Council to set another town hall meeting
BY CHARLOTTE SMITH Editor

Whitehouse City Council members agreed Tuesday to hold another town hall meeting - the third since January - with parks and transportation as the topics. The date of the public forum will be set at next month's regular council meeting on Tuesday, July 24.

Council members hope to get more public input and direction on parks and transportation following the defeat of a $3 million bond proposal in May that included funds for property purchase, construction of a thoroughfare and development of a 20-acre park. After a citizen petition prevented the council from funding the project with certificates of obligation, the proposal went before the public in an all-or-nothing package.

"I still have a lot of people asking what our plans for a park are. Are we still going to buy that property? Will this come back up for another election?" said Mayor Jake Jacobson. "The need is still there for a park."

With criticism of the defeated proposal ranging from the impact on taxes to its proposed location and the effectiveness of a thoroughfare with a reduced speed limit, council hopes to get a better indication of what the public wants and to address the issues of parks and transportation separately.

"We are committed to improving the park situation in our city," said Dale Moran, adding that the public defeat "doesn't mean we can't redefine this thing and put something before the voters again. I don't want the park project to die."

"I think we've lost the only viable thoroughfare in Whitehouse," added Mike Adams. "The city will grow to the east, and this would open it up for potential growth and development."

The proposed site was located between Gatewood and Karla streets and would have featured a connecting road from FM 346 running north to Hillcreek. The road construction would have cost roughly half of the $3 million total proposal.

City attorney Stephen Evans told council there was no legal prohibition to the city purchasing the property for possible future use. Ronny Fite, city manager, added that the property was back on the market. He also told council that he was talking to another local property owner who was interested in selling land to the city.

In other matters, the council authorized engineer Phil Elledge to begin the last phase of sewer improvements on the north side of town. The projected completion of the project would be August 2008 to coincide with the new elementary school's opening.

Estimates for the project are $610,000 for an upgrade of the Bascom Road lift station, $566,000 to upgrade outfall #1 to 12" lines, and $343,000 for new 12" sewer main from ETMC lift station to Bascom Road lift station.

Elledge also presented a change order for council's consideration concerning add-ons to the FM 345 utility relocation project. Council approved the additional $38,000 for extra work including replacement of a sewer line on Willingham Road, a new six-inch sewer line west of town and lowering water lines along 346. Despite the add-ons, Elledge said the project is still below the original budget.

Council also approved an ordinance adopting a new fee and rate schedule for solid waste collection. Council had previously OK'd the rate increase but had to post public notice of a new ordinance before adopting it. Residential and commercial rates will increase by 2.78 percent, with the affect on homeowners being 17 cents a month. The city's service provider, IESI, asked for the increase to offset inflationary rates.

Council also approved:

-- refinancing debt service on wastewater plant improvements and new water wells;

-- accepting installation of sanitary sewer lines and authorizing final payment to contractor.

Fite told council that construction on the city's new storm siren system should begin in July and that preliminary budget information for fiscal year 07-08 (beginning Oct. 1) would be ready for the July council meeting.

He also brought members up to date on a water workshop held earlier in the day with represenatives from Troup.

Fite said it was a productive meeting with the two entities working out further details on a plan to draw water from Lake Striker. He said it was decided not to form a co-op or water authority; instead an interlocal agreement will suffice with each city being responsible for issuing its own debt for a proportionate share of the proposed expense.

Representatives from Bullard were expected to attend but did not.