NEWS
Nelson Street repairs may top $2 million
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
The City of Bowie is like many other cities across the country dealing with aging infrastructure, recurring damage from natural disasters and a lack of funding to make all the repairs or improvements a community may need.
City officials are gathering cost information on the best option to repair the collapsed street and related ongoing flood damage on Nelson. The numbers are scary so far topping $2 million.
Renovation of the police department also has been put on hold for structural concerns which increased the cost and threw up a red flag from the architects for the 50-plus year building.
Nelson Street
On Aug. 21, following more than five inches of rainfall in the city, a section of Nelson Street caved in, prompting the street’s closure for safety concerns for any traffic going down the street.
The next day City Manager Bert Cunningham filed a disaster declaration anticipating the governor would proclaim a disaster for the Dallas area which experienced some of the worst rainstorms and flooding in its history. The state declaration came a few days later for 23 counties including Montague.
Usually, with a disaster declaration, a county or community becomes eligible for certain federal disaster relief programs.
Cunningham had hoped for that but as of Thursday, he said it doesn’t look like Dallas has come up with the necessary estimates. The magic number is $48 million in damage before an application can be made for federal disaster funds.
In the first week, engineers and building contractors were asked to examine the damage and offer estimates that the city staff could provide to the feds.
Thursday, Cunningham said the engineers are estimating $2 million to repair the drainage culverts under the street, along with the adjacent flow areas near the dropbox.
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Trustees of the Bowie Independent School District welcomed one new member this week following the Nov. 5 election and accepted the 2023-24 outside audit with no exceptions.
Incumbent Trustee Jacky Betts returned to place one and Angie Christmas took the place two seat. After the board officers were dissolved with the new ones taking the oath, officers were elected. Betts will continue as president, Guy Green as vice president and Kent Dosch as secretary.
Paul Fleming of Edgin, Parkman, Fleming & Fleming, PC, presented the audit telling there were no issues and the process went smoothly. He noted the biggest change was the Legislature compressing the district tax rate and additional changes in the tax law. State aid formula grants increased due to the state’s funding formula compensating for lost property tax revenue due to the law change previously mentioned.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Information was the watchword for the second hospital/emergency room community meeting Tuesday night, as the steering committee was announced along with additional financial considerations.
About 50 people attended the meeting. Melody Gillespie, who was named chairperson for the committee, said the goal is to gather information to get it out into the community. This group was formed after the Bowie emergency room was closed by Faith Rural Health System in early October just shy of one year of operating in Bowie.
Kylie Ward, one of the public relations volunteers, said, “This committee is not here to force things on you and there are assumptions already we are proposing a tax. We are not, we don’t have that ability, we are just a research team here to explore all the options.”
Other members of the committee include Tiffany Chandler and Damon Benton handling finance and grant research; Jennifer Tellef, secretary; Valerie Tomerson, grant research; Ann Smith, PR and Margin Latham and Gillespie, legislative research. It was pointed out there are other members of the sub-committees who are helping with research, but they also invite anyone interested to help with the process.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – Jack County Judge Keith Umphress spoke at this week’s steering committee meeting. (Photo by Barbara Green)
The following indictments were filed with the 97th District Clerk following the November session of the Montague County Grand Jury.
There were a total of 13 indictments with one sealed awaiting the arrest of a suspect.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Read the full list of indictments in your mid-week Bowie News.
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