CShores votes to join Dark Sky, discusses CDBG grant expenditures

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

At the Cottonwood Shores City Council meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, officials discussed just how the city will spend a $275,000 grant, decided to join the International Dark-Sky Association, dealt with fire department issues and accepted the resignation of the head of its parks and recreation commission.

Toward the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Donald Orr displayed the January check allotted for the Cottonwood Shores Volunteer Fire Department (CSVFD.) “The check is written, they’ll get the check as soon as we have the balance sheet” running through Sept. 30, 2014, he said. “It’s not that we don’t want to pay them, we just need some financial information.”

Travis Hockensmith, fire chief for the department, said Jan. 6 at the CSVFD board meeting that the city will receive a full financial audit for 2014 in mid-February, and continued to assert the city does not have a contractual right to withhold funds.

No fire department representatives were present for this part of council discussion.

CDBG grant update

In other action at the meeting, the council and Joey Krueger, public works director, discussed the allotment of a $275,000 Community Development Block Grant, offered by the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Affairs.

The grant process will be completed by Feb. 27, said Karrie Cummings, grant administrator.

Two separate votes were taken regarding the CDBG grant, which will require a five percent match by the city.

The funding will be used partially for new water meters in the entire city, and for a water line expansion in western sections of the city.

A six-inch expansion line is planned to start at Willow and Aspen, extending to Dogwood, turning down Maple, and eventually tying into the line on Lakeview, Krueger explained.

Four fire hydrants will be added along Maple, which met the approval of Richard Frazier, the fire department representative at the meeting. “This sounds really, really good; We can deal with fire hydrants every 1,000 feet,” Frazier said.

The expansion will create more flow paths for water in the western part of the city, “where there is poor water circulation,” Orr said.  

For more, see Tuesday's Highlander.