City may allow students to paint electric boxes
Published 10:22 am Monday, August 27, 2018
By Chris Moore
chris.moore@panews.com
NEDERLAND — City Council members in their regular meeting Monday will discuss the possibility of Nederland High School students painting utility boxes in the city.
“There will be a presentation by Lynell Smith, who is a teacher,” Nederland City Manager Chris Duque said. “She’s going to present it to the council. It’s not an action item. It’s just for the council to get more details on what she’s asking for. If they’re inclined to continue, then they’ll probably address it at the next council meeting, which would be Sept. 10.”
Duque said he doesn’t think the school is asking for any money to paint the boxes, just for permission to do so.
“There’s still some questions left to be addressed, but we felt like they were ready to go before council,” he said.
The council will vote on the purchase on a new pumper truck for the Nederland Fire Department. The city will trade in a 1991 model pumper that was on reserve status and is the oldest pumper in the NFD lineup. The addition of the new pumper will allow the NPD to put the 2001 pumper on reserve status.
Councilmembers will vote on a resolution to rename MCML Central Dispatch Center to the Billy Neal Dispatch Center.
Neal is a current councilmember and was the Nederland police chief for 41 years.
“He is reaching his 60th year of service to the community,” Duque said. “He served 43 years as a member of the police department and more than 16 years as a city councilman. In recognition of his service to the city, we are going to rename the dispatch office in his name. There will be a small ceremony to make it official in early October.”
Duque said the city asked Port Neches and Groves to pass the same resolution because the dispatch center belongs to all three of the cities.
“They all agreed to it,” he said.
The council will hold a public hearing on the budget that has been posted for nearly two weeks. The hearing allows citizens to give feedback on the proposed budget that goes into effect in October.
The meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall.
