A $1 billion bond package for Dallas?
A convention center hotel. The reconstruction of dozens of roads and buildings. More parks downtown, and a major revamp of the Cotton Bowl.
That is just a snippet of what Dallas wants to do. The City of Dallas' to-do list for 2006 is long - and amounts to about $7 billion worth of investments. Later this month city staff will begin to brief the city council about possible bond propositions for the coming year. While spending $7 billion is out of the question, asking voters to approve a bond program around the billion-dollar mark later this year may be in the realm of possibilities, some pundits said.
City and community leaders said improving downtown should be a priority of any bond program put out to voters but the list of projects to be put on a ballot is far from being decided. Civic leaders said they have $100 million worth of needs in downtown alone. City Manager Mary Suhm (pictured) has said economic vitality is the goal of any bond package that is to be proposed.
The process of deciding which projects to tackle this go-around will begin at a January 18 city council meeting. After that, Dallas will likely begin conducting public hearings and toss around ideas internally before the council crafts a proposal that will go to voters, possibly in November. In 2003, voters approved 17 bond items totaling $555 million. So far that is the most expensive bond program in Dallas history.
New Year brings new training for government workers
A new open government law that took effect on January 1 requires thousands of state and local public officials and some employees to undergo formal training in Texas' open meetings and open records laws. The goal of the new open government training, mandated by SB 286, is to ease the flow of information between decision-makers and the people affected by their actions.
Attorney General Greg Abbott (pictured), who is charged with enforcing and interpreting the open government statutes, is responsible for establishing the new training course, which newly elected or appointed officials will have to complete within the next 90 days. People who were in office before Jan. 1 have a year in which to comply. The Attorney General's Office is offering free training for public officials through both online and video courses. Governments also may provide their own training, either by using the attorney general's video or obtaining his approval of their own course materials.
The Woodlands gains new manager
A new president and general manager for the Community Associations of The Woodlands near Houston is in place. Don T. Norrell, who was previously the city manager of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, officially began work in The Woodlands on Tuesday.
As president and general manager, Norrell will oversee operations of The Woodlands Fire Department and The Woodlands Recreation Center. He will also direct the three property owner associations: The Woodlands Community Association, The Woodlands Association and The Woodlands Commercial Owners Association. All of three organizations work together as the Community Associations of The Woodlands. Norrell will lead an organization with an operating budget of more than $32 million and a staff of more than 250 employees.
Search for next DADS commissioner continues
More than 200 people applied to become the next commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) as a result of a nationwide recruitment effort. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will begin interviewing candidates for the position later this month. The job will become available when current DADS commissioner, Jim Hine (pictured), concludes a 35-year career in public service on January 31.
Austin finalizing $615M bond package
Austin's Bond Election Advisory Committee has wrapped up a series of public hearings and will take its final vote next week on the composition of a $615 million bond package, which might go to voters in May. The City Council will eventually take a crack at the package and decide whether the election should proceed in May or at some later date. Mayor Will Wynn has already warned the committee that some severe cuts might be necessary to make room for transportation and drainage infrastructure in the Texas 130 corridor. So far, the package includes $90 million for a central library, $67.5 million for affordable housing and $92 million for open-space purchases.
Tarrant County eyes $350M bond package
A $350 million Tarrant County bond package involving the controversial matter of where to locate new jail facilities, a $200 million allocation for road projects and other proposed expenditures has tentatively been scheduled for a May 13 vote. It would be the biggest bond election in the county government's history, thought insiders said the issue could be delayed and put on a later ballot.
TCEQ hires new air programs director for Houston
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has appointed former Bracewell & Giuliani LLP environmental attorney Rebecca Rentz as its new director of air programs for the Houston region. As the TCEQ's top administrator for air issues in the region, Rentz will develop and oversee strategic planning and coordinate the agency's efforts on enforcement, ambient air monitoring, and toxicological data evaluation. Rentz will coordinate with environmental and industry stakeholders and other state and local agencies to support and help implement the State Implementation Plan. The state of Texas files the plan with the federal government to show how areas that are not meeting air quality standards plan to come into compliance.
Feds send Texas schools $50 million for hurricane relief
A $50 million first installment of funds to buy textbooks, rent temporary classroom space and purchase computers for Texas schools damaged during last fall's dreadful hurricane season officially became available Thursday, according to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
The money was included in a $29 billion package of hurricane relief funding that President Bush approved on Dec. 30. It allocates $750 million to restart damaged schools and $645 million to reimburse school districts that absorbed evacuees. The federal legislation also calls for reimbursements of $6,000 per student - and $7,500 for special-needs children. Those funds are expected to begin flowing by the end of February. Hurricanes in 2005 damaged or destroyed about 700 schools along the Gulf Coast and displaced about 372,000 students.
