Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 31
Flood Control District Taxpayers Grow Restless • Council Debated Free Speech With Civility • McDonald’s Maps Out Major Makeover • Coppell ISD Facilities are Available as Rentals
Flood Control District Taxpayers Grow Restless
Residents of an obscure taxing district in Coppell are growing increasingly frustrated by what they decry as a lack of transparency.
When the Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District’s board of directors held public hearings on their budget and tax rate a year ago, they had an audience of one: yours truly. When they did so again this month, there were several people watching and listening besides your correspondent.
Most of these constituents were looking at Bennett Ratliff’s back during the Sept. 16 hearings. The district’s directors meet at a rectangular table in the clubhouse of the Oaks Riverchase apartment complex. Two taxpayers — Ben Newnham and Patrick Silver — asked Ratliff to turn and face the audience, but he said he couldn’t do so because of a back injury. (Ratliff used a cane as he walked in and out of the clubhouse.) Newnham and Silver pointed out the empty seat across from the one Ratliff was occupying, and Newnham even offered to help him move there, but Ratliff stayed put.
The district’s other two directors are Robert “Tex” Schmidt, who attended the Sept. 16 meeting virtually, and Mike Wilcox, who won a seat at the table last May. This was the first board meeting I’d been able to attend since Wilcox ousted Wayne Reynolds, who’d been a director since the district’s inception. But district resident Lana Myers said she’d attended all of the recent meetings, and she backed up what Wilcox told me about one I’d missed.
Ratliff and Schmidt apparently voted to give themselves the titles of president and vice president, which made Wilcox the secretary-treasurer by default. (I said “apparently” because minutes of the board’s meetings are not publicly accessible.) That title makes Wilcox “the custodian of district records,” according to the state law that created the district. But Ratliff and Schmidt voted to strip Wilcox of those duties and bestow them on the district’s general counsel, Pete Eckert.
Myers, who is a former justice on Texas’ Fifth District Court of Appeals, signed up to speak during the “Citizen Comment” portion of the Sept. 16 meeting. She wanted to know what gave Ratliff and Schmidt the right to violate the statute governing the district. Ratliff said the board’s legal counsel advised them that they were in full compliance with the law1.
That law also says directors must either reside in the district or own property there. Although Ratliff is a former member of the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees, he now resides in Plano, where he chairs that city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. According to Dallas County property records, Ratliff owns 100 square feet of land in the flood control district with a taxable value of $200. The same goes for Reynolds, the ousted director who lives in Farmers Branch. During last week’s meeting, Newnham accused these men of breaking the law. Ratliff denied that and said he takes such accusations seriously; Newnham responded that he should.
Once everyone calmed down, the directors voted 2-1 (with Wilcox dissenting) to approve the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Here’s an overview:
You won’t find anything about the budget on the district’s website. Silver, who called the flood control district “the most opaque organization in the state of Texas,” identified himself as an IT professional and offered to post agendas, minutes, and financial information on the site on a pro bono basis. “It would be my social service to this organization and the community,” Silver said. I didn’t hear anybody take him up on this offer.
After they approved the budget, the directors voted 3-0 to hold the tax rate steady at 27.265 cents per $100 of valuation. The assessed value of my home on the west side of Coppell is $464,670. Someone who owns a home with the same value within the Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District will get a tax bill that’s $1,267 higher than mine.
The meeting adjourned after one hour, but the directors then had to schedule their next get-together. Once they settled on Oct. 7 as a date that would work for all three of them, they had to agree on a time. Ratliff suggested that starting at noon instead of 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. would make it easier for the public to attend, but Wilcox countered that 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. would be even more public-friendly. Nonetheless, the Oct. 7 meeting was scheduled for noon.
Council Debated Free Speech With Civility
Free speech has been discussed nationwide ever since Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10. Coincidentally, the Coppell City Council had a civil discussion of free speech on the night before Kirk was killed.
The consent agenda portion of the council’s Sept. 9 meeting included a resolution regarding public comments. Jim Walker pulled that resolution so it would be subject to a separate vote.
