Additional chairs were set up for a capacity crowd at Monday’s City Council meeting, spurred in part by recent conversations by local social media groups.
The council heard from six in public comments before ruling on a variance request and discussing improvements at the Dublin Airport, the new dense single family zoning and a policy prohibiting the usage of certain software and hardware.
Airport Manager Nathaniel Minor was on hand to discuss runway re-pavement and fuel, presenting information he said he has been compiling since the spring.
There has been public interest in the airport in recent weeks with two of the people in public comments addressing the department.
Augustus Queen, an A&P Mechanic, said he had been to the airport multiple times and never greeted, and the airport was not operated at a standard consistent with the FAA. He said he would like to open a maintenance hangar “which would bring in more people which would bring in more money for the city.”
Queen said he wanted to “shoot for the airport manager position,” saying it could bring in more money for other city endeavors.
Stuart Veldhuizen, owner of Veldhuizen Cheese, asked several questions including the number of vacant hangars, the status of electricity in hangars and how to establish a place to wash off planes. Veldhuizen spoke of the benefits of the airport, saying he has pilots fly in and drive from the airport to visit the cheese farm and shop.
He also asked about grants for resurfacing the runway and the status of fuel availability.
Veldhuizen was told those subject were on the agenda for Monday night.
When Minor took the podium, he said he was working towards a repaving project, but said the airport only has $30,900 in its budget after his 20-hour per week salary.
Minor said he has spoken with TXDOT Project Manager David Kirkpatrick and found two large scale options for the runway, resurfacing (which was estimated at approximately $2 million) and a total replacement (which would be $3 million). He advised that the project could be funded through an Aviation Capital Improvement Program (ACIP) grant, but the 90/10 funding would require the city to commit around $217,000 for the resurface or $317,000 for the replacement.
City Manager Bobby Mendez reported that funds for ACIP would likely not be available until 2028 and that the action would require a master plan and likely would trigger a single audit for which the city would hire a thirdparty firm.
Minor said a crack sealing project was cheaper and is pursuing the option with TXDOT. Council asked about the Rural Airport Maintenance Program (RAMP) grants and was informed that the program also only requires 10 percent commitment but has a lower cap than ACIP. Minor said the city would likely pursue a RAMP grant for the crack seal project.
Minor was asked what the time frame was for the runway to be usable, and he responded it is usable now with pilots occasionally coming through.
On the fuel system, Minor reported that everything needed to be replaced except the fuel dispenser as the tanks were not in line with aviation standard and don’t have manholes that would make cleaning possible. He provided a $132,876 bid from Campbell Aviation Fuels for a new fuel system to interface with a card reader for payments. (The city was using totes for aircraft filling up in previous years.)
Minor advised that the airport has 11 hangars with eight full currently, four of the hangars are privately-owned and rest are owned by the city.
Mendez and a few of the council discussed the profitability of the airport, saying it didn’t draw as much revenue as much as expected when they had a full-time onsite airport manager four years ago.
Dublin Police Chief spoke as a department head, saying that he understood the need for the airport but funds as large as $200,000 or $300,000 might be better utilized by other parts of the city.
Crowd members asked if fly-ins might offset the incurred costs and Augustus Queen said the airport has the ability to bring in tourism, pilots needing maintenance and supplies as well as provide jobs to keep graduating seniors in town. Queen said he’d also like to help Minor with information, saying he might have other options outside TXDOT. The council voted to table the matter for next month so they can be presented with more information.
Other public comments included Rod McNeal who accused the council of inaction following the executive closed session in the October meeting where they reviewed personnel issues with Code Enforcement.
“So much has been said in front of all of y’all in the past year or so with no actions taken, no response other than y’all having an executive session last month with no decision,” McNeal said, adding that he supposes council is telling citizens there are no issues with code enforcement in the city.
McNeal said the matter up for decision was simply on moving code enforcement and animal control under Dublin PD for supervision. McNeal said Mendez had responded in a previous meeting that he supervised code enforcement and he theorized Mendez is not supervising code enforcement or advising Code Enforcement not to pursue some properties.
He urged other citizens to ask city council and staff to ask questions because “these are your tax dollars and all these people work for you.”
Stephen Shinberg spoke as a former employee of the city saying he had to quit his job to save money on daycare because he couldn’t switch hours.
“Now I understand someone in the city makes their own hours,” Shinberg said. “I don’t know whether that’s true or not but I felt I need to come tell this story.”
Keith Nichols spoke in favor of the Council saying “I think you’re doing a good job.”
“Don’t let any outside group dictate who you’re gonna hire, who you’re gonna fire,” Nichols said.
He also asked for the city not to get too rigid about ticket writing where they’re citing single mothers with financial distress or older people in the nursing home for tall grass.
Nichols said his experience with the city has been great and “they’ve always picked up the phone.”
Former councilmember John Johnson also came to voice his support for the work the council does with little pay. Johnson said he researched other Texas cities similar to Dublin based on population and found that it had “luxuries” like the airport, the Dublin EDC and a city funded library with many programs and services.
“I believe our library is ranked in the state of Texas for its quality,” Johnson said. He also said other cities of similar size don’t have a city police force and said code enforcement may work outside of business hours but does respond. Johnson said code enforcement also give his phone number to people who have difficulty with mowing or simple maintenance. “These little extras are something you’re taking for granted in the city of Dublin,” he said.
He also spoke critically of Revitalize Dublin, saying he remembers the Christmas in Action program fondly and finds the new group focuses too much on main streets instead of all the properties in need around the city.
The council voted unanimously in a board of adjustment decision to allow a variance to Phyllis Stewart for an 800 square foot tiny home on an empty lot she owns. Stewart previously brought the proposal in the October meeting and filled out a request. Mendez provided it along with a statement from the city’s attorney that said the council needed to provide a finding of fact as to why they approved it.
The council unanimously approved it, citing the fact that the proposed structure wouldn’t interfere with adjoining properties.
The council also unanimously approved a policy prohibiting the installation of certain Chinese-based applications such as Tik Tok on city devices and the use of certain hardware manufactured by Chinese companies. The vote was performed to adhere to a decision made at the state level.
Councilmember Sammy Moore also move for the council to re-evaluate the dense single family zoning (SF-1B) under which developments were recently approved, one on Harris and another around South Park and Trowbridge. Planning and Zoning member Ben Pate had questioned the new designation at the October meeting and Moore thought it should be reviewed. Moore and Jacob McCullough voted for discussing it in the December meeting while Darren Turley and Nancy Williams voted against. Mayor David Leatherwood broke the tie with a ‘no’ vote.
The meeting began with Mayor Leatherwood saying the city had lost a great friend in Tom Gordon who served the city in several positions and organizations. “He will truly be missed,”Leatherwood said.