Streets, Pavilion On Councils to-do List

The Orange City Council Thursday morning decided to borrow money to pay for street repairs and a covered pavilion with a stage at the Boat Ramp off Simmons Drive.

The city will borrow about $4 million for the street improvements. An estimate for the pavilion has not been made, but the total cost should be less than the total of $8 million the council originally agreed to spend.

The council agreed the pavilion should be about 12,500 square feet, built of metal with a concrete floor.

Several members of the council talked about getting residents to participate in discussions about long-range projects. The council has had public workshops during the past two years on projects to complete with new bonds, but the workshops were held during the daytime and did not allow for comments.

Mayor Larry Spears said one of the proposals was to build a baseball-softball field complex. He said the people involved in local sports leagues need to participate in that kind of decision.

Single-Member District 1 Councilor Pat Pullen said he has heard complaints “from a lot of people” that they were not able to go to day meetings and comment.

“We need a day meeting and a night meeting,” he said. “If you don’t come out and voice your opinion, you don’t have a say-so.”

Single-Member District 4 Councilor Annette Pernell said she wants “the opportunity to listen to what the majority of people want.”

The council informally agreed to have public meetings in the future to get opinions from residents on what the city should be doing.

At-Large Councilor Bill Mello came up with preliminary plans for the pavilion at the Boat Ramp. He said the city has lost some fishing tournaments because there was no pavilion.

The council agreed on a 12,500 foot metal pavilion with a concrete floor and a stage, but no lighting and sound system. The design should be industrial and the building able to be expanded in the future.

Council members said they did not want to pay for an architect for a preliminary design.

City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre has told the council for the past years that bonds used 20 years ago to pay for a new police station and a new fire station will be paid off in 2019.

The old police station was so small patrol officers held meetings in the room used for municipal court. Offices, including the one for the chief, were not secure and opened off the main entrance hall.

The No. 3 Fire Station on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive replaced the station on Green Avenue and 16th Street, one of the busiest intersections in town. Fire trucks could not get out because of the traffic.

The city has paid about $500,000 a year in payments for those loans. Oubre said the city can borrow about $8 million for 20 years and make about the same payment.

After the council’s decision for the new bonds, Oubre told councilors they will probably see Guy Goodson and Jim Gilley at the next meeting. Goodson is a Beaumont lawyer who does bond work and has sat in as a substitute city attorney at Orange council meetings. Gilley is a securities expert in selling bonds.