City of College Station Blog

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By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director

Welcome to our live blog from the College Station City Council meeting on Thursday, July 23. The meeting starts after 6 p.m. and is streamed live on Optimum Channel 19, cstx.gov/cstv19, and YouTube. It’s not the official minutes.

You can participate online via  Microsoft Teams  by entering Meeting ID 287 987 474 175 and Passcode gZw5cS. You can also call 469-480-7460 and enter Conference Number 168 564 318#.  

6:00 p.m.

The meeting has started. The Council took no action after its executive session.

6:09 p.m.

Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Day

Mayor John Nichols officially proclaimed today as Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Day in College Station. In May, the Aggies captured the 2026 NCAA National Championship, their second national title in the last three years. The team also won its fifth straight SEC regular season crown, tying a conference record.

Junior Lucciana Perez earned National Player of the Year and the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s top collegiate tennis player. She also completed the first undefeated singles campaign (28-0) in program history.

Joining the Mayor for the presentation (below) were National Coach of the Year Mark Weaver and assistant coaches Tommy Mylnikov and James Wilson. Congratulations to the players, coaching staff, and Texas A&M’s athletic leadership for representing the College Station community with exceptional sportsmanship and class.

>> View the Proclamation

6:15 p.m.

Hear Visitors

Two people spoke during Hear Visitors, where citizens may address the Council on any item not on the posted agenda.

• Robert Rose asked the Council to =help push the state legislature to pass “Hannah’s Law” in honor of Hannah Rapp, a local bicyclist who was killed last weekend.
• Nicole Gallucci promoted an event on Saturday at the Ringer Library at 10 a.m. about property taxes.

6:16 p.m.

Consent Agenda

The Council unanimously approved the entire consent agenda:

• A $6.85 million Construction Manager at Risk contract amendment with Skanska USA Building for Texas Independence Park at Midtown, plus the City’s contingency of $200,000 for a total appropriation of $7.05 million.
• A $543,300 annual lease agreement with Brannon Industrial Group for solid waste containers.
• The second reading of a franchise agreement with United Site Solutions for collecting recyclables from commercial businesses and multi-family locations.
• An interlocal agreement with the Texas A&M University Health Science Center to conduct forensic interviews on behalf of the College Station Police Department.
• A resolution approving the FY 2027 (PY2026) Annual Action Plan and the FY 2027 Community Development Budget.
• A $64,988 change order to the design contract with Colliers Engineering & Design for the Citywide Sidewalks and Shared-Use Paths Project.
• A $50,000 change order to the contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates for the College Heights Utility Rehabilitation Project.
• A design contract not to exceed $680,200 with Dunham Engineering for the Dowling Road Pump Station storage tanks recoating and disinfection improvements project.
• A design contract not to exceed $497,270 with Freese and Nichols for the Well No. 9 Rehabilitation Project.
• The fourth Amendment to the lease agreement with CEO, Etc. increasing the use of City dark fiber optic cable.

6:28 p.m.

BVSWMA Budget

The Council unanimously approved the FY 27 BVSWMA budget. The $18 million FY27 budget includes $7.2 million in capital costs and $15.7 million in revenue. Capital expenses include heavy equipment replacement, cell development, landfill expansion and debt service.

The gate rate for the Cities of College Station and Bryan remains at $0.00 per ton.

8:49 p.m.

Flock Safely Readers

The Council reviewed the City’s use and management of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), also known as Flock cameras. CSPD uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising individual privacy. In the public comments, 11 speakers spoke against the devices (two on behalf of groups), while four spoke in support.

The department uses retroactive searches to solve crimes after they’ve occurred and real-time alerting of hotlist vehicles to capture wanted criminals. To ensure proper usage and guardrails are in place, they have implemented policies and usage statistics available to the public.

Flock ALPR is not used for facial recognition, occupant identification, or audio recording, and Flock has no access to Criminal Justice Information Services information or information that identifies the driver. LPRs take a point-in-time image of the rear of vehicles on public roadways. They do not continuously track vehicles. Images not used for an investigation are deleted.

Courts have also consistently found that taking images of public documents (license plates) on public roads is not a violation of privacy. Current case law supports that the use of license plate readers is constitutional and is not a search under the 4th Amendment.

The City owns 100% of the data, and it will never be sold. Only our agency decides who to share our data with, not Flock. All data is deleted after 30 days by default. Data is encrypted while being transmitted and while stored in the cloud. Only authorized users within an agency can access the system, and searches and user activity are logged. Administrators conduct routine and regular audits.

At CSPD, access is restricted to authorized personnel only. All searches require metadata entry for the purpose. All searches are logged and auditable. Misuse can result in disciplinary action with criminal penalties, and supervisors have oversight and review capability.

In the last 30 days in College Station, Flock Safety readers have scanned 763,148 unique license plates. The same vehicle is not counted multiple times within these counts. In that period, the CSPD conducted 277 Flock searches, an average of fewer than 10 a day.

From Jan. 1-July 17, the City’s license plate readers have identified 293 warrants, 67 stolen vehicles and nine missing persons.