Last month, a 4-3 majority of the council approved new policies that prohibit “obscene, profane, or defamatory language,” props, costumes, sound effects, and “animated histrionics” during their meetings. These policies target comedians who sign up for the meetings’ “Citizens’ Appearance” sessions so they can produce content for social media.
(See “Council Votes to Limit Speakers’ Tomfoolery” in Vol. 5, No. 26.)
The resolution that Walker pulled asks the Texas Municipal League to sponsor and support legislation backing up Coppell’s new regulations. “Legislative clarity is needed to provide municipalities with explicit statutory authority to maintain order and decorum during citizen comment periods while ensuring constitutional protections of free expression are preserved,” says the preamble to the resolution. You can read it in its entirety here:
Like the new policies on public comments, the related resolution was approved on a 4-3 vote. Don Carroll and Biju Mathew dissented on both votes because they oppose anything that might limit free speech. Walker, who was absent for the Aug. 12 vote regarding the new rules, voted against the resolution on Sept. 9 for two reasons:
Free speech: “I’ve listened to some speakers that I absolutely was appalled by what they said — I totally disagreed with it — but they absolutely have the right to say it,” Walker said.
The resolution seeks a new restrictive action from the Texas Legislature, which comes up with enough restrictions on its own: “I don’t really care to ask Austin for permission to do anything,” he said, “and all I see them doing is constricting our right and our authority to govern this community in a way that is commensurate with what we know to be the wishes and desires of the citizens of this community.”
Ramesh Premkumar opposed Coppell’s new regulations last month because he was afraid they could lead to the city being sued. But Premkumar voted in favor of the related resolution because it might provide stronger legal standing if a lawsuit is filed. Mark Hill, Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, and Kevin Nevels voted for both the policies and the resolution.
“This resolution only addresses maintaining order and decorum,” Hill said. “It does nothing to request that we infringe upon anyone’s First Amendment rights.”
Mayor Wes Mays didn’t vote on the resolution because he votes only when a tie needs to be broken. (He cast the deciding vote on Aug. 12, when Walker was absent.) But Mays said he initiated the resolution, which he hopes to have considered at the Texas Municipal League’s annual conference next month.
“I appreciate all the comments and the diverse opinions,” Mays said. “As usual, this is a democratic process, and not everyone is gonna feel the same way about every issue.”
McDonald’s Maps Out Major Makeover
During last week’s public hearing on plans to demolish and rebuild the McDonald’s on Denton Tap Road, Coppell’s planning and zoning commissioners asked a lot of questions. They asked about parking. They asked about lighting. They asked about noise generated by late-night and early-morning activities.
But none of them asked the questions on my mind: Why? Why does this McDonald’s need to be knocked down and reconstructed? What will the new building offer or make possible that the current building cannot?
I sent those questions to the email address on the website of Johnson Management Company, the franchisee. I have not yet received a reply. Perhaps the answers can be found in a documentary about McDonald’s called “Nonstandard” that was released last spring.
“Nonstandard McDonald’s everywhere are disappearing, either being restandardized or closed entirely,” director and narrator Max Krieger says at one point, shortly before architectural and cultural critic Kate Wagner offers this: “The brand identity is not as playful. It is not as loud. It is not nostalgic.”
The McDonald’s on Denton Tap was certainly more playful when Coppell residents David and Sandy Greer opened it in 1988. For many years, there was a “jolly trolley” on the property that hosted birthday parties. Shannon Greer has shared these photos in Facebook posts about her parents’ business.
David Greer told me via text message that the McDonald’s on Denton Tap was the only one he knew of with a real trolley car on the premises. He said it disappeared when a subsequent owner installed a second drive-thru lane.
“We found it in a field up by Tyler, Texas, with a tree growing up to the roof, brought it back, and with the help of the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority, brought it back to life,” Greer wrote. “We used it for countless birthday parties — both child and adult — and people could eat in it when it wasn’t being used for something else.”
