City Officials Miss Meeting - Snub Allen Group

Obviously, the meetings for both the Planning and Zoning Committee and City Council on Thursday, July 26 were not well commuicated to the members. At least one council member verified that no notices were received before the date of the meetings. After 6:30pm, only the Zoning Committee chairperson was present, somewhat later another member arrived and City Administrator Thom Lauer advised the Zoning Committee to proceed with the meeting without a quorum and that if the City Attorney advised otherwise on Friday, the action could be "undone". Smarter heads prevailed and Mr. Lauer was overruled by a phone call to the City Attorney advising that a quorum was indeed required. Mr. Lauer was then dispatched to find and return with additional Zoning Committee members. The meeting began at 7:15 and concluded at 7:19, approving the final plat for Sunridge Business Park developer Mike Rader with no dissent. No materials or presentation was made available to members of the general public.

The City Council Meeting planned for 7:30pm with a single agenda item workshop presentation by the Allen Group on new road and infrastructure developments. A brief glimpse of the Allen Group's presentation materials revealed planned new roads and enhancements west of I-45, mostly between Wintergreen and south of Belt Line. Since there were no action items on the agenda, this reporter "fled the scene" at 7:50pm as the Allen Group staff outnumbered the audience and only Mayor Don Hudson and Councilman Eugene Loew were present. The City Secretary later confirmed that no meeting was held due to lack of quorum.