Kennedale Observer - Latest Newsletter

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February 1, 2026 – Volume 9 Number 5

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Our analysis of the “Investigation Report” ends – Our Commentary.

* Filing for the May Election has started. Three people have filed so far.

* EDC meeting from last week was postponed until this Tuesday.

Filings:

Mayor – Brian Johnson

Place 4 – Melissa Barrow

Place 4 – Ryon Ray

SCHEDULE:

Monday, February 2: Filing for municipal councils and ISD boards continues.

Tuesday, February 3: EDC Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 5: Hazard Mitigation Plan Public Hearing 5:30pm.

Tuesday, February 10: KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, February 10: Parks Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, February 13: Filing for municipal councils and ISD boards [with name on the ballot] ends.

Saturday, February 14: Valentine’s Day.

Monday, February 16: President’s Day.

Tuesday, February 17: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 26: P&Z meeting, 6:00 p.m.

…..

KNOW WHAT YOUR CITY IS UP TO...

Your City Council

The city council did not meet last week.

* * * * *

Leftovers:

The “Investigation” was listed on the executive session agenda for the October 21 meeting. Council Member Kobeck came out of executive session and made the motion to waive the attorney-client privilege and release the investigation report to the public. That motion was approved, 4-0. Unfortunately, I have not found it on the website. I had also made a public information request (PIR) for a copy and on Wednesday (November 5) I DID finally receive a copy.

We have taken the .pdf Investigation Report and converted to text (far from 100% perfect) and tried to make improvements at: http://www.arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_13.html .

Our Commentary

In my opinion, this was a gigantic disaster, forcing the taxpayers to pay for this for the benefit of a few politically motivated moves by Mr. Griffith and his buddies. Even the investigator seemed to pick up on the fact that this was politically motivated.

By the city manager and city attorney hijacking the investigation and signing the contract prior to any future approval by the council, the council was effectively eliminated from having any role in determining the scope of the investigation and negated any of the potential good things happening because of the investigation that were discussed at the May 1 meeting. I and at least some of the council members were expecting this to come before the council again for discussion and a vote prior to a contract being signed. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

In my words the conclusion stated that the political charges by Mr. Griffith and his buddies did not hold water. In my opinion this was a politically motivated witch hunt and was conducted in order to avoid replacing some of the existing council members who were on the ballot last May.

Of particular interest the Pay to Play scandal bickering came up again. [My personal opinion is you cannot prove the Pay to Play scandal just because the check came first. Unless you have some other piece of stronger evidence, you cannot prove the Pay to Play issue.] Then there was the alleged, so called, “[IRS] Threat”. Somehow Mr. Griffith expected Mr. Hull to come up with a different story to match his?

In my opinion Mr. Griffith and his buddies should be ashamed of their actions, but ...

Previous Analysis:

Results: The evidence does NOT confirm…

See the November 9, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Witch Hunt?

See the November 16, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Jeff Nevarez interview – Our Part I

See the November 16, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Jeff Nevarez interview – Our Part II

See the November 23, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Was the Investigation Hi-jacked by the city attorney and city manager?

See the November 30, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Pay to Play Scandal

See the December 7, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Wandell Investigation Files

See the December 14, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Lack of Accountability/Afraid to Speak

See the December 21, 2025, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Griffith vs. Hull – “The Threat”

See the January 4, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Chamber Vote

See the January 11, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

Hiring Austin Degenhart

See the January 18, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

City Manager has Favorites?

See the January 25, 2026, Kennedale Observer for more details.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Last Week

The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board meeting last week was postponed because of the weather. They will hold it this week on Tuesday, February 3.

This Week

This week the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board will meet on Tuesday. There is the second Hazard Mitigation Plan public hearing on Thursday.

Public Hearings

On Thursday, February 5, there will be the second Hazard Mitigation Plan public hearing.

On Tuesday, February 17, the city council will hold a public hearing on PZ25-17 to change the zoning from MF (multi-family) to a planned development at 3100 Joplin Road.

On Tuesday, February 17, the city council will hold a public hearing on PZ25-20 to change the zoning from R-1 (large lot single-family residential) to a PD (planned development) at 4365 & 4431 Dick Price Road.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

EDC

The next Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board meeting will be this Tuesday, February 3. The agenda can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3597/files/agenda/10431 .

The agenda includes a regular section and an executive session.

The regular section includes reports and announcements (market analysis, strategic plan, and financials), consent agenda (minutes), and an item for individual consideration.

The individual consideration item is a $25,000 grant application from Spirals Gymnastics, 1083 Bowman Springs Road (presentation , application). They wish to build a pool.

[Commentary: The EDC and 1083 Bowman Springs have some history. The city owned the land (as a result of obtaining land to build Bowman Springs) and passed title to the EDC to sell it. When it was sold (former City Manager Bob Hart era), several years after the sale, I searched but never found any council approval. I tried an open records request to see how much it sold for, but they could find no record. Then they got a change of zoning because of some agreement that was produced saying the land would be zoned something else – the zoning should not have been promised by any deal; only the council should have been able to approve any zoning change. See http://www.arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_45.html ]

The executive session includes legal discussions regarding consultant CP-2 negotiations and a potential land purchase.

P&Z

P&Z will probably meet again on Thursday, February 26.

Other News....

TAD Rates

Tarrant Appraisal District has published the tax rates (October 2025) for the county. Kennedale has now dropped to the eighth highest municipality. [https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2025TaxRates.pdf ].

Top eleven of 41 (everyone else is < 0.65)

1. Everman 1.0260800

2. Sansom Park 0.8457840

3. Blue Mound 0.8138000

4. River Oaks 0.7439910

5. Burleson 0.7218000

6. White Settlement 0.7147780

7. Forest Hill 0.7004660

8. Kennedale 0.6961900

9. Pelican Bay 0.6762930

10. Fort Worth 0.6700000

11. Grand Prairie 0.6600000