City Council Gets Earful From Citizens
At last Monday’s meeting the La Grange City Council considered a request from staff to apply for a community grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority for improvements at Hope Hill Park. The grant provides up to $100,000 with a required 20 percent match, if awarded.
La Grange Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Manager Emily Hudson presented the proposal to the Council. Hudson said the grant would pay for planting clusters of trees in the park, a split-rail fence around the park entrance, a community garden area, a paved parking lot and a cinderblock wall with a mural.
The cost for these improvements is an estimated $97,420. If LCRA awards a grant to fully-fund the project, the City’s match would be $19,484. The landscaping improvements alone would cost an estimated $65,419.
Councilman Bryan Kerr questioned whether the City should take on a parks expansion when it City crews currently struggle to maintain existing parks.
“The bulk of this is going into landscaping,” said Councilman Bryan Kerr. “And we struggle on that right now with our parks. I don’t know if that would be the best way to spend money on something that we have trouble maintaining.”
City Manager Jack Thompson said the City had planned to complete these improvements when the park was originally built using a grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. But then the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, and costs skyrocketed.
“Those were the more expensive items that we’re seeking to have the grant pay for, to kind of basically finish up what we started and what had to be value engineered out due to COVID,” Thompson said.
“Ultimately, this project reflects the EDC’s commitment to improve quality of life in a way that, again, as 80% of the project paid for, and we just want to have the neighborhoods in La Grange be as beautiful as they can be,” Hudson said.
Thompson said the match money would come from the City’s capital improvement fund.
Council ultimately approved the item by a vote of 4-2 with Violet Zbranek and Kerr voting against the measure. Ken Taylor abstained, as he always does on votes involving LCRA, since he is a retiree of that organization.
Several citizens spoke during the public comment period. First up was Theresa Von Rosenberg, who has longadvocated for stormwater improvements.
“All these projects y’all got going on, that’s fun,” said Von Rosenberg. “Fine, we need that. But we need drainage fixed.”
Von Rosenberg pressed Thompson on the direction the City has gone since hiring him as City manager.
“He’s buying stuff, buying buildings, the FEC building” she said. “He’s tearing up stuff like the swimming pool. That’s not good. That’s not good. We need drainage … What have you done?”
Thompson responded by saying the City will soon receive bids for the first phase of a major drainage improvement project. The bids are due Feb. 19, he said. The Council is scheduled to review those bids and award a contract in March with construction to follow, he said.
Glena Laffey, a long-time Fayette County Fair volunteer, spoke about issues related to Little League and the Fair Association’s contract with the MS Society for the MS 150 bike ride. She criticized the City’s decisions on these matters, especially Thompson.
“Maybe he doesn’t really grasp the idea that everything that he does, the changes that he needs to make and the money that he needs to spend, has to be approved by all of you,” Laffey said.
Gene Carson, who works as a chief financial officer for a major local nonprofit, raised concerns about the City’s financial future. “How much did the new pretty logo cost us?” he asked, referring to the City’s new branding and marketing effort. “Was that a necessity? Yeah, it looks good. Am I going to pick and live in a city because I like their logo? I don’t know how many citizens do that. Typically people pick (a city) on health care. They pick on how good the schools are … It just doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make any sense where we are spending the money.”