Council approves consent agenda, board appointments and travel requests; suspends proposed electric rate increase

Balch Springs City Council approved a multi-item consent agenda and several individual personnel and travel items during its July 14 meeting.

The consent agenda approved minutes for the June 9 and June 23 regular meetings; reappointments to boards (Alicia Krivasson to the library board; Helen Shelby and Keisha Bruner Miles to the Type B board); a resolution to suspend a proposed rate increase filed by Encore Electric Delivery Company with an anticipated effective date of July 31, 2025 and to authorize retention of special counsel; a contract amendment with Fries and Nichols for engineering/architectural services tied to a TXDOT Highway Safety Improvement Program street-lighting/intersection project (not-to-exceed amount recorded in the agenda); and an amendment to the city code setting new regular meeting start times at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays each month. The council approved the entire consent agenda on a single motion and roll-call vote.

Separately, council voted to appoint Latasha O'Keefe to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Board of Adjustments and to appoint Natasha King as an alternate to the Type A board. Both appointments passed on roll-call votes.

Council also approved several staff travel requests: authorization for the city manager to attend the Texas Municipal League (TML) conference in Fort Worth (October 2025); for the city secretary to attend the TML conference and a legislative update seminar in August; and related conference attendance as listed on the agenda. Each travel request passed on roll-call votes.

All consent and individually listed votes recorded in the transcript were approved unanimously. The clerk will reflect the approved motions and any specified contract amounts in the official minutes and contract records.