Photo by Jim Epperson Mayor A.W. Hines, center, stepped down this year and a mayoral race is expected among the council this May. The biggest City news of the year came during the summer when Mayor A.W. Hines announced his resignation so he could spend more time with his family and his business.

Before he left, Hines laid out a vision for Bullard. He urged the council to broaden the tax base through annexations, building an industrial park and preparing for business by designing master plans.

All of which will create a strong city foundation that will ensure a thought-out plan before Bullard begins to grow, Hines said. But it will also cut property and sales taxes.

"The only way we can cut taxes is by increasing our tax base," Hines said at the city council meeting on July 8.

Rodger Johnson became president pro temp, and took over the duties of mayor. The council, although the decision was split, voted to stay as the status quo… which means they decided to go on without a mayor until the mayoral elections in May.

And the two questions of the year have been, (a) who is going to run for mayor and (b) who is going to win? That will be left to the voters, even though there were a group of voters who signed a petition for a special election. The petition was never mentioned in a City Council meeting.

Here are other top stories from the city:

CITY PASSES YOUTH CURFEW

City Council members unanimously approved an updated city curfew measure for those under 17.

The council held two public hearings prior to the ratification of the measure.

"The old ordinance had to be revised and updated," City Manager Larry Morgan said. "This gives us the ability to enforce it while changing times to help youth."

The ordinance states the city curfew prohibits "persons under 17 years of age from being in any public place or business establishment during curfew hours and prohibiting any parent or guardian from permitting or allowing his/her child or ward under 17 from being in any public place or business establishment during curfew hours."

Businesses are also not allowed to let teens remain on the premises during curfew hours - but provide certain exceptions.

Hours are 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day except Friday and Saturday - where it's extended to midnight.

The ordinance also states, "the city council has determined that there has been an increase in juvenile criminal activities in . Bullard."

And "persons under 17 years of age are particularly susceptible by their lack of maturity and experience to participate in unlawful activities and to be victims of older perpetrators of crime."

City looks into warning system

Bullard elected officials are thinking of purchasing an emergency warning system that can alert residents of severe weather and other threats.

Officials worry that managing the system could give the city a "black eye," as was the case for Tyler. The City of Tyler did not turn their system on during a storm recently and many residents were upset. Plus the system is not in the budget.

"I don't know that we can afford it and I don't know if we can manage it right now," Bullard City Manager Larry Morgan said. "This is a budgetary item for next year."

Morgan is in the beginning stages of researching and learning about t he warning system, and will report what he finds to the city counsel during the next city meeting.

The City of Whitehouse recently installed a warning system. Whitehouse City Manager Ronny Fite said it has been activated since the start of the year.

The system has capabilities to send an alert of bad weather through police dispatch and cell phones. Fite said even county dispatch is able to activate the warning system if needed.

Whitehouse's system also has different tones urging the city's residents of an emergency and encourages them to listen to their local media immediately. Whitehouse has five sites for its emergency system, with an across the board cost of $115,000.

Bullard, Tyler

continue negotiations

Bullard's negotiations with Tyler over its ETJ does not look like it is going to get serious enough to go to court, City Manager Larry Morgan said.

The ETJ, or extraterritorial jurisdiction, allows a governing body to exercise its authority beyond its official city limits. The ETJ is where cities can eventually annex.

Tyler is surveying all areas of its ETJ after a 2005, Tylersponsored study declared the city has more than 100,000 inhabitants in city limits, Tyler Planning and Zoning director Barbara Holley said. By state statute a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants allows the city to expand its ETJ by two miles.

Tyler officials are also seeing where Bullard's ETJ stops. If negotiations failed, Tyler could eventually surround Bullard as in the case of Noonday and New Chapel Hill. But Morgan does not think that will happen.

"I think there will be room to grow north and to grow south," Morgan said.

City card stolen, charges of $10,000

A Bullard administrator said a stolen city credit card has charges for one month of fuel charges, which could be $10,000.

Bullard alleges that a man who was doing work for the city through a temp agency had stolen the card. City Manager Larry Morgan said the card was stolen from a utility office desk.

"We're still adding it up, but its going to be about $10,000," Morgan said.

City races to fill grant requirements

Jim Epperson Bullard Banner News

Bullard officials are trying to meet a deadline to receive a state grant for a project that will hook 40 homes to Bullard's sewer system and could pave the way for future development.

Homes and most businesses on the east side of State Highway 69 run on cisterns. But a new $250,000 grant from the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) will help low to middle income residents hook up to the main sewer system.

"The bidding is delayed to get some of the easement acquisitions taken care of," City Engineer Brian Capps said.

In June of 2007 Bullard was awarded the grant from ORCA, and the city has a finite deadline of June 2009 to finish the project. But so far no construction has started as the city is trying to gain easements from the school district and property owners. Once this is completed, construction will start.

The design of the project is complete and the city is "We will be working right up to the deadline," Capps said.

Developers propose outlet mall

Jim Epperson editor@bullardnews.com

A national developer wants to build an outlet mall outside Bullard city limits, but the project is indefinitely on hold due to the economy and infrastructure issues the city must complete before construction can begin.

William Adair, a developer from Tennessee, is eyeing Bullard because of its proximity to Tyler, its good schools and its low city taxes. He is also a close friend of Kiepersol Estates developer Pierre de Wet.

"Everything is purely speculative," Adair said. "It could take 10 years for the economy to rebound."

The two men spoke to the city council last Tuesday, offering to put the money up front to build a sewer system that would pump half-amillion gallons a day, and could "easily" be expanded to a system that could handle three-million gallons a day.

This option is attractive to the city because the city must build a new plant or expanding its existing sewer treatment plant to stay in compliance with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city must begin expand sewer capacity or they could face penalties from the TCEQ.

In return of building a sewer plant the city would be required to pay the developers back, which could be done through sewer fees. The city would not be in debt burdening taxpayers, Adair said.

Adair also said that since the development would not be in city limits, the two developers would agree to voluntary annexation once the multi-million dollar outlet mall is completed.