Last night was a good meeting. Nothing too controversial, but decisions were made that will benefit the city.
The council approved the trash/recycling collection contract with our service provider, IESI. I'm still not happy about the city taking over the billing for the service, but IESI has been good to work with and they're providing good service at a fair price.
We also approved the contract with the Johnson County Emergency Services District for one more year. It will be an interesting year though. The ESD has a new director and we're told that he may make some needed improvements that may change my mind about participating in the district, but we'll see. I'll reserve judgment now until next summer when we start preparing our next budget and see what the relationship looks like at that time. Whether we choose to participate in providing services to the district in exchange for financial compensation or not we now know that state law will not allow the citizens of Joshua to get out from under the ad valorem taxation that funds the district.
Progress is being made on our city park. We've chosen a construction manager-at-risk to lead the project so now the details on how to build it will get worked out in preparation to break ground next summer. I can't wait!
The council authorized the staff to move forward in development of an economic development incentive policy for the city. This is a huge step forward for Joshua in being able to compete with other cities to attract new businesses. If you want to keep your property taxes low this is how you do it.
Lastly, the council authorized our city manager to execute a contract for the purchase of a parcel of land in which to build our new fire station! More details when ready.
Once again last night we had some local college government students in the audience. I'm glad professors are having their students get out of the classroom and see what's going on out here. If you're reading this and don't currently participate in the governing of your city think about getting involved.
A.J.
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