This article was in
today’s Galveston County daily news and states the Mayor is on her way to
Washington D.C. to take action on our traffic situation. While others waste seven years and do nothing (except claim projects that were already planned to be done) and yet others try to play
Perry Mason , cross examining our H R director while asking the city staff if they know what he “does for a living”, it is very impressive to see a politician do what they said they would do. The mayor has kept her campaign promise of economic development by hiring Mr. Jerry Grooms, who was the EDC Director in La Marque. Mr. Grooms lives in League City and will bring to our city administration his 25 years of municipal experience. Mr. Grooms will be working with the mayor as well as Doug Frazier to continue to add commercial development to our tax base.
The Mayor's Report, January 27, 2009
I am delighted to report that my new HOA visitation program is proving to be a big hit. Last week we attended a meeting in Lakeside along with Phyllis Sanborn, Neal Baron, Jack Murphy and Tim Paulissen. Monday night we were invited to a large meeting in Clear Creek Village. We were represented by myself, Chris Reed, Mike Jez, Larry Herbert, Ken Clark, Phyllis Sanborn, and Tim Paulissen. We were glad to hear the citizens comments and are already working on their issues. If your HOA would like a visit by City officials, just call the Mayor's office.
January went out with a bang, for us in League City. Last night's Council meeting had a very diversified agenda, with some of the items simply not acted upon or voted down as not being pertinent. I will hit the highlights of the meeting for you.
The meeting opened with a FULL audience, which is great for us up on the dais to see! We really like it when so many chairs are filled! Councilmen Mike Barber and Chris Samuelson were absent.
Regarding proclamations, I was delighted to present a Certificate of Excellence to our staff who worked on Financial Reporting for the period ending September 30, 2007. We also heard an excellent presentation by Earth and Space Science Homeschoolers, called "Climate Connections: The Need for Green Roofs" urging the City to enact ordinances to guarantee that we all benefit from "going Green" by enacting green laws in League City.
Interestingly, and along this same "green" theme, Item 5.D. was a Public Hearing and Take Action to change.1 acres of Open Space in Cypress Bay to RSF-7 for homes. The vote was 4-1, with Paulissen being the negative vote.
Many of the folks in the audience were there for the agenda item 5.F which would move more lots at the Wharf into their PUD. The motion was made by Paulissen, seconded by Sanborn, and passed 5-0.
Renee Bennett told us about our proposed Boundless Special Needs Playground which was later in the agenda. Chien Wei explained to Council that, with their approval, we would be fundraising for the park and accepting donations made to Patrons of the Park, especially earmarked for this park. The equipment is proposed to be located just north of the Station Masters House in League Park, replacing equipment there that is scheduled for replacement anyway. Motion was made by Cones, seconded by Paulissen, passed 5-0.
We have now been re-branded with a new logo created by a 15-member Committee which considered all the possibilities for two months. Their goal was to keep our attachment to our beautiful oaks, and take us into the 21st Century at the same time. Members of the Committee were in the audience and a report was made by Ton Linklater and Peggy Zaylor. The cost to change everything on which the logo appears at the same time, for more impact, is $17,000. Council approved 5-0. So watch for the new look!
Our Director of Public Safety, Jamie Galloway, proposed Council consider a new Emergency Notification System. During Ike, we were offered to piggy-back on the County's notification system (which broke down). The proposed new system would preclude situations like that, and has the capability to send information by phone, text message, email, etc. It could be used for emergency information, plus any other special announcements that citizens need to know. Jamie proposed an 18-month contract, which would give us some cost savings by entering mid-year. Council passed 5-0
There was a great deal of discussion about how difficult it is to find a time that all of Council can meet for special workshops. Council did pass, 4-1 (Sanborn was against,) a first reading of an ordinance to establish a schedule of workshop meetings, which the City Attorney said are not mandatory and cannot be enforced.
There was also a long discussion about having a summer Council dress code, and after much back and forth, Nelson's motion was defeated 1-4.
An Executive session item had to do with clearing up the drainage problems in Lakeside, and Council voted to do whatever it takes to get this problem corrected as soon as possible. So, we're working on the problem, going out for bids, etc.
One of the items that was listed in Executive Session deserves my explanation to you as a citizen of League City. Councilmen Cones, Baron, and Nelson questioned Chris Reed, City Administrator, and HR Director Alison Smith for more than an hour about my hiring of Mr. Jerry Grooms back in December. When I took office, the office of Assistant to the Mayor was held by a very smart young woman, who though she is extremely alert and efficient, she does not have have experience along economic development lines. Because Chris Reed and I did not want to lose her, we found a good position for her in the City Secretary's office. Her duties were changed accordingly, plus being named Assistant to Chris Reed. Because I campaigned on economic development, I wanted to hire Mr. Jerry Grooms, who was at the time the EDC Director in LaMarque. I was delighted that he was interested in making the change (because he lives in League City,) because of his 25 years of municipal experience. With this arrangement, Mr. Grooms will be working not only with me, but also with Doug Frazier, which will keep the Mayor's office abreast of our economic development progress. Consequently, I met with Reed and Smith, so that all of the steps of this hiring would be strictly by the book. We three are satisfied with the way the hiring was handled.
Cones made a motion to cancel the position, with Nelson seconding. However, Mr. Baron said that while he shared the same feelings of Cones and Nelson, he was not going to vote for their motion because two wrongs don't make a right. Seeing that he did not have enough votes, Cones withdrew his motion, Nelson withdrew his second, and the issue died for lack of a motion.
For more than two hours, our paid staff and Council were kept on duty by this issue, the dress code discussion, and the workshop meetings first reading (which cannot be enforced.)
We
are moving forward, folks, and things are looking good. I will be making my State of the Community speech in a couple of weeks, and will send it to you by email.
Mayor Toni Randall
One final thought by Mayor RandallOn Monday night P&Z passed an application for a Master Plan Revision to a Planned Unit Development by Tuscan Lakes. Their approval, required by the verbiage in the PUD Document, means that we will have almost 600 new apartments on both sides of 96 from Dickinson Avenue to SSH Blvd on the north, and 1266 on the south!!
The document said that refusal to pass the application would result in a lawsuit to the City, with the City paying all of the legal expenses. This document is similar to at least 20 others that were written and passed by Council during 2005-2006, and it is obvious that the fine print was not read thoroughly by the City.
You cannot blame the developer, as he is following his chosen profession as we all have a right to do to earn our living. He only did what he was allowed, but was paying more attention than the City was at the time.
But as a City, it is utterly incomprehensible that we who are supposed to be taking care of our citizens could have let this happen! I am simply astounded!
Our roads are beyond capacity, our infrastructure is straining at the seams, and we are all scrambling just to keep up, and here come another 600 units with their school age children, and several cars per household.
Under my leadership I will do everything in my power to be sure that all due diligence is done so that no such thing will happen in the future! The City Administrator and I will be working with the Director of Land Management to ensure that upcoming PUD and other development documents should not be allowed to contain this kind of verbiage.
Again, I am utterly astounded!
