Crockett Approves Comprehensive Plan

May 2 Election Details Finalized

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – For the second time in recent months, Daniel Alvarado – an Associate Planner at GrantWorks, Inc. – was on hand during a Crockett City Council meeting to discuss a comprehensive plan for the city of Crockett.

“I have been here a few times to work on a comprehensive plan. The city hired us to complete this and it’s a 10-year plan that will hopefully be a guiding document for you and will hopefully be a launching point for making some progress here in the city,” Alvarado said as the Monday, March 2 meeting got underway.   

“The planning process was fairly intensive,” he continued. “I came here in October to do field work and then we had some community meetings in the fall and winter. To plan this, we recorded every single house and we drove every single street. We recorded a whole lot of data for you to explore and plan. We took all that data and compiled it into some analyses and then we developed a plan over the winter.”

Alvarado explained the plan was completed in February and Monday night would be the time the blueprint was accepted by the city.

He stressed, “Accepting the plan does not lock you into the plan, whatsoever. It just means accepting that we concluded and now it’s time to amend or adopt as you see fit.”

The planner had distributed a handout – prior to his presentation – describing the plan and what it entailed. The plan was made up of 12 chapters which covered different planning areas. The chapters were: 1) Community goals and objectives; 2) Population Analysis; 3) Housing Study; 4) Land Use Study; 5) Water Supply and distribution study; 6) Street system study; 7) Economic development; 8) Thoroughfares study; 9) Recreation and open space study; 10) Central business district study; 11) Capital Improvements program; and 12) Funding sources.

The chapters were laid out in the same manner with five areas focused on in each. These areas included the context as far as previous studies and relevant community input. The chapters also included an inventory and forecast involving research and community inventory findings along with future needs based on anticipated population growth.

The key considerations in each chapter were laid out as well as the implementation plan which included goals and objectives. The final area in each chapter consisted of the appendices.

Following Alvarado’s presentation, a resolution accepting the city of Crockett’s 2020-2030 comprehensive plan was approved.

As the meeting continued, the city secretary’s certification of unopposed candidates in Precincts 3 and 4 was approved. Once this matter was approved, the council passed a resolution cancelling the election for Precincts 3 and 4.

The next order of business concerned the designation of deputy early voting clerks. Selena Eleby, along with City Administrator John Angerstein, were approved as the deputy early voting clerks.

Also concerning the May 2 election, a resolution was approved by the council to appoint the election officials for the general election, setting the rate of pay for the election officials, determining the maximum number of election clerks for the polling places and designating the early voting ballot board.  

In other matters brought before the council:

• Minutes from the Feb. 3 called meeting of the city council were approved.
• It was reported the police department received 366 calls for service during the month of February which resulted in 28 arrests. There were 219 traffic citations issued and 90 police reports filed.
• Crockett Fire Chief Jason Frizzell reported the fire department responded to 22 calls within the city limits and 13 calls in the county. Frizzell also reported there were zero structure fires during the month of February.
• Public Works Director Jerrod Vickers reported there were 101 calls for service pertaining to water and sewer, five dealing with grounds, 15 with streets, 11 with road hazards and 12 for code enforcement.
• The council approved paying the insurance deductible in regards to the lawsuit of Charles Holmes vs. the city of Crockett.
• The city administrator – Angerstein – was also approved to notify the city’s current waste service provider of the city’s intent to not automatically renew their contract.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].