MAYOR’S MINUTE - JANUARY 2016
The West City Council met on January 5, which was our first meeting of 2016.
At the beginning of the meeting Judge Pareyapresided over the swearing-in of the city’s new police chief,Darryl Barton.Darryl was pinned by his stepfather,Wilburn Willis, and then gave a short speech on his30-year history with the city of West.We are very proud of Darryl and know that he will do a fine job for the city of West.Congratulations, Chief Barton!
The council agreed to allocate $5,000 of the hotel/motel tax to the History of West Museum.This tax is derived from the occupancytax at Best Western Czech Inn.The city typically receives around $50,000 per yearwhich can be used for advertising the city and getting “heads in beds” at the hotel. Other things we have used this money for in the past include a regional advertising campaign, membership in the H.O.T. Waco, and for brochures and billboards.
Your council also agreed to move forward with the city park in a public/private partnership with the West Texas Foundation, Parkers Park Project and the Dallas Mavericks.When you combine help from these organizations and the property insurance the city received from the previously destroyed bathrooms and pavilion, we should have enough to pay for new restrooms and pavilions, along with covers for both the existingpicnic tables and the old pavilion.We hope to have some plans next month so that construction can start. If all goes well, the park should be back up by this summer. Yeah!
Rodina Automotive asked for the council’s approval to put up a sign on their property location on I-35, which was approved. The council recently passed a sign ordinance which requires their approval for signs.
They also approved a construction bid for the rehabilitation of the water tank on South Washington Street.This project started recently so you will all notice low water pressure for a while. While this project is in process we will be using the old standpipe location next to city hall, but it does not produce as much pressure. If you have very little to no pressure please call city hall at 826-5351 and let them know.
We have also approved the engineering firm of Walker Partners for the FEMA Water well #7, which will replace the damaged tank on the north side of town. Walker Partners is our city engineer, and is currently being used for other projects in West.
You might also notice some new poles going up on Oak Street by the welcome sign. Due to the I-35 expansion, the old poles were removed (these were the poles that used to hold up banners for city events). The new poles will be paid for by Westfest, the West VFD BBQ Cookoff (Fire Department) and the West Rodeo Association.Splitting the fees by these three groups will make the banners more affordable…about $400 for each group.
Work is progressing on Harrison Street. Since there is only one block on South Harrisonthat doesn’t have a new water line, we decided that we will go ahead and replace it now and then take bids this summer for the Davis/Holt/Harrison paving projects.
Work has started on the beautification project next to the railroad tracks on the sides of Oak Street.This is being paid for by the West Texas Foundation, and should be completed by next month.
The city council called a special meeting this past Monday to discuss the purchase of two used fire trucks for the fire department. The cost of these trucks is $195,000 each. After the explosion the city received $340,000 in insurance money from the trucks destroyed, which we still have. The rest of the money will come from the fire department’s funds. The council approved the purchase of these trucks.
Purchasing these trucks will help the fire department’s Public Protection Classification (PPC), which is a number the Insurance Services Office (ISO) uses. Basically, the better the equipment we have, the better the score we have; and the better the score we have, the lower your insurance premiums will be. The department currently has a score of 5, which is up from 7 a few years ago. With these trucks we hope to get the score up to 4, which will mean savings for every homeowner inside the city limits. Yeah!
Speaking of ISO ratings, the city was recently reevaluated also (the fire department and city are scored separately). Previously, the city had a score of 9, which isn’t very good. After this reevaluation we were given a score of 5 on both residential and commercial, which is an astounding improvement. There are many factors that go into these scores, but the recent change of our building codes had a significant impact.
There are quite a few things to look for in future agendas. These include revisiting inspection processes, tweaking the purchasing process for city supplies, looking into possible time cards for city employees, the completion of the water tank rehabilitation project and also of the city street projects (in March or April), replacing the well on the north side of town and construction a new tank, completing the Holt/Davis/Harrison Streets paving project, completing the wastewater treatment plant headworks project, doing a quiet zone study, expanding the city limits to include parts of I-35 through the city (which would allow for the city to work interstate traffic), combining the water clerk and court clerk positions, learning the results of a resiliency grant in February (which would include a community center remodel, a new ladder truck, an enlarged fire station and new fire hydrants…cross your fingers), and some growth in economic development on the west side of I-35.