City council holds first public “vision” forum

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  • An aerial view of the city of Sulphur Springs Courtesy Sulphur Springs Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation
    An aerial view of the city of Sulphur Springs Courtesy Sulphur Springs Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation
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Housing, Thermo mine, code enforcement and city’s success discussed

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City council met and heard from citizens about the vision for the city of Sulphur Springs, including concerning creating a comprehensive plan for future city goals. 

“There is no action items on the agenda tonight, it’s merely a workshop to discuss where we go from here for the city of Sulphur Springs,” Mayor Norman Sanders told the assembled council and citizens. 

“The downtown looks great. We have lots of businesses coming in. We have Pacific Park that’s going to be voted on pretty soon. We have the senior citizen center involved in that too. So we have things in the pipeline, but we don’t have a comprehensive plan that we can sit down and look at and add to or work with,” Sanders said. Sanders expressed that as Mayor, this has been one of his goals. 

Sanders, along with city council member Erica Armstrong, called for the vision meeting, which according to city manager Marc Maxwell coincided with the receipt of a planning document the city had been working on since 2017. 

In 1997, according to Maxwell, the city came together for the first time to clarify a future vision for Sulphur Springs. A that time, the document was titled the general plan, and had four maps: water, sewer, street and land use and “enough language to describe what was going on in each of the maps,” Maxwell said. Since that time, that document guided city planning and goals, according to said. 

In 2017, twenty years after the original planning document was created, the city began the process anew with the comprehensive plan. Throughout a lengthy process of drafts, the city hadn’t been ready to move forward with comprehensive plan until just recently-- and is now seeking citizen input, according to Maxwell. 

“If we came up with the comprehensive plan and it was just the city council that did it, it’s the kind of thing that would sit on a shelf for years,” Maxwell said. 

“It’s everybody in Sulphur Springs’ city, and we’re up here to work to make this a better town,” Sanders said. 

HOUSING

One of the main concerns Sanders highlighted was the need for available housing. 

“I would like to see a lot of new houses and new additions,” Sanders said. “We had 80 new kids move into our district... so that’s 80 new families. I would like to turn the trend around of people moving out to the county and them to build in the city of Sulphur Springs. We need to figure out a way to get that done.” 

This concern was echoed during the public comments section by realtors and business owners Tim Kelty and Carrie Knockolls.

“We used to have approximately between 75 to 125 house listings between the county and the city,” Kelty said. “I counted today and it is 47. We have approximately 100 real estate agents in Hopkins County and Sulphur Springs.”

A lack of housing does not arise from the lack of home builders, according to Kelty.

“They [builders] need land, streets, water and sewer… that’s a reason why we don’t have anybody that we don’t have anybody that I know of right now,” Kelty said. 

“We are attempting to bring some new housing in,” Knockolls said. “I will tell you our biggest challenge and the only reason it may not work is built-in costs and infrastructure costs. To sell those homes for what I know a buyer would be willing to pay and what it would appraise for, the city-- y’all do not put in infrastructure for a developer in a new area, for the most part.” 

Knockolls agreed with Kelty: the cost to a developer having to bring in their own water and sewer lines warded off some smaller developers. 

“I understand the job y’all have. There’s not just money falling out of the sky,” Knockolls told the council. “It’s a huge, huge responsibility. For many years I’ve been proud to sell it. But if you can find a way to provide water and sewer in the city, you will see a change.”  

CODE ENFORCEMENT

Council member Erica Armstrong stated, “I want to see retail growth options, and I know… there are reasons why those grocery stores don’t come here. Maybe we can address some of the immediate concerns like code enforcement and aesthetics, to concentrate on how our city looks as you’re driving through.”

Among further concerns, Armstrong listed upkeep of parks and sidewalks, “the things that people notice.” 

The city currently employs one code enforcement officer. 

“Yes, we need more code enforcement. So that means we need more code enforcement officers,” Maxwell stated, “One guy, full time and he’s got more than he can shake a stick at.”

According to Maxwell, code enforcement was moved under the auspices of the police department in approximately 2017. 

“When he [code enforcement Officer Jason Ames] shows up with a shirt that says police and he has a badge, they take him seriously,” Maxwell said. 

According to Maxwell, the current code enforcement plan has been to start with the city center and work outwards successively. 

“We can’t hit it all at once,” Maxwell said. “We don’t have the manpower and frankly, if we try to do everything at once, it would fail under its own weight. It would be too much and you’d fill this council chamber with angry people.” 

With the west of town being the primary focus of code enforcement, the city will now move its focus south and east. 

“At the rate we’re going, it’ll take forever,” Maxwell admitted. “So yeah, we need another code enforcement officer. But we don’t have the budget for it. I would love to be able to take better care of the departments… Honestly there are lots of things we would love to be able to do more of and do better.” 

