WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the December 17, 2025 College Station ISD school board meeting.

College Station ISD school board members learn at its December meeting, the process of selecting out of district transfer students for next year.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the December 16, 2025 CSISD school board meeting.

An undisclosed number of kindergarten through sixth grade students will attend Creek View elementary and Cypress Grove intermediate, which are campuses that are not close to capacity.

Recruiting out of district transfers was approved by the CSISD board in November due to declining enrollment and continued competition for students.Board members were told CSISD enrollment is down 300 from a year ago.

Not all who apply and meet requirements will be accepted. Eligible students will have a minimum percent academic score of 85, a minimum attendance rate of 90 percent, and no more than three behavior referrals with no major infractions.

Administrators also told board members of upcoming efforts to recruit students who live in CSISD and to retain current CSISD students.

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about mold remediation at a fire station, the fire department social media situation, new fire trucks, new fire station locations, tax abatements, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from College Station councilman Mark Smith and WTAW's Scott DeLucia on The Infomaniacs on December 10, 2025.

After the College Station city council approved a budget at the end of August, it took until November for the city and the Brazos Transit District (BTD) to agree on a contract for the fiscal year that began October 1.

At the council's last meeting (December 11), there was no public discussion before unanimous approval for paying BTD $334,000 dollars for what the contract says is undefined "public mobility and specialized transportation services through its bus service".

BTD's contract with the city was the result of Brazos County's population exceeding a threshold that reduced federal funding to the transit district.

Click HERE to read and download the Brazos Transit District contract that was approved at the December 11, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The contract left blank, providing details about what will be included in BTD's activity in College Station and how the city will measure the district's performance and how the city will measure the district's performance. A city spokesman told WTAW News the blank sections of the contract "are included because BTD will be expected to provide a summary of activity and report on their performance measures to receive funding in future years."

The day before the council meeting, councilman Mark Smith was asked on WTAW's The Infomaniacs about the BTD contract. He says the council has ideas about where transit district buses should run in College Station. He also says it is unreasonable to expect the district to foot any additional expenses if the council's ideas result in increased costs.

This podcast contains comments from the December 9, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County commissioners table one of three appointments to the board of Emergency Services District (ESD) #3, which covers residents south of Highway 21 and west of the Navasota River down to Carter's Creek.

Kyle Greenwood, who was nominated to fill a vacancy, is a Republican candidate for precinct two county commission. 

Precinct three commissioner Fred Brown was joined by precinct one commissioner Bentley Nettles in what turned out to be a unanimous vote to wait on Greenwood's nomination until after the March primary election. Brown said "the optics are kind of bad on this."

Greenwood, who lives in ESD #3, told commissioners he will continue to attend board meetings.

Greenwood also noted that county commission precinct two includes both ESD #3 and ESD #2.

County commissioners unanimously approved reappointing ESD #3 board president Thomas Goehl and board member Doug Box.

This podcast contains comments from the December 11, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Last Thursday's (December 11) College Station city council meeting included the approval of 19 items on the consent agenda.Two of the 19 items drew the interest of councilman David White.

White recused himself without saying why on a staff request to spend $180,000 dollars in hotel occupancy tax money to promote the city at next year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 

Before the council's 6-0 vote, White enthusiastically supported the expenditure. He recommended staff spend $12,000 to $15,000 on a float in the event's parade and predicting the Aggies will win national championships to have coaches and players ride the float. White also recommended a presence on the last Friday of the rodeo, which is Texas A&M day, and to offer an incentive in an e-mail blast that goes to event volunteers.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo agreement that was approved at the December 11, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

White, who was part of a unanimous vote to award a contract to design the rebuilding of Rock Prairie Road between Fitch and the city limits, asked about the cost of nearly $1 million dollars. Capital projects director Jennifer Cain answered White's question and added that the original price tag of the project of $4.4 million dollars will be higher due to unexpected drainage issues.

Click HERE to read and download the design contract for rebuilding Rock Prairie Road that was approved at the December 11, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

This week's United Way of the Brazos Valley update features Jennifer L'Herault discussing early literacy and this weekend's Jingle Book Bash.

This podcast contains comments from the November 11, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

Twice in as many months, the Bryan city council tables a request to give free land to housing developers.

The decision at the council's December regular meeting extended a delay at the council's November regular meeting.

Bryan's planning and zoning commission in October unanimously agreed with staff to abandon at no charge, the 50 foot strip of property one block east of College Main, bordered on the south by the College Station city limits, and to the north by Foch Street.

The developers, who own land to the east and west of the city property, want to incorporate the city property into what was described by a representative of the developer as a "very large multifamily project."

Mayor Bobby Gutierrez called for a delay in the November meeting to consider whether the city should be receiving money for the 6,900 square foot parcel. Gutierrez said a smaller piece of property in the general area recently sold for $5 million dollars.

The council decided to delay action from the November to the December meeting. Then the council announced during the December 9th meeting the item was again not going to be considered.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the Bryan city council's November 11, 2025 meeting.

Click HERE to read and download the staff report from the Bryan council's November 11, 2025 meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the December 9, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Tuesday's (December 9) Brazos County commission meeting includes reports from the county attorney, district attorney, and the head of the public defender's office.

Information from county attorney Earl Gray included the reason for establishing a first offender's program.

Information from district attorney Jarvis Parsons included the victim's statement that resulted in a 30 year prison sentence for sex crimes against children.

Information from chief public defender Nathan Wood included the assistance given to a recent client.

Jeff Capps, Deputy City Manager, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about utilities, having an additional home football game, police vehicles, AI technology, security camera systems, encrypted radio channels, employee recognition, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the December 9, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County's election administrator tell county commissioners that an audit of the November 2025 election revealed no discrepancies. 

Trudy Hancock explained how her office complied and went beyond new state requirements for reviewing results.

New state laws included changing ballots being reviewed by precinct to ballots being reviewed by voting location.

15 percent of Brazos County's registered voters participated in school board elections, the Bryan ISD bond election, and changes to the state constitution.