Bastrop council debate on creating blight committee stalls; members press for ARP eligibility records

Councilmember Charles Bradford introduced a resolution to form a multiagency blight-elimination committee but the motion did not receive a second and was not adopted. The council spent nearly an hour discussing the committee's membership, scope and record-keeping before moving on to related agenda items including ARP payment eligibility and a request for cemetery cleanup funds.

The proposal would have created a standing multiagency team—including designees from the mayor's office, the police department, the sheriff's office, city code enforcement, planning and zoning, the fire department and civic groups—to coordinate inspections and remediation of dilapidated properties. A staff speaker described the team's intended role as “to get people the stakeholders in a room to have that dialogue outside of a council meeting.”

The discussion followed public comment urging action on blighted property. Jim Williams, a resident at 715 South Washington Street, told the council he had seen a major population decline and “was amazed and somewhat disappointed at the amount of changes taking place, especially the loss of the population.” Ryan Woods, a resident at 1609 Hoover Avenue, thanked the council for attention to cleanup work at Woodland Pass and Martin Luther King South and said volunteers planned more work in early spring.

Councilmembers debated whether the committee's membership should be changed before any appointments and whether terms and duties needed clearer language in the city ordinance. One councilmember asked that any membership changes be brought back as an amendment in March; staff said they would email the relevant ordinance sections to councilmembers for review. At the close of the discussion, council staff reported the motion “died” for lack of a second and members said they would revisit membership and ordinance amendments at a future meeting.

Councilmembers also raised questions about American Rescue Plan (ARP) disbursements handled earlier by the mayor's office. A councilmember said the council had not received a list showing who was paid and who was excluded and requested that staff provide the eligibility list and criteria. A speaker who discussed the ARP item said the municipality had an eligibility pool and local authority to determine recipients; the council requested the specific list and supporting documentation be emailed to members before the next meeting.

Separately, the council heard a cooperative endeavor request related to cemetery clearing. The requestor said about $12,000 was needed to clear land at a cemetery and that Councilmember Debring had offered $2,000 from his discretionary funds. Council discussion of that cooperative endeavor will proceed under a separate agenda item.

No formal votes on the blight committee or the ARP-records request were recorded at the meeting. Councilmembers instructed staff to circulate ordinance text and the ARP eligibility list and said they would take up membership and ordinance amendments at an upcoming meeting in March.