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Grapeland Reverses Course on Debt Consolidation

Shafer Resigns as Grapeland PD Chief

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – Have you ever put on your winter coat when it first gets cold, stick your hands in the pockets and find a few bucks from the previous winter? It may be a stretch, but in a way, that’s what has happened with the City of Grapeland.

During the February meeting of the Grapeland City Council, the city leaders took the first steps towards consolidating the city’s debt but in the March 8 meeting of the council, the council members decided to reverse course.

Mayor Mitchell Woody explained, “We discussed this last month. We said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this,’ but then some new information came to light.”

“You will see there is a 2018 revenue bond reserve account,” he continued, “that has – I want to say – $374,000. That money has been sitting there since I became mayor and I didn’t know what to do with it. I felt it would be better not to touch it than to break any laws. Come to find out, that money is what Grapeland received to upgrade the wastewater plant.”

Grapeland City Council

The mayor then asked the council if they felt it would be wise to follow through with the debt consolidation. Ben Rosenberg, the city’s financial advisor and the Managing Director of US Capital Advisors, was on hand for the meeting and Woody asked if he would explain further what the city’s options were.

“For the next three years, you have a payment of about $404,000. That is the total of four loans. Then it drops down to $282,000 and then $277,000 and then about $37,000 for the next five years. Those are your credit card payments if you will,” he said.

The financial advisor indicated prior discussions centered on the restructuring of the city’s debt which would extend the payments out for 10 years at an interest rate of 2.49 percent.

“When we talked about this before,” Woody said, “we were under the assumption we would have to get a loan for the wastewater plant. That is no longer the case (because of the $374,000).”

A lengthy discussion among the council members followed where several factors were discussed including the possibility of future grants along with the ability to revisit the issue of debt restructuring. Eventually, the council decided not to move forward on the matter.       

Prior to the debt consolidation discussion, it was announced Grapeland Police Chief Thomas Shafer had submitted a letter of resignation.

The police chief said he had spoken with the mayor earlier in the week about his resignation and said he “… had an opportunity to possibly go to another position (in law enforcement). I will know later this week and didn’t want to make you come back on another day. It was an honor working for y’all and with y’all. I do appreciate everything you have done for me. I won’t be far. I’ll still be in Houston County.”

The mayor expressed his gratitude to the chief and said, “I want to thank you personally for taking the police department from where it was – administratively – to where we are now and lining it out. You completely turned it around and I really appreciate it. You will be missed.”

After taking care of several other routine matters, the council retired into executive session shortly before 7 pm. Approximately 90 minutes later, the council emerged from behind closed doors and it was announced Officer Richard Lewis had been appointed as the interim police chief.    

In other matters brought before the City Council:

  • The minutes of the Feb. 8 meeting were approved, along with water adjustments and vendor payments.
  • City Supervisor Kevin Watts provided an update on the Water Department and reported new playground for the Grapeland City Park had arrived. He said the plan was to have it installed next week.
  • Police Chief Thomas Shafer reported his department responded to a total of 164 calls for service during the month of February. He said there were 104 traffic stops, with 65 warnings issued and 39 citations given. The police chief indicated there were two arrests made and 242 security checks.
  • Fire Chief Tommy Smith reported there were 11 fire alarms in the month of February with a year-to-date total of 22. He added there were 51 EMS calls during the previous month.  
  • The council approved calling for the May 7 election.
  • The names of Kody Stephens and Gabrielle Smith were removed from the Vera Bank Loan while the names of Mayor Mitchell Woody, City Supervisor Kevin Watts and City Secretary Niky Nivens were added.
  • The council approved using Grapeland City Park on April 16 for an Easter Egg Hunt at no cost to the organizers of the event. 

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

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