NEWS
New electric rate ordinance passes first reading
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
The Bowie City Council approved an updated electric rate ordinance Monday night clarifying changes that should have been done back in 2016 and reflect the reduction approved in fall 2018.
Not unexpected, the debate was heated as two council members wanted to change the overall electric rate schedule despite the prior council’s adoption of a rate plan last fall that was
The electric rate ordinance approved at the last meeting was up for a second reading, but Mayor Gaylynn Burris asked the council to set that aside and consider one that has been revised with a couple of changes discussed in that meeting.
In the new ordinance, the date was taken out eliminating any need to backdate it to meet the Dec. 1 date when new electric rates went into effect. The monthly wholesale power and transmission charge will be computed at “regular intervals” instead of monthly.
It was discovered in January, after many questions to the engineers, the last time a rate ordinance was approved in 2015 following a rate study in 2015. However, in 2016 some changes were made to the electric rates directed by a former Schneider engineer without recommending a change to the electric rate ordinance.
Schneider Engineering officials said they understood nothing had changed since that time and told city officials there was no need for a new ordinance in fall 2018. The council approved the electric rate reduction effective Dec. 1, 2018, but did not do an ordinance.
Councilor Tami Buckmaster who has raised many of those questions to the engineer about the rate schedule which led to the further investigation said the new ordinance clarified a few of her legal questions, but her problem is not cutting businesses in on the rate reduction. She said this happened before she was on the council so she does not know the reasons for the rate plan.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
The second community meeting on needs for an emergency room or hospital in Bowie is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Bowie Community Center.
This is the second meeting to discuss these needs following the closure of the Faith Community Health Center emergency room on Oct. 6, just shy of a year of operation. More than 200 people attended that first meeting, where discussion centered on the creation of a taxing district to support any sort of medical facility.
Citizens in the Bowie area are encouraged to attend and take part in these discussions.
The Bowie City Council has moved its Nov. 18 meeting to 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 where three new council members will take the oath of office.
Councilors include Laura Sproles, precinct two, Brandon Walker, precinct one and Laramie Truax, precinct two. After the votes are canvassed and the oaths given, a mayor pro tem will be selected.
The new members will jump right into training as City Attorney Courtney Goodman-Morris provides an orientation and discussion of duties for council members.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his monthly report on the following topics: Nelson Street, which opened last Thursday, update on the sewer line replacement project, substation transformer placement and information on medical companies.
A closed executive session on the Laura McCarn vs. City of Bowie lawsuit is scheduled. The suit arose in November 2022 when the city broached selling some 25 acres it owns on Lake Amon G. Carter, originally part of the land purchased for the 500-acre Bowie Reservoir completed in 1985.
McCarn challenges the ownership of the property stating it should revert to the original owners since it was not used for the lake.
This 24.35 acre tract is located at the end of Indian Trail Road surrounded by the lake and the Silver Lakes Ranch subdivision.
One of Bowie’s major thoroughfares, Nelson Street, was reopened Thursday after one busy block has been closed since August 2021 when a section of the street failed.
Construction finally came to an end on Thursday when the street, including the Nelson and Mill intersection were reopened. Mayor Gaylynn Burris, City Manager Bert Cunningham, Councilors TJay McEwen and Stephanie Post, Engineer Mike Tibbetts and Public Works Director Stony Lowrance met at the site Thursday morning and removed the barricades. It only took a few minutes for vehicles to start arriving and drivers were excited to go through on the new roadway.
This section of Bowie has endured flooding and drainage problems for many years and in the summer of 2023 the city council finally bit the bullet and sought bids for the repair work expected to top $3 million. In August 2021 a one block section of Nelson was closed when a large sinkhole appeared on the north side of the street. Traffic had to be diverted including all the school traffic flowing from the nearby junior high and intermediate.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – (Left) Mike Tibbetts, engineer with Hayter Engineering, talks with Bowie City Manager Bert Cunningham as they look over the massive drainage project on Nelson Street.
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