent was to be in 2023, we can't do that by law.” [It is true the law does not allow a reimbursement for this reason. However, since they even looked into it, it pretty much tells you the intent was 2023, even though their official stance is significantly different.]

 

51:19 City Attorney: “If I could Mayor, just add one thing, it's not just the ordinance, Mr. City Manager, it's state law that governs. So, 2024 would have been the earliest the council could have done it anyway under state law. And it is state law that governs in this instance. So the ordinance adopted by the council was the earliest the freeze could be adopted.” [2024 is the earliest the current poorly written ordinance could be adopted, however, like Fate, Texas, in the State of Texas, where their ordinance was written two months later than Kennedale's ordinance, they were able to write an ordinance that said effective immediately (instead of January 1, 2024) and their seniors got their benefit on their October 2024 statements.]

 

Timeline.

April 2023 the city council discusses the item as a work session item. [That meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndf8BqnPjBw . The discussion on this item starts about 1:40:27. ]

1:44:59 Mr. Hull: “So ultimately, the tax [freeze] would not affect us until the 2025.” [2025 IS THE OCTOBER 2024 TAX STATEMENTS. These are the statements that DID see an increase, but back in April 2023, based on the city manager's own words, the tax freeze should have affected.]

minutes: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3017/files/agenda/8873

staff report: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3017/files/report/11354

 

June 2023 the city council approves the ordinance, 5-0. The June 20, 2023, meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTm2LdTa_YI&t=303s . The discussion on this item starts about 2:43:35. At no point did anyone mention a delay in the implementation or that the effective January 1, 2024 meant there would be a delay in the implementation from the expectations of the April meeting. There were no statements/comments about this being different than the April 2023 meeting.

2:44:11 Finance Director Horton “[The tax freeze] does seem consistent with neighboring communities, having a tax freeze for senior citizens. Budget impact is minimal. I don't necessarily see a downside from a financial perspective. We will need to make up a little bit of funding, but from a personal standpoint, not a financial standpoint, I do feel the little bit of hardship we might have to face as a city versus the goodwill it will bring for the senior citizens, the correct would be to go with the freeze.”. [Yet the people that CLAIM to have “understood” the implementation delay, caring so little about the seniors, said or asked nothing regarding making a change to aid the seniors sooner. In my opinion, that certainly implies they DO NOT CARE about the seniors.]

 

2:45:05 Council Member Horton: “Is it my understanding that this won't take effect until 2024?”

2:45:11 Mayor Joplin: “January 1.” [then a comment by Mr. Nevarez]

2:45:42 Mayor Joplin: “And it does say on the last page that the ordinance will be in full force effective January 1, 2024.” [If you are one of the people, as the CLAIM is, who knows this is only loading the cap data, would this not have been a good time to speak up and explain the difference between “full force” and what the claim the law is? [and they claim the ordinance was clearly written...]]

minutes: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3019/files/agenda/9175

staff report (with NO mention of January 1, 2024 significance; NO mention of timeline being any different than discussed in April): https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3019/files/report/11786

 

Questions

1. So why did the status change from April 2023 and the city manager stated it would affect 2025 to the implementation being delayed? Why was nothing stated about this change before the vote at the June 2023 meeting informing the council (and the public) of the change?

2. Why did the city administration not produce an ordinance to match what was discussed at the April 2023 meeting, and did not tell them they were voting on something different?

3. Why was the effective date of January 1, 2024 used instead of “effective immediately”?

4. Why was the importance of the January 1 date not explained?

5. At the June meeting, after the finance director spoke about the minimal impact, why did not one of the people who “understood” the delayed implementation not ask or comment to implement earlier to help the seniors? Are these people so uncaring about Kennedale seniors?

6. At the June meeting, after the use of “full force” where the majority of the city council and the public thought what they were getting was as it was stated by the city manager in April 2023, why did not one of these who “understood” the delayed implementation not clearly point out that 2024 was only going to be a cap loading year?

