WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the October 20, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

Bryan ISD school board members at their last meeting, spent more money from a bond issue approved by voters in 2020.

The board approved the recommendation from deputy superintendent Brian Merrell to award a contract for new signs at eight of BISD's 14 elementary schools to a company that the second lowest price of ten that submitted bids.

Click HERE to read and download the bid tabulation sheet that was presented at the October 20, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

BISD's construction services director Bobby Griffin says the second phase of new signage provides consistency in the elementary buildings.

The $73,970 dollar contract is $50,755 under what was budgeted for indoor and outdoor signs. Eight other bids were above the budgeted amount.

The new signage is for Bonham, Bowen, Branch, Fannin, Henderson, Johnson, Navarro, and Neal elementaries.

Merrell was also asked about the status of a marquee sign outside Fannin. Merrell said that had not happened yet, saying "that's a complicated question". Because Fannin is located in Bryan's historic Eastside district, the marquee sign requires approval of the city's historic landmarks commission.

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

The College Station city council's October 23rd meeting included a 45 minute review of recommendations released in July about the future development in the Northgate district.

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

Property owners, businessowners, and other interested parties gave the council 50 recommendations, of which 33 would require council action.

Planning and development services director Anthony Armstrong said the goal of latest discussion was taking the next step towards the eventual adoption of implementing a Northgate small area plan.

Armstrong and the city's chief development officer Michael Ostrowski responded to council questions which included what will happen to the city's surface parking lot, public safety issues, maintenance and repairs of city facilities, and an idea from Northgate supporters regarding repair of building facades.

Armstrong concluded the discussion by telling the council he would submit a summary of the October 23rd discussion and that Northgate property owners and building owners will continue to be notified about future meetings.

Click HERE to be directed to the city of College Station's webpage about the Northgate district.

From the city of College Station blog post of the October 23, 2025 city council meeting:

The Council discussed the Northgate Small Area Plan Engagement Report that was presented in July.

Staff initially presented the report on July 10, and the Council asked for time to digest the report and the community’s proposed action items.

Staff put 50 community action items into three categories.

The first consists of items that, in various ways, are already being explored or enacted.

The second includes items that could be classified as components of various engagement efforts, such as the Active Transportation Plan update, that would be incorporated or acted on by staff during a future process.

The last category comprises 33 action items that require Council direction.

Alternatively, staff could continue the Small Area Planning process, analyze the ideas for feasibility and alignment, and generate an implementation plan that the Council could adopt. That would allow future councils, staff, and the community to know the direction and goals for Northgate for the next 10-20 years.

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

Brazos County commissioners approve a cybersecurity protection agreement with Texas A&M.

Click HERE to read and download the agreement that was approved at the October 28, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

The county's chief information security officer was asked how the contract to protect 1,000 computers would work when the county has almost 1,100 hundred machines. Kevin Joiner says the contract involves the number of employees who use computers and not the number of devices, as he and other employees have more than one device.

Another commission question was about protecting election data. Joiner said the contract includes computer servers that store election data. But election equipment where votes are cast and tabulated are never connected to the internet.

The county contract follows A&M entering a cybersecurity agreement with College Station ISD in July.

Anthony Armstrong, Planning and Development Services Director, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his department, community engagement, the Northgate small area plan, middle housing, Midtown, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

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

Brazos County commissioners receive an update on multiple economic development agreements at this week's (October 28) meeting.

The report from Brazos County economic development coordinator Kimberly Gonzalez included three agreements associated with future property tax breaks to technology companies that have yet to start construction.

All three employ chapter 312 tax abatement agreements, which Gonzalez used a definition from the state comptroller's office as "an economic development tool available to cities, counties, and special districts to attract new industries and to encourage the retention and development of existing businesses through property tax exemptions or reductions."

Click HERE to read presentation materials from the October 28, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Quoting Gonzalez and presentation materials she shared at the commission meeting, two of the three projects are on the RELLIS campus.

One is the America's Foundry semiconductor and research complex.

• This agreement was signed in 2024
• Length of agreement: 10 years (tax year 2026 tax year 2035)
• Incentive for tax year 2024: No incentive for tax year 2024
• Abatement for tax year 2026 tax year 2035: 80% of the maintenance and operations rate portion of the real property taxes collected and attributable to the incremental taxable value for 5 years followed by 50% for 5 additional years, totaling ten years of abatement
• Required incremental value increase by Dec. 31, 2035: $10 billion
• Total new full time job creation by Dec. 31, 2035: 1,800

The other is the RELLIS campus Data and Research Center

• This agreement was signed in 2025
• Length of agreement: 10 years (tax year 2029 tax year 2038)
• Incentive for tax year 2024: Not applicable until tax year 2029
• Abatement for tax year 2029 tax year 2038: 50% of maintenance and operations rate portion of the real property taxes collected and attributable to the incremental taxable value for 10 years
• Total capital investment by Dec. 31, 2038: $700M
• Total new full time job creation by Dec. 31, 2038: 100
• Maximum abatement amount: $13M

The third project is the expansion of the Honeywell electronic chemicals plant in north Bryan.

