Texas Flag Pledge: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."
I thought I had the Texas pledge memorized until the mayor asked me if I would lead the pledge of allegiance at tonight's meeting. I nailed the American pledge, but when I started the Texas pledge off with "I pledge allegiance..." I found the room rather quiet behind me. We all got through it and had a good laugh...even me. Sorry Mr. Mayor, I'll do better next time. :)
On to business.
I'm pleased that my next-door neighbor, Mr. Tom Robison, was unanimously accepted as the newest member of our Planning & Zoning Board. He'll serve the citizens well.
A major milestone for Joshua was passed this evening with the acceptance of our Joshua Station TIF district project plan and the agreement with the developer. This has been several years in the making and we're all excited to have this hurdle behind us now so development can begin. Don't expect to see dirt flying tomorrow, but at least, on paper, everyone is ready to get started.
We have received bids for "Construction Manager at Risk" for our city park construction. We should be ready to vote on accepting a bid at November's council meeting which will be the first step in the process of the actual park construction even though it will not begin until mid 2010.
The council considered an application by the owners of The Art Barn Studio on Hwy 174 for access to Mountain Valley Blvd. During my campaign for city council many residents living off of Mountain Valley Blvd. discussed with me concerns for keeping traffic to a minimum on that street and not having further access to the businesses on 174. I brought up those concerns tonight, but I was ultimately out voted. What may be the second most desirable result occurred, however, in that the access was granted contingent upon speed bumps being installed through the parking lot between 174 and Mountain Valley Blvd. and a gate on the Mountain Valley side to be locked during the overnight hours to restrict access.
With the last item on tonight's regular agenda the council authorized our city manager to pursue an Energy Efficiency Block Grant that has become available. If awarded the city will receive $35,000 to make improvements in city buildings to increase energy efficiency. We'll have a consultant do an audit in the next month or so and make recommendations on what improvements to pursue for the grant.
An enjoyable meeting and not too long so Joshua will carry on for another month. As always, my appreciation goes out to our city staff for doing the heavy lifting every day.
If there's anything on your mind that needs to be addressed let me know.
A.J.
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