In This Issue

Everything below actually happened, and every item links to its source. We just refuse to be boring about it. This edition covers July and August, and every date in it is exact.

Thirteen down to one

Somebody resigned from the Richardson City Council.POLITICAL Sit with that a minute. People leave this council the way people leave a good fishing spot — reluctantly, and usually only when the term limit truck comes to tow them. But at the July 13 meeting, Dan Barrios (Place 3) stood up and announced he’s stepping down to run full-time for U.S. Congress, District 32. He said the timing preserves continuity through budget season and allows a “thoughtful appointment process that allows for public input” (Community Impact, July 14). Worth remembering: the retroactive resign-to-run charter provision softened in February would have forced this move months earlier.

Now here’s the part to actually pay attention to: you already voted on this. The charter amendments Richardson passed put mid-term vacancies in the council’s hands — five council members plus the mayor, all of them elected, filling Place 3 by majority vote for the rest of the term — and that is the playbook they are running, on schedule. Your turn comes back around in May 2027, when the seats go before voters again. Council approved the process July 20 and applications ran July 22 through Aug. 7 (Community Impact; city application page; Week in Review, Aug. 7). The appointee serves through the May 1, 2027 election.

Thirteen people wanted the job. The applicant packet went public Aug. 11, right on the schedule council set July 20, and on Aug. 24 the council interviewed eight of the thirteen in open session — the whole thing on camera, no smoke-filled room required (Aug. 24 meeting video; Community Impact). The eight still standing: Richard Bell, Daniel Burdette, Jeffrey Davis, Jeffrey Griffin, Jordan Noret, Scott Ricamore, Genevra Thomas, and Eric Willadsen.

One bit of housekeeping, since we would rather say it than have you notice it: Daniel Burdette serves on the Richardson Coalition board. We are not endorsing an applicant — not him, not anyone — and the position we do take on this seat is the one below: use the process.

Date	Step
July 22 – Aug. 7	Application window (closed)
Aug. 11	All 13 applications published in the Aug. 17 agenda packet — on schedule
Aug. 24	Eight of the 13 interviewed in open session
Sept. 14	Council narrows to no more than three finalists — your last day to comment
Sept. 21	Finalist interviews in open session, then executive session picks one
Sept. 28	Appointment vote and oath of office

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Where the General Fund goes

The big list (July 13). The city rolled out a $528M five-year capital program — the largest in city history, which is the municipal equivalent of ordering one of everything on the menu. It’s funded by the 2021/2026 bonds, city funds, DART, and grants. Year 1 of the $223.4M bond starts in FY 2026-27, mostly design: Presidential, Waterview, S. Weatherred, Martha Manor, Hidden, and Ridgehaven streets; Canyon Creek Pool and Breckinridge bridge/trail design; playgrounds actually getting built at Huffhines Woods, Creekhollow, and Richland; the fire apparatus building and Station 6 heading to construction; and about $110M of water and wastewater work (Community Impact, July 15).

The shopping lists. Facilities and fleet: $20.4M, including $6.2M to replace 52 vehicles (CI, July 24). On July 27 council went shopping to the tune of ~$2.6M: wastewater pipe rehab $1,137,807; desktop/laptop replacement $421,336; Mohawk erosion control $372,520; trash and recycle bags $319,000 (yes, that’s a real line item); a crane truck at $194,923; CITV studio lighting $183,505. Council also adopted updated Financial Management Policies and nominated Celestica as a Texas Enterprise Zone Project (agenda). And on Aug. 10 the new City Hall got furnished: five vendors, $1,904,317.58 total, led by GL Seaman at $782,048.85 (Aug. 10 agenda). That’s what it costs to seat a whole city hall at once, and it’s not a place to cut corners — the public walks through that lobby, and first impressions are stubborn.

And the budget.WATCH The proposal turned up at the Aug. 3-4 workshop at $406M, wearing its most reassuring outfit: tax rate flat at $0.54218, unchanged since FY 2024-25 (Community Impact, Aug. 5). Then City Manager Don Magner filed the real thing Aug. 14 and presented it Aug. 17, and the number had grown into its adult size — $432M across all funds, up 3.3% and $13.7M over last year, riding on a $190M General Fund (city budget filing; CI, Aug. 20). Before anybody high-fives over that flat rate: the average homestead bill still climbs about $70, because property values did what property values do (up 3.16%). Inside the envelope: $79.7M for public safety, roughly 40% of the General Fund; $5.7M in compensation adjustments including 5.5% merit raises for sworn staff; $19.9M for infrastructure and mobility; four new Fire Department positions; a $160,000 senior exemption; 19 frozen positions quietly shown the door; and the new water and sewer rates riding along — water up 4%, sewer up 12%, drainage and solid waste up a dollar a month each. Council adopted the debt service rate of $0.21779 on Aug. 17. Hearings Sept. 14 and 21, adoption Sept. 21 (CI, Aug. 6).

