Summer ‘State of the City’ includes major commercial announcement
“You know we’re getting a Starbucks, right?” Charlie Smith asks, eager to share the good news. “We got the plans the other day.”
It’s not that he’s a caffeine junky. No, the pep in Smith’s step comes from the growing buzz of progress at Gladewater City Hall. There’s lots to do, plenty of hurdles on the path, but things are getting done.
He’s been steering the ship for two years now, albeit on an interim basis. Enough with that, according to Gladewater City Council members: after a closed door evaluation at last week’s monthly meeting, the group extended a long-term offer to keep Smith as the town’s chief executive, and the details of a three-year deal are being hammered out.
“We’re putting that together. We’re going to send it to the attorney, let him get it drawn up, then we’ll put it in place,” Smith confirmed Monday.
It was Starbucks that was on his mind, though; or, rather, what the new development represents for the community as a whole.
“A lot of times when you see a new business like that come to town, a major brand, you see other major things come in because of that. You’ll see some other development off that. It says something about Gladewater, that people are looking at us.”
Smith marked two years at the helm July 11, and his late-summer ‘State of the City’ for 2024 is just a bit shinier than this time last year.