NEWS
County accepts tax rolls, calls special runoff vote
Montague County Commissioners handled a brief agenda Monday that included calling the special State Senate runoff election for Dec. 19 and accepting the anticipated tax totals for 2020.
The court is still running one short, as Commissioner Mark Murphey continues to recover following surgery.
Tax Assessor-Collector Kathryn Phillips presented to tax figures to the court. Taxable value is $1,962,961,209 and taxes are $10,651,780.59. Montague County has 100,082 properties which will be taxed.
County Elections Administrator Ginger Wall presented the order call the Dec. 19 runoff election for District 30 State Senate. Wall also got approval to consolidate the runoff to the four locations that presently serve for early voting in Bowie, Nocona, Saint Jo and Montague.
District 68 State Representative Drew Springer will face Metroplex area business owner Shelley Luther in the runoff. Neither won the required majority in the six-person race in September.
The county will amend its agreement with the Texas Association of Counties, which hosts the county website to add a secure sockets layer certificate. Jessica Thomas, county technology director, said these connections protect sensitive data such as credit cards that may be exchanged during a webpage session.
She explained while the county’s website does not collect customer data it would provide an additional layer of security at a relatively low cost of $150 a year. Thomas added hackers often target smaller businesses with ransom ware so there would be a precaution. The request was approved.
Commissioner Bob Langford told the court it has been brought to his attention they need to post any new subdivisions or requests for plat revisions on the county website 30 days before they come to the court for consideration. Thomas said if the court forwarded her those requests she would make sure they go on the website.
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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