LM council running with full house

LA MARQUE — Exactly nine months since all five members of the city council last met, the city’s governing body was made whole again Monday. It had been since Oct. 11 when a full council had met in an open session and four recall elections and a special election later, the La Marque city council that at one point dwindled to just two members was back at full strength.

“What do you say we get on with the people’s business?” Mayor Bobby Hocking asked a few minutes after he was sworn into office. And with that, the council did.

There was the routine business of approving minutes, reviewing the city manager’s report and listening to a resident complain about her water bill. There was even the first reading of an ordinance that would prevent dog owners from chaining their pets to a tree.

The new council then took care of some unfinished business. In June 2010, the council established a priority list for about $2.1 million in road improvement projects across town.

The discourse on the council disrupted that process to the point that City Manager Eric Gage said he was unable to get the council to approve going out for bids on the repairs and resurfacing for 55 streets and roads in town because for the better part of the last eight months, council meetings were canceled because of disagreements among the three council members remaining since a November recall removed Deanie Barrett and Larry Mann from the council.

On Monday, the road projects hit the pavement again when the council unanimously approved $1.6 million in bids for the road projects. In a move to make up for lost time, the city divided the work up into three zoned projects.

Project 1 will focus on the priority streets on the city’s west side, Project 2 on the roads in central La Marque and Project 3 on the roadways on the city’s east side.

Funding for the roadwork will come from certificates of obligation approved by the city council in 2007 for road and drainage improvements in the city, Gage said.

The problem roadways stretch across the city, and while most require repaving or patch repairs, a handful are listed as requiring reconstruction. More than half of the what the city classified as “poor” roads are in City Council District B, which includes areas west of Bayou Road to Interstate 45 and South of Cedar Drive. Thirty two of the priority roads are in that district.

That was good news for the district’s new council member Clent Brown, who quipped that his district would benefit the most from the roadwork.

The repairs cover about 14 miles of city roadway, according to city figures.

The council was unanimous too it its displeasure with the county health district’s proposal to hike how much the city would pay for its part of animal control. Councilwoman Connie Trube blasted county officials for the proposed increase without expanded services or improved weekend responses while Councilman James Osteen questioned the figures presented to the city by the health district.

Councilman Keith Bell compared the county’s request for more money as “the way mobsters do,” by threatening to withdraw protection if the city doesn’t come up with the increased fees.

The council soundly rejected the proposal.

When all was said and done, Hocking

“There is a cohesiveness in this five member council,” Hocking said after presiding over his first meeting. “There is a willingness to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s, yet move the agenda forward.”

While in his first public office in the city Hocking is no stranger to being mayor. He was the first mayor of the Austin-area city of Bee Caves.

Bell, who was unanimously reappointed Mayor pro Tem by the council, too said he encouraged by the first meeting of the new council.

“I am hopeful with new leadership, with a new mayor, who was not part of the last council, we can move forward with a positive attitude to a fresh slate,” Bell said.