Moulton Chamber of Commerce interested in park improvements

The Moulton City Council continued its ongoing discussion about potential improvements to the park at the Sept. 10 meeting.

The Moulton Chamber of Commerce is interested in assisting in the park improvement project. Chamber President Anna Bartos attended the council meeting speaking on this.

“The Chamber of Commerce has several projects that they’re looking at funding for the park improvements,” City Administrator LuAnn Rogers said. “They have not nailed that down yet, but they have got two or three things they are focusing on including improvements for the baseball field. The ballfield does need improvements. The dugouts need to be completely re-done. There was also discussion on fencing at the park as well. A couple of other smaller things were mentioned as well.”

The Chamber has not voted on this quite yet or come to a final decision.

The council is still currently looking for park improvement grants and are welcoming any vendors to donate for this endeavor.

Council also aims to potentially improve the tennis court area and possibly turn that into a basketball court. They also want to look at improving access for handicapped individuals.

There was a public hearing regarding the tax rate. There were no comments. The proposed tax rate is 65.44 cents per $100 of taxable property for fiscal year 2024-25. This is different than the current rate which his 48.99 cents per $100 of taxable property.

For maintenance and operations of the city, the tax rate is 50.44 cents per $100 of taxable property. For the debt service, the tax rate is 15 cents per $100 of taxable property. That portion only is used to pay for the debt. The city has a large debt where they re-did the electric system about ten or 15 years ago according to Rogers. That particular debt will be paid off in July of 2025.

There was also an update on a particular grant at the meeting.

“We applied for a grant with the Texas Water Development Board and we’re expecting to receive a letter that allows us to move forward with the project,” Rogers said. “This happened a few days after the council meeting. This grant is for wastewater improvements and improving the wastewater plant.”

Everyone was present at the meeting except Mayor Zimmerman.

The Moulton Police Department report showed that a total of 867 service calls were made for the month of August. 46 traffic contacts were made with 18 citations being issued and 28 warnings given.

Early in August, Police Chief Daniel Beyer attended the Lavaca County Law Enforcement Committee meeting at the Lavaca County Courthouse.

“We are still in the planning stages of several things that I will tell (council) about in the near future,” Beyer said.