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City Council members will receive city-issued iPhones to separate official business from personal communications, a change aimed at improving transparency and records compliance.
"This is about transparency," City Manager Ben Williamson told the council during the Jan. 6 study session. "It's also about efficiency of service delivery."
The initiative, requested by Mayor Pro Tem Tina Bennett-Burton and Council Member Elizabeth Villafranca, addresses both record-keeping challenges and resident access. Phone numbers will be assigned to council districts rather than individual members, ensuring residents always have consistent contact information regardless of turnover.
"When your service is done and we thank you for your service, the next member of council that takes over here for your spot will have the exact same cell phone number," Williamson said. "The residents never have to get a new number."
The city will implement similar continuity for email addresses, creating district-specific accounts like district1@farmersbranchtx.gov alongside the current system.
Bennett-Burton said she first requested the phones three years ago after experiencing practical problems with mixing personal and professional communications. After rolling off council and then returning, she discovered 500 unanswered emails.
First-year costs will reach approximately $10,000 for equipment and software, dropping to about $6,000 annually thereafter. Much of the recurring expense covers software that automatically archives messages for public records compliance. IT will manage the devices and fulfill open records requests through the city secretary's office.
Villafranca confirmed with Williamson that personal phones remain subject to public information requests during the two-year transition period. iMessage will be disabled on the city phones because the technology cannot be monitored for records retention.
The council also received updates on Charter Review Committee topics. Members submitted proposals including mandatory annual ethics training, creation of an independent ethics commission, and limits on remote meeting attendance.
City Secretary Erin Flores said the committee will provide quarterly progress reports as it works through the charter article by article.
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