COLDSPRING — The Coldspring City Council is moving forward with an expansion project for City Hall, while looking ahead for work on the community center and additional security.
Mayor John Benestante said that at the Sept. 8 meeting, council members discussed a 30 foot by 30 foot extension to the back of City Hall to add a municipal courtroom with a new entrance to the building.
However, there were some concerns about the security plan for the new expansion. Council members and residents expressed that restrooms might be an issue with the newly added municipal court. Also, there was some confusion about where jurors would be sequestered.
Benestante told the council that this isn’t the final draft of the expansion and things are slated to change.
“I mentioned that we’re going to have to have a security plan for the new room, partial with the new laws, so this is a conceptual drawing,” he said. “This is a two-year plan project, and before we touch this, you know, we have other ones that I want to do.”
In addition, the mayor said Coldspring is seeking funding for the Community Center, and will be attending a yearly meeting to get updates on the TxDOT Sidewalk Project.
In a separate matter, Benestante said that Coldspring should pay attention to the general fund. “We’re sitting at 67 percent of the budget year, and as far as collections, we’ve got 88 percent of our funds in.”
“We’re doing really well”, Benestante said.
Attorney Greg Magee told the council that it needs to give more power to the city court.
“We need to do an ordinance to give additional powers to your city court, and they will be able to actually take simple matters on nuisances”, stated Magee
He also suggested that anyone who has access to any of the computers at City Hall should have cybersecurity and AI training.
In other business, council members:
The next meeting will be held on Monday, October 6, 2025, at 7:00 pm.
