Addison council approves equipment purchases, hotel registration changes and LPR expansion; denies contested airport ground-lease

Addison City Council approved several administrative and procurement measures during its regular meeting and acted on a contested airport ground-lease proposal.

Financial and capital items: the council approved a reimbursement resolution permitting use of future bond proceeds to reimburse prior lawful expenditures, including up to $2 million for fire apparatus replacement, and staff outlined plans for a combined issuance of 2026 certificates of obligation (about $3.5 million) and potential refunding of older general-obligation bonds that staff estimated could save roughly $1.25 million over the refunding period. Steven Glickman (CFO) said the economics and timing favor a combined issuance.

Public-safety procurement: council approved a bundled multi-year agreement with Axon for replacement tasers, upgraded body cameras and interview-room systems, and separately approved a multi-year managed-services agreement with Flock Group Inc. to expand the town's license-plate-reader (LPR) network. Staff said the Axon purchase was included in the FY26 capital plan and the LPR expansion is partially grant-funded (staff reported roughly 80% of first-year costs covered by a Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grant), with recurring costs to be considered in future budgets.

Rental registration and public-safety rule change: council adopted revisions to the town's rental, lodging and registration ordinance that add a calls-for-service-per-room metric to classify hotels/motels into Tier 1 (at or below 1 call per room per year) or Tier 2 (greater than 1 call per room per year). Tier 2 properties may be required to implement recommended operational changes, submit to additional inspections and face fines or other enforcement if they fail to improve; the council conditionally approved the ordinance with a direction that Tier 1 hotels not be charged an additional annual permit fee beyond the standard registration fee.

Airport ground lease denied: staff brought forward a 2.34-acre ground-lease agreement with Thrust Properties for redevelopment of airport land (a proposed 15,000-sq-ft hangar plus a 10,000-sq-ft flight-training/support building and associated apron and parking). Public comment and several council members urged waiting for the airport master plan and reviewing other proposals; after extended debate council voted to deny the lease authorization and directed staff to consider next steps (options discussed include reissuing an RFQ after the master plan or returning with additional comparative proposals).

Votes at a glance

- 5A (reimbursement resolution for equipment; related CO issuance plan): approved by voice vote. - 5B (amendments to rental/lodging registration to add call-for-service tiers): approved with condition that Tier 1 properties not pay an additional annual permit fee beyond existing registration. - 5C (Axon bundled equipment/service agreement): approved by voice vote. - 5D (Flock LPR managed services agreement): approved by voice vote; first-year cost partially grant-funded. - 5E (ground-lease with Thrust Properties LLC for Addison Airport parcel): council voted to deny the lease authorization.

Council did not record roll-call tallies in the transcript for these voice votes; outcomes are reported as announced at the meeting. Where the council required further study (notably the airport parcel and implementation details for housing discussed in the work session) staff was directed to return with more analysis.

Next steps: staff will return with refined parcel inventories and funding/payback models for any incentive proposals; for airport property options staff will advise whether to reissue a new RFQ after completion of the airport master plan or to prepare additional comparative proposals for council review.