Gonzales City Council discusses JB Wells rodeo contract

The Gonzales City Council met for its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, Oct. 12 at city hall.

Gonzales Mayor Steve Sucher was not in attendance due to the loss of a family member, so Councilwoman Sherri Koepp filled in for Sucher as mayor pro tem for last Thursday’s meeting.

Before the meeting started, Koepp asked the audience for a moment of silence for Gary Schurig, director of the Gonzales Memorial Museum, who passed away Monday, Oct. 9. Schurig also is Sucher’s brother-in-law.

“He was a member of our staff at the museum, the director of the museum for seven years. And we will miss him greatly. Please keep him and his family and the Suchers in your thoughts and prayers,” Koepp said.

In other business, the council approved the consent agenda with the exception of one agenda item — the contract between the city of Gonzales and the Texas Junior High Rodeo Association.

Councilman Lorenzo Hernandez asked the council to discuss this particular agenda item.

“We've had some folks come before us and asked us why JB Wells is losing so much money. And I'm looking at the obligations and the fees of the city. And that, in my opinion, I don't know who negotiated this contract — it’s horrendous,” Hernandez said.

Gonzales City Manager Tim Crow said he takes full responsibility for negotiating the contract with TJHRA.

“I followed the contracts of the past and made some adjustments and actually put some increases in place where the city gained a larger portion of funding in different areas of this contract,” Crow said.

“I worked with with Amanda (Garza), our JB Wells Parks director, and also with our finance director (Laura Zella) as we went through this and did some calculations and I thought we were in a better position after we met the some of the adjustments we had made,” Crow added.

The agenda item was tabled to November’s meeting to be discussed more.

The council approved the following agenda items:

--approved Authorizing the City Manager to Submit, and Accept if Awarded, an Application and Associated Documents to the Texas General Land Office (GLO) for $2,999,400 in CDBG-MIT grant funds for Infrastructure Improvements to Mitigate the Impact of Future Flooding Events.

--approved, 3-1, Authorizing the Nomination of Candidates for Positions to be Filled on the Gonzales Central Appraisal District Board of Directors.

--approved Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Publicity and Tourism Agreement with the Chamber of Commerce for the hosting and operations of the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce.

--approved Authorizing the Appointments to the Airport Advisory Board, Gonzales Convention & Visitors Bureau, Museum Advisory Board, and Zoning Board of Adjustment & Sign Control Board.

--approved Changes to the Current Position Classifications for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.

--approved Authorizing Amendments to the City of Gonzales Personnel Policy.

– approved Declaring Certain Electric Equipment as Surplus and Authorizing a Sale to Techline Construction, LLC Pursuant to the Existing Agreement in Place between the entities.

--approved Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Contract with JET Development LLC in an amount not to exceed $65,000 for grant administration services for the TXGLO MIT MOD allocation through the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission for funding to be administered through the General Land Office (GLO).