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Cities talk about “edgy redevelopment districts” the way the rest of us talk about getting in shape. In July, Richardson actually built one.SPLIT VOTE Owner Stephen Graham won approval for six one-story “industrial flex” buildings totaling 41,000 sq ft at ~500 N. Interurban St. (ZF 26-12) — retail, restaurant, showroom, and design uses. The Plan Commission split 4-2 on July 7, with Chair Marsh and Vice Chair Thomason worried about parking; Graham added 10 spaces and council approved it unanimously July 27 (CI, July 8; CI, July 29; CPC action agenda). Graham’s already eyeing an extension to Bishop and Davis.

Main Street and the rest of the docket. Council restated the 540-acre Main Street/Central Expressway form-based code (ZF 26-13, CPC 6-0) and downtown businesses can now put accessory buildings by rear alleys (CI, July 30). ZF 26-11 rezoned German Auto Works at 1352 S. Plano Rd. (CPC 6-0; council approved July 27 — CI, July 31). ZF 26-14 pointed a 200 S. Cottonwood Dr. office building toward retail and salon uses (CPC 7-0 July 21) — six neighboring office buildings sit largely vacant under the old zoning, so somebody had to blink first (CI, July 27). New to the pipeline: ZF 26-15, “Richland Village,” a 6.7-acre rezoning at 300 S. Plano Rd. that cleared the Plan Commission 7-0 on Aug. 6 (CPC action agenda). Habitat for Humanity is building on 604 Vernet St., on a lot the city sold for $25,000 (CI, July 21). No new apartment proposals surfaced; the 281-unit Polk St. project keeps chugging toward late 2027.

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After a summer of committee meetings we attended so you didn’t have to,CONTROVERSY council reached consensus July 27: new short-term rentals must keep 500 feet between each other — about seven houses of personal space, measured property line to property line — and the annual registration fee triples from $100 to $300. Existing registered STRs are grandfathered and keep renewing; unregistered and future rentals play by the new rules. The city’s monitoring software counted 170 STR properties around town this summer (Community Impact, July 28; Richardson Today).

The formal ordinance landed on the Aug. 10 consent agenda (agenda), sliding in just before the 90-day registration moratorium expired Aug. 25; the official minutes confirming the vote weren’t posted as of this writing. The city attorney keeps flagging litigation risk, so keep one eye on the courthouse — and see On the Horizon for where the Coalition may land on it.

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Celestica put money where its press release was.WIN The electronics manufacturer announced this spring that it was expanding to roughly 1 million sq ft at 2801 Telecom Parkway — the old Fujitsu campus — for about 2,300 jobs and $300M in investment (Community Impact). This summer it started signing things. Council added a Texas Enterprise Zone nomination July 27, and they are not window shopping: a $70M state permit for a new 225,000 sq ft building hit the books Aug. 11, with construction slated for September through next March (CI, Aug. 11).

Texas Instruments pocketed $33.6M (July 10).WIN A Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant supports expanded capacity at TI’s RFAB wafer fab — part of a project headed toward $700M (Community Impact).

Meanwhile, at the dinner table. Tayta Peruvian opened (July 20). Trucker’s Cafe is back serving soul food (CI, Aug. 6). We tip our caps to Jason’s Deli (Aug. 7), gone but not forgotten. Frost Bank opened on Coit July 21 (CI), and The Back Nine golf simulator started construction this month (CI, Aug. 3).

Permit desk. Sherrill Park Golf Course is getting a $5.1M indoor training center (CI, July 14), and the Train 4 Tomorrow gym filed an $18.39M conversion at 508 Twilight Trail (CI, July 7).

The scoreboard: layoff notices filed in July — a nice round zero (TWC).

