From the desk of Mayor Chris Armacost - Hitchcock

Mayor Chris Armacost - Hitchcock
  · 
06-21-2022 City Council regular meeting recap
Above is a rendering of the new city hall building remodel and some concepts for improving our parks.
Also I saw several negative posts regarding the new gas station/Sonic.
The owners want to become community partners and the business will boost sales tax for our community that does enjoy drinks or food from Sonic.
They have also committed items to the school district to support our students. ***The more sales tax the city can generate the more we can potentially lower property taxes in the future.
For some reason some citizens think we can force a business to come to our town.
The city and EDC are working hard to bring more retail including a grocery store to our community, but every time we post something positive it seems like it triggers a negative response from some because it's not the type of business they think the community needs. Also there are several factors that go into picking a location to open a new store whether it is a grocery store or retail.
We have meet with a grocery store who ran their figures and we were currently not a good fit, but they did leave the door open for future talks as we grow as a community.
We have also reached out to a couple of other grocery stores.
Nothing happens overnight so please trust the process as we work together to move our town forward.
1) Presentation of a Proclamation recognizing Joyce Kleimann for her years of service as Director of the Genevieve Miller Hitchcock Public Library for the past 18 years.

2) Recognition of Officers Nayelly Longoria (2019), Darnell Dorsey (2020), and Mary Wooldridge (2021) for being named Officer of the Year for the Galveston County 50’s Club.

3) Approved the consent agenda items

4) Approved the change of zoning request submitted by Shawn Kadlecek, from Agricultural Residential (AR) to Single Family Residential (SFR) for 3.33 acres/vacant - Northeast corner of Jackson Rd and Beasley Street.

5) Received a briefing on the City Hall Renovation and approval of exterior finishes.

6) Received a presentation and discussion on the Proposed Park Plan. This plan covers Joe Moore Park, the little league baseball fields, and the red raider field area. *** We will be going after grants and other areas of funding to start improving our parks.

7) Approved a performance-based contract with Performance Services for the system wide replacement of water meters, removal of aeration basin material and the installation of a grit removal system at the Wastewater Treatment Plan (WWTP), and other improvements, and, authorizing the City Manager to execute said contracts for an amount not to exceed $12,000,000.

***There will be no additional cost to the citizens for this. The new water meters will help citizens track their water usage better and will be accurate.
We currently have water meters that are not reading correctly or even reading at all so the city is losing a lot of money which in turn makes the water more expensive for everyone.
The new meter will be web based and there will be a customer portal for each resident.
This technology will also help the city in real time with water leaks.
The 12 million infrastructure improvements will be paid back over the 20 years from the increased revenues and savings that is projected to be around 31 million.
This is a win/win for the city and the citizens.
The water meters also have a 20 year warranty.

8.) Approved an Oil Well Permit Request from BPX Operating Co.
This is an exploratory well in the Halls Bayou property.

9) Approved an Ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances Title XI entitled “Business Regulations,” by adding Chapter 124 entitled “Hitchcock Downtown District; Vacant Structure Registry”

10) Approved the renewal of insurance rates for employee group health, dental, life, and vision care with Texas Municipal League Health Benefit Pool.

11) Approved the re-appointing of 2 board member(s) to the Hitchcock Economic Development Board. ~ Ted Robinson and Randy Stricklind to a 2 year term.

12) Approved canceling the July 18, 2022, Regular City Council meeting to give the council a break for the month.
​If there is a need for a meeting we will schedule a special session.

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