December 16, 2015 - During the start of Monday's City of Center council meeting, a crowd of Santa's Christmas Parade float winners were presented prize money by the City of Center who was the Award Sponsor for the parade.
First place winners received $100, second $50 and third $25. The Overall Best in Show Float received $250 cash which was presented by City of Center Manager Chad Nehring to Center Christian Academy. Rev. Dathan Triplett accepted the prize money on behalf of the school. LeAnn Kay Rafferty wasn't present at the meeting but previously requested her prize money be donated to the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Chadwick spoke, "Thank y'all very much for all y'all have done to our community and for our community, it certainly set the mood for the season." He also gave praise for the hard work the participants had put into their floats.
Click map to see annexation map
Following the parade winner recognition, council approved Ordinance 2015-14, annexation of properties into the city limits. Right-of-way property along Hwy 7 as well as airport property, which were originally included, were both removed from the original annexation plan.
Nehring said, "This is the second phase of the annexation plan which was adopted back in [20]13. The area has been covered and discussed for the last 60 days with notices that have been issued, sent. Development agreements have been sent out to those that are eligible and that is one minor change that's added tonight. We had to modify some of those maps; we had a last minute development agreement come in. So, that was modified. We also, based on the comments reflected last month and some additional comments, we learned a few things that weren't quite as we expected and anticipated with regards to the airport and the tax policy, the way property is appraised and/or taxed. And until we sort through some of the use tax versus property tax issues as well as have some ongoing discussions with the airport board about future capital project funding at the airport. We felt it was maybe the better course of action to recommend delaying that one piece of property out of this action tonight."
Council also approved Resolution 2015-36, Texas Department of Agriculture - Grant Policies. The resolution is a group of general policies required for federal award of grant funds. Upcoming grant opportunities is the Downtown Sidewalk grant, the upcoming TDA Community Enhancement project and the next round of Texas Community Development Block Grant (TxCDBG.)
The last item approved was a Plat for Windham Estates. The plat was submitted by the property owner/developer for the subdivision and appropriate dedications to allow for the extension of utilities and required access to all lots. The plat is property partially bordering Tenaha Street, Carroll Street, and Payne Street.
Items of Interest
An update was given by Nehring concerning the 2015 Street Program, "The street program is beginning. Drewery Construction is on site. We started the patch work and the miscellaneous repairs." He then gave specific information citing work on Elliott Street which included patch concrete and gutter work. "The remainder of the work, the major reconstruction, is going to begin shortly. I don't believe that they have started excavating any this week but they are already under contract. Drewery Construction will be doing most of that work. I would suggest to you San Augustine Street is probably going to see the most impact, it is probably the biggest single quantity." Nehring also mentioned work planned on Nacogdoches Street and Porter Street will also be a traffic imposition.
The planned street work is as follows:
Reconstruction - Booth, Carnahan, George Ihlo, Margaret, Margo, Maxwell, Noble, Pine Terrace, Stephens, Watlington, Wheeler, and Wiseman
Scarify, Remix and Recompact - Center, Daniels, Greer, Kennedy, San Augustine, and Walker
Miscellaneous Repairs - Houston, Porter, Watlington, Hwy 87 at Railroad, Twilight, Walker, Wheeler, and Crawford
Mill/Overlay - Nacogdoches, Wimberly Place, and Porter
Patch - Austin, College, Elliott, Fannin, Jennings, Lister, Matlock, and Wheeler
The 2015 Texas Department of Agriculture Grant informed the city that as of December 10th the City of Center is authorized to proceed with the sidewalk improvements for San Augustine Street from Austin to Houston Streets, Shelbyville Street from Cora to Selma Street, Cora Street from Shelbyville Street to Pecan Street, and Austin Street from San Augustine to Selma Street. The improvements include 1,922 linear feet of concrete sidewalks and nine (9) ADA compliant ramps to the above described locations. The funds being made available to the city by the Texas Department of Agriculture is $150,000 by way of TxCDBG program funds.
City of Center was the top scorer in a grant they applied for which will benefit the wastewater plant. Nehring recalled, "Council may remember we kind of took a shot at a little bit of a wild concept. There was a $350,000 grant; there was only $3 million available statewide. The city did end up obtaining one of those. It is for a solar powered project to reduce energy consumption cost out at the wastewater treatment plant. It had to be for energy saving and it had to be solar project. We were the top scorer in that category so we did get $350,000."
The final item of interest mentioned at the meeting pertained to soccer fields and Nehring said, "We do have a lot of enthusiasm for soccer right now. We are trying to figure out how to best accommodate." The city is exploring the possibility of developing a graphic plan and preliminary cost for building soccer facilities on Ballard Street at Community Park. Mayor Chadwick added, "It is the largest open area the city owns and is basically already serving as youth baseball fields so the preparations should be much less than anything else we could possibly do."
Council did enter into executive session. Once back in open session the council approved a motion to authorize the Mayor to discuss the offer with the County to purchase the property located on Nacogdoches Street.
