City Manager's Report: Kilgore eighth-graders shadow city officials' jobs

UPCOMING EVENTS

■ March 22 – Regular City Council Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at Kilgore City Hall

■ March 26 – Lone Star Lug Nuts Early Bird Car Show, downtown

■ April 2 – Downtown Farmers Market begins. This is event will be every Saturday through October

■ April 2 – Avalon Faire Renaissance Festival begins

■ April 5 — 11:30 – First Tunesday at the World’s Richest Acre in downtown Kilgore.

■ April 12 – Regular City Council Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at Kilgore City Hall

PUBLIC WORKS AND PROJECTS

New swings set seats are being installed this week inside city parks.

Crews have been busy repairing damage caused by underground utility contractors. The new motto of the field operation crews is “No Pain No Gain” as we work through the growing pains associated with multiple fiber companies building out Kilgore.

The North Street Tank was proactively drained to maintain water quality.

The Vac-con is temporarily out of service and crews are using contract services for sewer stops.

Stone Road was overlaid by TxDOT.

The Industrial Drive Utility Improvements are 95 percent complete, and TxDOT’s construction project will kick off soon.

PUBLIC SAFETY

KPD’s SROs Davis and Forbes were on-hand for Freshman Preview at KHS to discuss/promote KBAD (Kilgore Bulldogs Against Drugs) with incoming freshman and their parents. They set up a booth and had 31 incoming freshman sign up as new members. We know kids whose focus is on education and not drugs and alcohol have a much higher percentage of graduation and successful adult lives.

KPD participated in the KMS job shadow program along with KFD, Kilgore Rescue and City Hall. There were 16 eighth-graders that spent the day learning about the various career opportunities within the various city departments. Thanks to Officer Angela Burch for heading this up and making it a great experience for these local students.

KPD hired a new part-time jailer, Wade Eadie, and a part-time dispatcher, Brittany Ketchum.

Sworn staff have been attending our spring Defense Tactics course. Our course is a hands-on program that builds confidence for our staff. We try to bring life-like training to the staff so they can better protect themselves and our citizens.

The Kilgore Fire Department was approved to purchase a new Fire Engine to replace Engine 2. This is a much-needed and vital piece moving forward in our five-year plan.

The Kilgore Fire and Rescue Departments completed live Fire/Rescue Intervention Team training on March 9-11 at the Kilgore Fire Academy training field. The Fire Department does this annually as part of our continuing education program. The Fire Department currently does almost three times the amount of CE the Texas Fire Commission requires through formal training, company training and professional development courses offered by the academy.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

Resolution 20-02 was passed by the City Council on Tuesday evening showing support for the submission of an application to the Texas Commission on the Arts designating the Kilgore Cultural Arts District as a state-certified cultural district.

Dirt work to build pad sites for 10 new homes in Remington North began this week.

A commercial remodel permit at 98 Midtown Plaza has been issued for a Big Lots retail store.

A total of 47 building and trade permits were issued for February, including three new commercial builds, two commercial remodels and one commercial addition.

QUALITY OF LIFE/TOURISM

Texas Highways and Chet Gardner with the Daytripper shared an article featuring Kilgore this month. Content included restaurants, museums and the iconic oil derrick skyline in historic downtown Kilgore.

Visit Kilgore is excited to announce that the spring event season is about to kick off with popular events, including Avalon Faire, TunesDay at the Acre, Kilgore College Rangerette Revels and many more.

LIBRARY

The Texas State Library Annual Report has been completed and submitted.

The NASA Ready Set Launch event in partnership with the East Texas Oil Museum was very successful with over 250 attendees.