The Seagoville City Council and the Seagoville Economic Development Corporation will hold a joint special meeting Friday morning before heading out on an all day tour of four North Texas downtowns.
The meeting begins at 8:30 AM in the Council Chambers at Seagoville City Hall located at 702 N. Hwy 175.
The two bodies plan to depart at approximately 9:00 AM and return to City Hall at approximately 4:30 PM. Mayor Dennis K. Childress will preside. City Manager Carey D. Neal Jr. and city staff will also take part.
What Happens Before the Bus Leaves
The special session opens with separate calls to order for the City Council and for the SEDC. An invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance follow.
Public comments come next on the agenda. Anyone who wants to address the council and the SEDC must register with the City Secretary first. Registered speakers get three minutes each. Neither body will discuss or act on comments made during that portion of the meeting.
Staff will then brief both bodies on the purpose and the itinerary and the objectives of the tour. The joint meeting recesses after that briefing and stays in recess until 3:30 PM.
The Four Stops
The tour visits downtown districts in four cities. The posted approximate locations are:
- Mesquite at 111 Broad St
- Garland at 211 N 5th St
- Lancaster at 100 W Main St
- Ennis at 201 NW Main
Each of those cities has pursued downtown redevelopment on a different scale and timeline. The stops give Seagoville officials a chance to see finished work, and work still underway.
No City Business During the Tour
A quorum of the City Council and a quorum of the SEDC may be present during transportation and at each stop. However, the posted notice states that no city or board business will be discussed during the tour. Deliberation resumes only after the meeting reconvenes at City Hall.
Members of the public are welcome to attend any portion of the meeting. The City will not provide transportation to the tour locations or between them. Times listed on the agenda are approximate and subject to change.
The final schedule will be published before departure. Residents who plan to follow along on their own should watch for that update.
The Discussion That Follows
Both bodies reconvene at Seagoville City Hall to discuss what they saw. The agenda item lists four specific areas of interest. Those are public infrastructure investment and building and façade improvement programs and public property acquisition and disposition and tenant recruitment.
Those four areas describe the main levers a city has in a downtown turnaround. The SEDC already owns property in the downtown core along North Kaufman Street. How that property gets improved and leased is a recurring question for the board.
The meeting adjourns separately for the City Council and for the SEDC.
No Video Record of This One
Minutes of the meeting will be taken and made available to the public. The meeting will not be live streamed. No audio or video recording will be posted online.
That makes attendance the only way to follow the discussion in real time. The written minutes will be the lasting public record.
The agenda also notes that the meeting may be convened into closed executive session under Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code. That section allows a governmental body to seek confidential legal advice from its attorney on any posted item.
Attending the Meeting
City Secretary Sara Egan certified that the notice was posted on the City Hall bulletin board by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 3, 2026. That posting satisfies the state notice requirement.
Residents who need accommodations to participate should contact the City at least 72 hours in advance. The number is 972-287-6819 and the email address is citysecretary@seagoville.us. TDD users can reach the City through 1-800-RELAY-TX.
