Community forum, surveys proposed for change in mayoral election method
Waxahachie Daily Light
The Waxahachie City Council broached the topic of changing the city charter to allow for the direct election of mayors during discussion at Tuesday night’s regular semi-monthly meeting.
Councilmember Melissa Olson, who is an advocate of mayoral elections, said she is proposing a community forum and the conducting of surveys to explore amending the charter to change the way mayors are chosen in the city.
Olson is proposing to have the mayor elected outright by citizens, a change from the current method of selecting the mayor. At present, the city charter specifies that the mayor and mayor pro tem are chosen from among the councilmembers following each municipal election.
City water and sewer projects approved; street projects also addressed
Waxahachie Daily Light
The first regular Waxahachie City Council meeting for new Mayor Doug Barnes and two new councilmembers consisted of a number of big-ticket utility items on Monday night.
The council approved professional engineering services with Kimley-Horn Associates, Inc. for water and sewer lines to service the proposed Fire Station No. 4. Councilmembers also approved reimbursement from the city Water and Wastewater Fund to pay for those engineering services.
Assistant city manager Tommy Ludwig told the council that funding for the new fire station is in the bond funds for this year in the amount of $5 million. The cost of the design is $88,000, which Ludwig proposed to use working capital up front to fund the design and then reimburse that fund with bond money.