Crowley Star (Crowley, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 23, 2011 Page: 3 of 16
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www.crowleystar.net
Thursday, June 23, 2011 ★ Crowley Star ★ Page 3A
VETERANS MEMORIAL
Location, location, location
I Panel prefers library site; others like downtown
By DAVE SORTER
crowleystar@thestargroup. com
A difference of opinion is
brewing between some Crow-
ley City Council members and
the city’s veterans memorial
committee over the location
of the planned tribute.
Committee president Da-
vid Bowers, at last Thursday’s
council meeting, presented
four potential sites and ex-
pressed the panel’s strong
preference for a location on
Business 1187, in front of the
Crowley Public Library and
the new recreation center.
Many council members, on
the other hand, would rather
see the memorial near City
Hall, on land the city recently
purchased on the northwest
corner of Main Street and
Hampton Road.
All but eliminated were
sites on the west side of the
library, close to Fire Station
2, and the north side of the
Crowley Cemetery. After the
discussion, the council tabled
a decision on the location to
an unspecified meeting.
“We strongly encourage
you to place it in front of the
library,” Bowers said. “It’s a
high traffic area, and another
thing that is good is the park-
ing in that area.”
Mayor Billy Davis won-
dered if the preliminary
plans for the memorial — tall
flag poles to fly the U.S. and
Texas flags; smaller flag poles
for flags of the five branches
of the military; and two 5- to
6-foot walls on which people
can buy bricks to memorial-
ize a veteran — would ob-
struct the view of the library
and rec center.
“I just about guaran-
,MUNICIPAL BONDS
tee you
it won’t,”
Bowers
said.
Not
everyone
agreed.
“It
doesn’t
look like
there
would be a link,” Council-
woman Tina Pace said.
“I’d like us to do what
architects do see a a photo-
graph of what it may look
like,” Davis said.
Councilman Jesse John-
son asked, “This template
would fit on any one of these
pieces of property, wouldn’t
it?”
Bowers said it would,
though he said it would be
better on a large piece of
land, such as that in front of
the library. He also said that
site would be best for secu-
rity, since the police station
and Fire Station 2 would be
nearby.
Councilman Beau Yar-
borough noted the veterans
memorial committee listed
only “pros” and no “cons” for
the library site, while all the
other sites had both.
“The cons of location No. 1
is that there’s less traffic and
less visibility,” Yarborough
said. “I don’t ever drive that
road. Unless you’re getting
arrested or going to check
out a book or going to work
out, there’s no reason to drive
over there.
“Being a part of old town
is a plus. When they drive
Main Street, we want them to
see what we think of our vet-
erans.”
Bowers responded, “But
how many people go in and
out of the rec center and the
library?”
Yarborough retorted,
“How many don’t?”
Councilman Jim Hirth
agreed with Yarborough
about the location.
“I was kind of hoping
you’d pick right next door
and make it the start of new
downtown improvement,” he
said.
Council Jesse Johnson
said a good choice would be
a site that would provide and
economic-development im-
pact. Bowers said that if and
when a proposed commuter
rail line to Cleburne is built,
the downtown site could be a
prime retail location, because
the Crowley station would be
right there.
Yarborough said some
things are more important
than revenue.
“Not everything’s about
the money,” he said. “People
riding that train will see that
(the memorial) and see that
Crowley is proud of its veter-
ans.”
Pace asked about a site
not listed among the four
presented.
“We once talked about a
mall area in front of City Hall
with a veterans memorial.
Did you not discuss that?
Bowers said, “No.”
Shotwell, the council liai-
son to the veterans memorial
panel, ended the debate on a
practical note.
“We’ll take the parcel
across the street as the maxi-
mum footprint, and we’ll get
some architectural drawings.
It’s the smallest piece of land,
so the memorial would fit in
any of the spaces.”
Bowers
Borrowing $2.5 million will
fix sewer-infiltration woes
By DAVE SORTER
crowleystar@thestargroup. com
Infiltration of Crowley’s
sewer system during periods
of heavy rains will be reduced
— if not totally eliminated —
by city projects financed by
$2.5 millions of certificates
of obligation approved by the
City Council last Thursday.
The utility-system bonds
will also begin the next phase
of street refurbishment, City
Manager Truitt Gilbreath said.
A separate ordinance passed
last week allows the city to
begin engineering and design
work on capital projects and
be reimbursed from a general-
fund bond sale of $5 million
that will likely occur next year.
Crowley can issue these
bonds because debt-service
payments on current bor-
rowing are expected to drop
significantly in the fiscal year
beginning Oct. 1 in the utility
fund, and in fiscal year 2012-
13 for general fund, according
to bond consultant Mark Mc-
Cliney with Southwest Securi-
ties. The new sets of bonds will
keep annual debt-service pay-
ments at current levels, with-
out having to raise the tax rate.
“You’re not having to gen-
erate any new revenue,” Mc-
Cliney said.
The infiltration is of top
concern, Gilbreath said. Heavy
rains in 2009 revealed prob-
lems in the wastewater-treat-
ment system as the rainwater
seeped into the city’s sewer
lines. That almost doubled the
city’s costs to the city of Fort
Worth, which handles water
and wastewater for Crowley,
for about nine months.
“At the time, we didn’t have
sufficient revenue to correct
the problem,” Gilbreath said.
“We’ll get the city engineers
to go through the system, see
what needs to be repaired.
We’ll replace manholes and
the sewer mains that have
collapsed and replace some
of those lines. We’ll certainly
replace the worst of them and
continue on ‘til the money
runs out.”
The utility bonds will also
be used to replace or refurbish
water and sewer lines under
the streets that will be repaired
through the general-fund
bonds to be issued next year,
Gilbreath said. Those streets
have yet to be identified.
Issuance of the utility bonds
will keep the water/sewer
fund debt service payments at
$764,ooo-$784,ooo through
fiscal year 2018. Without the
new bonds, the interest pay-
ments would drop to about
$580,000 next year. Those
forecasts assume bonds are
sold at 4.75 percent interest.
McCliney, however, be-
lieves he’ll be able to sell the
bonds at about 4.25 percent, he
said. That prompted a debate
as to whether the city should
borrow more if the bonds are
sold at the lower rate.
Councilman Jesse Johnson
asked Gilbreath if $2.5 million
was enough, and Gilbreath
said yes. Johnson then advo-
cated using the debt service
payment as the benchmark
and trying to borrow more
money. Councilman Beau
Yarborough, on the other
hand, said the city shouldn’t
borrow just because it can.
The utility bond issue
passed on a 5-2 vote, with
Johnson and Jerry Beck vot-
ing against. Yarborough, Jim
Hirth, Tina Pace, Johnny
Shotwell and Mayor Billy Da-
vis voted in favor. The vote
to approve the $5 million
reimbursement package was
unanimous.
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Sorter, David. Crowley Star (Crowley, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 23, 2011, newspaper, June 23, 2011; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth809261/m1/3/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.