Coppell Chronicle Vol. 1, No. 28

Judge Puts Sales Tax Changes on Hold • Coppell ISD (Sort of) Mandates Masks • Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign • After Delay, Arts Center Set for Takeoff

Judge Puts Sales Tax Changes on Hold

Here’s more evidence of my mutant telepathic abilities: On Thursday morning, I emailed Hannah Cook, the ever-helpful spokesperson for Coppell’s city government, to ask if there was any news related to the lawsuit that Coppell and other cities recently filed against Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. When I bothered her, Cook was working on a statement regarding a new development in the suit.

The new development is that Judge Karin Crump, who presides over the 250th Judicial District Court in Travis County, granted a temporary injunction requested by Coppell and the other plaintiffs — Carrollton, DeSoto, and Humble. Until further notice, Hegar can’t change the way Texas distributes sales taxes to cities. Crump scheduled a trial for the first week of May.

Texas sales taxes have always gone to the city where the seller is located. Hegar wants the taxes for online sales to go to the city where the buyer is located. For cities like Coppell that feature a lot of warehouses shipping products out of town, Hegar’s changes would be financially devastating. Until Crump issued her order on Thursday, his proposed changes were set to take effect on Oct. 1.

Crump’s order says she conducted a hearing on the lawsuit last Monday. I’d love to tell you what was said during that hearing, but Crump’s court reporter told me it would take “maybe three weeks” to get a transcript, at a cost of $1,785. “Let me know if you would like for me to send an invoice,” she wrote in her reply to my email.

Nearly $1,800 for a transcript? Yikes. As my special-needs teenager is so fond of saying, “I need no thank you!”

Oct. 1 is the first day of Coppell’s fiscal year. The budget approved by the City Council on Aug. 10 was built on the assumption that Hegar’s changes would take effect on Oct. 1. The May trial date means those changes will be delayed for at least eight months, if they take effect at all. That should lead to a surplus for Coppell’s fiscal 2022. City Manager Mike Land said any surplus sales taxes will be set aside in case the judge rules in Hegar’s favor or the Legislature passes a law supporting Hegar’s proposal.

Meanwhile, I wonder if the bean counters in Humble and DeSoto are scrambling to recrunch their numbers. Those cities’ councils are scheduled to approve their budgets on Sept. 14 and 21, respectively.

Carrollton’s council approved its budget on Tuesday — after the hearing took place in Crump’s courtroom but before she issued her order. Reading Crump’s order was how I learned that Carrollton was one of the plaintiffs. I don’t know when Carrollton joined the fray, and Cook’s counterparts in that city didn’t immediately answer my inquiry. My telepathic abilities must be limited to Coppell.

---

Coppell ISD (Sort of) Mandates Masks

My attitudinal tween told me on Tuesday that he had applied to become a member of his school’s student council. He had to fill out a form that asked why he wanted to join the council, and one of his reasons was to help enforce the rules. “If nobody’s enforcing the rules,” he said, “then what’s the point of having the rules?”

This seemed like an especially poignant observation in light of the action taken by the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees last Monday. That’s when the board approved a temporary mask mandate that families can opt out of for medical reasons, religious reasons, or philosophical reasons. There can also be administrative exceptions to the mandate.

The loophole-laden mandate began Thursday. It is set to expire after classes on Sept. 27 — the day of the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting — or “until there are further requirements as a result of ongoing state and federal litigation or other applicable legislative action.” Trustee Manish Sethi made the motion to institute it, and Trustee David Caviness seconded his motion.

“The way this is proposed right now, it is not a mask mandate,” said Trustee Tracy Fisher, who offered an amendment to Sethi’s motion. She wanted to strike the religious, philosophical, and administrative exceptions, and she wanted to tie the mandate’s expiration to Dallas County’s COVID-19 data. She set two weeks of daily averages of 10 cases per 100,000 people as the threshold for ending the mandate.

“It’s a smart thing to do, to use a number,” Fisher said. “It also is a way to get the whole community involved in trying to reduce the spread by wearing a mask in school and other places. If we all had that goal, so we can get that mask off our face, hopefully that would be enough to bring us together instead of dividing us.”

