Bonham, Texas – The Bonham City Council held a regular meeting on October 12, 2026 at Bonham City Hall. Mayor Allen Sanderson called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. All council members were present, including Clark Smith, Ernie Quintana, Wolf Laughing, Sam Fox, Jerrad Besch, Kevin Hayes and Sanderson.
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Citizen Opportunity to Speak:
Mo Shahib said he had AI review the minutes from the past year of city council meetings and said that 96% of the votes were unanimous agreement.
Troy Waggoner, Fannin County commissioner for Precinct 1 thanked the city and fair board for a great county fair. He also was grateful for the assistance for law enforcement at the fair.
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Council approved the Consent Agenda, which included items that are considered routine and were recommended to the City Council for a single vote approval. The consent agenda included approving the minutes of the September 14th regular meeting, the financial report for the month ending September 30, 2026 and declaring the service weapon issued to retiring Police Officer Captain Terry Edington as surplus property and authorize the sale of the weapon to Officer Edington for $1.00 in recognition of his service to the City of Bonham.
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Council awarded the bid for the DR-4485-0066 Pump and Lift Station Generators Project to H&H Electrical Contractors, Inc. as the lowest responsible bidder and authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary contract documents. Assistant City Manager Sarah Osburn stated that there is a FEMA grant which will cover 90% of this cost and the city will only have to provide a 10% match. She said this grant is from 2022 and it has already been extended to February 2028. Osburn also advised that the city does have a history with this contractor and it’s been a good relationship.
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Council adopted an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Bonham, Texas amending Chapter 3 (Building Regulations), within the Bonham Code of Ordinances for the purpose of adopting rental housing registration fees and rental housing regulations; providing for an effective date; and, providing for a penalty clause. This issue has been an agenda item for the last three regular city council meetings.
Ross Altobelli reviewed the proposal which includes a complaint driven work flow. If a renter makes a complaint to the city, the city will ask if the renter has reported it to their landlord. If not, the city will encourage them to do so. If the renter has reported a problem to the landlord and it has not been addressed, the city will call the landlord to discuss the matter and come to an agreed upon time frame to complete the repairs in a reasonable amount of time. After that time passes, the city will call the tenant to see if the problem is resolved. If it is, the city work will stop. If there is still a problem the city will do an initial inspection and a follow up inspection and will charge the landlord $120 for the inspections.
Altobelli noted that after the last council meeting, he did add a repercussion to charge the renter $120 for making a false claim. Single and duplex rentals will have no annual fee but there will be an annual registration process for landlords to complete each January. Multi family rental units will incur a charge of $15 per unit, per year. This fee is because there are inspections completed by city staff annually for these types of housing.
Council members asked Altobelli to change two parts of the proposed ordinance before approving it, including removing the request for driver’s license numbers of tenants and not making landlords responsible for any unpaid utility costs incurred by renters.
The new ordinance will go into effect within 60 days, which will give the city staff time to notify landlords.
Smith made the motion to approve the ordinance and Qunitana provided the second. The measure passed with five votes in favor and two votes against.
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Council approved an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Bonham, Texas amending Chapter 3 (Building Regulations) within the Bonham Code of Ordinances; Providing for an effective date; providing for a penalty clause not to exceed $2,000 or the highest penalty amount allowed by law, whichever is less; and, providing for the publication of the caption hereof. Altobelli advised that this was to update the city ordinance to be in line with state law.
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Meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m.
