Killeen City Council members: Responsible governance, parks space, public safety, comprehensive plan among top issues

The Killeen Daily Herald 
By Paul Bryant | Herald Staff Writer
October 28, 2022 at 07:17PM

In what one Killeen City Council member labeled a first-of-its-kind event, he and the other elected representatives and Mayor Debbie Nash-King came down from the dais on Thursday to explain to residents how they govern.

“I’m going to address some things you need to know as a citizen here in Killeen,” Mayor Pro tem Ken Wilkerson said. “Coming onto City Council, what I realized is that people were reaching out to us to handle things that maybe we weren’t authorized or chartered to take care of. It’s important for citizens to know what we can and can’t do.”

Wilkerson, five of the six other council members — Nina Cobb, Michael Boyd, Jose Segarra, Jessica Gonzalez and Riakos Adams — and Nash-King offered PowerPoint presentations or remarked briefly about their responsibilities and goals. Councilman Ramon Alvarez attended the meeting but did not give a presentation or speak about any goals he has.

“The voters, you elect council members who, in turn, hire the city manager,” Wilkerson said to laughter. “Mr. (Kent) Cagle right here, he is the executioner. He executes our plans, our directions. So, on a daily basis, he’s the one here every day managing the staff, managing the different departments.”

Wilkerson, the other council members, Nash-King and Cagle were seated at two tables in front of the dais. About 35 people attended what they called a town hall event.

Cagle is “educated, experienced to deal with that,” Wilkerson said. “He has a wealth of experience dealing with that — not only Killeen but other cities as well. You hire the council to provide that kind of direction to him as to which way we want to go. We work for you. You’re our only boss.”

Scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m., the event lasted for just under two and a half hours.

“We come up with ideas of our own but ultimately, it’s your voice. We’re the representatives for you. That being said, you need to understand also, anything that happens, no one works unilaterally here — not one of us, not even the mayor. It takes four of us — four city council members to get anything done or passed here in the city.”

Wilkerson is one of three at-large members. Alvarez and Segarra are the others.

“The mayor is head of the city for ceremonial purposes,” Wilkerson said. “If you see the mayor making a unilateral decision, we are in a bad state because she does have the authority under ... emergency conditions. (That’s) because you can’t manage by committee at that point.”

Nash-King

The mayor during her presentation talked about city’s new comprehensive plan.

“If we’re going to invest over $300,000, it’s important that we have the highest discipline in ensuring the integrity of the comprehensive plan,” she said. “If we invest in it, we have to use it.”

In August, the City Council adopted the comprehensive plan after hiring Dallas consultant Kevin Shepherd of Verdunity to help draft it. In November 2020, council members agreed to pay Verdunity $349,140 to develop it.

Following public meetings, data gathering and stakeholders’ input, including from the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, the document was adopted by the council in August.

Central to the comprehensive plan are funding gaps “between needs and revenues, a lack of alignment between your values, your plans, your policies (and) your projects and culture of apathy,” Shepherd has said.

Nash-King called the comprehensive plan “very important to me.”

“If we’re going to grow, we should already have the infrastructure and city services in place. If we don’t ... we have to raise taxes and fees, and we don’t want to impose that on any of our residents.”

Segarra

I don’t have much to say,” he said. “I just want to say, ‘Thank you,’ for coming out here. I’m glad to see that this council is ... doing something like (this). I can tell you this is the first time that something like this has been done.”

Segarra, a former Killeen mayor, is serving his fourth term as a council member.

Gonzalez

“We heard from our citizens,” the District 1 representative said. “We answered the call and then we implemented this town hall. We also want to share with you the visions we have for our city moving forward. It’s really important that we be able to connect.”

That includes community engagement.

“In District 1 (north Killeen), there’s a lot of improvements and important things we’re really working on,” Gonzalez said. “Safety first. We have a very active police department. Within District 1, what we are doing differently ... is that we have a task force — a team of five working diligently. We have representation on the ground floor. There’s a long way to go when it comes to safety, but we are making those strides.”

She also briefly mentioned the comprehensive plan.

“The city of Killeen, overall, is a culturally diverse place. We do not want to see this plan sit on the shelf. The comprehensive plan is essential to our future growth.”

Adams

The District 2 council member talked about his service on voluntary boards and described the makeup of his district.

“I was appointed to a vacancy back in March,” he said of how he became a council member. “Since then, I got on the Audit Committee. I’m now the chair of it. I serve on the (Killeen-Tempo Metropolitan Planning Organization) Policy Board, and I represent the city on the Bell County Health District.”

Adams explained that District 2 looks “kind of small” on the southeast side of the city.

“The airfield (Skylark Field) and golf course (Stonetree Golf Club) are no longer in District 2” following redistricting last year. “It used to be the largest district because we had some of the most growth in the last 10 years,” Adams said.

Cobb

For the representative of District 3, which is much of south Killeen, the meeting on Thursday was about humanizing the process of serving.

“You can’t please everybody,” Cobb said. “That’s the biggest thing about being a councilwoman. You can’t please everyone, but if you can please 99.5 percent of your constituents in your district, I believe we are doing a great job. I believe our council and our mayor are doing a great job.”

Furthermore, she said, “it’s good to know that we’re working together.”

“I’m human and imperfect, just like each of you. Sometimes, the days are long and I don’t want you to think that you’re forgotten. That’s why it’s so good that we have a supporting staff that’s taking care of business.”

Boyd

Boyd represents District 4, west Killeen — the largest district in the city with 38,000 residents.

“I’m a very strong advocate for our district,” he said. “I’m happy to serve and ... finding solutions to some of the age-old problems in the city of Killeen.”

Those problems, Boyd said, include road repair, “lack of parks and open space” and limited police presence.

“I’m working to resolve these. Robinett Road was recently milled and overlayed. Bunny Trail is prioritized and funded for reconstruction. Watercrest Road, we had a meeting ... to discuss the redesign. It’s also prioritized and funded for reconstruction.”

Boyd also said that prioritizing park development and trail improvements across the city “is coming” and stressed that traffic safety remains a personal priority.

According to the city’s website, Killeen has 22 parks and trails. Two of them — the Iduma Neighborhood Park and the Fort Hood Regional Trail — are in District 4.

It also includes Central Texas College, Fort Hood-Killeen Regional Airport, AdventHealth-Central Texas, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, Robert M. Shoemaker High School, five elementary schools and two middle schools.