howeenterprise.com
Lighting
Monday, March 23, 2015
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Kent Akins working on Hash Field in 2012 came to $18,000 upfront but would save 65 percent in electricity cost per year which would lower the annual cost of lighting from $10,000 to roughly $3,300. That equates to the investment paying off in three years. Howe will now join Van Alstyne, Whitewright, Anna and Melissa who had already made the investment with the new improved lighting systems. The life expectancy of the new bulbs is 12,000 hours and has a replacement cost of $28. The yearly issue of constantly changing bulbs will be a thing of the past. Van Alstyne has yet to replace a bulb and they are seven years into the system. Thurman initially reached out to City Administrator Joe Shephard who got with Mayor Jeff Stanley.
They decided to put the investment opportunity in front of the Howe Community Facilities Development Corporation, otherwise known as the 4B board. The HCFDC has the ability to use their separate funds (which stands at approximately $160,000) towards projects such as improvements and various other projects. On Monday night, HCFDC approved the funding of the lighting, but it still had to be approved by the city council the following night. On Tuesday, the city council unanimously voted in favor of the upgraded facilities. Hash Field was originally a softball field built in the 1980s and named in honor of Vincent Hash, who was the longstanding softball commissioner and built the field.
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City Council Reports Howe Police Chief Carl Hudman reported that for the month of February, they answered 110 calls for service and made four felony arrests. They also made three misdemeanor arrests and generated fourteen reports. HPD investigated four accidents and issued 39 citations. He also reported that they had a couple of officers that attended training. Hudman estimated that they spent easily over 100 hours on the roads during the icy weather.
out in the county that became total losses due to the ice and the slow response due to the road conditions. Maniet reported seven motor vehicle assists and five mutual aid requests from other departments. He said the fire department also spent countless hours on the highways assisting the police departments with vehicles.
Howe Development Alliance Director Monte Walker reported that they now have a website that can be found at howetexas.org. David Wortham reported that the Walker told the council that he's Public Works division had 37 work met with several real estate owners orders, one leak, three dogs that with high profile properties in were captured. He said that the Howe. He reported one building new 12-inch waterline passed all of permit that has been approved for a the tests and that the new sewer home to be built in the Summit Hill lines were being tested but the division. Another application was weather held back the progress. pulled late Tuesday afternoon. Wortham said that due to the ice, He gave the council an update on the department now has quite a few the progress of the new EDC potholes to fill. building and recapped the swapping of downtown building Howe Fire Chief Robert Maniet ownership from Paris Palacios to reported a total of 43 calls in the Tom and Leslie Defrange. month of February. He also said that they had 23 medical calls and City Administrator Joe Shephard ran four grass fires and two of the reported that the city has little over four ended up being illegal burns $619,000 in cash-on-hand. The that spread rapidly. They had four municipal court generated over structure fires with two being $16,000 in February.
