Tyler County News - Breakout

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Photographer and face painter Angela Marie was one of the vendors on hand at the inaugural Patriot Day celebration in Woodville last weekend at the VFW Post 2033. MOLLIE LASALLE | TCB

By Mollie LaSalle
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WOODVILLE – VFW Post 2033 of Woodville hosted their inaugural Patriot Day weekend, last Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 9-10 at the post. The event was the brainchild of post commander Mike King, who brought it before members two to three months ago.

There were several vendors on hand, including Dirt Road Designs, Greg Fuller’s Buff and Shine, Wreaths Across America, and Rick English’s Talon Creations, to name a few. Attendees also had their pick of food trucks with Country Boys Smoking leading the pack. Two bands performed, Texas .357 Band entertained attendees on Saturday night, and Dan Ennis Shark Bait Band was on hand Sunday.

Event organizer King said that attendance was “decent” since not too many people knew about it until the last minute, and he said, “from this event forward, it will always be the weekend before 9-11”. He added that, “if there are any veterans that do not belong to a post, they are encouraged to join the local post in Woodville. Several attendees came yesterday (Sunday) to pick up applications to join and remarked that they didn’t know that Woodville had a VFW post”.

The weekend culminated in a 9-11 Memorial Service on Sunday morning attended by County Judge Milton Powers and Sheriff Bryan Weatherford. The county commissioners passed a proclamation in recognition and remembrance of the solemn event. The post wanted to thank everyone who came and participated in the weekend’s activities.

King wanted to mention that the VFW’s national scholarship contest is underway, and there are two parts to it. The first one is the Voice of Democracy contest, which is open to high school students from 9-12 grade. They can be public, private, or home schooled, he said. The local winner receives a $1000 scholarship, and the national winner receives a $35,000 scholarship; this year’s theme is “How Are You Inspired by America?”. Phase two is the Patriot’s Pen contest, which is open to middle/jr. high students. The local winner of this one receives a $500 scholarship; the theme for this year is “What Are The Greatest Attributes Of Our Democracy”?. Entries are due by Oct. 31 and your student can contact post commander King at 318-229-3386. For more information check the post’s Facebook page: VFW Post 2033, or their web page at VFW2033.org.

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By Mollie LaSalle
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COLMESNEIL – Colmesneil ISD Board of Trustees held a special called meeting last Wednesday to discuss and consider three items.

The items up for discussion were: the final budget amendment for the 2022-2023 school year, the setting of the tax rate for the 2023-2024 school year, and the budget for the 2023-2024 school year. CISD business manager Wanda Ryan was available to answer any and all questions from the board.

Board president Kris Lindsey inquired about expenditures from the last year. Ryan said, “we did not over-spend this year, and I anticipate for us to be able to put some (money) back in the fund balance”.

About setting the tax rate Ryan explained, “I know it looks sad to see that number, we are in the third year of the maximum compression rate the state has implemented. There is this formula between the district and the tax offices to determine what our tax rate will be, so it’s gone down each year with the compression rate. The state has assured us that we are going to recoup any offset from lowering the tax rate. Last year, we collected more than we anticipated, and I am hopeful that hopeful that this year will be the same. We collected more from the foundation money also”.

At this point, Lindsey asked her about the money in the fund balance and she said,” at the time I sent this in, we received one more foundation payment, and since then we have received $500K from the state.

Twice a year, we transfer money from the general fund over to the I & S fund and make our loan payment (on the last bond). Our I&S is so low due to the fact that we passed the tax ratification election, so we no longer collect taxes through our interest, everything goes into our 199 which allows us to spend that money rather than have it just sitting in the bank.”

Lindsey then went on to ask, “Is there any benefit, since we have a little money in those accounts to go ahead and pay off the (current) bond?” Ryan said, “I don’t know that it would hurt to do that, and I don’t know if it would help, with some of the changes that we’ve made through our compression rate and what have you, the state follows through with what they are going to do for us”.

Lindsey then said, “I’m just thinking long term, down the road if we didn’t have that debt hanging over our head, if push comes to shove.” Ryan added, “It would be hard for us to get everyone on board with a new bond while we are still paying off the current one. You can’t tear down and rebuild any facility with what we have in our fund balance, you’re talking construction, rebuilding, and adding on, that’s big money. If we really are considering asking for another bond, it would be smart to have the current one gone.”