Smith County considers jail options
Smith County commissioners on Wednesday picked a potential site for a new jail - 143 acres located near the northeast corner of Loop 323, about 3.5 miles from the courthouse. Commissioners will compare this site, which is just outside the Tyler city limits, to a downtown location before finalizing a bond package to put before the voters. If they choose the remote site the county would purchase and develop only a portion of the 143-acre tract. Commissioners must have a plan finalized by March 1 in order for the package to be on the May ballot.
North Texas cities band together
Four bustling cities just north of Dallas are banding together to launch a cooperative economic development initiative. The cities of Allen, Frisco, McKinney and Plano, which in the past have competed for employers, are each chipping in $25,000 a year to market the alliance, which will be introduced formally soon. The yet-to-be-named group is going to target employers across the country to let them know of the advantages to locating to Collin County.
Houston may fare better in fight for DHS funds
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has altered the way it distributes anti-terrorism funding, and some Houston officials said the change may work to their advantage.
Facing overall cuts in anti-terrorism financing, Homeland Security officials announced this week that it will evaluate new requests for money from an $800 million aid program for cities based less on politics and more on assessments of where terrorists are likely to strike and potentially cause the greatest damage. Houston officials said the city's size, stature and proximity to sea ports warrant an increase in funding.
Fort Bliss to gain new Army combat team
An experimental Army combat team that will test cutting-edge war-fighting technology will be located at Fort Bliss and is expected to bring lucrative jobs and inject millions of dollars into the regional economy, according to a report today from the El Paso Times.
Companies supporting the development of unmanned aerial vehicle, remote targeting and satellite technology are expected to follow the two lead contractors to El Paso. Officials estimated as many as 300 high-tech jobs will be created in the first stages. The official Department of the Army announcement is expected today, but independent sources close to the Pentagon, who asked not to be identified, confirmed for the El Paso Times on Thursday that Fort Bliss is the choice.
Bedford seeks new city manager
Bedford City Manager Chuck Barnett is resigning his job to become assistant city manager in Haltom City, which is also in Tarrant County. Barnett spent five years as Bedford's top administrator. Bedford officials were already looking to hire two other top-level employees. Last month, Economic Development Director Bill Syblon and City Secretary Rita Frick left for jobs in other cities.
Sugar Land prioritizes road projects
The Sugar Land City Council this week ranked five road projects that it has submitted for consideration for the next Fort Bend County mobility bond. The Fort Bend County Mobility Bond Committee in the upcoming months will narrow down a long list of projects submitted by cities throughout the county.
Sugar Land has already submitted its projects, but on Tuesday, gave them the following priority: University Boulevard from 90A to Missouri City, Dulles Avenue from U.S. 90A to Highway 6, Dairy Ashford Road from Julie Rivers to U.S. 59, the construction of Spine Road from Commonwealth Boulevard to Missouri City and Lexington Boulevard from Oxbow to University.
School districts release their own report card
Parents and guardians in all Texas school districts can expect to receive a report card for their district's 2004-2005 school year by Jan. 27. The reports are already available online. The reports show for each school student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, student-to-teacher ratio and class size by grade. They also show how much money the school spends per student. To help put the information in perspective, the school data is compared in the report to district and state data as well as data from a group of similar schools.
Parkland to step up care at Dallas County Jail
Parkland Memorial Hospital officials told county officials this week that they hope to have sweeping improvements in place by March to fix many of the problems with medical care at the Dallas County Jail. The improvements include hiring dozens more medical staff, adding medicine-dispensing machines and having trained medical staff screen inmates at book-in for symptoms of physical or mental problems. Parkland officials made their pitch to the county commissioners' special committee on jail health, which was formed nearly a year ago after reports surfaced about serious problems with health care delivery in the jail.
Federal Web sites for grants consolidated
Two federal Web sites for grant applications have merged under the umbrella of the Grants.gov e-government project. The merger eliminated Fedgrants.gov.
Grants.gov officials expect increased traffic in future months. In 2005 alone, the site's number of registered users grew from 12,330 in June to 22,246 in November. In November 2004, Grants.gov received 1,412 grant applications; last month that figure had increased to 20,023 applications. Federal agencies increasingly are using grants.gov to process applications, according to information published on Grants.gov. In November 2004, agencies provided 205 application packages via Grants.gov, but last November, the agencies posted 1,906 grant applications on the site.
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