Johnson Management Company runs the two McDonald’s restaurants in Coppell plus four others in Dallas County and five more in Denton County. Coppell residents Clifton and Wanda Johnson started the company that is now led by their son, Cliff, and daughter, Jessica.
The Johnsons were represented at the Sept. 18 public hearing by operations manager Larkell Ludwick and Margaret Grissom, a project manager with Langan Engineering. Grissom said there should be no concerns about parking, because nearly 75 percent of the restaurant’s business happens in the two drive-thru lanes.
The city received letters from two nearby homeowners complaining about noise generated by predawn deliveries, trash bins being emptied before the sun comes up, and power washing of the parking lot. Ludwick said McDonald’s receives deliveries at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays and noon on Wednesdays; any predawn deliveries are for the neighboring business, 151 Coffee. She also pinned early-morning trash trucks on the coffee shop. Additionally, Ludwick said the parking lot is power washed only once per year. That has to happen late at night because it necessitates closing the restaurant, she said.
The commissioners recommended approval of the renovation plans, which will be the subject of another hearing before the City Council on Oct. 14.
Meanwhile, in our neighboring cities …
• On Sept. 18, a 5-4 majority of the Irving City Council approved three zoning variances requested by Southlake-based Magnolia Hospitality Group, which plans to build a four-story, extended-stay hotel along State Highway 114. The LivSmart Studios by Hilton facility would replace a Comfort Inn that was demolished after a fire in 2022. The property is within Coppell ISD and also within the council district of Al Zapanta, who cast one of the five votes for approval. Last December, when Magnolia presented plans that called for seven variances to Irving’s regulations, Zapanta was one of the five votes for denial.
• On Sept. 16, the Grapevine City Council unanimously approved a permit that will allow City Futsal to build a complex featuring three outdoor soccer fields on Grapevine Mills Boulevard North, not far from the Coppell city limits. The owners of City Futsal presented a joint letter of support signed by representatives of several nearby businesses, including Altitude Trampoline Park, Corky’s Gaming Bistro, and Hoppin’.
• On Sept. 16, the Lewisville Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of an alternative lighting standard requested by the owners of Vistara Sports. They are adding 12 outdoor pickleball courts to the west side of their property straddling the border of Lewisville and Coppell, and they want those courts to be lit by bulbs as intense as 53 foot-candles; Lewisville typically caps the intensity at 20 foot-candles for non-residential uses. The commissioners were comfortable with this request because Vistara’s building sits between the Coppell Greens subdivision and the lights. The Lewisville City Council will have the final word during their Oct. 6 meeting.
Coppell ISD Facilities are Available as Rentals
A subscriber contacted me last week to say he’s noticed evening activities at Pinkerton Elementary School. “Lots of cars with traffic control and everything,” he said. He found this quite odd, as did I, because the school hasn’t hosted any classes since May.
When I reached out to Coppell ISD Director of Communications Amanda Simpson for an explanation, she informed me that parts of Pinkerton can be rented for private events, and the same is true of every other campus in the district. These rentals are reserved through a website called Facilitron.
By perusing the listings on that site, I discovered that you can call dibs on the softball field behind Pinkerton for $100 per hour. Pinkerton’s library costs $60 per hour, but the school’s cafeteria has an hourly rate that’s $5 cheaper. And a single classroom starts at $20 per hour.
That’s also the rate for classrooms at Coppell High School. Like the Pinkerton softball field, the practice field on the southwest corner of the high school’s campus can be reserved for $100 per hour. But if you want to use the high school’s commons, aka its cafeteria, you’ll pay at least $200 per hour.
The track and turf within Buddy Echols Field also appear to be available, but no dollar amount is specified. “Additional fees may apply for different events,” the listing says. “Please describe any specific event details when submitting your request.”
The main gym at Coppell Middle School North — which is officially known as the Coppell Chronicle Coliseum, thanks to my winning bid in a fundraising auction a few years ago — is available for $100 per hour. I think I just found the perfect venue for celebrating this newsletter’s fifth anniversary next year.
