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November 8, 2026 –Volume 9 Number 45

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Another Planned Development for the old race track planned. P&Z public hearing now November 19.

* Kennedale now has the 12^th highest municipal tax rate in Tarrant County (improved from 8^th).

SCHEDULE:

Monday, November 9: Economic Development Corporation Board Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 10: KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 10: Parks Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day.

Wednesday, November 11: Kennedale Veterans Day event, 9:00 a.m.

Tuesday, November 17: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 19: P&Z meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 24: Economic Development Corporation Board Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 26: Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 27: City Holiday.

Saturday, November 28: Hometown Christmas 2:00 p.m.; 6:00 p.m. Tree lighting and fireworks.

Monday, November 30: Early voting begins for TAD Board runoff election, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, December 8: Early voting ends for TAD Board runoff election, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 12: TAD Board runoff election, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

KNOW WHAT YOUR CITY IS UP TO...

Your City Council

The city council met for a special meeting this past Tuesday, November 3. That agenda packet can be found https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3977/files/agenda/10975 . The meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuQvKo_5b5w .

(3:08) Start of meeting. Mayor Johnson and Council Member Ray were not present.

(6:29) The PZ26-15 final replat at 317 S. New Hope Road (that information starts on .pdf page 3 of the packet – see link above). It was approved, 4-0.

(10:13) The charter committee. The time crunch allows for delaying. Mr. Nevarez wants three-year election cycles. Mr. Michels wants plurality vs. majority wins. They created the committee with Dr. Jeremy Bird, Eric Elam, John Clark, Matt Muhler (sp?), and Dr. Mike Walker. It was approved, 4-0.

(32:36) Executive session for potential deals regarding real property in the Oak Crest Addition. They reconvened about 48:55 and took no action on executive session items.

[Commentary: What is happening here is they are wishing to change the charter. Changing the charter requires it to be on the ballot and approved by the voters. The council can generate their own wording, or they can create a committee to generate the desired changes. The council then has the option of approving the committee's work or modifying it (like in 2024 the charter committee came with what they desired as far as elections to fill vacant council positions, but the council changed a portion of that).

So now the council wants at least two things. First, they want 3-year terms (something that I believe failed about ten years ago).

Second, they wish to have the plurality winners, meaning a majority is not required to win. Some examples, somewhat extreme, an incumbent with two challengers gets 34% of the vote and each of the challengers gets 33%: today that would result in a runoff between the incumbent and the higher placing challenger. With the change, there is NO runoff, the incumbent wins with 66% opposed to him. If a council race has ten candidates, the winner mathematically could have about 11% of the vote. There is no runoff. The council discussion reasoning for this change was so they did not have to pay for a runoff election (a figure of $6,000 was used). My opinion, they can pay to hear the citizens; they paid more than that to have an “investigation” that proved nothing. In 2026 Arlington had a runoff where the original higher finisher did NOT win – it happens.]

The next city council meeting is scheduled for November 17 for the regular monthly meeting.

October Meeting Leftovers:

At the October meeting the council discussed the Arlington Handi-tran option. There were several incorrect items in the discussion. Most importantly, Arlington Handi-tran is NOT, nor is it planning to be in the near future, a 24/7 service.

The council also voted for their choice for the TML Board. Based on Mr. Nevarez's recommendation, they approved a vote for Mary Sarver, who, when the City of Arlington discussed their vote, we learned faced two Medicaid fraud charges in Johnson County, to which she reportedly pleaded no contest in 2017 after the charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. There was also a 2015 injury to a child case which had been dismissed.

According to AI: She has publicly disputed the allegations. According to reporting by KERA/Denton Record-Chronicle, she stated that:

The child-injury case was dismissed.
She pleaded no contest to the Medicaid-fraud charges because she could not afford to continue defending herself and maintained her innocence.
She characterized the child-abuse allegations as false and connected to actions by an ex-husband and a law-enforcement officer.