Trustee Neena Biswas called Fisher’s proposed threshold “arbitrary” and “ridiculous,” but she also repeatedly misquoted it as one case per 100,000 people. These comments and many others from Biswas — including asking the audience to not make assumptions about someone based on whether or not they wear a mask — came after she said she would abstain from the vote; she said the decision on a mask mandate should be made by Superintendent Brad Hunt.

In regards to Fisher’s proposed threshold, Caviness and Board President Nichole Bentley said they would prefer to focus on data for Coppell ISD, rather than the entire county. Caviness said Dallas County publishes a hex map that shows new cases over the previous 14 days. It’s updated on Mondays, and here’s what it looked like after the most recent update:

“Our corner is not indicative of what’s happening countywide,” Caviness said. “If we’re going to tie it to some data, I think it needs to be specific to what’s happening in our neck of the woods.”

After much discussion, nobody seconded Fisher’s amendment, so a vote was taken on Sethi’s motion. The vote was 6-0, with Biswas abstaining. I was surprised to see Fisher raise her hand with the others, but that was a strategic move. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, someone on the prevailing side of a vote can then ask for it to be reconsidered.

Fisher made a motion to reconsider her proposed threshold, which is related to how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines the level for COVID-19 travel health notices. Although nobody seconded her reconsideration motion, a few trustees said they wanted to research how to best use data to guide the decision they will make on Sept. 27.

Speaking of data, here are the latest vaccination stats for Coppell ISD:

When you rank Dallas County’s 80 ZIP codes by the percentage of all residents who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 75063 is in third place (87.6%) and 75019 is in ninth place (74.7%)

When you rank them by the percentage of all residents who are fully vaccinated, 75063 is in second place (66.3%) and 75019 is in eighth place (59.3%)

When you rank them by the number of residents ages 12 to 17 who have received at least one dose, 75019 is in second place (3,541) and 75063 is in fourth place (3,132).

---

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

There’s a “Temporary Signs” article in Coppell’s Code of Ordinances that says certain types of signs are prohibited. Those types include portable signs, balloons, streamers, bunting, hand-held signs, inflatable signs, flags, and temporary banners.

In May 2020, when we were just a few months into the pandemic, the City Council unanimously approved a moratorium on the prohibition of those signs.

“The businesses that I have talked to believe that it does help to bring attention to their business, because a lot of times people are just driving by and then they see, ‘Oh, great, they’re open,’” then-Mayor Karen Hunt said. “So I believe this is a good move for us.”

The moratorium was originally set to expire at the end of 2020. In December, the council extended it until the end of June.

During a May 2021 work session, as that June 30 expiration date was approaching, Council Member John Jun asked whether anyone had complained about the temporary signs. Mindi Hurley, Coppell’s Director of Community Development, said the city had received “not necessarily complaints but comments” about the number of signs.

“I believe the businesses have definitely appreciated that we have had this in place,” Hurley said. “Due to the fact that several have stopped using them, I think that they’re not necessarily as important to them anymore.”

Council Member Mark Hill proposed extending the moratorium another six months, through the end of 2021.

“We’re still in a period of recovery. It’s gonna be a while,” he said. “And I think we need to do everything we can for our local businesses.”

Council Member Brianna Hinojosa-Smith countered with an extension through Sept. 30, with plans to revisit the moratorium this month. Council Member Cliff Long was “neutral” on the question of six months versus three.

“Some extension — through the summer or something like that — would be appropriate, but we need to clean it up at some point,” Long said.

About that: A temporary banner that says “Now Open” was still hanging above Golden Boy Coffee yesterday, despite the fact that it permanently closed on July 18. Meanwhile, Zoe’s Kitchen was displaying a “We’re Hiring” banner even though its days are numbered (more on that later).

Council Member Kevin Nevels also wanted to limit the extension to three months. As the owner of commercial property on Denton Tap Road, he complained about “snipe signs,” a term that does not appear in the Coppell Code of Ordinances.

