Bonham Council Updates Fire Rules the Chief Says Date to 1912

Bonham City Council on Nov. 9 approved an ordinance amending the city's fire-department rules and adding a new section on excessive false fire alarms and the fees that go with them, according to the official regular-meeting agenda and a Nov. 11 report in North Texas e-News. The official agenda set the regular meeting for 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at Bonham City Hall, 514 Chestnut St. The city's official City Council page lists that address as 514 Chestnut Street, Bonham, TX 75418, and says the council meets at 5:30 p.m. on the second Monday of every month. Reporter Sandy Barber wrote that Mayor Allen Sanderson called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and that the meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m. Official adopted minutes had not been posted on the city's Agenda Center as of this report; the account of the votes and who was present comes from that newspaper report. Item wording below follows the official agenda, which City Secretary Heather Stockton certified was posted on the front window of City Hall on Nov. 3, 2026.

Barber wrote that, besides the mayor, council members Clark Smith, Jerrad Besch, Sam Fox, Ernie Quintana, and Kevin Hayes were present, and that Wolf Laughing was absent. The official City Council page lists Sanderson as mayor, Hayes as mayor pro tem, and Jason Wolf Laughing as the Ward 4 member. The newspaper said no one asked to speak during the citizen opportunity. It also said the council approved the consent agenda, listed on the official agenda as the minutes of the Oct. 12 regular meeting and the financial report for the month ending Oct. 31, 2026. The newspaper did not report a roll-call tally on that vote or on the later items, and this report does not treat those approvals as unanimous.

The fire item is official agenda item 6: an ordinance amending Division 1 (Generally), Division 2 (Fire Chief), and Division 3 (Fire Mashall) — that last word is the spelling on the posted agenda — and adding Division 5 (Excessive False Fire Alarms and Associated Fees) within Article 5.02 (Fire Department) of Chapter 5 (Fire Prevention and Protection) of the Bonham Code of Ordinances. The agenda lists the applicant as “Chris Huges, Fire Chief.” Barber identified the speaker as Fire Chief Chris Hughes and wrote that the council approved the ordinance. Hughes, the newspaper reported, said the ordinance had not been updated since 1912, that the proposed changes would update and simplify it, and that the old version still made the fire chief responsible for “horses and wagons.” He also said last year brought 15 false alarms, that the new rule would have affected only two of them, and that those two were already handled because the systems were repaired. The 1912 date and the alarm figures are the chief's statements as reported in the newspaper, not an independent audit of the old code or the alarm log.

The same night, Barber wrote, the council approved awarding the request for proposals for running the Larry Shockley Sports Complex to the Bonham Baseball Softball Association. Official agenda item 3 asked the council to consider that award and to let the city manager work out and sign a contract, after the city attorney reviews the form, covering operations, scheduling, upkeep, storage, and improvements. City Manager Sean Pate, the newspaper reported, said the city received only one proposal, that staff had met with association representatives and recommended approval, that the association will run the concessions, events, and the overall calendar, and that the city will keep ownership, do the mowing, and handle major improvements. The agreement, the paper said, runs through Sept. 30, 2027, includes no payments by either party, lets the association keep concession and tournament money it generates, and bars it from subleasing the grounds or the work assigned to it. Pate said staff will create a new form if some other organization asks to rent the complex.

The council also approved two resolutions on Property ID No. 109750, Barber wrote. Official agenda item 4 would allow gravel for a parking area and driveway for applicant County Village Investment, LLC. Official agenda item 5 is an appeal after the city manager or his designee refused landscape-rule exceptions, with the applicant listed as Country Village Investment, LLC, and the same property number. Ross Altobelli, the newspaper reported, said local rules usually require concrete or pavement for parking and drives but also let the council grant exceptions, that staff had reviewed and approved a site plan, that Spanky Carter owns the tract and plans an automotive repair shop not open to the public but used to prepare vehicles for a nearby used-car lot, and that staff recommended approval with stipulations, including that the waiver is limited to that area and that later expansions or changes would have to return to the council. On the landscape item, Altobelli said the shop sits on a large tract near the airport, set well back from the road, and that staff recommended a waiver limited to the current business. Carter, the paper said, will landscape the front facing the road but not the side next to what the newspaper called the reel company.

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