July City Council meeting summary
Steve Westby presented a petition to request the cancellation of the Houston OHV Trail project to the Houston City Council. The petition was conducted entirely in-person (not online), with only original hand signatures. There were a whopping 400 signatures: 368 city residents, 24 business owners, 24 non-resident property owners, and 35 adjacent landowners. (These categories are not mutually exclusive.) No signatures were gathered from the nursing home.
For reference, 495 people voted in the last election, and there were 622 registered voters for the 2020 election. The 368 city residents signing the petition constitute 59% of the voting population. The current list of registered voters shows only 500-some people, so the petition may actually represent a higher percentage of registered voters.
Mayor Olson asked Steve to put together a committee of four people to work with the City to negotiate a viable exit strategy with the state. Currently the City expects to have to repay $516,523 if they cancel the project. The committee members will need to be approved at the August City Council meeting and then can begin meeting. This committee will be separate from the OHV committee tasked with moving the project forward.
Anna Benda presented a proposal for a microphone system for the new Community Center where the City Council has been meeting because it is very difficult for the public to hear and understand what is being said. She offered $500 from Save Our Bluffs toward this, plus offered her own time and expertise to install the system. The City would have costs of about $500 also, but the system does not address the poor acoustics. The City tabled the issue while they figure out what they will do about acoustics, which will be very expensive. Later the mayor noted that they planned to move future City Council meetings back to the regular chambers at City Hall, which only seats about 20 people. Anna offered to help live stream those meetings so the people who can't fit in the space could still watch, but no decision was made. | 
