The City of Pinehurst will have a full ballot when it holds its municipal election on May 1. The City Council approved the date of the election at its meeting on Tuesday.
Because of appointments to fill positions on the council last year, five of the six members on the City Council will have their positions up for election. Only Cynthia Adams who was elected to another term in last November’s General Election will not have her position expire in May.
A public hearing was conducted to condemn a property at 3712 Mockingbird Street. Code Enforcement Officer Harry Vine indicated the owner of the property Johnny Gill is cooperating with Pinehurst to tear down the structure on the property.
During the hearing Vine testified the structure on the property is not worth trying to repair. “Mr. Gill has agreed to go ahead and demolish the structure, but he needs 90 days to get his funding together,” Vine reported.
Vine recommended Pinehurst condemn the structure and give the owner 90 days to tear it down. The City Council approved granting Gill the 90 days requested to demolish the structure.
During his report to the council, City Administrator Jerry Hood updated the progress on two grants for the City of Pinehurst. A Community Development Block Grant for sewer improvements on Mockingbird Street and Enchanted Oaks was originally not approved by the state, but has received funding now.
The $6.8 million grant from the Texas General Land Office (GLO) for Hurricane Harvey recovery is in the bidding process currently. Bids are due on January 21, and the bids for the sewer improvement project will be opened at City Hall that day.
There are three phases in the GLO grant. Work has started on the relocating of the waste water treatment plant, followed by the sewer improvements, and then repaving of streets damaged during Harvey.
Hood was granted his request to amend the city’s evaluation procedures for municipal employees. Hood said he and the department heads prefer to have all evaluations done in January instead of the previous policy of holding the evaluation on the anniversary of the employee being hired.
A contract for engineering services with Schaumburg and Polk was approved. The agreement will be for three years.
Six amendments to the budget for last fiscal year were approved. The changes totaled $66,185 which was taken out of the reserve fund to cover the difference.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Social Media