WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the November 13, 2025 Texas A&M system board of regents meeting.

The Texas A&M system board of regents unanimously amend policies affecting faculty members.

One policy change says no academic course within the system may teach race or gender ideology or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, unless the course and its materials are approved in advance by a university president.

Another policy change says faculty members are prohibited from introducing unrelated topics or teaching material inconsistent with the approved syllabus.

Click HERE to read and download the amended A&M system policies 08.01 and 12.01.

Before the votes, regents heard from ten faculty members on the flagship campus, of which eight expressed opposition to the policy changes.

The regents also received 141 letters, of which there was no breakdown of who submitted the letters or the position those people took.

Michael Ostrowski, Chief Development Officer, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about council's decision to deny rezoning land near the new fire station, new baseball fields in Midtown, citizen input, Veterans Park, the former Macy's store, prospecting, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

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

No one on the Bryan city council expressed opposition to spending as much as $700,000 dollars on deferred maintenance at the Travis Field baseball stadium.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the November 11, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

This comes as the city resumes control of the stadium on January 1st. 

This follows 19 years of control by Infinity Sports Entertainment, the parent company of the Brazos Valley Bombers.

At Tuesday's city council workshop meeting (November 11), acting city manager Hugh Walker presented a list of deferred maintenance items composed of replacing equipment, facility improvements, capital purchases, and operational expenses.

In response to a council question, Walker said the city is not asking Infinity to help pay, saying "we prefer being responsible for those to make sure that we know how it's done."

Among the 21 items listed by Walker, was more than $139,000 dollars for turf replacement, $120,000 to replace netting, $90,000 for shade structures, $70,000 to replace or repair the stadium's party deck, more than $37,000 for painting the stadium, and $30,700 to replace the public address system.Walker also reported the city is projecting at this time, revenue of $103,000 dollars from 14 teams and organizations that plan to play ball at Travis Field baseball stadium during 2026.

Stadium rentals begin in January 2026. Renters includes the new summer league baseball team that will start using the stadium in May 2026.

Walker's report comes the week before the city council has a special meeting with its consultant about the stadium and the rest of the Travis Park baseball complex.

This podcast contains comments from the November 11, 2025 Bryan city council workshop and business meetings.

Conflicting observations of the operations at the Bryan fire department were shared during November's regular meeting of the city council.

During a Tuesday afternoon workshop (November 11), fire chief Richard Guisti provided an update over the four years he has led the department.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the November 11, 2025 Bryan city council workshop meeting.

That was followed by the chief receiving complements and support from six council members.

Then during the council's evening business meeting, remarks were made during the public comment period from representatives of three firefighter organizations.

The 11th district vice president of the international association of firefighters, Michael Glenn, questioned the data the fire chief shared about firefighter response times.

That was followed by criticism of the chief from the president of the Texas state association of firefighters John Riddle and the president of the Bryan firefighters union, Daniel Buford.

Later in the meeting, the council unanimously approved a contract with the firefighters union that is officially known as the "meet and confer agreement".

Click HERE to read and download the Bryan fire department meet and confer agreement that was approved at the November 11, 2025 city council meeting.

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

The Bryan city council unanimously votes to approve the hiring of former mayor as city manager.

All seven members commented on the selection during their November 11th meeting.

Nelson, whose first day on the job is November 24th, did not make any comments during the council meeting.

WTAW News has asked for a copy of the council's employment contract with Nelson. A city spokeswoman says that will be sent when it is fully executed.

News release from the city of Bryan:

The Bryan City Council voted Tuesday, Nov. 11, to appoint Andrew Nelson as the next city manager.
Nelson, who stepped down from his role as chief executive officer of Lisam America, Inc., will begin his duties with the City of Bryan on Nov. 24.

“It has been an honor serving my team and customers at Lisam America these past 15 years, but my heart is calling me home to once again serve the City of Bryan,” Nelson said. “I look forward to leading our dedicated staff who serve our community with passion and purpose.”

Nelson founded the U.S. operations for Lisam Systems Group in 2010 and led the company’s growth from a startup to the largest and fastest-growing branch within a 21-country global enterprise. Before that, he founded and served as chief executive officer of TomorrowNow, Inc. from 1998 to 2007, guiding the company from inception to multi-million-dollar annual revenues before its sale to SAP, the world’s largest enterprise software company.

Nelson served as mayor of Bryan from 2016 to 2022, working with the City Council and staff to navigate historic challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter Storm Uri. During his tenure, the city completed the major annexation of the Texas A&M-RELLIS Campus and transformative initiatives such as Travis Bryan Midtown Park, Legends Event Center, Destination Bryan, and infrastructure investments that created long-term improvements without raising the property tax rate.

