Council appoints Charter Review Commission, approves bridge contract

Gonzales City Council members appointed members to a Charter Review Commission, filled vacancies on several other boards and commissions and approved a bid for replacement of three bridges along Tinsley Creek during their regular meeting on Thursday, July 10.

Charter review commission

Those appointed to the Charter Review Commission include Jana Dolezal (District 1), Josie Smith-Wright (District 2), Vicki Atkinson (District 3), Richard Green (District 4) and David Schautteet (at-large).

City Manager Tim Crow explained the city charter requires the council to appoint five members (one from each district and one at large) in years that end with a 0 or 5. The commission will meet to review the charter from August through January and determine if any changes need to be made.

A report on those potential changes must be made to the council no later than February and if the council proposes a charter amendment, it must be placed on the next uniform election date for a municipal election — in this case, it would be in May 2026.

The election must happen on or after the 30th day after the election ordinance is adopted and a notice of the election would have to be published for two consecutive weeks in the Inquirer which includes a substantial copy of the proposed amendment as well as an estimate of the anticipated fiscal impact to the municipality if the proposed amendment is approved at the election.

The other way an amendment can be proposed is by a petition signed by a number of qualified voters of the municipality equal to at least five percent of the number of qualified voters of the municipality or 20,000, whichever number is smaller.

Vacancies filled

The council took up the task of filling vacancies on the Beautification & Design Board, Gonzales Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gonzales Golf Course Advisory Board, JB Wells Park Advisory Board, and Main Street Advisory Board after having received applications from citizens interested in those appointments.

Crow explained the Beautification & Design Board had requested to fill one vacancy and to appoint three more members to bring the total number on that committee to nine people. Meanwhile, there was one vacancy on the CVB, on the Golf Course Advisory Board, one on the JB Wells Park Advisory Board and one on the Main Street Advisory Board.

Appointments made include the following:
• Beautification & Design Board: Jean Peterek Burns, Deanna Sengelmann, Debbie Tieken and Jennifer Gibbons.

• Gonzales CVB: Stephanie Ramos.

• Gonzales Golf Course Advisory Board: Ricky Walker (term ends December 2026) and Wendy Allen (term ends December 2027).

• JB Wells Park Advisory Board: Jessie Holt Campion.

• Main Street Advisory Board: Johnnie Edwards.

Bridge contract

The council awarded a contract for 2025 bridge replacement to C.E. Barker, Ltd for $3,754,870, of which $3,247,125 is coming from a General Land Office grant; $42,000 from the water fund; $297,100 from the wastewater fund; and $168,645 from the general fund.

Originally, the project was budgeted in 2020 called for replacing a low water crossing at Johnson Street and replacing bridges along Tinsley Creek at St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, St. Michael and St. Vincent streets. Inflation and other factors drove up construction costs to where the lowest bid for all of the work would have been nearly $7 million, said Keith Schauer, the engineer for the project from Doucet & Associates.

The council decided to scale back the project to just include replacing bridges at St. Matthew, St. Michael and St. Vincent streets and received new bids in May. Now that the bid has been awarded, the work will begin Sept. 1 and will take approximately one year to complete, Schauer said.