Scouts Witness a Wide - Ranging Council Meeting

As a pair of boy scouts looked on as part of their merit badge requirements, the La Grange City Council discussed their plans for hiring a new city manager at a meeting Monday night, Sept. 25.

On Sept. 18, the City’s General Services Committee met with Government Professional Solutions (GPS), the firm the City hired to search for the last city manager, Fred Bell. Bell resigned last month after about six months into the job. The contract with GPS stipulated that if the hiree left before 12 months, GPS would waive their normal fee to conduct another search for a replacement.

“We had a 12-month guarantee, so we’re going to use their services again, basically for a little bit of money for advertising and a couple of other little fees,” said Councilman Ken Taylor, who serves on the General Services Committee.

On Monday night, the Council approved an addendum to their agreement with GPS for the search. The only fees to be paid by the City will be $500 for the creation of a new brochure, $500 for advertising the open position, $110 per finalist for background checks, mileage at a rate of $0.65 per mile for GPS, along with “any miscellaneous costs incurred in this search.”

The Council also approved an ideal candidate profile and candidate selection criteria that will be used in the search.

In other business Monday night, the Council approved four requests for funding under the Tourism Grant Program in the following amounts:

• $4,000 to the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild to advertise for their annual quilt show held on Feb. 23-24, 2024;

• $3,000 to Friends of Monument Hill to advertise the Trail of Lights, which will run for 10 days in December;

• $1,000 to the Polka Lovers Club of Texas Museum to advertise their supporter appreciation event on Oct. 14;

• $5,000 to the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Museum to advertise the Heritage Fest and Muziky held on Oct. 20-21.

The City awards tourism grants on a reimbursement basis. The money comes from hotel occupancy taxes collected in the City of La Grange, and funds must be used for activities that benefit the hotel industry by bringing tourists to town.

In addition, City Council unanimously approved the second reading of the ordinance setting the property tax for next year, which will be $0.18668 per $100 of property value.

The Council also heard annual reports from Janet Rangel, director of the Randolph Recreation Center, and Allison MacKenzie, director of Fayette Public Library.

Rangel reported that the Summer Day Camp averaged 25-26 students a day this year. She said the after school program is now in full swing, with La Grange ISD bussing about 25 students to the Center every day after school. She said the Rec Center’s gymnastics program has seen a big uptick, which she attributed to the Summer Olympics coming up in 2024.

MacKenzie reported that about 309 people signed up for the library’s Summer Reading Program, which included both children and adults. They collectively read about 3,400 books, she said. The library hosted 15 community events over the summer. She said the library received significant donations this year from Second Chance Emporium, local banks and H-E-B. MacKenzie said the library will host a genealogy workshop on Oct. 20 from 9 a.m.-5:40 p.m. In addition, she said the archives and museum will unveil a new exhibit about Rev. Karl Baer, an early Lutheran minister in Waldeck. Baer’s descendants now live in Maryland, and MacKenzie said some of them will be on hand for the official opening on Saturday, Nov. 4.