Council donates van to ECCC

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

Cleburne City Council members on Tuesday voted to apply for a grant to fund renovations and repairs for the Layland Museum. City leaders applied for two Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program, or STEP, grants in 2006 receiving one and being turned down on the other.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments recently asked cities to submit STEP grant applications for projects that are shovel ready, said Greg Wilmore, Cleburne finance director.

The Layland Museum occupies Cleburne’s historic Carnegie Building, which previously housed the Cleburne library.

Museum officials have long stressed the need to renovate the building, which dates to 1905. Council members earlier this year approved funding the cost of renovating an adjacent building, which will house the Lowell Smith Sr. History Center. Construction on that building, which will serve as a research and education facility for the Layland, is under way.

The grant, if awarded, would supply about $4 million of the cost and require a city match of about $1 million, Wilmore said. The city’s portion would come out of Fund 21, which holds royalties from gas leases on city properties, he said.

“The downside is, we won’t hear whether we get the grant until July,” Wilmore said.

Cleburne’s chances depend on how many other cities apply for the funds, Wilmore said. Cleburne could be awarded all, none or a portion of the amount they are requesting, he said.

“It’s a project we’ve been totally committed to doing at some point for some time now,” Mayor Ted Reynolds said. “You kind of hate to tie up that much Fund 21 money, but if you have the chance to get $5 million worth of work for $1 million, it’s hard to pass that opportunity up. And, worse case scenario, if some emergency came up between now and July and we needed that [Fund 21] money, we just wouldn’t be able to accept the grant.”

The project includes complete restoration of the building’s interior and exterior, the building of an elevator addition for access to the second story, landscaping, purchase of extra land for additional parking and other projects.

Council members voted to accept a Rural Public Transportation Grant fund awarded by the Texas Department of Transportation. The grant includes funding up to $91,709 and requires a city match.

Council members voted earlier this year to accept $200,000 in federal funding, which required no match, to build a park-and-ride facility near the Cleburne Intermodal.

The TxDOT grant can be used to build sidewalks at the site, or to pay administration and operating costs for the park-and-ride facility.

The first option requires the city to contribute a 100 percent match, the second a match of $62,342.

Several council members said $183,413 would be much more than the cost of necessary sidewalks for that area. Donna Jackson, director of development services, told council members that, to her understanding, the city does not have to accept the full amount, but can accept the amount needed to build the necessary sidewalks.

The council voted to accept the grant and to allow city staff to determine what amount to accept for the sidewalks and, if they decide, for administration and operations funding.

ECCC donation

Council members voted to donate a 2005 Ford van to the East Cleburne Community Center. The van, purchased with TxDOT grant money, has an appraised value of $6,500. Because the van is appraised at more than $5,000, Cleburne would have to pay TxDOT 80 percent of the sales price should they sell the van, Jackson said. By donating the truck to another nonprofit group, the city will not have to pay anything, she said.

ECCC will use the van primarily to transport children from Santa Fe Elementary to the ECCC’s after-school program, Cleburne Academic Achievement Now, said Dexter Baldwin, ECCC chairman.

“The ECCC is completely ecstatic by the generosity of the mayor, council, city manager and city staff,” Baldwin said. “This will help us better serve the entire city.”

Lease extended at fire training facility

At the request of Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael, the council voted to extend the Johnson County Emergency Services District No. 1’s lease for city land located at 2451 Service Drive. Firefighters from Cleburne and other county departments use the site as a training facility.

JCESD’s lease expires in 2015. The council instead approved a 25 year lease for the organization conditioned on approval from the Johnson County Commissioners Court, which was a party in the original lease.

JCESD officials are in the process of creating long-range plans for the training center that include facility upgrades, Ishmael said. For that reason, they wanted to secure longer use of the property, he said.

Second December

meeting canceled

The council historically votes to cancel the second meeting of December each year, and this year was no exception.

“That would be Dec. 22,” Reynolds said. “Of course, if anyone’s just dying to hold a meeting three days before Christmas, we could always do that.”

Nobody was, and the vote to cancel passed unanimously.

Resident calls for new police station

Cleburne resident Charlie Bush told council members he believes the library should remain in its current location on West Henderson Street and expand. Bush said a new home should be found for the Cleburne Police Department, which shares a building with the library.

“The Cleburne police and fire departments are our first line of defense,” Bush said. “And it’s essential that they have the best possible facilities. I’d recommend the council form a committee of residents and police officers to consider possible locations for a new department.”

Bush also urged council members to consider renovating the Cleburne Animal Shelter.

“They have the finest staff possible out there, and it’s amazing they’re able to do what they do given what they’ve got,” Bush said. “But the current facility is overcrowded, and that needs to be addressed.”

Council members have discussed both facilities in recent years, but have made no definite plans on either.

In other council news:

zx Council members approved the purchase of a trailer from Rush Equipment Center for $51,997.70. The street department will use the trailer to transport heavy equipment. It will replace a trailer that is about 30 years old, said Kim Galvin, budget and purchasing manager.

zx City gas royalties for the month total about $342,000, which is about $60,000 above the previous month’s total, City Manager Chester Nolen said. Nolen credited recent increases in the price of natural gas.

zx Reynolds and area veterans proclaimed Nov. 8-14 as Veterans Recognition Week.