The Sabine River Paddle Trail continues to take shape with Gladewater positioned at the head of the project.
City Manager Charlie Smith last week updated council members on recent developments, including a developing grant request to the Sabine River Authority.
The council also held public hearings on the city’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget and tax rate Aug. 15 and heard an update on looming code revisions dealing with vacant commercial buildings.
According to Smith, Gregg County has gotten directly involved in the paddle trail and aims to request grant funding from the SRA.
“Each city that’s involved in this is putting forth $1,000 so they can go ahead and apply for the grant,” he noted, targeting an estimated $750,000. “We’re at the head of the trail they’re looking at. They’re anticipating turning it into something really big.”
In meetings with Texas Department of Transportation, a loop has been proposed under the Hwy. 271 bridge to help facilitate launches.
“That’s a 30-mile trip down that river all the way to Easton. They’re looking at some additional pickup points along the way and talking to some landowners,” he said. “That’s a long trip down that river.
“That’s coming to fruition, and that’s going to be a good deal for us. I think that’ll bring not only business but some visitors to the city.”
In other project updates, Smith noted street cleanup (especially curbs) is progressing as Public Works crews move through town.
“Doing a good job of it,” Mayor Pro Tem Sonny Anderson said.
A waterline project is underway on Glade Street to replace mis-sized lines with a six-inch upgrade, and the final phase of work on Gay Avenue and Hendricks Street got underway April 19.
The council fielded a handful of questions and perspectives on the budget (approximately $9.7 million for FY25) and tax rate (likely to decrease from $0.626978 per $100 valuation to $0.602087).
“So we’re finally getting the tax rate down closer to before it was raised during previous administrations but still not below,” resident MaryAnne Cumbie said. “Enough is enough, y’all… Along with these taxes we pay, insurance is doubling and tripling. I’m saying, there’s gotta be relief.”
From Mayor Brandy Flanagan, “You should be happy, it’s going down.”
“I am. I am,” Cumbie said. “At the same time, the city is being brought out of the financial hole it was put in.”
Later, the council unanimously-approved hiring a grant writer/administrator in conjunction with an application for funding from the 2025-2026 Texas Community Development Fund of the Texas Community Development Block Grant Program of the Texas Department of Agriculture.
“One of the strategies with this council is to pursue as many grants as possible so we can stretch the dollar,” Flanagan said. “It’s paying off.”
The grants come around every year, Smith confirmed, and the city is usually eligible every other year.
“In a couple of years we’ll do the same thing again.”
Notably, council member Rocky Hawkins added, “The city’s not out the money (for the grant writer) unless you get the grant.”
Regarding the ongoing update to the city’s vacant building rules, Flanagan said the committee met Aug. 6 and laid out five targets for the developing ordinance – to set parameters to determine which buildings would be impact, to set a process for registering them, to establish what’s required at that time, to establish related fees and to ensure code enforcement can apply the ordinance.
“We talked about possibly moving that into other city areas as well,” she said. “How can we assist our code enforcement department to enact the codes and ordinances that we have?”
After the committee’s initial research and development is completed, Flanagan added, the proposal will be vetted by both the city’s attorney and council for consideration as early as September.
“There will be many different eyes making sure everything is looked at and deemed correct.”