Grand Prairie council approves consent agenda including arts funding, grant applications and bond parameters

The Grand Prairie City Council on Jan. 20, 2025, approved its consent agenda, advancing several funding and grant items including $75,000 to the Grand Prairie Arts Council from hotel-motel tax revenues, authorization to pursue a $192,000 Department of Energy grant for two mobile electric-vehicle charging units and parameters for certificates of obligation and water revenue bonds.

The approvals came during the council’s regular meeting after Mayor Pro Tem Clemson moved to approve items 2 through 13 on the consent agenda; the motion carried. Residents asked questions about several items before the vote, and staff provided details during the discussion.

Why it matters: the hotel-motel tax funding supports events and programs intended to attract visitors and tourism spending; the charging-unit grant would expand electric-fleet support as the city grows its EV fleet; and the certificates of obligation and water revenue bonds fund capital work on water and sewer infrastructure.

On arts funding, a staff member identified as Sarah said the $75,000 “is for the promotion and facilitation of arts in Grand Prairie” and that the money “helps them offset some of the expenses that they incur by having those programs.” A council member asked which fund the money would come from; staff explained it is hotel-motel tax revenue — commonly called the “hot tax” — and a council member clarified that the tax may be used for tourism-related promotions.

City staff also described the planned grants and capital financing. Jody Cason, the city’s environmental quality manager, said the $192,000 award for charging units is “a grant through the Department of Energy,” and that the two mobile units would each be able to “charge 2 at a time” and be stored at city facilities when not deployed. Krishna Penney, the city’s chief information officer, said the city is applying for a cybersecurity grant of about $364,000; staff described an expected selection timeline of roughly six months if the city is chosen to receive funds.

On capital financing, Talbot, the management services director, told the council that the parameters ordinance for certificates of obligation would be passed that night, that the bonds are expected to be priced on Jan. 27, and that fund delivery would be “approximately middle of February.” Talbot said the certificates of obligation package was approximately $48,000,000 and water revenue bonds were about $18,000,000, with proceeds intended for waterworks and sewer system projects including water and sewer lines and elevated storage tanks.

Other procedural actions taken in the same session included tabling item 14 to a future special meeting and reapproval of item 15 after staff and council indicated no further presentation was needed. The reapproval motion for item 15 was made by Councilmember Johnson and passed.

The council did not provide a roll-call vote tally in the meeting minutes for the consent vote; the mayor announced that the motion carried.