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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
Those who watched this past week’s (Sep. 15) San Angelo city council meeting were tuning in to see the fate of the proposed Right of Way fee, which was lowered from it’s proposed $15 dollar per month rate to $8.75, and passed 4-3.
The fee will be added to all water bills, even for non-profits or not traditionally taxed institutions like Shannon Memorial Hospital. Any commercial or large industrial water meters would be assessed according to a schedule which determines the monthly payment based on how many trips the business is likely to generate on San Angelo roads. The funds collected from the fee would be placed into a restricted fund, which means it could not be used for anything other than repairing roads.
Many residents quickly pointed out that a $15 dollar fee might prove burdensome on low or fixed income residents in San Angelo.
The three opposing votes all came from the same side of the dais, those sitting to the right of Mayor Tom Thompson and City Manager Phil Urrutia. There’s Mary Coffey from SMD-6, Karen Hesse-Smith from SMD 5, and Patrick Keely from SMD 4.
Viewers may have noted (as did this reporter) there was a good amount of praise from those in attendance during public comment of one of the newest city councilman, about 4 months into his sophomore year: Patrick Keely.
“Thank you, Patrick” said one.
“Thank you for discussing that with me, Patrick” said another.
“Tommy Heibert is my city councilman but I end up talking to Patrick more often…I don’t know why that is…” one said before a moment of levity in the meeting.
Sitting at my desk, watching and taking notes, I typed “everybody loves Patrick,” and finished my work.
On Thursday, I had a phone interview with Councilman Keely, to get his comments and reflections after his first year on council.
Interview with Patrick Keely
McDaniel: I wanted to talk about the same thing I asked Mary Coffey last week; which is about your vote on the ROW fee, and what was going through your head, and what you have heard from constituents.
Keely: It’s tough because at the end of the day, we always have two sides of the story. We have one side that we are making decisions for the city…on the other hand we are elected officials and we represent our constituents, and sometimes these don’t coincide. This is one of those cases where everyone wants nice streets, the issue is how do we pay for it?
This ROW fee is one way where we actually got a lot of businesses that don’t pay anything towards government funding. This is one way we can recoup some of that money.
So that was a major plus. The downside is, it’s another fee for all of us as residents to pay. And we are already taxed to death.
And that’s something, you know, if you listen to Governor Abbott: he blames everything on local government, when the state government gets plenty of taxes and user fees in all kinds of different ways, shapes and forms.
Fuel has gone up astronomically; in the last week, it’s gone up. Not to mention much the last few months. And I hate that, and I get where people are coming from.
We were never given a good option for low income. We did have an option for them to go ask for assistance and then to be, you know, hopefully they’re eligible. But it was not something we’re gonna be able to do it immediately. It was gonna take time.
NOTE FOR THE READER: Cities in Texas are required to approve a balanced budget before the end of September by law.
McDaniel: I wasn’t really expecting, when it came out on Tuesday that it would be cut in half (from $15 to $8.75). I wasn’t really expecting that and I was wondering if y’all (the city) would try and put more of the burden on the commercial side of the ROW fee, or how they would try and balance that…
Keely: That was something I asked originally.
And, you know, we actually, when they first came to us with this, they said, “here’s the two fees we propose.” They tried two, and they were both different. They differed for residential and for commercial.
One fee was the original $15 dollars that was proposed and that was generated $10 million.
And then they reported that it’s all things that the city really needs, and requests that citizens have asked for directly. And it was adding more back to the seal coat, it was taking care of alleyways…and they said, If we want to raise this much, here’s the way of proportion it out.
And so when they got quite a bit of pushback, they said, “okay, how can we drop the residence rate?” And they said we can drop the resident rates, and here’s where we have to take it from.
It came from lowering some fees, they had to lower the contribution to the pension fund. It was cutting back on seal coat, but they didn’t want to touch the commercial, because they just went back to their initial study and tried to make things equitable.
They wanted to be very careful with that, and I understood that. So, we had to cut other places.
McDaniel: This is your first term…
Keely: First term, I’m a year and a half in.
McDaniel: How’s that been?
Keely: Man, it’s been a whirlwind. It’s been crazy.
My district specifically, the flood affected a majority of it. The data center potentially coming in, the animal shelter is in my district; which I mean, these are all citywide issues of course.
But it was kind of a fire hydrant coming at me of major issues that the city has not had to face before, and a large part of it was in my district. But with all that, it’s really been great nevertheless.
I think there’s been a lot of individual people I’ve been able to help. I’ve been able to have some inputs. It’s still seven votes, so one vote doesn’t do much. But at least I have some input.
I think it was a combination of all of us that were able to get that fee reduced.
We had enough pushback from all of our districts that said, “Hey, we get why y’all need it, but is there any way we can cut this back some more?”
And that’s coming from our voices.
McDaniel: What does your preparation look like for a city council meeting?
NOTE FOR THE READER: Despite many claims on social media about local officials voting to give themselves raises, increases in pay for 2027 were set only for Tom Green County officials. City council members only receive a few hundred per month to pay for expenses.
Keely: It’s constant, of course. We get the agenda basically the same time everybody else.
I have a pretty busy personal life, so I kind of just have to find time of here’s my time to sit down, look through it all. I skim the highlights first and say, you know, what’s my major stuff that I really need to be getting to….that way I can ask the right departments.
If it’s about a zoning change, I can go and I can drive by those properties and look at them.
If the zoning has had a lot of opposition, I can try to get a hold of those neighbors and meet them at the property and talk through it. I call friends and business people I know and pick their brains…if an item addresses home building, I call the home builder I know and say, does this make sense? So it’s a collaborative effort, me picking other people’s brains.
McDaniel: Has there been a single resource, a manual or a book; or perhaps, someone with experience that has been indispensable for you in this first year?
Keely: Karen Hesse-Smith has been my number one person to lean on.
With the way our district seats are, we sit beside each other…and if there’s something I’m having an issue struggling with, or a question I can pick her brain and she can say: “Yep, you can go talk to Aaron, or, here’s a spot to look.”
And we kind of lean on each other. We kind of feed off each other and that we try to work with them in the same ways.
McDaniel: Well, I thought it was interesting at the meeting on Tuesday. It seemed I was watching along at home and taking notes. And the first thing I kind of thought after the public comment for the ROW fee concluded was “Boy, everybody seems to love Patrick quite a bit.”
What are your thoughts on that? Do you feel like maybe this is because you‘re the new guy and you’re reaching out probably more?
Keely: (Laughing) That’s my intent, you know, and just like our new city manager….now that Phillip (Phil Urrutia) has come in, he has really hit the ground running, he wanted to make sure everybody heard from him and he heard from everybody.
And that’s kind of the same way with me as a new council member.
I wanted to make sure that I kind of follow through about promises, and my promises up front were trying to be as transparent as I can be and try to make sure people know that I’m accessible.
I can still probably guarantee you that Mayor Tom (Thompson) talks to more people personally than I do I mean everyone in town, and everyone’s got his number.
So yeah I think the people that were there said that but I think everyone has their people in their court, they just can’t always make it to council.
It was great to hear. A little pat on my back is always welcome, but it’s never needed.
