Orange City Council Discontinues Downtown Development

There was a joint meeting of the Orange City Council and the Economic Development Corporation December 9. The subject of the meeting was whether to continue with the downtown real estate project. The council and the EDC went into closed session to deliberate the issue. After nearly an hour of discussion the meeting was reopened and the vote was taken to discontinue the downtown project known as the “Southern Printers Development” with Brazos Urban. There was no discussion in open meeting and no reasons were made public. The vote to discontinue was unanimous.

In other council business, City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre reported that he has reached agreement on contracts with the Orange Municipal Police Association and the International Association of Firefighters and the City of Orange. Dr. Oubre stated that there was a great degree of cooperation between the two union groups and the city and through a lot of time and hard work a contract was reached that was beneficial to all parties.

The Deep South Racing Association will be holding their races on May 30 and 31, 2015 at the city boat ramp on Simmons Drive. The Tunnel Boat Races with be held in September, 2015.

Authorization was given for purchase orders and to purchase equipment for several projects in the city at the Jackson Street Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Cooper’s Gully Pump Station. The installation of the radio-read meters is ongoing. The council authorized payment for payment of 295 radio-read meters in the Roselawn neighborhood. There are 444 total meters needed to complete the installation of the meters in all homes in Roselawn.

In closing remarks each of the council members in attendance and Mayor Jimmy Sims made remarks about how they appreciated the city in general and the work that the city employees have done over the past year. Councilman Larry Spears said he hopes the citizens of Orange will attend the meetings and see how the city operates and what is being accomplished in Orange.

“I would like to commend the Kiwanis Club for giving the citizens of Orange another wonderful Christmas parade this year. It was really nice and a lot of hard work went into it”, said Sims.