Lake Jackson staff present strategic-plan updates; council discusses industrial site, PEG fee suspension and capital-project dashboard

City staff presented proposed updates to Lake Jackson’s three-year strategic plan at the June 16 council meeting, and council members offered direction on several items including an industrial redevelopment objective, the city’s public-education/government (PEG) fund and a capital-projects “bond” dashboard.

Staff said changes include removing items not expected to be advanced in the next three years, adding new objectives and calling out specific projects. Under economic development, staff added redevelopment of the TDECU site donated to the city and recommended including support to facilitate development of the former prison property if a buyer pursues an industrial park. "We could put that under fostering a thriving and diverse economy because that would be diversifying our business area," a council member said; staff agreed to draft language and return it for review.

On communications and transparency, staff described the capital-projects public dashboard (the bond progress tracker), which staff and the engineering department will maintain. Council discussed frequency of updates; staff proposed at least monthly internal reviews with a quarterly public update to council, and staff agreed to add a quarterly council briefing on the dashboard.

Council and staff discussed the city’s PEG (public educational and governmental) fee, a line item on cable bills that staff described as "a pass-through fee" typically about $1.17 to $1.25 per month. Staff said the PEG account balance is in the roughly $300,000 range and that the city has historically used the fund for BISD and similar requests. Several council members suggested temporarily suspending the fee and asked staff to research whether suspension is permissible and what the effect would be on the balance and future ability to collect the fee. "If we chose not to collect it, it would be a reduction on their bill," staff said; the precise legal and operational implications will be researched and returned to council.

Under infrastructure, staff noted accomplishments (sale of a revenue bond for Lift Station 1 and Force Main, receipt of certain generators, replacement of sanitation trucks and receipt of a Safety Action Plan grant) and proposed additions such as constructing a new animal control facility and installing generators at water distribution plants, city hall and the recreation center. The animal control facility construction is awaiting a concrete pour; staff said utilities and plumbing work are completed and the pour could occur soon, with the project’s original completion target about one year after permits were issued and operations tentatively budgeted to begin in January 2026.

Council also discussed the city’s role in emergency response funding changes; staff noted that federal disaster funding may be distributed differently in the future and that responsibility and reimbursement processes could shift to the state, potentially increasing local cost exposure. Staff said they will seek clarification from regional partners and report back.

Next steps

Staff will: draft language to add redevelopment and industrial-site objectives to the strategic plan; research the legal and fiscal implications of suspending the PEG fee and report findings; institute a review cadence for the capital-projects dashboard and provide quarterly updates to council; and return with a revised strategic-plan document in the next meeting cycle.