Council lights way for citywide Christmas celebration

By Jan White
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CROCKETT – Christmas is coming sooner than you think. If you don’t believe it, all you had to do was attend the City Council meeting on Monday, October 17, when members approved a request from the Downtown Crockett Association for street closures to accommodate the first-ever Christmas Lighting in Downtown Crockett.

The event, sponsored by the Downtown Crockett Association in partnership with the Crockett Ministerial Alliance, will include choirs and speakers from area churches. Last year the downtown area saw a resurrection of outlining their buildings with Christmas lights, in great part assisted by funds provided by the Houston County Commissioners Court. The Christmas Lighting ceremony will take place on Nov. 16, beginning at 6 p.m. Organizers predict that the event will last approximately an hour. 

The council also approved the request from Robin Ogg of FG Metalwork to allow the mixed residential and commercial use of the property located at 202 E. Goliad. During the Public Hearing portion of the meeting, Ogg thanked the City and residents for their support of the business and expressed her appreciation for welcoming them to Crockett. Ogg stated that one of the reasons they wanted to locate here was because of the new ordinance allowing business owners to also reside in their downtown establishments. With no public objections, the Council moved on to approve Ogg’s request.

The council voted to approve the city’s application to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the Texas Home Investment Partnership Program. The city previously participated in the program, which is designed to increase homeownership and affordable housing opportunities for lowand very-low-income persons through tenant-based rental assistance, housing rehabilitation, new construction, property acquisition, and other services. Council members authorized the Mayor or City Administrator to act on the city’s behalf as authorized representatives in the program. The council awarded the bid from Traylor and Associates as administrators of the grant. 

Because the transfer station built by Piney Woods Sanitation is now complete and can process garbage more promptly, the department requested that the City approve a change in the garbage route for residential homes that consolidates the trash pick-up from five days down to three days. Council members were provided with a map of the expanded pick-up area. City Administrator John Angerstein explained that Piney Woods would send notifications of the new trash pick-up days before the implementation and that the new schedule would likely begin in November. He also reiterated that this is for residential customers only and will not affect businesses whose trash collection days will remain the same.