• This agreement was signed in 2024
• Length of agreement: 5 years (tax year 2025 tax year 2029)
• Incentive for tax year 2024: No incentive for tax year 2024
• Abatement for tax year 2025 tax year 2029: 50% of the maintenance and operations rate portion of the real property taxes collected and attributable to the incremental taxable value for 5 years
• Total capital investment by Dec. 31, 2029: $120M
• This agreement is contingent on Honeywell receiving 50% of funding from federal and state grants and that funding hasn't been received yet

An x-ray security screening machine in the Brazos County administration building that has not been used for more than a decade is getting a new home.

That's after county commissioners agreed to sell the device it to Burleson County for one dollar.

Before the unanimous vote, Fred Brown suggested the sale should have been conditional on Burleson County agreeing to use Brazos County's medical examiner's office once it opens.

That was followed by Chuck Konderla saying the one dollar sale was a bargain for Brazos County because the x-ray machine would have been expensive to dispose.

Click HERE to read and download the interlocal agreement that was approved at the October 28, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

This podcast is a visit with Brazos Valley Food Bank (BVFB) director Theresa Mangapora and WTAW's Scott DeLucia on The Infomaniacs program on October 30, 2025.

Mangapora provided an update on how the food bank has dealt with reduced government assistance, an increased demand for food due to the furlough of over 3,000 federal government employees in this area due to the ongoing shutdown, and the upcoming suspension of SNAP benefits.

Mangapora's update follows BVFB receiving an unexpected gift from H-E-B stores of $195,000 dollars.

A post on the BVFB's Facebook page says "this gift is a critical bridge ensuring Brazos Valley Food Bank can keep fighting hunger without interruption."

The BVFB Facebook post also says "Amid the ongoing federal government shutdown (now in its 4th week since Oct. 1), 1 in 6 households in Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Madison, Robertson, and Washington Counties are facing hunger."

The food bank also has the following website links to donate, volunteer, and for those needing assistance.

• Donate: bvfb.org/donate-now
• Volunteer: bvfb.org/volunteering
• Need Help? Visit https://www.bvfb.org/get-help

Katie Williams, City Planner, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about updating the comprehensive plan, development near the RELLIS campus, student housing, Midtown Park, development near Miramont, the Oakmont subdivision, a public survey, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

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

Parking problems on narrow College Station streets south and east of the Texas A&M campus generates another city council discussion.A majority of council members at their October 23rd meeting wanted more information on the impact parking problems are having on trash trucks, fire engines, and other large city vehicles.The 70 minute discussion began with a review of a community meeting that took place September 30th and the results of a non scientific survey that generated more than 1,400 responses and more than 900 written comments.Staff also told the council that the topic will return at their first meeting in November for possible action.

Quoting the city's blog post summarizing the discussion:

The Council discussed overnight parking options in residential areas near the Texas A&M campus, specifically Eastgate and Southside.

The Council’s consensus was to further explore the impact of excessive parking on services and public safety.

Engagement efforts featured a well-attended public open house meeting on Sept. 30 and a public survey that received 1,416 responses.

The predominant opinions expressed at the open house concerned emergency and solid waste vehicle access, enforcement of existing laws, and a preference for a permitting system.

The survey was not statistically valid due to non-random sampling. About 4 of 5 opposed the removal of parking.

Almost half the respondents had lived in their residence for less than a year, and about 4 of 5 had lived there for fewer than five years.

Survey respondents indicated that, if overnight parking limitations were adopted, most preferred enforcement between 3-6 a.m.

More than half said they lack sufficient on-site parking, guest parking is routinely needed, and overnight street parking is the norm in Eastgate and Southside.

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

This podcast contains comments from the October 14, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

The Bryan city council approved during an October 14th special what was described as "citizen representatives" to be involved in developing the city's next comprehensive plan.

All but one of the 13 representatives are associated with government bodies.

Committee members includes three council members, three members of the Bryan Business Council, Brazos County's acting county judge, and representatives of the Bryan school board, planning and zoning commission, parks board, TxDOT, and the metropolitan planning organization.

Deputy city manager Joey Dunn says focus groups and public meetings will also be held.

The committee has held its first of five meetings with staff and a consultant hired by the council.

The development of the next comprehensive plan is expected to take 12 months.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the Bryan city council's comprehensive plan committee.