March 2015MAYOR’S MINUTE
The city council had its monthly meeting on March 3 at the community center, which started with a 30 minute workshop.
During the workshop we had a great visit from Harry Marak with the Heart of Texas Builders Association and Woody Butler, a Waco area home builder, regarding the city’s building code, inspection process and fees.The council is still working on this for residential new home and rebuilding building projects in West.
I feel that the city should stay with the 2012 buildings codes, which are now in place. Changing back to 2009 codes would not make sense as the 2015 codes are now being adopted in many cities.The small differences between the 2009 and 2015 codes are minimal and will not save the homeowner all that much in fees and inspections. One of the things we’ve heard the most complains about are the energy codes, but we have found out that these are mandated by the state and cannot be changed nor waived. To offset fees incurred by theenergy codethe city is looking to cut its fee in half and to also look into the financial savings and legality of possibly using local inspectors selected by the project’s general contractor.
We hadanother workshop on March 17 to go over these options and I hope to report any changes to this program, along with implementation and a set of procedures, by the April meeting.
At the meeting we had an update from Suzanne Hack with West Long Term Recovery.They are in the process of transitioning, as theyhave closed and completed most of the 350 cases that were once open.Some are still open but most funds are dispersed. Their plans are to move on to other areas of the community that require their assistance.
The council approved the city becoming a partner with McLennan County in regard to their new transit district. I feel this transportation district will be a valuable tool in getting people to and from Waco.Down the road I can see a regular “route” from, say, Hillsboro to Waco. This route would allow people who are “transportation challenged”to get to and from Waco for job opportunities and otherbusiness.Central Texas needs workers from the outlying areas of West, Hillsboro, McGregor and Mart to provide a larger workforce for possible new businesses.
CherylMarak has almost completed the zoning map for the city. She found the most current map previously done, which was dated 2005, and is working to revise it so the city can have an “official” map.We’re also working on cleaning up the city limits and need this to complement the other.
Chief Hudson provided an official job description for all positions associated with his department, and they was approved by the council.Keep up the good work, Chief Hudson!
CJ Gillaspie and his crews have been very busy with leaks around town which were caused by the recent freezing weather.One leak had them working in the middle of the night when it was 25 degrees. They were up to their waist in cold water trying to fix the leak so the citizens could have water. Talk about dedicated employees!It’s a thankless job and one we all, including this mayor, take for granted. I want to thank the guys for their hard work and long hours; it seems all breaks happen around midnight. Great job city crew (and you, too, CJ)!
The street project is moving forward. Also, we have about three weeks left before the TXDOT project at Oak Street and I-35 is complete.
Shelly, Scott and Jay Lankford are working together to get all of the FEMA paperwork and project documents to the state for our reimbursement.This is a huge undertaking and they, along with Walker Partners (the city’s engineering firm), are doing a great job of documentation.We received our firstFEMAreimbursement of over $100,000 just this past week.You guys over at city hall rock!
That’s all for now. Take care and remember to change out your batteries on your smoke detectors…daylight savings time!Have a great and blessed day.