TRUSTIE LABOR

“We’re building a lot of parks and we’re building a lot of things for citizen usage, but we’re not building in monies to take care of that,” council member Jimmy Lucas told the council. “If you don’t take care of them, it’s just like anything you build or you buy. It’s going to wear out or tear up, and then where are we?”

Lucas’s solution, which he put forth in the August regular session of the city council, is to use trusties from the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office jail as “free-- almost free-- labor,” Lucas said. 

“I was told that it was not a good plan,” Lucas said at the community meeting. “I have since spoken to three county commissioners and they all tell me that they use them with flair. They even go when these guys get out and they hire them. So I’m a little bit concerned that we have not investigated that fully.” 

Maxwell made a statement that mirrored his August statement. 

“On that point, we’ve been there before. We’ve done this, and not with much success,” Maxwell said. 

Maxwell said the city planned to use trusties at the city tire and concrete recycling facilities. 

“What we’ve found in actual practice is that the trusties aren’t that motivated to actually work,” Maxwell said. “The amount of energy that went into supervising them was not worth it.”

However, Maxwell admitted that the city had not tried the trustie system under current Sheriff Lewis Tatum. 

After the adjournment of the meeting, Lucas and Maxwell agreed Maxwell would explore using trusties for weed-eating and mowing projects in the city, and Maxwell resolved to talk to Sheriff Tatum. 

SUCCESSES 

A bulk of the public comments section of the meeting was devoted to discussing the ways in which Sulphur Springs has found success, as many residents put it, as the “Jewel of East Texas.” 

Residents Jimmy Rodgors, Jay Julian, Tom Sellers, Dr. Robert Lenington, Clay Walker and Ben Thesing all expressed extreme pride in the city. 

“I could move anywhere, but I stay here because I love this place,” Lenington said. “I was present here in 2017 when there was a master plan and a vision. I don’t have to agree with everything to get on board… I already think that this place is absolutely the jewel of East Texas.” 

“In the last ten years since you [city council] have done what you’ve done, that is why people want to live here... We could not be this jewel without the hearts and the passions of the people,” Knockolls added. 

“We probably see more evidence of why people come to this town,” said Thesing, an owner of the Oaks Bed and Breakfast, who says they have had guests stay overnight and then decide to move to Sulphur Springs. “The opportunities come from the effort that has started in the downtown. I think everyone needs to understand the work and the passion and the progressiveness that the city council and the city manager has put into this.” 

“Sixteen or seventeen years ago, you could have shot a twelve-gague shotgun across the square at anytime, nearly… and not hit anyone,” Walker, who sat on city council for over a decade, said. “Since then, I brag on our city every time I get a chance… the quality of leadership we’ve had in this town has exceeded any in the East Texas circle.” 

“In my office… I have a beautiful view of downtown,” Tom Sellers told the council, “You wouldn’t believe the number of people that stop to take pictures, take their kids out, play in the park area, walk around all day. The people that stop in our office, the first thing they talk about it downtown and how we’re so fortunate.” 

“If you leave here and drive anywhere in east Texas… west Texas, central Texas, anywhere but metropolitan areas, I would challenge you to find a downtown area that is as beautiful as ours,” Tom Sellers said.

THERMO MINE PROPERTY 

Maxwell hangs much of his hope for future city profits on the acquisition of the Thermo Mine property, located on CR 2309 and comprised of 4,900 acres. 

“I am so excited about Thermo, because I see the potential for revenue production,” Maxwell told the council and citizens. “To me, everything that we talk about what can be and what should be hinges on whether that happens.” 

The Thermo coal mine, previously owned by Luminant Mining from 1978 to 2011, closed its Monticello units 1 and 2 in 2016 and acquired its coal from Wyoming. In October 2017, the city began its first talks with company to transfer ownership to the city.

“I was in that meeting where they were discussing that, and Marc [Maxwell] told them [Luminant, owners of the property], ‘well why don’t you just give us the whole thing?’” Walker told the community group. “They said, ‘Well, we’ve thought about it.’” 

In July 2017, the company agreed to do just that. 

Maxwell’s big ask at the time now seems to be coming to fruition; Maxwell told the News-Telegram he gives the likelihood of the Thermo deal occurring “99.9% probability.” 

“I’ve been through the whole process, I know what it’s taking. I know how much they want it and how much we want it,” Maxwell said. 

“I don’t think we’re putting too many eggs in that basket,” Sanders told the News-Telegram. “We’re so close.” 

“If Thermo doesn’t happen, we’re in the same spot as before,” Maxwell said. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

FURTHER MEETINGS

“I think we began something great tonight,” Maxwell said. 

The city council will have an ongoing meeting item, “vision” on all agendas from now forward to discuss city vision. The council and Maxwell will also produce the comprehensive plan and hold further charettes open to public discussion. 

“Everybody wants vision,” Maxwell said. “Vision is the commodity that is missing in most places.” 

“It’s all about communication,” Sanders agreed. “It was a very productive meeting.”