“Bryan operates like a business in many ways and we take pride in working at the speed of business,” Mayor Bobby Gutierrez said. “Private-sector experience has proven valuable in city leadership. Kean Register, Bryan’s longest-serving city manager, came from that background, and Andrew Nelson brings that same perspective and business mindset. The council and I are confident he will continue that tradition of strategic, forward-looking decisions that keep Bryan efficient, innovative, and positioned for a strong future.”

Nelson grew up in Bryan-College Station and earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, cum laude, from Texas A&M University in 1992. He returned to the Brazos Valley in 2001 and has lived in Bryan for the past 24 years.

He has served in several city and utility leadership roles, including president of the Texas Municipal Power Agency, board member of Bryan Texas Utilities, and as a member of city committees including Strategic Planning, Bryan Business Council, Animal Committee, and Destination Bryan Board.

Deputy City Manager Hugh Walker has been serving as acting city manager since Nov. 3 following Kean Register’s retirement.

This podcast contains comments from the October 23, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council agrees to look for a promoter to stage events at the Wolf Pen Creek amphitheater.

A draft request for proposal (RFP) form was approved at the council's October 23rd meeting.

The request was made by the city's chief development officer, Michael Ostrowski, drew comments from mayor John Nichols, councilmembers Bob Yancy and Melissa McIlhaney, and city manager Bryan Woods.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the October 23, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the October 23, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The draft RFP calls for a promoter to produce a minimum of six to ten events per calendar year where the promoter would "identify, book, and schedule a diverse range of live entertainment acts, including concerts (all genres), comedy shows, theatrical performances, and other cultural events, suitable for a broad audience."

The promoter would also be responsible for "making significant capital improvements to the Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater to enhance the patron experience and increase the venue's capacity and appeal."

Interested promoters are also responsible to "clearly indicate any financial support being sought form the City for the construction of mandatory or optional improvements."

Additionally, the draft RFP says "the promoter shall propose an annual fee to be paid to the City of College Station for the exclusive rights to program the amphitheater" and "propose a revenue-sharing model with the City for ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and other revenue streams generated from events."

Additional information from the city of College Station blog post summarizing the October 23, 2025 council meeting:

The Council unanimously approved a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for a live entertainment promoter to manage programming at the Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater.

Earlier this year, the City received an unsolicited proposal from a promoter interested in overseeing live entertainment operations at the venue.

Staff prepared the draft RFP to initiate a competitive solicitation process.

The Council is being asked for feedback, comments, and direction regarding the scope, structure, scoring, and language of the draft RFP.

Costs associated with the RFP are not included in the City budget.

After responses are received and evaluated, the potential annual fee, revenue sharing, and capital impact should be considered.

College Station Mayor John Nichols visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the upcoming city council meeting, housing, losing the 7-on-7 tournament to Round Rock, industrial opportunities, the Midtown area, the former Macy's store building, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is a recording of the Bryan/College Station chamber of commerce annual banquet that was held November 10, 2025.

The Bryan/College Station chamber of commerce annual banquet included some items that were not listed in the program.

Those in attendance watched a video of the architect's rendering of the chamber's future home on University Drive. Attendees also heard invitations from chamber president Glen Brewer and new board chairman Zach Etheridge to invest in the project.

Also not in the program, was the announcement of chamber ambassador of the year Andrew Scifres of Guaranty Bank and the Texas chamber executives group recognizing community liaison and former president Royce Hickman for 25 years of service and current membership manager Carrie Archer for ten years.

The banquet also recognized retired state representative John Raney as citizen of the year and volunteer of the year Jason Cornelius as volunteer of the year.

Also speaking was the chamber board's immediate past chairwoman, Karla Castillo of KBTX-TV.

This podcast contains comments from the October 28, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County commissioners approve a reorganization of the information technology (I.T.) department.

In separate votes, there were changes to job descriptions of ten positions and changing the salary range of eight positions.

Acting county judge Kyle Kacal said the votes do not result in any change to the department's fiscal year 2026 budget.

Chief information officer Eric Caldwell responded to commissioner Fred Brown's question about making the personnel changes after approving in September, a $435,000 study on county employee pay and job descriptions.

Caldwell said the timing of the reorganization is due to the move of a supervisor who was the head of over one third of the department's staff to the county's project management office.

The reorganization includes some of the employees getting a pay raise of two steps on the county's salary schedule. Caldwell said those employees were given new leadership roles involving additional responsibilities.

Maggie Gray from United Way of the Brazos Valley visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about the increase in 211 calls for food assistance, resources available during the government shutdown, Thanksgiving meals, and more during this week's UWBV update on WTAW.