Bastrop City Council members spent two days last week debating an $830,468 budget shortfall, police staffing cuts, and surveillance camera policy not in Bastrop, but 105 miles away in Fredericksburg — a trip that takes more than two hours each way by car. The offsite workshop, held Thursday and Friday at the John Wm. Klein Meeting Room on North Crockett Street, has drawn sharp criticism over public access and prompted a state lawmaker to draft legislation that would ban the practice statewide.
The retreat drew criticism over its lack of public access, as reported by CBS Austin. Council members met with Fredericksburg officials along with tourism and marketing professionals to discuss economic development, transportation, water and wastewater issues, main street programs, and hotel occupancy tax funds, according to the outlet's reporting. Mayor Ishmael Harris described the gathering as a workshop and retreat, and said Fredericksburg was chosen because Bastrop leaders could learn from another historic Texas community that has dealt with growth while maintaining its tourism economy and historic character.
The trip's distance is no small matter for residents hoping to weigh in. Driving from Bastrop to Fredericksburg along U.S. Route 290 covers roughly 105 miles and takes over two hours each way, according to Texas Scorecard. Under the retreat's posted agenda guidelines, residents unable to make the drive could submit online public comments up to two hours before the session started, but those submissions went directly to council members rather than being read aloud into the public record, the outlet reported.
What Was Actually on the Table
This wasn't a casual team-building exercise. The retreat included discussions about Bastrop's budget and property tax rate, public safety, data centers, and Flock camera technology, per CBS Austin's account of the sessions. Council members did not take final action or vote on any of the issues discussed, the outlet noted, meaning the substantive decisions remain pending for future public meetings.
The financial stakes explain why. Bastrop officials are evaluating options to close a projected $830,468 General Fund shortfall in the city's proposed 2026–2027 budget, which shows $19.68 million in expenses against $18.85 million in revenue under a no-new-revenue tax rate, according to Community Impact. City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino presented five options to close the gap in July, including cutting vacant police department positions or adopting a de minimis tax rate of $0.5911 per $100 valuation to preserve employee cost-of-living increases, the outlet reported.
Data center policy carries its own weight locally. The discussions come amid rapid industrial development in Bastrop County, where Virginia-based EdgeConneX received a 10-year property tax abatement from county commissioners in December for a planned $1.4 billion campus in Cedar Creek, as Hoodline previously reported. Deliberations on surveillance technology, meanwhile, follow a January automated license plate reader data-sharing agreement between the Bastrop Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A Lawmaker Calls for Change
State Representative Stan Gerdes criticized Bastrop city leaders for holding the retreat outside city limits, arguing that moving public meetings out of town undermines transparency and meaningful citizen participation. Gerdes said public meetings should be accessible to the public and plans to file legislation that would require city council meetings to be held within the municipalities they represent. The proposed bill would require that residents have a fair opportunity to attend, speak, and hold elected officials accountable, per CBS Austin's report.
Gerdes, a Republican from Smithville who represents House District 17 covering Bastrop and four surrounding counties, previously served on the Smithville City Council and as a senior U.S. Department of Energy advisor before taking office in the Texas House in 2023. The push follows a pattern for the lawmaker, who has authored other statewide legislation, including a bill Hoodline covered last year that would have banned animal roleplaying in schools.
The Legal Gap Behind the Retreat
Current state law gives Bastrop cover for the arrangement. The Texas Open Meetings Act, found in Texas Government Code Chapter 551, mandates 72-hour public notice and an open physical location for a quorum, but it does not explicitly require city council meetings to be held within municipal geographical boundaries, according to the Texas City Attorneys Association. That statutory gap is precisely what Gerdes' proposed legislation aims to close.
Mayor Harris has defended the decision to hold the retreat in Fredericksburg while acknowledging the location created challenges for residents wanting to attend in person. He said there was never an intention to hide the city's work or avoid public scrutiny, and noted that attending in person was less convenient for Bastrop residents than a local meeting would have been. Harris said the city could consider physical access when planning future retreats.
Harris plans to use his mayor's report at Tuesday's regular council meeting, which will be held in Bastrop, to explain what city leaders worked on and why the retreat was held in Fredericksburg. All of the sessions were publicly posted, open to the public, and livestreamed, and Tuesday's regular meeting will also be livestreamed and available online.
