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JULY 28, 2015
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Dist. 5 Town Hall Meeting Seeks Citizen Input Councilman Ty Gipson Hosts First Citizen Round Table by Mike Payne
F
ulfilling his campaign promise of accessibility, Georgetown’s newest council member held his first quarterly open forum for the residents of District 5 at the Berry Creek Country Club July 25. Mr. Gipson will be hosting Quarterly Round Table meetings with a different special guest each event. His forum will be open to everyone in District 5, no matter where the meeting takes place. Gipson’s goal is to listen to the concerns of his constituents, answer questions where he can, and where he or his guest speaker can’t, “then we can go back to the City to seek answers.” At the July 25 forum, his special guest was Mayor Dale Ross, and both shared information on topics of interest, and conflict, in Georgetown. Much of what they had to say dispelled rumors or suppositions. Mayor Ross went through a lot of the “state of the city” details... • Every day, 11 people move to Georgetown and we remain the second fastest growing city in the U.S. • October 1, Georgetown will begin managing our own EMS services, which will be integrated into our public safety department. That means our elected body will be held accountable for the operations. Some citizens were concerned that we would have a force made up
of rookies, but Georgetown graduated its first academy class and most graduates had at least five years experience before moving to Georgetown. As Chief Sullivan says, “We put the Georgetown shine on them.” • Thanks to the quality and experience of our two chiefs, FBI statistics for our size indicate Georgetown is the second safest city in Texas. When asked about the MRAP armored vehicle now resident at the Safety Center, Mayor Ross complimented Chief Nero’s advice. “We have a $284 million projected budget for next year, over 570 employees and 32 departments. We know when to ask our experts and advisors and we trust their judgement.” Ross went on to say that the MRAP cost the city nothing to acquire and the annual maintenance costs are the same as every standard police cruiser in the force ($2,500). The alternative was a $245,000 BearCat tactical vehicle. Mr. Gipson added, “I would rather, in a situation where a person is shut in a house with a weapon, that we don’t send our men and women into the unknown, but rather drive that vehicle up to the door. If that vehicle saves even one life for $2,500, I’m all for it.” The mayor added that part of what local government deals with is the nationalization of some issues. “We don’t need to worry about how the rest of the country uses MRAPs, or water, or green energy. It is our job to focus on what is best for Georgetown, and we are confident in the information we receive from the paid professionals and 190 citizen-members of our city boards.” Councilman Gipson reiter-
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Mayor Dale Ross at Berry Creek Round-table for District 5. Below: Council Member Ty Gipson addresses members of his district.
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ated much of what the Mayor said, adding, “Things may sometimes seem confused, or at least not clear from the outside, but I encourage you to please come see us if you if you have questions about an issue, because there might be a lot more that you may not be aware of. We will always tell you why and how our decisions are made.” During the Q&A period, attendees focused on roads and the airport. Residents of Serenada have been concerned about how the Georgetown airport is spending federal money to make changes at the airport. Both speakers reiterated the upgrades are purely for safety See Gipson, page 6
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