From the Mayor’s desk – 4/2/26
Happy Thursday! With tomorrow’s holiday for Good Friday leading up to this Easter weekend, we are publishing this a day early. It should be a lovely weekend and I hope that you are able to get out and gather for Easter Sunday services at the Sunset Stage.
As I mentioned last week, this will be a first where our new City Administrator will be sharing details about happenings at City Hall in this weekly letter. I will continue to add details that I feel are necessary for citizens to know, but will rely on him to share the day to day happenings and weekly items of interest. He is closer to the action now!
Have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone!!
Zach
…and without further ado, Mr. William Cox:
I want to wish everyone a peaceful Good Friday and a very happy Easter weekend. Whether you are spending time with family or just enjoying the beauty of our beach, I hope it is a wonderful weekend for everyone in the Village.
Infrastructure - We are continuing our partnership with Moonshot Missions and EEC Environmental. This collaboration, which has already secured approximately $250,000 in pro-bono professional services for the Village, is currently focused on the Preliminary Engineering Report. We are looking forward to their upcoming technical site visit in early May, which will help finalize the engineering recommendations for our long-term water and wastewater solutions.
This week, Alderman Gerber and I met with representatives from Communities Unlimited. Their team is also assisting the Village with the development of our Asset Management Plan and a comprehensive Water Rate Study. This partnership is vital for identifying the specific state and federal resources that will help us fund our future infrastructure needs while ensuring our utilities are sustainable for the next twenty years.
Our street improvement projects continue to progress through our partnership with Brazoria County. Weather permitting, crews are on track to complete the current phase of work within the next 1–2 weeks.
Additionally, we are working closely with the GLO and H-GAC to resolve mapping discrepancies in our current sewer project grants, ensuring all critical infrastructure, including the Crab Street force main and local lift stations are fully covered and funded.
Finance - The Finance Department is currently meeting with all department heads to discuss our mid-year budget health. These conversations are vital for helping us understand exactly where we stand today and how to best plan for the Village’s future.
Following valuable information provided by Alderman Gerber, our finance team has worked on an audit of utility accounts. We successfully identified and closed several inactive Reliant energy accounts, which will reduce monthly overhead and allow us to pursue refunds for past charges.
We are also formalizing the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) budget. This "funding vessel" will provide the Tourism Department with clear, reliable resources for upcoming events, ensuring all planned activities have stable financial backing before commitments are made.
Public Safety - Strengthening our “unified first response” team remains a top priority. Our public safety leaders are planning a joint team-building event at Stahlman Park to bring together Police, EMS, and Volunteer Fire Department personnel. If you’re interested in sponsoring a portion of this event, please reach out to Chief Hester or EMS Director Frank DeMarco.
On the infrastructure side, we have mobilized a contractor to replace the fire hydrant at Stahlman Park. We have also identified gaps in our insurance schedules and are working to ensure all Village hydrants are fully protected in future budget cycles.
Operations - The Reverse Osmosis (RO) system at City Hall is officially back in service. We traced a recent pressure failure to a faulty check valve that was allowing air into the system; the valve has been replaced, and the system is operating normally. Thank you for your patience while we performed these repairs.
To make Village operations more efficient, staff will propose a "Master Fee Schedule" model for our ordinances in the months to come. By referencing a central schedule rather than hard-coding dollar amounts into the law, the Village can remain agile and update fees via Council resolution without the costly and time-consuming process of re-codifying the entire Code of Ordinances.
Finally, we are modernizing our contract management, starting with a formal resolution to renew our long-standing partnership with the SPCA of Brazoria County for animal sheltering services.
-William