Gene Keenon, director of government affairs and municipal services for Republic Services (left), presents a check for $5,000 to the city in fulfillment of a promise the company made to the Perry Sampson Park renovation project. Accepting the check was Mayor Pro

By Leon Aldridge
Editor and publisher

Ahead of the downtown city council meeting on Monday, Gene Keenon, director of government affairs and municipal services for Republic Services, presented a check for $5,000 to the city in fulfillment of a promise the company made made to the Perry Sampson Park Renovation Project.
Republic Services is the garbage collection service provider in the Centre.
The only action item from the meeting was the approval of Order 2022-6 – “Application #2022-1 – Rezoning of the property at 415 Shelbyville” at Monday’s regular meeting.
The City’s Planning and Zoning Commission met prior to the council meeting to review and consider a request to reverse the property’s previous rezoning allowing the Shelbyville Street frontage to revert to C1 – Small Business and sections of the parcel near Pecan and Center Street to remain unchanged as residential SF-2.
The plot was rezoned in 2010 to only allow residences with a specific use permit for small patio/garden homes on the entire property.
The affected property is adjacent to the offices of the law firm Fairchild, Price, Haley & Smith and across from the Pine Colony Inn.
The rezoning of the property was the only actionable item on Monday’s agenda.
Items of interest requiring no action presented by City Manager Chad Nehring included:
• Baseball Tournaments – Last weekend concluded this year’s summer tournament season.
The staff is coordinating a possible bid to host a regional World Series in 2023, as was done in 2018.
• South Elevated Storage Tank – Site activity has now slowed until tank fabrication is complete and delivered to site. This should take place in early fall.
• Poultry Plaza and Lights – Work is underway on the plaza as approved by Council at a previous meeting. Additionally, replacement lights have been acquired for the Civic Center deck and roofline and will begin installation in the coming weeks.
• Perry Sampson Park – Restroom replacement is under construction and should be completed within the month. Parking signage, striping and other minor items have also been completed over the past few weeks, with the larger Tyson sign being delivered for installation in the coming weeks.
• Lake Levels/Drought – Levels on both lakes are down from normal pool elevation and while not normal for this early summer, it is not yet an issue, although that the activation of the drought plan is necessary, this does not yet trigger actions that would be more than voluntary to use the reductions.
• TCEQ Water System Inspection – Utility staff responded to the semi-annual TCEQ compliance inspection report. Unlike past years, there do not appear to be any customer impacted requirements like RPZ (backflow prevention) or maintenance or registration issues that would result in enforcement action.
Attending the meeting were City Clerk Esther Elizondo, City Manager Chad Nehring, Council Members Randy Collard, Joyce Johnson, Terry Scull and Pro Tem Mayor Leigh Porterfield who chaired the meeting in Mayor David Chadwick’s absence. Council members Howell Howard and Jerry Lathan were also absent.
The Municipal Council of the Center meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 5:00 p.m. at the Town Hall of the Center.