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Richardson among 13 North Texas cities

Public safety is 40 cents of every General Fund dollar, and it is still short-handed. The proposed $79.7M public safety budget is wrestling with a 20% dispatcher vacancy rate and 7.3% officer vacancy, while Richardson sits 10th of 13 North Texas cities in police pay and 9th in firefighter pay (Community Impact, Aug. 5). A Class 1 rating gets earned by people, and people compare paychecks. That’s the quietest line in the whole budget. One more thread to pull: council’s Aug. 10 work session included a review of the police department’s Flock license-plate camera system and its policies (Aug. 10 agenda) — a national hot-button worth watching locally, and one we may want to speak to.

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Full NCAA Division II membership — July 10.WIN UTD completed its two-year provisional period; all 15 sports gain full postseason eligibility Sept. 1 in the Lone Star Conference, and for the first time ever, the Comets can hand out athletic scholarships (UTD Athletics; CI, July 13). The chess team remains terrifying.

Also on campus: a new provost took office July 16 (UTD News), the Draper family dropped $2.5M on entrepreneurship programs July 2 (UTD News), and UTD’s role in the state’s semiconductor workforce push keeps growing (UTD News) — convenient, given what TI is building down the road.

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Good credit, hard math. On July 21 the district landed Moody’s Aaa and S&P AA+ ratings for its $285M Bond 2025 sale (RISD) — credit scores your brother-in-law can only dream about. The I&S tax rate rises from 35 to 39 cents, with adoption in September. Bond 2025 is also sprouting blueprints: a new CTE Center on Greenville Avenue aiming for an August 2030 opening, and an Environmental Science Center with a fall 2027 soft launch (CI, Aug. 10; RISD, Aug. 7). School started Aug. 12, and this year every student wears an ID badge (RISD, July 31).

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July 15 was filing day, and the city reports are in.WATCH Semiannual filings posted for everybody except Corcoran, whose January final report closed out his filing obligation: Omar, Hutchenrider, Dorian, Justice, Barrios, Shamsul (filings page). Fair warning: the PDFs are image scans, so totals require squinting.

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DART is paying us back. Under the General Mobility Program, Richardson gets about $26M of returned sales tax over six years — first check by Oct. 1, 2026 — earmarked for street rehab starting with Coit, Abrams, and Floyd.

The arches are up (July 27). Those roughly 400-foot spans over the US 75 DART bridge, standing 80 feet tall, are finished, with white and blue gateway lighting on the way (Week in Review; CI, Aug. 5). Richardson now has a front door you can see from the highway.

NTMWD borrowed like a pro (July 23): $370.8M in state financing for the 25-mile Leonard Treated Water Pipeline No. 2, saving about $31.7M in interest versus the open market (NTX E-News). Those wholesale costs flow straight into your new rate structure, so cheer for the savings. Stage 2 watering restrictions held all summer.

The mystery file, partially declassified.WATCH We now know what the Northgale executive session was about: City of Richardson v. Northgale Village Association (DC-26-01294) concerns more than $200,000 in unpaid water bills from the condo association, and the city wants the court to appoint a receiver. Scheduling hearing Aug. 25; receivership hearing Sept. 17 (July 20 agenda; Richardson Review). The July 27 “Richardson Public Library” attorney consultation, though? Still a locked door (July 27 agenda). We’ll keep asking.

And the odds and ends: former Mayor Ray Noah picked up the Key to the City July 20, the Chamber named Tony Moline its next President/CEO starting Sept. 1 (CI, Aug. 7), Main Street’s reconstruction is substantially done — power lines underground and everything (Week in Review, Aug. 7) — and Richardson Life Magazine’s first “Best of Richardson” winners landed Aug. 14, though Cottonwood Art Festival already spoiled its own surprise (Cottonwood).

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The two-month lookback above is what already happened. This is what hasn’t — the items still headed to a vote, where a phone call to a council member or ten minutes at a podium still counts for something. This is also where the Coalition weighs in, because a position on a finished vote is just commentary.

The budget and the tax rate — hearings Sept. 14 and 21, adoption Sept. 21. The filed $432M FY 2026-27 budget keeps the rate at $0.54218 for a third straight year while the average homestead bill still climbs about $70. Inside it: $79.7M for public safety, 5.5% merit raises for sworn police and fire in a city sitting 10th of 13 on police pay, 19 frozen positions eliminated, and the first year of a $223.4M bond program (Community Impact, Aug. 6; city budget page). The Coalition’s view is that flat is the right call here. Costs do not hold still just because we would like them to, and a cut deep enough to erase that $70 would have to come out of somewhere — police and fire pay in a city already sitting 10th of 13, or the bond program voters themselves approved. Holding the rate while eliminating 19 frozen positions is what containing costs actually looks like, even when the envelope in your mailbox disagrees.