Moving on to the last item for discussion, Ryan gave a summary of the current budget for 2023-24.

“We did increase the budget, due to across the board raises, general facility care and food costs. The cost of everything has gone up, and we adjusted some items within the budget so that we didn’t have to go too terribly high, so the increase is pretty much cost of living increases”.  The budget increase was in the $280-290K range, and Ryan stressed that they are still being conservative, even with the rate.

All three agenda items were approved by the board after the lengthy discussion about the district’s finances, which overall, are in good shape going into a new school year.

 

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By Chris Edwards
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IVANHOE – In a special-called meeting and workshop last Thursday, the Ivanhoe City Council identified some construction sites to remove from upcoming projects funded by a $7.9 million grant.

The funding comes through the state’s General Land Office (GLO) from federal funds through a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, from FEMA, which allows for governmental entities to use funds to develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in a way that reduces, or mitigates, future disaster losses within communities, according to the FEMA website. The projects outlined for Ivanhoe include work on several of the city’s roadways.

Ivanhoe mayor Skip Blackstone introduced guest Victoria Dye, with LJA Engineering, who along with the city’s public works director David Marshall, worked to identify sites to remove in order to stay within budget, Blackstone said.

“We need to discuss them and understand what sites are to be removed and why,” Blackstone began.

Dye said the city had its second bid on the project, and the lone bidder came up too high, so the state GLO asked for the project to be rebid so that each site was its own package.

Two bids were received in the rebid, from Texas Materials and from CE Barker. The totals for the base bids that came in were $7.7 million from Texas Materials and $9.4 million from CE Barker.

Dye explained how the sites for roadwork suggested to strike off the list of projects was divided into quadrants. Many of the sites, including sites along North Sherwood Forest; Ivanhoe Estates Drive and Lancelot Drive “look pretty decent compared to the rest of the roads on this project,” Dye said.

The city had budgeted $6.3 million for the packages of projects, and with removing all of the striked off sites from the list, the cost was down to $6,324,598.83, Dye said.

The recommendation from LJA Engineering was for the city to go with Texas Materials for the project. Blackstone entertained a motion to accept a contract with Texas Materials with Dye’s recommendations on struck-off sites, which was approved by the council.

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From Staff Reports

TYLER COUNTY– The Tyler County Chamber of Commerce has named its ‘Citizen of the Year’ for 2023, and the honor goes to Dixie Jarrott.

Jarrott, a longtime businesswoman and community leader, has owned and operated Dixie’s Vintage Vogue in the location of the former Jarrott’s Pharmacy, which she and her husband George, owned and operated for many years. Dixie’s Vintage Vogue, which opened in 2022, is an antiques store, which features a variety of wares from many vendors.

The honor is voted on by citizens of Tyler County.

According to the Chamber, the nomination process and resulting award gives the public the opportunity to recognize and celebrate an exceptional individual who has made a positive impact throughout the community. In addition to the “Citizen” nod, the Chamber also announced several other awards recipients, who will be honored at the Chamber’s annual banquet, held on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Black Creek Ranch in Warren.

Woodville High School senior Kamryn Grammer has been honored with the “Future of Tyler County” award, which honors a Tyler County resident under the age of 40.

Businesses and organizations that won awards include: Walling Signs, which won “Business of the Year”; Country Boys Smoking won “New Business of the Year”; the Allan Shivers Library and Museum won the “Chamber’s Choice” award; Brian Smith and Sleep in Heavenly Peace was honored with the “Spirit of Tyler County” award and Jacques Blanchette will receive an Outstanding Service Award.

Tickets to the event, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23, can be purchased through the Chamber’s website, www.tylercountycoc.com.

The individual tickets, which are $25 includes admission to the event, which includes a barbecue dinner catered by Country Boys Smoking, a cash bar, a live acoustic set of music by James Blackshear and guest speaker Eddie Hopkins. Along with the awards ceremony, which will also see five county educators feted as “Teacher of the Year,” from each of the county’s five school districts. The theme of the event is “Hats off to Tyler County.”