City of Howe seeking Community Development Block Grant

City Hall operations could be moving out of downtown

At the monthly city council meeting on Tuesday, City Administrator Joe Shephard asked the council to review a plan to move the city hall operation west to 700 W. Haning St and expand the location that currently serves as the home of Howe Police Department, Community Center and holds the city council meetings.

Howe City Administrator Joe Shephard introduced a plan to the city council for the city to apply for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that would provide over $180,000 of improvements to streets in the city. The city will have to match a portion of money in order to be able to receive the grant The city's portion would be nearly $30,000

If the grant were to be awarded to the city, the improved focus area would be Bean Street, Travis Street, Jones Street, Neal Street, parts of Young Street and parts of College Street In total, the project would call for 121,000 square feet of road improvements

"We have talked about this in the past " Shephard told the council " We have budgeted $50,000 for street repair, so it would come out of that."

Shephard says that the biggest factor for the grant is the average income and conditions of the roads.

Councilman Bill French asked if would be an extensive repair such as Hughes Street and was told by Shephard that it would not be as extensive as that project, but they would dig down about 24 inches He told the council that on Long Street the city would actually have to go down 25 feet (not inches) to solve that problem

"We've got $50,000" said Mayor Jeff Stanley "This $187,000 will help us a whole lot If we don't try to get it; we won't have it "

Dennis Bozeman made a motion for the city to seek the grant. Bill French seconded the motion and it cleared unopposed.

City renews joint election agreement with Howe ISD

The city council voted to renew the election process to have the city's elections combined with the Howe ISD's public elections

Up for re-election are council members Debbie Lowery and Bill French Mayor Jeff Stanley's seat is also up for re-election. All terms are two years

Elections will be held on May 9, 2015 The final date to file for candidacy is Feb 27 at 116 E Haning St Howe, Texas Office hours are 7:30 am - 4:30 pm Monday-Thursday and 7:30 am - 3:30 pm on Fridays.

The current Community Center would be expanded east 20 feet which is now covered as a carport for police vehicles The additional space added on and the offices that are existing in the Community Center would give more room for

The Operations Of City Hall

The discussion was whether to sell the current downtown city hall building or to prepare for a lease Councilman Bill French was opposed to selling the building due to possible office space needed in the future.

"We cannot replace it in four or five years for what we would sell it for today" said French

The council gave Shephard approval to move forward to get figures to expand the Community Center for the relocation of the city hall day-to-day operations