There is an article on the Arlington vote in the Arlington Report by Lillie Davidson of KERA News at: https://fortworthreport.org/2026/10/29/arlington-city-leaders-cast-vote-for-municipal-organization-leader-amid-concerns-about-incumbent/ .

Leftovers:

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

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.

Was the Investigation Hi-jacked by the City Attorney and City Manager?

See the November 30, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Pay to Play Scandal

See the December 7, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Wandell Investigation Files

See the December 14, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Lack of Accountability/Afraid to Speak

See the December 21, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Griffith vs. Hull – “The Threat”

See the January 4, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Chamber Vote

See the January 11, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Hiring Austin Degenhart

See the January 18, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

City Manager has Favorites?

See the January 25, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Our Commentary

See the February 1, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

“No Shame” Griffith

See the February 15, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Last Week

Last week the city council met to approve a final plat and to establish a charter committee.

This Week

This week the Economic Development Corporation will meet on Monday to elect a president and vice-president and continue their discussion on monument entry signs.

On Tuesday the Keep Kennedale Beautiful (KKB) (agenda) and the Parks Board (agenda) are scheduled to meet.

Public Hearings

On Thursday, November 19, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ26-14 to replat the town home community at 439 Mansfield Cardinal Road.

On Thursday, November 19, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ26-16 to replat at 624 W. Kennedale Parkway and 108 Industrial Lane.

On Thursday, November 19, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ26-17 to replat at 316 & 318 Little School Road.

On Thursday, November 19, P&Z will hold a public hearing on PZ26-19 for a zoning planned development of the 90.689 acres at 3780 and 3830 Kennedale New Hope Road.

EDC

The next Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board meeting is scheduled for this Monday, November 9. The agenda for that meeting can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3785/files/agenda/10986 .

They plan to vote for a president and vice president and have a continued conversation about monument entry signs (picture).

P&Z

The next P&Z meeting will be on Thursday, November 19.

Other News....

Another Development Plan

There was another public notice (with a date, time, and location for November 19) for a public hearing on another development plan for the old racetrack. The packet should be published by Monday, November 16.

Did you elect a council that listens to the citizens or is in the back pockets of developers?

Election Leftovers

There will be a runoff election for TAD Board #1 and TAD Board #2 as none of the candidates in those races got over 50% (a majority) of the vote. That runoff will be on Saturday, December 12. Early voting will be Monday, November 30 – Tuesday, December 8.

TAD#1 - Rebecca Hardy vs. Byron Haynes

TAD#2 - Ambika Sharma vs. Cary Cheshire

Questionable Character on the Ballot

(R) Ken Paxton was not the only name on the ballot that many might consider with questionable character.

(D) Ericka Lomick, announced on September 21, 2026, that she was suspending her campaign for Texas House District 93. She said she was stepping aside after questions were raised about her eligibility to serve. However, because the withdrawal came after ballot deadlines, her name remained, and she received a majority of the votes. The Protect and Serve Texas PAC published records showing Lomick was indicted and pleaded guilty to three federal felonies: mortgage fraud conspiracy, bank fraud related to a mortgage fraud scheme, and money laundering conspiracy.

Cecillia Lenzen of fortworthreport.org has an article at: https://fortworthreport.org/2026/09/21/democrat-drops-out-of-texas-house-election-for-north-tarrant-seat-citing-eligibility/ .

TAD Rates

Tarrant Appraisal District has published the tax rates (October 2026) for the county. Kennedale has now dropped to the twelfth highest municipality (from eighth). [https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2026TaxRates.pdf ]

Top 15 of 41 (everyone else is < 0.67)

1. Everman 1.0500000

2. Sansom Park 0.8724830

3. River Oaks 0.8189310

4. White Settlement 0.7622610

5. Lakeside 0.7500000

6. Burleson 0.7298000

7. Blue Mound 0.7234600

8. Fort Worth 0.7056500

9. Forest Hill 0.7045120

10. Pelican Bay 0.7038470

11. Crowley 0.6962600