The Bandera City Council held a special meeting last week, moving up its usual meeting date to appoint a new court prosecutor, accept the resignation of City Administrator Stan Farmer, issue a $280,000 Certificate of Obligation for water system upgrades and legal fees, and reapply for a long-sought sidewalk grant.
Following the approval of minutes, the council unanimously appointed attorney Isle D. Bailey as the city’s new municipal court prosecutor. Officials cited steep fee increases and recent scheduling issues with the previous law firm, Messer Fort, which had charged $350 an hour and caused pretrial delays dating back to October 2024.
Bailey, a University of Houston Law Center graduate, has worked extensively in municipal courts and contributed to legal publications.
“She’s an excellent choice as a city prosecutor,” Councilmember Lynn Palmer said. “She’s a very fair woman.”
The council also appointed Sharon Varner as associate judge to replace the soon-toretire Judge Eino Zapata. Varner has 160.5 credited hours from the Texas Justice Court Training Center.
“Ms. Varner has been around for many years and will make a wonderful associate judge,” Municipal Judge Mike Towers said.
In executive session, the council discussed the city administrator job posting before accepting Farmer’s resignation and approving the job description for public posting.
The council then turned to water infrastructure funding. Financial advisor Ben Rosenberg outlined the terms of a $280,000 Certificate of Obligation that will help fund a water system improvement project, which includes replacing 3,000 linear feet of water lines, installing pump generators at wells, and developing an asset management plan.
“This project started last March,” Rosenberg said. “The state is contributing $2.48 million. The city’s portion is just 10 percent, making this a very small financial burden.”
The loan will be repaid over 20 years with $20,000 annual payments.
Palmer emphasized the long-overdue nature of the project.
“If we had done this 20 years ago, we’d be in a much better position,” she said. “There was a time when people didn’t want the city to take on debt, so the city did nothing. But this council is here to make decisions for the city as a whole.”
Next, the council approved a motion to reapply for a grant through the Texas Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives program. The application seeks funding to construct sidewalks along Main Street to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility.
“This town has more continuous sidewalks along the highway outside the city limits than within,” Councilmember Tony Battle said. “This is desperately needed.”
Farmer noted that Bandera has been pursuing the grant for over 15 years.
During discussion of the city administrator job posting, Councilmember Debbie Breen suggested tabling it to adjust what she called overly “restrictive” language.
“I would like to see someone who is invested in the city of Bandera — someone who wants to stay,” Breen said. “We need someone with employee management experience, not someone just passing through.”
Councilmember Brett Hicks disagreed.
“There’s never going to be one candidate who checks all the boxes,” he said. “I’m more speed-to-market.”
Mayor Denise Griffin added that the city has several large events approaching and needs leadership in place.
The council voted to post the job listing as is, with the option to revisit it during the next regularly scheduled meeting.