7. What is so important and being concealed, that people appear to be willing to fall on this sword for it?

 

Last Week

The Building Board of Appeals was to have met last Thursday, May 8, however, the meeting was canceled. They were to vote for a city-initiated building demolition at 6713 Lindale Road. Agenda: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3628/files/agenda/10089 .

 

This Week

The city council will be meeting on Tuesday evening to perform election functions.

The KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) and Parks Board also plan to have their regular monthly meetings on Tuesday evening.

 

Public Hearings

On Tuesday, May 20, the city council will hold a public hearing on PZ25-03 for a planned development at 3780/3830 New Hope Road. This is the old dragstrip.

On Thursday, May 22, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ25-07 for a conditional use permit for a battery energy storage system at 509 S. New Hope Road.

 

EDC

The next EDC (Economic Development Corporation) Board meeting should be on Tuesday, May 27.

 

P&Z

The next P&Z meeting should be on Thursday, May 22.

 

Commentary: The Bridge

Let's just say the numbers do NOT add up, and I am NOT talking about the financial numbers.

The city council held a special work session meeting on June 6, 2023. One item they discussed was the Little Road expansion project. That meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSnzNTRGIhg . That particular discussion started at 1:01:20.

At 1:17:49 Mr. Nevarez asks about the bridge. This is a Freese and Nichols engineer responding. His responses include:

1:17:54 Freese and Nichols, “So, we are trying to hold [the grade] to five percent because this project is going to include shared-use paths on the sidewalks. It's definitely going to be tight considering the proximity of … Kennedale Parkway and it is adjacent to the railroad tracks.”

1:18:09 Freese and Nichols, “As you can imagine Union Pacific has their standards of the clear course to make over the railroad tracks and so coming from Kennedale Parkway, maybe 300 to 400 linear feet [away], getting up say 30 feet, it's going to be up there [speaking of the grade].

1:18:28 Freese and Nichols, “So the sidewalks, we're currently proposing 10-foot wide, shared-use hike and bike … the maximum launch you want is five percent.

The cost work sheet as part of the packet for this meeting can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3199/files/attachment/10862 . It clearly states a 200-foot bridge (X 90 feet wide, 1800 sq. ft.).

[Commentary: This is where the numbers DO NOT MATCH!!! A 5% grade means it increases 5 feet vertically for every 100 feet horizontally. If you need to go up 30 feet and maintain only a 5% grade, you need 600 feet. So, since you must both ascend and descend, YOU ARE TALKING A BRIDGE OF 1200 FEET!!! Cost estimates at this point have only been for a 200- foot bridge. To ascend and descend 30 feet with a 200-foot bridge means the grade would need to be at 30% grade!!! When/If this thing ever gets designed properly, I have to believe you will see some major, major sticker shock.]

 

Commentary – Political Scum, Part II

Unfortunately, on Facebook, someone created a fictitious post to make it look like it came from the Kennedale Observer and then the Queen of Misspellings posted it. I get the 'content isn't available' message, but you may have better luck/results (if you are not blocked) at: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16EueLeh7B/ .

So why has Kennedale become the major laughingstock of the metroplex? The short answer is Bryant Griffith. He apparently does not care how much damage to Kennedale's reputation he causes.

He generates this massive long list of complaints, some of which were baseless (for example, the Austin Degenhart expertise issue), while others already had Texas Ethics Commission's rulings that did not agree with his complaint.

Mr. Griffith appears to have some type of (personal?) issue with Mr. Horton. You can go back to the December 2023 meeting (about 29:21, viewable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=clje03nspos#t=1761s) where an item on the agenda was, “Discussion regarding the mayor's back to school bash”. This was concerning a contribution that Mr. Griffith made to the Mayor's Back to School Bash somewhere near the same time he was appointed to the city council seat by the former mayor, breaking a 2-2 tie.