Your water base charge, on the way up

The water and wastewater rate structure rides along. Formal adoption of the five-year restructuring — $8 base to $9.60 in November and $20 by 2030, seniors 65+ held at $8 — happens with the budget Sept. 21 (Community Impact, June 23). We would rather see this done in the open than absorbed quietly from another fund. NTMWD’s wholesale increases are real, the pipes are genuinely old, and a water fund that quietly runs at a loss is just a tax nobody voted on. The piece worth noticing is the meter equivalency: today a business pulling water through a 10-inch line pays the same $8 base fee as a house with a 3/4-inch meter. Charging by the size of the straw is not a rate hike, it is arithmetic finally showing up to work.

Place 3 gets filled Sept. 28. Interviews ran in open session Aug. 24; up to three finalists Sept. 14, a lone finalist Sept. 21, then the appointment vote and oath (city application page). Six people are choosing a seventh who walks into May 2027 as a de facto incumbent. The Coalition’s position on this one is the process itself. We are not endorsing an applicant and we are not going to pretend the charter got it wrong. What we will say is that a transparent process only works if somebody actually uses it — so use it. The three ways to be heard are above, and they are open until 4 p.m. Sept. 14.

Short-term rentals: the rules are written, the lawsuits are not. The ordinance — 500-foot spacing, $300 annual fee, existing registrations grandfathered — was adopted off the Aug. 10 consent agenda, days before the registration moratorium expired Aug. 25. The city attorney has flagged litigation risk repeatedly, and comparable cases elsewhere may not resolve before mid-2027 (Community Impact, July 28).

Flock cameras come back around. Council reviewed the police department’s license-plate reader system and its policies in the Aug. 10 work session (Aug. 10 agenda). Policy questions — retention windows, who can query the data, which agencies get shared access — are the kind that get decided quietly unless somebody asks out loud. So we are asking out loud. The Coalition’s view is that the readers are a legitimate public-safety tool and Richardson should keep them — and that the policy governing them belongs in public, in writing, where residents can read it. Four things worth publishing: how long the data is kept, who inside the department may query it, which outside agencies get access and on what basis, and how misuse is detected and reported when it happens. RPD already logs every user search, which is most of the work; saying so plainly costs the city nothing and buys it the benefit of the doubt the next time somebody asks a hard question. We would rather see that written down now, while this is a policy discussion, than after it becomes a controversy.

And a standing note on the podium.OUR VIEW Council chambers keep drawing public comment on climate policy, national politics, foreign wars, and acts of Congress — subjects on which the Richardson City Council has precisely zero jurisdiction and one finite commodity: time. There are places to be heard on Washington and Ukraine, and a Richardson council meeting with a Richardson budget on the agenda isn’t one of them. The Coalition’s view is that this hour belongs to the budget, the water system, the streets, the appointment, and the cameras — the things this council can actually act on.

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Date	The Main Event
This week	Tony Moline takes over as Chamber President/CEO; UTD’s 15 sports are now postseason-eligible.
Sept. 14	Budget and tax rate public hearing. Up to three Place 3 finalists announced.
Sept. 17	Northgale receivership hearing.
Sept. 21	Second hearing, then adoption: the $432M budget, the flat tax rate, and the new water and wastewater rate structure. Place 3 finalist interviews and the lone finalist named.
Sept. 28	Place 3 appointment vote and oath of office. The big one.
September	New library opening (2021 bond). RISD tax rate adoption, I&S up to 39 cents, and the $285M bond sale.
Oct. 1	New fiscal year. First DART General Mobility allocation. Coit, Abrams, and Floyd rejoice.
Early 2027	New City Hall completion. Furniture: already purchased.
Ongoing	STR enforcement and litigation watch; the “Richardson Public Library” mystery session; Flock camera policy; Unified Development Code drafting; bond Year 1 design work; Wildflower! 2027 format changes; Celestica’s $70M building through next March.

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Prepared for the Richardson Coalition · September 1, 2026 · Covers July 1 – Aug. 31, 2026. Each edition covers the prior two calendar months. The jokes are ours; the facts are linked to their sources.
Sources: Community Impact (Richardson), City of Richardson, RISD, UT Dallas, Richardson Life Magazine, and others; every cited item is hyperlinked to its source.