Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
|
| Beautiful setting for golf.... Raul Rodriguez (left) Mountain View Golf Course manager and Rafael Rodriguez (right), greenskeeper, stood on the green of hole #9 Wednesday morning and told the Advocate that the course is seeingmore and more players due to its condition, improvements, and location in the scenic hills of west Texas. This weekend, the course will be hosting a Rotary Club Golf Tournament, according to Raul, and they are still signing up golfers. The course will shut down during the week of April 14th thru 21st so that the crew can aerate the greens and give the course a good fertilization. Make plans now to enjoy Mountain View Golf Course in the coming weeks. You’ll be glad you did! |
- If Tuesday evenings meeting of city council is any indication, then there are still some pretty big problems still brewing at City Hall.
During the session, council members went behind closed doors for nearly three hours to meet with city employees one on one to listen to their concerns.
When the executive session was over, no formal action was taken but city employees did have their opportunity to voice concerns.
In the meeting, Jeff McCoy of the Van Horn Economic Development Corporation (EDC), provided some optimistic information about potential builders.
He reported that in recent days he has spoken with builders interested in proceeding with the EDC proposed apartment complex. The only thing they would want is for the city to deed them the block of land originally proposed. McCoy stated that he had told the developers that the deed would follow some form of performance on the project.
McCoy also stated that he had spoken with duplex/single family developers as well. As an incentive, they would only ask for possibly free water, sewer and gas taps. He further noted that the developers might request some reduced property pricing, if purchased from the city.
These developments seemed to be promising, given the difficulty in finding financing for the projects by the EDC.
And, while council was talking about incentives to developers, Tom Desai came before them to ask for some assistance with his proposed Best Western motel development. Desai, who is already building Van Horn’s new Hampton Inn, told council that he expects to have it completed by sometime in July.
Desai further commented that once complete, it would provide a nearly $2.5 million impact on the local economy and provide about 55 new jobs between the Hampton Inn and the proposed Best Western Motel.
Desai simply asked that council consider extending the water, sewer and natural gas lines to the new property, which will be located east of Van Horn’s Super 8 Motel.
Council members told Desai they would certainly consider the incentive request and asked Desai to get with the Director of Municipal Services to show him exactly what he wanted and where.
With regard to other matters considered by council during the Tuesday session, the following actions were taken:
* Council learned that the Building Bridges Art Show would go on again this year. It will be held at the CCVB April 15th through the 18th.
* Council learned that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rural West Texas would be celebrating National Boys and Girls Clubs Week March 30 through April 5th.
* Council also approved the closure of the Mountain View Municipal Golf Course the week of April 14th through 21st. The closure is so that the course can be aerated and fertilized good.
* Israel Borrego, director of Municipal Services told council members that they had picked up 36 dogs in recent days. He also reported that the employees had done a wonderful job working together to fix a big leak on March 24th.
* Mayor Lucas issued four proclamations declaring April as Fair Housing Month in Van Horn; April as Child Abuse Prevention Month here; the week of March 30 through April 5th as Boys and Girls Club Week here; and the month of April as Community Cleanup Month here.
* Council accepted the lone bid received for the purchase of fuels. The bid was received from C & L Gas Kard, of Van Horn.
* And, before entering their executive session, council heard from Ruth Rivera as she expressed some concerns over employee water certifications. She was assured that the city has staffers who are licensed to operate our system and that the city has others in training. Council thanked her for her concern and interest.
County OK's Texas Capital Fund project
Culberson County commissioners met Tuesday evening to conduct a final public hearing on a proposed grant request to the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Texas Capital Fund.
Under the proposed grant project, the county will apply for a $75,000 grant which will be used by Royal Farms, of Van Horn, to install new electrical lines to their farming operation.
Royal Farms will provide an irrevocable letter of credit to the county so that the county will not be out any money during the three year life of the grant.
Under the terms of the proposal, Royal Farms will add three jobs under the grant and their overall project expansion cost is estimated at some $650,000.
After holding the hearing, commissioners adopted a formal resolution to proceed with the grant request during this funding cycle. The grant application has to be in Austin by March 31st, according to Jeff McCoy of the Van Horn Economic Development Corporation, which is helping put the proposal together.
Longhorn Pipeline moves ahead with expansion plans
Longhorn Partners Pipeline, a 694 mile, common carrier pipeline, based in Houston announced this week that they are moving forward with plans to expand the capacity of the pipeline.
The expansion process will increase the capacity from 72,000 barrels per day to 125,000 barrel per day,. The expansion work is expected to be completed by early next year.
This planned expansion will be accomplished through the construction of four additional pump stations along the pipeline, as well as equipment upgrades at pump stations currently in service.
Two additional product loading lanes were added to the El Paso truck rack last year and construction will be completed by midyear on 400,000 barrels of additional product storage at Longhorn’s terminus in El Paso.
Ultimately, the capacity of the pipeline will be increased to a maximum of 225,000 barrels per day as set forth in the Environmental Assessment conducted prior to the construction of the pipeline.
Longhorn Pipeline transports multiple grades of both unleaded gasoline and diesel from Gulf Coast refineries to communities in West Texas and the El Paso gateway market.
Community health needs to be assessed
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will begin assessing community health needs in 12 West Texas counties this week.
The Regional Community Health Assessment will gather information on barriers to access public health, mental health, substance abuse and medical care services that can be used to improve community education, prevention, care and treatment.
“This assessment represents a significant effort by many people to document information that can be used to design and implement improvements to health in West Texas,” said Dr. Luis Escobedo, DSHS regional medical director, El Paso. “This assessment report will be shared with DSHS programs, local leaders, health and social service agencies and other community groups.”
Information will be gathered through public surveys and meetings with community leaders. Anyone who lives or works in the 12 counties covered in the assessment may take the survey.
English and Spanish surveys may be completed at many public locations such as clinics, schools, post offices and stores in each county. Deadlines for gathering information for each county are: Hudspeth, Presidio, Culberson, Jeff Davis and Brewster, May 30.
For information about the Regional Community Health Assessment, please call (915) 834-7689 or here in Culberson County, please call (432) 283-2948.
Ann assessment report is scheduled to be available by August 30th.