What happened: The Midland City Council met on Tuesday, Nov. 18, and approved new AI-enabled security cameras for parks and downtown, handled multiple zoning items, and debated how to conduct interviews for Midland Development Corporation board appointments.

Key points:

  • AI-enabled cameras: Council approved a contract for four mobile surveillance trailers and 22 pole-mounted cameras. Twelve will go to Reyes-Mashburn-Nelms Park, with plans to expand to Beal Park, while the rest cover downtown and other hotspots. The trailers can deploy anywhere in the city. The AI system alerts dispatch when it detects incidents such as fights or weapons, reducing the need for constant monitoring.

Councilman John Burkholder said he viewed the measure as “a step forward to make sure our citizens are safe.” Councilman Brian Stubbs and Mayor Lori Blong emphasized the program’s resource efficiency. “Hiring is a challenge in Midland,” Blong said. “This [program] helps to alleviate some of that strain.” Stubbs said the system is “like putting officers on the street in these high-traffic areas.”

  • Retail rezoning deferred: For the second time, council delayed a rezoning request for a vacant two-acre tract east of Austin Street, again citing traffic questions. The applicant, Shafiq, previously reduced the request from regional retail to local retail, but Councilwoman Robin Poole and staff mentioned further reducing it to office zoning. The developer replied, “I don’t really have a choice, do I, if I want the project to go forward?”

Shafiq argued that retail traffic would fall outside the nearby school’s peak hours and that speed limits could address concerns. “To stop a project just for traffic for a couple of hours doesn’t really make sense to me,” he said. Burkholder said the goal was to “find a happy medium.” Council deferred the item to Dec. 16. The applicant asked that council address “all of these questions” before the meeting so the project can move on.

  • Existing dealership zoning: Council approved a Specific Use Designation (SUD) for an automobile dealership operating in a shopping center on North Midland Drive. The city received one objection, citing potential noise, but staff noted the business has operated at the site since at least 2022. The SUD was a formal process for an existing business. It did not authorize a new business or expansion.
  • Single-family rezoning: Council rezoned three lots at South Lamesa Road and East Kentucky Avenue from regional retail to single-family residential to allow construction of three houses. Councilmembers noted their new overlay zoning process has made small infill housing projects faster and less cumbersome. “It’s going to speed up affordable housing for areas that really need it,” Blong said.
  • Cinergy request deferred: Council deferred action on a request from the new Cinergy location off Loop 250 to extend its alcohol-sales hours to 2 a.m. every day. The current SUD allows 2 a.m. hours only on Friday and Saturday. Councilmembers questioned whether the request fit community expectations for a family-focused entertainment venue. The item will return at a future meeting after further discussion with the applicant.

  • MDC board appointments: Council debated how to handle interviews for Midland Development Corporation (MDC) board appointments after Poole said she believed council should conduct them in open session rather than executive session, raising the point shortly before council set interviews to begin. “This is the first I’m hearing of this,” Blong said.

Blong emphasized she did not object to public interviews, only to the timing of the request. “I don’t actually have a problem doing this in public,” she said. “I just wish that we weren’t having a bomb thrown today when we discussed a lot of these things directly together.” She added that the public-vs-private question is “not even the point here,” saying, “Had that [preference] been said before… we probably would have done it.”

Council agreed to move toward public interviews as a general policy. For the candidates already scheduled, Blong proposed offering them the option to proceed publicly or reschedule.