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president honored for long-tenured service as trustee
Howe ISD's Board of Trustees will have a new look at the next meeting as Board President Greg Akins will not be in his familiar seat for the first time in 12 years. For perspective, some of the incoming eighth graders were not even born yet when Akins took his first seat on the board.
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Akins said in a 2016 interveiw that he was most proud of the job the board had done in negotiating with the Municipal Utility Districts (MUD) that have come in.
"When the Waltons came in, we negotiated good contracts with them." said Akins in 2016. "It's something nobody sees, but it's something I'm proud of. We have a lot of building sites for schools if each one of those MUD districts come in and develop out. We'll have ample amount of elementary and middle school sites."
Akins now might feel the most satisfaction of his term could be the passing of the bond that has allowed the building of Summit Hill Elementary.
In 2016, he also spoke proudly of what they were able to do with the athletic complex and thinks that it was not only beneficial to the school system, but also the city.
"We've managed to do that and still keep our finances in good shape." said Akins. "The bottom line is always the bottom line. We've spent our dollars where they've needed to be spent and haven't strained the district to do it."
During his tenure, the district was able to refinance existing bonds on several occasions to take advantage of the record-low interest rates.
Before the Summit Hill housing edition added 113 homes, we asked Akins of this thoughts of a possible bond and what that could mean to the influx of students.
"We've got ourselves in good position there and we've kept our I&S (Interest & Sinking tax) rate low," said Akins in 2016. "If we do it in a prudent manner and build facilities that we need to house kids and not castles, I think the community will get behind it. I don't think they'd be behind, as I'm not behind, building something extravagant that's just going to be a show palace and not something page 9