“They’ve put their signs on my property without my permission,” Nevels said. “I’m very much in support of our business community; I am a small business owner in this town. But there are other players who are taking advantage of some of that looseness.”

Nevels, a former chairman of the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, suggested asking the chamber to survey businesses about the sign moratorium. As a newly minted member of the chamber [haughtily removes spectacles, breathes hot air on them, polishes them with silk pocket square], I received a link to said survey last week:

On June 8, two weeks after the work session, the council approved an ordinance that extended the moratorium until Sept. 30. I expect another discussion of the moratorium will be on the agenda for the council’s Sept. 14 meeting.

---

After Delay, Arts Center Set for Takeoff

The Coppell Arts Center originally scheduled its first major event, the Takeoff Arts & Music Festival, for May 2020. This doggone pandemic made it impossible to stick to that plan.

I could try to tell you a story about how the Arts Center has since pivoted and adapted, but KERA’s Jerome Weeks beat me to it. If you haven’t read his July story, which was also published in The Dallas Morning News, check it out here.

The Takeoff Arts & Music Festival will finally happen this week, 16 months later than intended, featuring the always-intended headliner, Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth.

“COVID stopped us in our tracks,” Ginene Delcioppo​, the Arts Center’s ​Marketing and Ticketing Supervisor, told me via email. “It has been a long wait, but we are very happy to be finally officially opening our doors to the community. Kristin is back, and we are excited for all of our programming.”

Here’s a rundown of the Takeoff programming, along with notes about how many tickets for each event were available as of Friday afternoon.

Thursday: The festival begins with Art, Sip & Stroll, featuring a tour of Old Town’s outdoor sculptures and performances by Coppell’s community music groups. An unlimited number of general admission tickets are available for $15. VIP tickets are $75, and there were about 50 of those left.

Friday: Tickets to see country singer Coffey Anderson, with opening act Matt Castillo, cost $36. There were about 100 still available on Friday.

Saturday: There were fewer than 40 tickets remaining to watch Kristin Chenoweth belt out songs by iconic female entertainers. One of those tickets will cost you $195.

Sunday: Magician Mike Super will perform twice. The 3 p.m. matinee was almost sold out, and there were fewer than 30 tickets left for the 6 p.m. show. A ticket to either one costs $32.

---

Chronicle Crumbs

▪ Restaurant Roundup: Like many of its corporate cousins, the Zoe’s Kitchen on Denton Tap will soon be transformed into a Mediterranean eatery called Cava. Wednesday will be its last day as a Zoe’s. … The Eleanor’s Square space that used to be a TCBY is going to be occupied by a business called Feng Cha that will sell boba teas, slushies, and desserts. I poked my head in yesterday and was told Sept. 16 would be its opening day. … One of the stories in Coppell Chronicle No. 1 was about zoning changes for a new Smoothie King on Denton Tap. While snapping pictures of temporary signs yesterday, I noticed its permanent sign is up.

▪ The cameras focused on the Exchange Zone in the north parking lot of the Coppell Police Department are operational again; they were offline for a few weeks due to an upgrade. The Exchange Zone is designed to be a safe place for people to meet for a variety of reasons, including dual-custody handoffs and completions of online transactions.

▪ If you’re eager to see your name in a future edition of this newsletter, consider joining one of Coppell’s boards and commissions. You must be a registered voter and have lived in the city for at least one year. The application deadline is Sept. 13. Get more information here.

---

Community Calendar

Patriot Day: The city will host a solemn ceremony on the steps of Town Center at 8 a.m. on Friday, about 24 hours before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

St. Ann Carnival: Coppell’s big Catholic church will host its annual carnival Friday through Sunday. Featuring a variety of entertainers, rides, and crafts, it’s like a miniature version of the State Fair of Texas – minus the drive to Dallas and back.

Keller Williams DFW Preferred Car Show: The annual event formerly known as the Coppell Car Show is scheduled from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 25 at The Sound at Cypress Waters. Proceeds benefit the Coppell Solar racing team at Coppell High School.