I made two calls to the former mayor about the incident. The first was in December 2023 and the second, I believe, was in February 2024. Based on the details given to me, my opinion of what happened was [then council member] Mr. Horton had nothing to say and did not want to talk on the agenda item, but Mr. Griffith was insisting that he must speak. During that second call to the former mayor, she stated, while speaking to Mr. Horton, I believe the day of the council meeting, that “Griff” was not going to let it go. I asked if she had a problem with that and her reply was more along the lines of Mr. Griffith's positive actions.

Now I am sure that Mr. Griffith will claim his complaint is about “accountability”. It's ironic how accountability works. While he was filing some of his Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) complaints on others' campaign finance reports, it certainly appears his own records were not in full compliance. He gives the appearance that laws only apply to others.

So, is this just personal for Mr. Griffith? Let's hope so. The other alternative is not pleasing.

Who has anything to gain by making Kennedale look bad? I came up with only one ugly possibility. So, we know Mr. Griffith got $6500 last year from Arlington power brokers' PACs. [I certainly do NOT know, and certainly hope not,] But what if these power brokers were having their puppet generating this result because they are thinking now is the time to take over Kennedale? I would hate to see Kennedale turned into another mini-Arlington.

History has taught us to follow the money. There is no money going from TGAA to candidates, no matter what the “smoke” says, but there is certainly money that has gone from Arlington power brokers to Mr. Griffith.

Next, let's go into the leaked e-mail. A leaked e-mail was not meant to be released, but because of an error, yes it became available. What caused the writing of the e-mail? Answer: a security issue/problem/situation.

The major surprise is it appears the Texas Rangers were of no help, but simply tipped off the city manager. Secondly, the Kennedale Police won't do anything, apparently not until after the gun is fired.

What have we learned since the May 1^st meeting? Well, son Johnson does whatever Momma says. He sat there front and center for the meeting for Momma for the May 1 meeting. He comes out on election day to carry on the drama because Momma says to.

We know that Momma, by posting the fictitious Kennedale Observer posts, either does not know right from wrong, or has no trouble crossing that line.

The security situation that was expressed in that original e-mail, is still in “condition red”, active mode. This is certainly not a warm and fuzzy feeling.

 

Other News....

TAD Rates

Tarrant Appraisal District has published the tax rates (October 2024) for the county. Kennedale is now the fifth highest municipality. [https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2024TaxRates.pdf ].

Top ten of 41 (everyone else is < 0.65)

1. Everman 1.0260800

2. Sansom Park 0.7796050

3. Forest Hill 0.7240940

4. Blue Mound 0.7220330

5. Kennedale 0.7061900

6. White Settlement 0.6798160

7. River Oaks 0.6758270

8. Fort Worth 0.6725000

9. Burleson 0.6627000

10. Grand Prairie 0.6600000

 

Fire Department has Moved

The fire department has moved to their temporary location while their fire station is being rebuilt. They are now at 705A E. Kennedale Parkway.

 

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HELPFUL WEBSITES and CONTACTS

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Senior Tax Freeze Missing

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_10.html

 

Texas Open Meetings Act Violations???

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_9.html

 

Kennedale Observer: KennedaleObserver@yahoo.com

 

The Kennedale Observer can be found on Facebook as KennedaleObserver.

 

Kennedale Observer website:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/index_3.html

 

Latest Kennedale Observer newsletter:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_44.html

 

City Council Grades:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_26.html

 

Old Texas Raceway property project:

http://www.arlspectator.mysite.com/whats_new.html

 

 

The City of Kennedale website: www.cityofkennedale.com

Mayor and City Council Emails:

Mayor – Brad Horton BHorton@cityofkennedale.com

Place-1 David Glover DGlover@cityofkennedale.com

Place-2 Thelma Kobeck TKobeck@cityofkennedale.com

Place-3 Kenneth Michels KMichels@cityofkennedale.com

Place-4 Chris Gary CGary1@cityofkennedale.com

Place-5 Jeff Nevarez JNevarez@cityofkennedale.com

 

Recordings of City Council meetings can be viewed at:

[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4a2pjrnxZ5XrbsXcoLOP4Q?view_as=subscriber].

 

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