The proposal would replace the Downtown Board’s fixed third-Tuesday 8:30 a.m. meeting rule with a schedule set by a board quorum and remove Texas Main Street language from its governing documents.
For residents and downtown businesses, the practical change is that board meetings could move from a predictable monthly time to a schedule chosen each year, while the board would keep its downtown-development mission.
The existing text calls for meetings on the third Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and allows changes only after a majority vote of a quorum. The revised bylaws instead call for the board to approve its meeting frequency at the first meeting after members are appointed each spring; additional or special meetings could still be scheduled at the board’s discretion.
A board untied from Texas Main Street
The ordinance would remove the requirement that the board operate under the Texas Main Street Program. The city’s staff report says the board voted unanimously in August 2024 to end that membership because of rising costs and compliance requirements and its new membership with Texas Downtown. The board would retain its role promoting downtown, encouraging business cooperation, improving downtown’s appearance and advancing the 2010 Downtown Implementation Plan.
The rewrite would keep the board at 11 members but update membership language, including the name of the New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation and the Historic Landmark Commission acronym. It would remove a recognition qualifier from the reference to arts and heritage organizations; staff said no formal recognition criteria exist. The document also changes the meeting-notice wording from 72 hours to three business days and lets the City Council, as well as the board chair, recruit and approve members of standing and special committees.
City staff reported no fiscal impact from the amendments. The Downtown Board voted unanimously July 9 to recommend the bylaw changes, but its action did not make them final; the draft says board amendments do not take effect until the City Council approves them.
What happens next
The City Council is scheduled to consider the first reading Sept. 28; the draft says the ordinance would take effect only after a second and final reading. The broader Sept. 28 council agenda is covered in Comal.News’ meeting guide. Readers can inspect the tracked bylaws to compare the proposed wording with the existing rules.