The City of West Orange will not be holding a municipal election in May. The City Council met Monday and accepted a Certification of Unopposed Candidates from City Secretary Theresa Van Meter. The council then approved an ordinance cancelling the May 2 general election for West Orange.
Mayor Roy McDonald is pleased with the fact that the city will not need to conduct a municipal election this year. Only incumbents Mike Shugart, Shirley Bonnin, and Dale Dardeau filed to run for the three at-large seats on the council. “It did save the city some money around five grand to be exact, we certainly appreciate that,” McDonald said.
More good news for the members of the West Orange City Council was the return of alderman Dale Dardeau to the dais for the meeting. This was the first meeting of the year that Dardeau has attended since suffering a stroke late last year.
Dardeau had partial paralysis of his right side and has been seeing several doctors for treatment and to determine the cause of the stroke. Dardeau now has full use of his right side, and said he feels very blessed to have survived and recovered from the stroke so quickly.
The West Orange Police Department has gotten a little bigger with the repealing of Ordinance 324 and replacing it with Ordinance 324-A. The new ordinance authorizes the police department not to exceed ten state licensed certified full time peace officers. That is an increase of one from nine police officers as stipulated by the previous ordinance.
New Fire Marshal and Code Enforcement Officer Alex Parker will have his office come under the Police Department. Section 2 of the ordinance authorizes the police department to employee up to six reserve police officers comprised of volunteers who serve with no compensation.
The details of a Community Development Block Grant from the Texas General Land Office (GLO) regarding the local acquisition program connected to Hurricane Harvey were approved by the council on Monday. Signatories, draft guidelines, and a checking account for necessary financial transactions associated with the acquisition program were approved.
Consultants with Traylor & Associates Melinda Smith and Beth Eddings explained the details of the GLO block grant to the council. Eddings gave the reasons for why West Orange should do the acquisition program. “By acquiring these properties, the city can move people out of harms’ way and help to improve the city’s overall appearance on somethings and just get the city moving in the right direction continuing recovery from Hurricane Harvey,” Eddings stated.
Approval of the draft guidelines means a 30-day comment period starts after West Orange publishes the guidelines in the local media. The guidelines will include the procedures for citizens to follow if they want to apply for the program and to determine if their property is eligible for purchase.
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