Chronicle Crumbs
• Coppell ISD trustees have a workshop scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 22, when they will receive a recommendation regarding which elementary school or schools to close in 2026. During this workshop, the administration will also offer a plan to reconfigure attendance zones accordingly. The trustees are not expected to act on these recommendations until Oct. 6.
• Late last night, after almost every word in this edition had been written, I became aware of a Dallas Observer article about the inaugural meeting of Coppell ISD’s School Library Advisory Committee. The reporter who tried to cover the Sept. 16 meeting says she was removed.
• If you live or work in Old Town, you may want to attend the Coppell City Council’s work session on Sept. 23. The city owns the vacant land next to Twisted Root, and the council will be briefed on a plan to turn that parcel into a venue for small gatherings. The council will also discuss potentially installing digital signage at the intersection of Bethel Road and Main Street.
• Also on Sept. 23, the City Council is expected to approve a three-year extension of Coppell’s agreement with the Denton County Transportation Authority, which for the past several years has facilitated subsidized Lyft rides for people who commute to the city via public transportation.
(See “Lyft Subsidies to Continue for Sixth Year” in Vol. 4, No. 29.)
• A website has been activated for Coppell’s Village Collective, which I most recently wrote about in a March article called “Senior Village Initiative Finally Introduced.” A launch party will happen from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Coppell Senior and Community Center. Before that, an orientation session for village volunteers has been scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon on Sept. 27 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
• Salad and Go, which is headquartered in Cypress Waters, plans to close more than 40 locations in Texas and Oklahoma, according to a recent report from Nation’s Restaurant News. “We are reducing our footprint in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio to allow us to focus on strengthening the Dallas metro area and Oklahoma,” CEO Mike Tattersfield said. The leasing flyer for the Victory Shops at Coppell development on South Belt Line Road indicates that Salad and Go will be one of its inaugural tenants.
• During this month’s meeting of the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board, Coppell Lacrosse Association President Erik Dinsmore revealed that the organization no longer has enough players to field its own high school girls team. (High schoolers from Coppell can play for the Flower Mound team this school year.) It’s probably not a coincidence that the Coppell Lacrosse Association will host a Newcomers Night for middle school girls on Sept. 25.
Community Calendar
Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1: The directors of Coppell’s other special taxing district have scheduled a meeting for 11 a.m. on Sept. 24 at 2951 Lake Vista Drive.
Coppell Chamber Golf Classic: The Coppell Chamber of Commerce’s annual golf tournament will tee off at 8 a.m. on Sept. 25 at the Grapevine Golf Course.
Grease: The Coppell High School Cowboy Theatre Company will stage three more performances of the musical about the T-Birds and Pink Ladies at Rydell High. The remaining shows are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 25, 26, and 27.
Coppell Cowboys Baseball Tailgate: The Coppell High School baseball program will host a tailgate party from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 before the varsity football team’s game against the Guyer Wildcats.
Ecos: AXIS Dance Company will celebrate the full scope and strength of disability dance artistry at 8 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Art, Sip & Stroll: The Coppell Arts Council’s annual fundraiser, featuring a performance by Elevation – An Emerald City Band, is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 4 in Old Town.
Rumors: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of “possibly the best farce ever written by the modern king of comedy,” Neil Simon. The first show is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Oct. 10 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Dog Days Fashion Show and Adoption Event: If you want your dog to participate in a fashion show scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 11 outside the Coppell Arts Center, you must register in advance. But admission is free, as will be the microchipping of pets courtesy of Coppell Animal Services.
So Eckert said it was OK to make Eckert the custodian of the district’s records?
Thank you Dan for all you do for our community.
Re: the flood control district
This is not my area of the law so grain of salt and all that, but I find that statute Justice Myers referenced granting the powers of custodian to Mr. Wilcox to be pretty unambiguous. As a criminal defense attorney, I imagine all of my clients would love to use the "My lawyer said I could do it!" defense.
Also interesting to note that while the sitting board members receive $200 monthly for their services, legal fees paid out by the district are $2,500 a month.