Thursday, December 18, 2008

Cedar Hill City Council approves business incentive

By Steve Snyder of TODAY Newspapers

Economic times, while not perfect, are not horrible in Cedar Hill.

The Cedar Hill City Council approved a $230,000 economic development incentive at its Dec. 8 meeting. Details will be in the Dec. 25 issue.

In other action items, the council approved a $441,000 contract with Kimley-Horn & Associates for engineering services related to the widening and improvement of Pleasant Run Road east of U.S. 67.

The Cedar Hill city budget for fiscal 2008 got several tweaks in the meeting. The 2008 fiscal year ended Sept. 30; the changes were essentially to “clean up” some budget line items.

In other city news, Parks and Recreation Director Steve Meadors is retiring, effective Dec. 31. The city has a retirement party planned for him Jan. 9 from 2-4 p.m. at the Cedar Hill Recreation Center.

“Steve has greatly stepped up leadership of the department,” City Manager Alan Sims said.

In discussion items, Sims gave the council an overview of a Jan. 6 workshop, which will discuss the Cedar Hill Police Department taking over the operations of the Cedar Hill Independent School District Police Department.

Sims said that, when the city kept officers in the school district years ago, the two entities split the cost 50-50.

Sims said he had initiated discussions about the possible takeover, saying he was not satisfied with all parts of CHISD police operations.

Right now, the operation costs the school district $367,000 for four officers plus a police chief. Sims said it would cost the city $411,000 for four officers plus a sergeant. In response to a question from Councilman Wade Emmert, Sims said he wasn't sure if he had every dollar of ISD expenses reported to him yet, but thought that was pretty much the total cost.

“We cannot save them any money,” he said. “But they don't want to pay more than $367,000.”

Sims mentioned just picking up the $44,000 difference. Councilman Daniel Haydin raised the question of going back to the old arrangement.

After the meeting, Councilman Makia Epie said he was “embarrassed” for not recognizing that Luminant, the supplier utility of a 24-year coal-fired electric power delivery contract the city approved last month, was the former TXU.

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