Votes at a glance: DeSoto council approves consent agenda, confirms advisory appointment and OKs Harbor Freight incentive

The City Council approved a set of routine items as a consent agenda and handled several individual approvals at its July 15 meeting.

Consent agenda: Council approved the consent agenda (items include minutes, proclamations, a preliminary plat for Parkerville Meadows Phase 5 creating 51 residential lots and one non-residential lot, a resolution to suspend the effective date of an Encore Electric Delivery Company rate change pending review, adoption of the 2025 Dallas County Hazard Mitigation Plan, an interlocal agreement to hire a regional EMS training officer with neighboring cities, vehicle purchases for police and code enforcement, and a $139,999.33 purchase of Vesta 9-1-1 assist from AT&T for the Southwest Regional Communication Center). Council member Leticia Hughes moved approval of the consent agenda with Item G2 pulled; Mayor Pro Tem Crystal Chisholm seconded the motion. The voice vote passed unanimously.

Appointment to Citizens Police Advisory Committee (item G2): Item G2 — the confirmation of the appointment of Elma Goodwin to the Citizens Police Advisory Committee, Place 1 — was pulled for separate consideration and adopted by hand vote, 5–1. A council member publicly recorded a “no” vote on that appointment and multiple members of the public spoke in opposition before the vote. The public opposition included statements that the appointee had a “poor reputation,” and callers urged additional review; a resident, Bernadine Harrison, urged council to table the appointment for further consideration.

Harbor Freight Tools incentive: The council authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute a Chapter 380 economic incentive agreement with Harbor Freight Tools for a new 16,000-square-foot store planned at 101 N. I-35E (near Luby’s). The development is projected by staff to cost about $6.3 million with estimated annual sales near $8–10 million and initial employment of about 16 people. The proposed five-year sales-tax rebate schedule would return up to $208,000 to the company over five years (Year 1: 40% rebate; Year 2: 30%; Year 3: 20%; Years 4–5: repeated percentages). The Desoto Development Corporation recommended the incentive unanimously; council approved the agreement by hand vote, unanimously.

Purchases and contracts noted on the consent agenda include a $654,325.20 purchase of nine vehicles under contract from Sam Pack's Five Star Ford (as announced at the meeting), $111,590 from Caldwell Country Chevrolet for two Chevrolet Tahoe vehicles for the care team (to be paid from Dallas County grant funds) and $139,999.33 for the Vesta 9-1-1 assist feature from AT&T. The Parkerville Meadows preliminary plat was also approved on the consent agenda; the applicant is JJ Koehler of Southland Consulting Engineers and the owner is Keith Davis of Aporto Investments LLC.

Where votes were taken the council recorded the outcomes: the consent agenda passed unanimously, the pulled appointment passed 5–1, and the Harbor Freight incentive passed unanimously. The council used hand votes because the voting machines were not working.