The Simonton City Council will meet in special session on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 6:30 PM at Simonton City Hall. The public is encouraged to attend and to participate in sharing their thoughts and concerns via “Public Comments”.

CLICK HERE for the Meeting Agenda on the City’s website.

Not much on the agenda. But, that’s a good thing.

You’ll notice that there will be a time for public comments. 

Also, you’ll see the consent agenda featuring the bill payment report, the quarterly financials report, the minutes from the October 17th meeting, and approving the 2024 meeting and holiday schedules.

Under new business, you’ll notice that item c deals with an indemnification agreement with Twinwood US. The balance of the meeting appears to be somewhat rudimentary.

People should really appreciate the links that are embedded in the agenda. It is a true display of improved transparency from the city since the new city council members took office. Thank you! Check it out. You can see exactly how the city is spending our tax dollars.

Other than that, you’ll notice that the “New Business” category is blank, meaning that there is no new business to discuss.

Missing from the agenda is the “Old Business” category, meaning that the city is not presenting, considering, or deliberating on any items on previously-discussed matters. No updates to ongoing city business or local issues?

Of continuing concern to some is that a previous meeting, the city council members requested and an item called “Future Agenda Items”. For a brief period, this item did appear on agendas. With this item, any of the council members could officially request items to be placed on a future agenda and even vote on the placement of their items. Mysteriously, this item was, once again, left off of the previous agenda as well as this one. I guess the joke’s on the citizens of Simonton.

Never fear, though. The Mayor previously promised to put any item on the agenda that the council members requested – whether via email or at a meeting without having to have a vote on their placement on the agenda. It is not known if any agenda items have been requested by any of the City Council members.

See you there!

Watch the meeting live or watch it later
As before, I plan on live-streaming the meeting via my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SimontonTexas/ 

In the event that I am unable to stream the meeting, I will post the video as quickly as possible. Of course, it will be presented prominently on this website as well.

Important Notice and Disclosure:
I do not edit and have never intentionally edited a Simonton City Council meeting except to add titles where necessary, to exclude portions of the video immediately prior to and immediately following the official meeting, and where personal attacks are used to intentionally harrass, slander, defame, harm, injure, or otherwise attack persons in the gallery, including myself as I will not be party to such behavior. 

Consequently, I reserve the right, at my sole discretion, to silence, redact or fully remove portions of the final video where any person intentionally uses the videos I produce as their personal platform, wherein the video record may otherwise be used in an effort to create and a record of or otherwise document any personal attack on any member of the gallery, including myself.

Note, however, when comments are made that relate specifically to the city and their business, I fully intend to ensure that those comments are heard.

Regarding Internet Bandwidth Drop Outs:
Any “skips” that may occur during a live-stream, causing the video to be interrupted momentarily, are beyond my control and occur when the bandwidth from my internet provider drops out during a live stream broadcast. These are going to happen from time to time and are unavoidable when wireless internet is used.

In general, as the public will see by the online record, in order to provide the most complete recording possible with the best audio I am able to provide, I have begun posting the full, higher-quality video from my video camera on YouTube the following day or as soon as possible after the meetingsco