On May 27, Texas Senate Bill 2497 created a new Groundwater Conservation District (GCD) for Collin, Cooke and Denton counties.

Named the North Texas GCD, the bill stated that the GCD should be governed initially by a temporary board of nine directors, or three directors for each member county.

Of the three to be selected for Cooke County, one will be selected from nominees submitted by the largest municipal groundwater producer in the county, another will be chosen from nominees submitted by other groundwater producers in the county and a third will be selected by Commissioners Court from qualified individuals expressing interest in the position.

Commissioner’s Court has until Aug. 25 to appoint the temporary directors.

During Tuesday’s City Council Meeting, council members took one step towards that goal by approving Ron Sellman as the city’s nominee.

According to City Manager Barry Sullivan, Sellman, who is the director of Public Services, is the most qualified individual to represent the city on the temporary board.

“I think we’re all in agreement that Ron Sellman is the most knowledgeable person in this city about our water system and he has the most knowledge on the water situation in this area,” said Sullivan to council members. “Moreover, Ron would be a good ambassador for the city and therefore the mayor and myself recommend Ron Sellman.”

Although approved by council members as a nominee, it will be up to Cooke County Commissioners to officially approve Sellman as a director of the board at a future Commissioners Court.

In relation to water, Sellman presented council members the 2008 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, or as he likes to call it, “the ingredient label for our water.”

The report, said Sellman, basically tells where the city’s water comes from which is the Moss Lake Aquifer.

It also describes what kind of system the city is labeled as which could either be an approved or superior water system. Surpassing approved minimum standards of housekeeping, maintenance, etc., Sellman explained, Gainesville’s water system is classified as superior.

Council member Vince Rippy briefly spoke to commend Sellman and his crew for their good work in providing the city with “superior” water.

“Ron is generally a modest gentlemen, as far as I’ve known him, and I’d like to remind the council and all of the citizens, how superior our drinking water truly is,” said Rippy. “We have taken our water from a lake, but you would not necessarily know it and if you were to drink water from Sherman or Denison or Denton, you would know it very quickly.”

Council members approved the authorization of an interlocal agreement with Texoma Council of Governments (TCOG) for continuation of emergency 911 public safety answering point services at the Gainesville Public Safety Center.

As part of the agreement, the city will maintain the equipment provided by TCOG and will continue to operate the 911 Dispatch Center in compliance with state regulations. In return, TCOG will also continue to pay the annual maintenance contract.

“Part of what we do is manage and implement new technology and services on behalf of the 911 centers in our region,” said TCOG representative Peggy Shelley.

One new service and technology TCOG recently implemented is called Phase II Wireless. This allows a dispatch to trace the location of a cell phone caller in relation to city streets.

Dispatch Sarah Payton was the first in all of the Texoma Region to use this technology to the benefit of handling a 911 call, Shelley told council members.

“She received a 911 call on a cell phone, but the caller didn’t talk to her and instead, set the phone down,” said Shelley. “She (Payton) could quickly tell that there was a domestic disturbance going on in the background and she used the technology to locate the street and the area and the block that this call came from and sent officers to that area...within a matter of a few feet.”

While Phase II is not 100 percent full-proof, added Shelley, TCOG is glad to be able to implement the service within the region due to the increasing amount of citizens who no longer use landline phones.

In an interview outside of the city council meeting, Payton said Phase II makes her job a lot easier.

“We would not have been able to find them at all without the new technology,” she said.

The new interlocal agreement becomes effective Sept. 1, 2009 and will expire Aug. 31, 2011.

During a public hearing, developer Faisal Reza asked council members to consider approving an ordinance for a zoning district change in the Bonner Heights subdivision, lot 1, block 1, from general commercial (C2) to high density multifamily (MF-2) to allow for the construction of apartments near the NCTC campus.

The proposed apartment complex would offer 641 square feet units. However, current zoning requires at least 800 square feet for single bedroom units, 1,000 square feet for two bedroom units and 1,200 square feet for three bedroom units.

Reza told council members that the current zoning did not allow for affordable apartments to be built near the campus, which is his sole purpose in requesting the change.

However following the public hearing, Sullivan advised council members that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial for this project as did the city staff.

While council members disapproved the request, Sullivan and Mayor Loch both recommended review of the zoning ordinance over the next several months to “tweak” where necessary.

Presiding Municipal Judge Chris Cypert will receive a 6 percent raise for his outstanding duties.

This year, the city will offer 2 to 6 percent raises for most of its employees, said Sullivan during his recommendation for Cypert.

“He does an outstanding job,” said Sullivan. “He is one of my most conservative budgeters, and he also completes many manual tasks...that a whole lot of people would not be willing to do for a position like he has. But he does that to save the city money.”

Cypert is also notable, according to Sullivan, for his choices with the cases he handles, particularly with youth.

“He’s more interested in teaching them a lesson instead of just hitting mom and dad’s pocket book and a lot of times that makes the kids go through more themselves and makes them learn,” added Sullivan.

The following actions were also taken by council members during the consent agenda:

• Dan Ott, Ginger Herrmann, Carroll Johnson and Earl Russell were all re-appointed to the Airport Advisory Board for additional two-year terms to expire July 2011.

• Mayor Glenn Loch was re-appointed to the TCOG board for a three-year term which will expire in June 2012.

• Allen Fleitman, Keith Clegg and Peggy Holt were re-appointed to the Gainesville Housing Authority Board for additional two-year terms to expire April 2011.