CITY CORNER by Mayor Brent Hinckley

     The weather is much as every March, with breezy days and temperatures that swing from cool to hot with each change in the wind.  With Spring Break for the schools this week there are a different variety of activities that many in our community are involved with, but the City continues on track with several important tasks.  Next week the Texas Water Development Board will meet to give final approval to the City’s loan for financing of the Water Treatment project.  Moving forward with this will assure our residents clean and pure water with very minimal natural radionuclides, and will allow the water system to meet all regulatory requirements currently causing issues.  Next week we will also be meeting with a consultant to discuss and work out a plan for the long term capital improvements needed to keep our water system fully functioning and meeting the daily needs of our town. 

     On Monday next week the City Commission will meet at 5:30 at the Eckert Civic Center for our regular monthly meeting.  There is not a long agenda planned, but if you have an interest in what the issues are facing the City at this time, and how the Commission works to deal with those issues, you are certainly welcome and encouraged to come.  There are some standard business items on the agenda, such as appointing election judges for this spring’s elections and our annual approval of the Investment Policy and report of the investments of the City.  There is also one issue that is beyond the ordinary, but not a big problem, as we are asked to approve a modification of the schedule for us to monitor and certify that the methane gases at the landfill are dealt with properly and meeting the safe environmental levels as set by TCEQ. 

    There is one other issue on our next agenda that I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas that anyone living in Mason might wish to share.  We are beginning the process of working with the Planning and Zoning Commission to amend and change the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances for Mason so that they might be more accurate and fit the needs of our community.  There have been a few specific issues that have pointed out and need to be updated, and the last time either of those Ordinances were seriously looked at and as a whole changed or modified has been over ten years ago.  We are working in the City office to identify and list some of the issues we are familiar with, but if you have particular concerns or have specific suggestions I would really like to hear from you.  You can email me your thoughts at brent.hinckley@cityofmason.us or contact any of the elected officials and we will be glad to include your ideas in the discussion.  This task of considering and recommending changes to these important areas of our City regulation will take several meetings and workshops, and is likely to take several months, but only with your input will the final decisions truly reflect the needs and expectations of our community.  We are expecting the City Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission to meet together several times to work out details, but the more ideas we have to work with the better the outcome will be. 

      There is one other date that you might wish to put on your calendar if you are interested in how your City will be led in the future.   Each of the three City positions open for election this spring have a contested race, and some of the candidates do not seem to be well known in the community, so one group in town is organizing a Candidate Forum where all of the candidates can be introduced.  The plan is for this to be held on Thursday, April 12 at the Civic Center at 7:00 pm, and all of the candidates have indicated they will participate, so this may be a good opportunity for the voting public to get a better picture of the options for this election.  It is only as we are all fully informed and can make wise decisions that the best local government can function.  As Bonnie Beam said so well in last week’s letter to the editor, “please get all the information and education …. do not rely on hear say or what you may or may not know about someone …. And make decisions based upon the facts.”  That is good advice about most information exchange in a small town, but with elections coming up it is most important for our community that everyone does not merely rely on the flow of rumors as we look to the future.  Mason is a great hometown, and if we all work together it will continue to be a great place to live and work.