Gainesville —
A proposed venture between the city and the Gainesville Independent School District may link the city’s economic development corporation to a baseball field now in development on campus grounds.
Tuesday’s city council meeting included first reading of a consideration that the Gainesville Economic Development Corporation (GEDC) offers $200,000 toward the school district’s new baseball facility, set to be called “Locke Field” in tribute to the city-owned field located near Interstate 35 and scheduled for demolition during the coming year.
On Feb. 18, Gainesville ISD officials approved a contract with Heartland Park and Recreation to construct a baseball field at a total cost of $810,000. The field project is set to begin during March, weather permitting.
GEDC board members approved an expense of $200,000 of corporation funds during a recent meeting. And city approval, still pending, would allow the GEDC to pass along that sum and “adopt” the new field as an economic development project, providing the school district with roughly 25 percent of the field’s cost.
Tuesday’s discussion yielded dissent. Councilmember Vince Rippy questioned the propriety of using city funds to help fund a school — a separate taxing entity.
“With their tax base, why can they not afford their own athletic facility?” Rippy said. “Why are the city and GEDC participating in meeting their budget?”
Councilmember Ray Nichols argued that the funding would be wise as an investment.
“I think one of the biggest indicators of growth in a community is the school district, and I think the city and GEDC have to be a partner in that progress,” he said. “I think it helps the overall impact since we have new people coming into our community and looking at our facilities.”
Mayor Jim Goldsworthy explained that the GEDC’s $200,000 has been on standby for three years, earmarked for a park project or development related to an athletic field.
He also said financial coordination between the city and the school, in the case of Gainesville, is very fitting.
“It’s hand-in-glove,” he said. “We have the lowest unemployment rate in north Texas and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, and we have to get folks to live in our community. It’s a benefit to our school.”
Goldsworthy added that a question often asked from incoming residents to city officials is, “What’s the school system like?”
Gainesville officials, he said, currently have an opportunity to help keep their school district at a competitive standard.
“It’s simply entities working together for the betterment of the community,” Goldsworthy said.
Rippy said he understood the “betterment” concept, but added that from a pragmatic standpoint, cities and schools should remain separate entities that tend to their own financial needs.
“It sounds good,” he said about the investment. “But when the city needs to do something, we’re in the business of appropriating taxes to do what we need to do.”
Rippy also said the GEDC offering would seem to be a controversial first for the City of Gainesville: one local taxing system using its own funds to enrich another.
GEDC Executive Director Kent Sharp corrected this. He said in 2008, the GEDC arranged a contribution of $250,000 toward the North Central Texas College Career and Technology Center, a sum that provided that facility with “a wealth” of new equipment.
“In my opinion, there is a precedent for it,” he said to Rippy. “But I hear what you’re saying.”
A second reading of the consideration is set for March 19.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Artist rendering of the proposed Locke Field. Courtesy photo
Guest Book
Economic corporation may help fund field
- Local News
-
-
VFW plans Memorial Day ceremony
This year’s Memorial Day ceremony is set to combine rigorous tribute and storytelling with a notable twist.
-
Valley View officials sworn in
Valley View city officials were sworn in during a recent city council meeting.
-
The Big One: Preparing for mid-America earthquake
Part 5 of a five-part series
It’s a bleak scenario. A massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault kills or injures 60,000 people in Tennessee. A quarter of a million people are homeless. The Memphis airport – the country’s biggest air terminal for packages – goes off-line. Major oil and gas pipelines across Tennessee rupture, causing shortages in the Northeast. In Missouri, another 15,000 people are hurt or dead. Cities and towns throughout the central U.S. lose power and water for months. Losses stack up to hundreds of billions of dollars. -
National Transportation Safety Board considers lowering blood alcohol levels for drivers
Members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have announced new recommendations in their continued quest to end drunk driving.
During the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, alcohol is a common theme in many celebratory activities throughout the nation and state, and, therefore, many Texans unnecessarily die in vehicular accidents involving alcohol-impaired drivers.
This past week, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials announced several new recommendations relating to drunk driving, including lowering the national blood alcohol content (BAC) standard from .08 to .05. -
Fire support and rehab team donates to Callisburg VFD
Cooke County Fire Support and Rehab Team recently purchased some items for Callisburg Volunteer Fire Department.
-
Gainesville Rotary club unfurls flag program
Members of the Gainesville Rotary Club are currently preparing the organization’s annual flag program which delivers and displays large American flags throughout the community and surrounding area.
-
Local damage minimal after stormy night
Wednesday storms brought negligible issues to Cooke County, with more dire effects experienced to the south.
-
Guest's memoir a hit at book signing
A magical summer in Gainesville in 1935 is recalled in Betty Bradley Junkin Guest’s book “Once Upon a Falling Star.”
-
Muenster bankers meet with delegation
More than 100 members of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT), along with local Muenster bankers, met in Washington D.C. with the Texas Congressional delegation, various regulatory agencies and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in April to discuss pressing legislative issues with national and statewide impact.
-
United Way begins 'Caring' project
The gauntlet has been thrown to area groups, churches and local business in a friendly competition to be held May 30 to assist the Cooke County United Way (CCUW) as part of the organization’s second “Community Caring” event in 2013.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
