Freddie Taylor marks 18 years on council
The Sulphur Springs city council met Tuesday night for their regularly scheduled meeting to select a mayor and mayor pro tempore and hear the city manager’s report.
Also on the agenda were the second and final readings of two ordinances for property rezoning and discussion of a resolution to approve an application for a Texas Department of Transportation grant for a project similar to the Cross Town Trail.
The council also discussed a proposal by Toole Design Group to provide design services for an area west of downtown and the appointment of members to the city’s boards and commissions.
During the proclamations portion for the meeting, the first order of business was to swear in three council members starting their first full three-year term on the council, Jay W. Julian of place one; Harold Nash Sr. of place two; and Oscar Aguilar of place three.
Next, Gary Spraggins was sworn in for a special one year long term before being sworn in for his three-year term at a later date.
The council then recognized Mayor Pro Tempore Freddie Taylor who is starting his 18th year of service as a city council member. Taylor is the longest-serving council member in the history of Sulphur Springs.
City secretary Gale Roberts shared that “Taylor was first sworn in on June 1, 2004, so 17 years to the day.”
“What an honor and what a privilege it is to serve with you,” Mayor John Sellers said to Taylor.
Harold Nash Sr. then shared that “former council member Miss Landers-Bell passed away last Sunday, and services will be held this coming weekend.”
Sellers was then unanimously selected by the council to serve a sixth year as mayor.
“This will be another record as a matter of fact. The mayor will now have, after this year, served for six years. A fellow by the name of Johnson is the previous record holder with five years of service as Mayor,” Spraggins shared.
Sellers then gave a short acceptance speech, “Thank you Mayor Pro Tem, I guess. And thank you to the rest of y’all. I would just like to address the audience for a bit, as most of y’all can guess, the last year and a half that I have had the privilege to serve as mayor, has been difficult. A lot of difficult things that happened and a lot of hard decisions to make. I could not have done anything that we did without the council sitting behind me.”
Sellers thanked Roberts for her advice and help in pressing things forward.
Sellers also thanked city manager Maxwell for being an excellent partner and reminisced on their time learning to Zoom together before moving on to select the mayor pro tempore.
Nash made a motion to ask councilman Doug Moore to serve as mayor pro tempore with the motion passing unanimously.
After Maxwell’s report [see related story, page 12], the council moved on to the second and final reading of ordinance 2780, a rezoning request for 1340 Hillcrest which was approved.
Another ordinance, number 2781, a rezoning request for 1079 and 1085 Rockdale road was also approved.
Next the council discussed Resolution 1242, an application for a Texas Department of Transportation grant which is related to a project like the Cross Town Trail that connects Coleman and Buford Parks.
The application was approved and the council moved on to a proposal from the Toole Design Group to provide design services for an area located west of downtown, with its organizing feature being linear open space with the town branch and a drainage retention basin being the key features.
Action was taken to approve appointments to the city’s boards and commissions which include; the Economic Development Corporation, Zoning Board of Adjustments, Airport Advisory Board, Sulphur River Municipal Water District, Library Board, Board of Tourism and Promotion, Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals, Planning and Zoning Commission, Ark-Tex Council of Governments, Downtown Revitalization Board and the Revolving Loan Fund Committee.
Executive session item of the night was to approve Maxwell entering into an agreement in regards to Project Flourish.