CSPD Policy Statement: A fundamental element of policing to reduce crime and the fear of crime consists of locating stolen vehicles or vehicles involved in other criminal acts.  It shall be the policy of the Department to only use Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology as authorized for official use only and as directed by departmental policy, state, and federal law.  We will ensure that we are cognizant of and respect the public’s privacy interests. The Department recognizes the use of ALPR as an effective law enforcement tool to identify vehicles that may be associated with criminal activity.  The availability and use of ALPR provides an opportunity for enhancement of productivity, effectiveness, and officer safety.

Local Flock Safety success stories are outlined in the PowerPoint presentation.

8:50 p.m.

The Council is taking a short break.

9:21 p.m.

Water System Collaboration

The Council discussed the City’s strategic collaboration with nearby water systems on mutual support initiatives such as emergency interconnects.

9:46 p.m.

Big 6 Community Branding Signage

Residents Steve Beachy and Manjit Yadav presented a proposal for a coordinated, community-wide signage and public-art strategy along the full 12-mile State Highway 6 corridor to present a unified narrative: Welcome to Aggieland.

If the Council decides to move forward with the citizen-driven proposal, staff will gather cost estimates and present them to the Council at a future date.

10:02 p.m.

Budget Public Hearing

The Council held a public hearing on the City’s proposed $576.4 million budget for FY 2026-2027. The proposal includes $181.6 million for capital projects and $394.8 million for operations and maintenance, including City-owned utilities. Two people spoke during the hearing.

The council voted unanimously to set budget adoption after a tax rate public hearing on Aug. 27. The proposed budget was presented to the City Council on July 6. Budget workshops were held to review the proposed budget on July 13-14.

The 21.5% increase in the budget is due primarily to capital projects. The City’s operating budget is increasing by only 1.2%. After the public hearing, the Council may insert or decrease items if the changes don’t increase the total budget by more than 3%.

10:07 p.m.

Bond Issuance for Water Wells

The Council unanimously approved the issuance of $37.3 million in certificates of obligation for the City’s new water wells, including distribution, transmission and system lines. The projected bond sale date is Aug. 4.

The City typically issues debt to fund various capital projects identified and approved as a part of the annual budget. The City primarily uses three types of debt instruments to fulfill those requirements.

• General Obligation Bonds (GOBs) are based on the full faith and credit of the City and are paid primarily through the debt service portion of the property tax rate. GOBs are authorized by the voters, and notice is provided in the election process.
• Utility Revenue Bonds (URBs) are backed by the revenues of the City’s utilities and are issued as a business activity. These are typically only issued for utility capital projects.
• Certificates of Obligation (COs) normally include at least one additional revenue stream such as utility revenues but are much like GOBs and usually receive a rating like GOBs.

The City’s policy for issuing COs allows more flexibility in their issuance than GOBs, particularly when other revenues are expected to assist in debt service. The City’s financial advisor, Marti Shew of Hilltop Securities, recommends that the City issue Certificates of Obligation for utility projects rather than Utility Revenue Bonds.

The City reviews the applicable debt service requirements during preparation of the annual budget. The water utility has budgeted the expenditure and will pay the debt service associated with the certificates.

10:11 p.m.

2014 Series Bond Defeasance

The Council unanimously authorized the redemption of a portion of the City’s General Obligation Improvement & Refunding Bonds, Series 2014, saving $902,109 over the life of the bonds. 

The City actively manages its debt service by monitoring opportunities to reduce costs, and manages the Debt Service Fund to optimize the fund balance and maintain a consistent tax rate. The City uses refunding bonds to refinance eligible bonds and, when available, cash to defease or pay off eligible bonds early.

The City continually evaluates the interest rate market and available funds to identify opportunities to reduce the debt service obligation and maintain a consistent debt service rate. Each new issue bond becomes callable or available to pay off early after 10 years from its issuance.

Defeasance of the 2014 Series General Obligation Improvements and Refunding Bonds represents a net present value savings of 5.53% compared to the opportunity cost of the funds used to defease. The planned defeasance was forecasted in the 5-year Debt Service Fund forecast as part of the FY26 budget.

10:15 p.m.

Rock Prairie Road East Right-of-Way

The Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing eminent domain proceedings to acquire necessary right-of-way for the Rock Prairie East widening project.

The voter-approved project (61.9% voted for it in the 2022 bond election) will widen Rock Prairie East from Town Lake Drive to William D. Fitch Parkway, transforming the two-lane asphalt roadway into a three-lane concrete roadway with separated bike lanes and sidewalks along each side. The project will also include storm sewer and street lighting.

The Pompa tract was appraised by Allen, Williford & Seale for $11,366 for the fee simple interest for right-of-way. The City has not received a response to its previous offer letters or its current letter.

A budget of $26.6 million is available in the Streets Capital Improvement Projects Fund. A total of $1.9 million has been expended or committed to date, leaving a balance of $24.68 million for this item and remaining project expenses.

10:26 p.m.

Mayor Nichols adjourned the meeting after the Council discussed its calendar, items of community interest, committee and board reports, and future agenda items. The Council meets again on Thursday, Aug. 13.

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