Following a half-hour closed executive session, members of the City of Katy’s city council unanimously approved a new three-year contract for City Administrator Byron Hebert and also gave the green light to the appointment of City Finance Manager Joey Killion as the new Assistant City Administrator.

Hebert became city administrator in 2014, succeeding the late Johnny Nelson, who had served as mayor from 1983-87 and later became city administrator. Hebert initially served as the city’s finance director before he became city administrator. Thiele, who took office in May 2022, is the fourth mayor under which Hebert has served; Hebert previously worked under mayors Fabol Hughes (2013-17), Chuck Brawner (2017-2019) and Bill Hastings (2019-22). Hebert supervises all city departments, though Police Chief Bryon Woytek and Fire Chief Kenneth Parker report directly to Mayor Thiele.

Killion grew up in Katy and played football for the Katy Tigers, said Katy Mayor Pro Tem Chris Harris on his Facebook page. Prior to that, Killion was previously the City Auditor with a third-party firm for five years, Harris said.

In other action via consent, council approved use of the lake at the Katy Boardwalk as well as of various streets along Kingsland, Pin Oak Road and Katy Flewellen for the 32nd Katy Triathlon. (See related story on page 1 of this issue). Funds were also approved for sports tourism, content for the interactive displays at the Katy Visitors Center and a full-page ad in the chamber directory for the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce.

A proposed $28,000.00 agreement between the Katy Foundation Inc. and Goodtaste TV, LLC to produce a full TV episode featuring small businesses within the city and highlighting local restaurants was tagged by Councilmember Rory Robertson, delaying discussion of the proposal until the next city council meeting on August 25. Robertson said that he had questions about the measure and subsequently shared those concerns with the Katy Times via email. “I want to ensure that each of the businesses will be located within the city limits of Katy,” he said, also asking for a list of the businesses to be showcased and assurances that each business would be featured equally in the episode.

Robertson told the Katy Times that Goodtaste exclusively features food-related businesses and that they needed to change their business model to suit Katy city needs by featuring non-food related businesses. He said that he believes that businesses previously featured on the show should not get a second opportunity until other businesses have been given a first chance. Robertson also questioned how the commercial would drive tourism to result in overnight stays and asked how its success would be tracked. He also asked why the city needed another feature so soon, following the recent “DayTripper” episode featuring Katy. Robertson also posed a question for the city attorney, regarding the role of a chamber board member who also serves on the tourism board, stating that the member should have recused himself from the vote.

Council members also voted 5-0 to authorize the mayor to sign a change order with John Reed and Company LLC, reducing the contract for the 10th Street bridge replacement project in the amount of $125,071.80. The $2,765,132.56 project, which Councilmember Dan Smith called “the most delayed project in Katy’s history,” was finally completed in June. In documents prepared for council, City Engineer David Kasper said the delays were due in part to the contractor’s inability to procure materials needed for bridge construction, a requirement to replace a city water line found during the construction process, time for private utility companies to relocate lines and days lost to rainy weather. Kasper also said that the original project timeline may have been “unreasonably short,” given current difficulties in procuring materials.

In a 4-1 decision, with Robertson dissenting, council authorized the Katy Development Authority to use METRO funds for the Green at Katy Park development on the northwest corner of Katy Hockley Cutoff Road and Morton Road. The project will invest $1,909,995.83 in roadway improvements and traffic signal modifications, including the addition of a new traffic light at Old Katy Hockley Cutoff and a new road that will extend north through the development at Morton Road. Robertson said he opposed the measure because Katy already has too many traffic lights —saying there are seven lights in this area, with four within a one-mile stretch -- and that the lights are not properly timed to facilitate traffic flow. City Engineer David Kasper said that the signal would be owned and maintained by Harris County and that it would be timed with other signals at Katy Fort Bend Road. The Green at Katy Park project will also require up to $2,160,749.34 for contraction of draining and street paving, which was approved by council in a 5-0 vote.

Council also unanimously approved an annual price agreement with Texas Pride Disposal LLC, which will be effective on September 1, 2025. Mayor Pro Tem Harris said that the new amount would be $16.85 per month, which is less than Katy residents were paying in 2020 when trash pick up was handled by Republic Services.

The next meeting of Katy’s city council will be on August 25 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 901 Avenue C in Katy.