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Reno council works toward common goal
By Krista Goerte
Published January 5, 2010
RENO — A change of leadership, the extension of the Rails to Trails project through the city and a concerted effort to find grant money marked the biggest accomplishments of the Reno City Council in 2009.
Buddy Heuberger took over the mayor’s position after the May election when Bubba Coston chose not to seek re-election.
Mike Chapman and Stacey Nichols joined the council, taking the seats of Heuberger and long-time councilman Bill Cunningham.
Also in the May election, Reno voters decided to keep beer and wine sales from the city while neighboring Paris voted to go wet.
Heuberger said the new council is working well together and toward a common goal — the betterment of the City of Reno.
“I just hope to keep it going like we’ve done,” Heuberger said. “We still disagree, but everybody leaves there still communicating.”
One of the biggest additions to the City of Reno in recent months has been the extension of the Rails to Trails project through Reno. The first part of the trail, from Reno’s west city limits to Airport Road, is completed except for finishing touches. A parking area at Airport Road and entrances at Turtle Creek are still in progress, along with the last half mile of the trail, which extends from Airport Road east to the Reno city limit.
Private donations paid for the first part of the trail, but the council secured an $87,174 grant to pay for the second part of the trail.
The TP&WD grant is just one of many the city has secured in the past year, thanks to some shrewd hunting and willingness to apply by Heuberger and the council.
Heuberger said he considers the many grants applied for and received by the city one of its biggest accomplishments of the year.
Close to a reality is a $135,000 grant that was applied for jointly with the cities of Reno, Roxton, Blossom and Lamar County for communications equipment mandated by FEMA by a certain date, he said.
“It’s tentatively been approved,” Heuberger said. “We got all the mayors and the representatives from Lamar County..the emergency coordinator explained the grant and we all decided to apply as one. The county judge came on board and we did it.”
The city also just recently received a grant from the Criminal Justice Department with the governor’s office for $41,150, which will go toward outfitting a new patrol car and uniforms for the reserve officers.
With no more effort than returning a mail query, the city has received an energy conservation grant in the amount of $23,030, which will be used for some type of energy conservation effort in Reno, Heuberger said. The Volunteer Fire Department, too, has been proactive in applying for grant money and as a result, received a $78,000 grant from the Fire Service to purchase a new brush truck.
“You’ve got some hoops to jump through, some paperwork to process, but you can spend a little time processing paperwork for $120,000, $130,000,” Heuberger said. “If we don’t take it, someone else is going to get it. We’re not going to be martyrs and the money is not going to go back to the taxpayers — somebody’s going to get it. We might as well get it in Reno and Paris as anyone else.”
Another step forward for Reno in 2009 has been the formation of an economic development committee and entering into a contract with the University of Texas at Arlington to perform an economic development feasibility study of the city. The study comes on the heels of a year filled with issued building permits, the mayor said.
“You’ve got to know where you need to go before you can get there,” Heuberger said. “We’re not going to get a Kimberly- Clark or something like that, and we know it.”
Heuberger said the study will hopefully begin with the next semester of college and should be completed by May or June.
“I think we are on the right path in Reno, headed the right direction,” he said.
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