Mayor’s Monthly March 2021

Written by Mitchell Woody

GRAPELAND – Hello Grapeland, firstly I must apologize for not getting this out last month. Dealing with the winter storm was priority and I never got to doing the write up. But, we had our council meeting last night (Tuesday, March 9)and these are the noteworthy items from that meeting.

We held a public hearing to close out the 2017 Texas CDBG Program Community Development contract 721702.
A new ordinance dealing with the Building and Standards Committee has been revised and is in the hands of the Council for review. We expect that ordinance to pass and take effect in the month of April. Please take the initiative to clean up yards and dispose of any junk cars to avoid fines that will be supported by the new ordinance.
Many citizens spoke to the council about having busted pipes and water loss which led to an inflated water bill. The Council agreed that any citizens that had busted pipes and are able to provide proof of repair have until March 19th to contact the city office and let them know you had a leak due to the winter storm. The bill will then be an average of your November, December, and January water bills.
The Council approved the 2020 City Audit.
The Council approved the resolution to move forward with a grant that will make improvements to Pine street. This will result in a full restoration of Pine street once the grant is awarded.
A few city/county workers and citizens were recognized for their efforts during the winter storm that were above and beyond the call of duty. They are Houston County Fire Marshall Heath Murff, Grapeland Chief of Police Kody Stephens, Grapeland Police Lt. Carly Foster, Grapeland City Secretary Gabrielle Smith, Grapeland City Superintendent Kevin Watts, Grapeland Assistant City Superintendent Kyle Foster, Grapeland City Worker Perry Deal, Grapeland City Worker Kaleb Jones, and citizen Rhonda Smith. Kudos to all for a job extremely well done.
Last but certainly not least, I want to wish our Grapeland Sandies Basketball Team the best of luck as they move ever closer to the goal of winning a State Championship. Go Sandies!!
That is all for this month. Next City Council meeting will be April 13thth at 6pm.

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart” Eleanor Roosevelt.