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E-mail This StoryLittle Elm Town Council members at Tuesday’s regular meeting approved an offer from the Texas Department of Transportation to buy the central fire station building and the land it sets on at Hardwicke Lane and Eldorado Parkway.
The offer for the land is $159,934 and the building is being sold for nearly $3.3 million. The land will become part of the right-of-way for the widening of Eldorado Parkway.
The town plans to build a new central fire station nearer to the Little Elm Town Hall.
The hiring of a new finance director was also approved, pending candidate Alan Dickerson.s acceptance of the offer. Dickerson lives in Carrollton and has served as finance director in Sachse and Highland Village. If he accepts the offer. he would replace Ryan Adams who left the position in July.
The Town Council also approved a $5 per hour increase to the various hourly rates charged by town attorneys Brown & Hofmeister. Attorney Robert Brown also presented a 50 percent increase in the monthly retainer from $800 to $1,200 a month. Council members did not like the 50 percent increase in the monthly retainer.
“I’m concerned with how much we spend on attorney fees in general,” council member Brenda Hughes said.
Brown said the town has been paying the present rates for legal services since 2006. He said if the town chose not to increase the monthly retainer, his firm could accept that, but the hourly increase was necessary. The council voted to leave the monthly retainer fee at $800. These fees will be in place for two years.
Little Elm Economic Development Corp. President Melvin L. Mosley resigned his position on the board in June because he has moved away from Little Elm. Tuesday, the Town Council appointed council member Dee Dee Lear to fill Mosley’s unexpired term.
In May the Denco Area 9-1-1 District board of managers asked participating cities to nominate a representative to the district board of managers.
Flower Mound Town Manager Harlan Jefferson was nominated by Corinth, Denton, Flower Mound, Justin, Lake Dallas, Lewisville, and Little Elm. At Tuesday’s meeting the Little Elm Town Council unanimously approved Jefferson to be a member of the board of managers.
The Denco Area 9-1-1 District provides effective and enhanced 9-1-1 emergency telecommunications that assist its member jurisdictions in responding to police, fire, and medical calls.
An $8,000 change order to the work on the Main Street elevated tank rehabilitation project gained council approval. During the project on the town’s original tin man water tower, Gulf States Protective Coatings Co. workers discovered more lead paint than they had anticipated on the inside of the tank and informed the town that repairs to the ladder, guardrail, manways and walkway structures were needed.
Director of Public Works Doug Peach said the extra $8,000 cost was already built into the $260,000 project budget.
The council also approved a master service agreement for consulting services between the Town of Little Elm and Cobb, Fendley & Associates Inc. for engineering services. Town staff members are working on a future work order with the firm for the survey and engineer design of possible capital improvement projects.
Town Manager Ivan Langford suggested to council members they may want to forego the application review process in place for appointing bond committee members, and directly appoint members to the committee. The council approved David Hillock’s motion to directly appoint committee members and have them in place by Sept. 30.
In another matter, the council approved a draft of the town’s policy to encourange fuel savings. Not allowing drivers to idle town vehicles for more than five minutes and not using drive-through windows, but cutting the engine and going inside are two of the points in the fuel saving policy.
Bob Barnard of American Traffic Solutions gave a presentation on red light cameras. Their system, once installed, would not cost the town anything, and would generate many more red light tickets than officers can write. Barnard said that, statistically, when red light cameras are installed the number of offenses decreases after awhile when drivers learn which intersections have red light cameras.
In closed session the council considered legal cases Absolute Development Ltd., Frisco Hill LP , Ajro Real Estate Investment, Anchor Boat Storage, and Frisco Ranch/Frisco Hills/preserve Vested Rights Deal Points review, and a proposed offer in Sadeghian et al. vs. Little Elm. The council also considered land acquisition and TxDOT’s offer to buy the central fire station.
