Quote:
Luckily, the citizen advisory committee got first hand knowledge as to how over capacity the current facility is and got to voice their concerns.
They got wind of a LOT of pressing needs and voiced their concerns loud and clear - by reaching into the taxpayers' pocketbooks.
Here's what the 'citizen advisory committee' recommended:
Construction of a new police station - $28 million
UPRR grade crossings and roadway improvements - $18 million
Construction of Fire Station No. 7 - $4.9 million
Greens Prairie Road intersection/roadway improvements - $21.2 million
Greens Prairie & Royder roadway safety improvements - $14.9 million
System-wide park improvements - $2.5 million
Neighborhood street safety improvements at Holick, Park Place, Anna and Glade - $2 million
Community center - $15.5 million
Traffic signals - $1.5 million
Sidewalks/oversized participation funds - $750,000
FM 2818 capacity improvement - $2 million
Southeast Community Park development - $20 million
Rock Prairie Road East widening (SH6 to Medical Way) - $1.9 million
Spray park - $500,000
Holleman Drive South widening - $11.5 million
Trails - $6.1 million
Skate park - $900,000
Natatorium - $30 million
Interestingly there's no mention of a new city hall on that list, yet - SHAZAM - it appears in this year's budget with an earmark for another tax increase to pay for it.
BTW, Here are the members of that "citizens" committee - a regular who's-who of local politicos and real estate professionals:
2015 Capital Improvement Projects Citizen Advisory Committee
Chair: Rod Thornton
CoChair: William Smith
Transportation Subcommittee Chair: Tedi Ellison
CoChair: Beverly Kuhn
James Batenhorst
Mark Green
Linda Harvell
Brittan Johnson
Ronald Kaiser
Facilities Subcommittee Chair: Thomas Taylor
CoChair: Kevin McGinnis
Gary Ives
William, Lartigue. Jr.
Scott Raisor
Rene Ramirez
Garland Watson
Parks Subcommittee Chair: Jon Denton
CoChair: Marc Chaloupka
Sherry Ellison
Don Hellriegel
Keith Roberts
Chris Scotti
Dan Stribling