The City of West Orange is a community of traditions. The annual Holiday in the Park is held every year in November and the Christmas Tree Lighting is an annual event held during December to celebrate Christmas in West Orange.
Another tradition is long term service by municipal leaders in West Orange. Mayor Roy McDonald has been serving more than 23 years as the head of city government in West Orange.
A municipal leader in West Orange who also served several years leading the county is Carl Thibodeaux. After serving over eight years as the mayor of West Orange, Thibodeaux was elected in 1994 to be the county judge of Orange County. He served 20 years in that capacity before stepping down four years ago.
Thibodeaux immediately ran to be an alderman on the West Orange City Council and was elected to that position. This year saw Thibodeaux’s career in public service take a different step. With the passing of long-time municipal judge Gene Roberts in February that position became vacant. Thibodeaux and fellow city council member Shirley Bonnin had been serving as joint interim municipal judge while Roberts battled the illness that eventually took his life.
Mayor McDonald appointed Thibodeaux as the new municipal judge for West Orange on June 11. Upon accepting the judge’s position Thibodeaux resigned his position on the City Council. He expressed excitement about taking on the new position and is looking forward to doing it into the future.
A new face was appointed to fill Thibodeaux’s position on the City Council in July. Randy Branch was nominated by McDonald and was unanimously approved by the other council members to be an Alderman for the City of West Orange. Branch has lived in West Orange for more than 40 years. He previously worked 35 years at Dupont and currently is the pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church.
The end of summer saw another change of tradition as the city council approved a rare increase in the municipal tax rate. The city’s $3.7 million budget included an increase in the tax rate to 47 cents per $100 value.
That represented a $0.045 increase from last year and the first such increase in several years for West Orange. The mayor explained the reason was the reduced property values in West Orange following Tropical Storm Harvey required the increase for the city to continue to provide similar services to its citizens.
Related to post Harvey consequences the City Council approved in November not to renew the temporary housing ordinance for West Orange. The decision meant citizens living in temporary housing provided by FEMA and the Texas General Land Office would not get extensions to have their mobile homes in areas of West Orange where that kind of housing was not allowed. Code Enforcement Officer Dean Fuller stated in November there were three families in West Orange still residing in the FEMA trailers.
The end of the year saw a slight change in the West Orange Volunteer Fire Department. Reacting to what he perceived as a lower response from volunteers with the fire department, Mayor McDonald offered an interlocal agreement joining the volunteer fire departments of West Orange and Pinehurst.
The two departments had frequently worked jointly fighting fires in the two communities. The interlocal agreement would have the two departments share resources with the fire chief of Pinehurst Shon Branham serving as the chief of the combined departments.
Terry Veitch the chief of the West Orange Volunteer Fire Department and many of his department’s members were not happy with the agreement especially the replacement of Veitch as chief. The volunteers complained they had not been advised of the change until hours before the City Council meeting to approve the agreement.
McDonald seeing the opposition to the change withdrew the appointment of Branham as chief. The agreement was approved for West Orange and Pinehurst to share their fire-fighting resources.
Veitch is working with Acadian Ambulance and the City of West Orange to get First Responder Certification from the State of Texas for the West Orange Volunteer Fire Department. The certification would allow West Orange first responders to assist victims during emergencies prior to the arrival of Acadian Ambulance.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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