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.

The ceremonial swearing in of Katie Boggeman as 97th District Attorney will be at noon on Nov. 18 in the 97th District Courtroom.
While she has been serving as Interim DA since Aug. 9, Boggeman said she was contacted by the governor’s office on Nov. 11. A staff member asked if she wanted to be considered for the appointment after DA Casey Hall submitted her resignation on Nov. 1 for a term expiring on Dec. 31.
Boggeman said this was a surprise to her and she told that person she was already serving in the interim after Hall was suspended, and that she was the incoming DA following the Nov. 5 election.

Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.

Pictured above: Katie Boggeman when she took the oath of office after being named interim district attorney when Casey Hall was suspended. (Photo by Barbara Green)