Ben Estlack

State Rep. Ken King will visit Clarendon next Tuesday, September 3, as he tours a segment of House District 88 to discuss the upcoming 89th Regular Legislative Session.

The representative will meet citizens at the Bairfield Activity Center at Clarendon College from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Rep. King will solicit feedback from constituents on issues of vital importance to them and their communities.

“Before beginning another legislative session, it is important that I received input and ideas from the constituents of District 88 to help me effectively represent and advocate for our community.” King said.

The Clarendon College Board of Regents approved the tax rate and the budget for the next fiscal year for the college district when they met last Thursday, August 15.

CC President Tex Buckhaults said the new budget totals about $13 million. Donley County taxpayers will pick up about $786,000 of that bill with the new ad valorem tax rate of $0.2549 per $100 value.

This will be the first year that CC does not tax personal property in Donley County.

The remainder of the budget will be covered by $6.930 million from state appropriations, about $1 million in maintenance taxes in Gray and Childress counties, and the balance from student tuition and fees.

Buckhaults said college staff are getting five percent raises and college faculty are getting raises of three percent or $2,000, whichever is higher.

Capital expenditures planned in the new budget includes replacing roofs on two buildings – part of a rotation plan that will see a roof or two done on all college buildings for a 15 year period – and new drapes for the stage in the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved by resolution financial assistance in the amount of a $1,000,000 loan from the Agricultural Water Conservation Loan Program to the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District, which covers Carson, Gray, Donley, Roberts, Armstrong, Potter, Hutchinson, and Wheeler counties.

The District will use the assistance to provide financing for a loan program that funds agricultural water conservation equipment.

The District could save approximately $86,300 over the life of the loan by using the Agricultural Water Conservation Loan Program.

The District will use the funds to provide loans to area farmers to purchase irrigation systems and related equipment to improve water use efficiency.

The TWDB is the state agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data, assisting with regional water and flood planning, and preparing the state water and flood plans.

The TWDB administers cost-effective financial assistance programs for the construction of water supply, wastewater treatment, flood mitigation, and agricultural water conservation projects.

A major street paving project is getting underway in Howardwick this week after years of planning and months of negotiations.

Howardwick City Hall said Tuesday that G&G Operators of Dalhart will begin work that will see about seven blocks of hot mix asphalt paving laid down on Rick Husband Boulevard from Dawn Drive, just past the country club, to Dana Drive near the entrance of McMorries Memorial Park.

The project will be a major milestone for the community and will address long-time problems with the city’s main thoroughfare.

“This is a big deal for Howardwick,” City Secretary Sandy Childress said. “It’s been long-awaited and hard fought for.”

The project was originally proposed in 2020 and would have paved Rick Husband beyond City Hall, but escalating costs caused the project to be whittled down. When G&G’s bid was first accepted in January of this year, the paving was only going to cover 800 feet from Dawn to Porter, about one block. Since then, city officials have negotiated and approved change orders to the project that allowed for a much greater distance to be covered.

“Basically, we found ways for the city to do more of the work,” Childress said. “We’re going to haul off all the old material, and we’re going to do the signage.”

The city also agreed to change the width of the road and will be taking care of tying the new paving into the intersecting streets.
A Community Development Block Grant is paying for most of the $219,499.50 project. The city will cover about $17,000 of that cost.

Childress on Tuesday was busy trying to notify residents of the coming work and the disruptions to travel in the city. Most affected residents have other ways to access Rick Husband. Folks who life on the Tyng Drive cul-de-sac are being notified of a temporary route across private property that will let them get to and from their homes.

The city was also looking into solutions for the school bus route so kids can still get picked up by Clarendon CISD.

Childress says the project is supposed to take 60 working days with the city hoping for an October 5, 2024, completion date.

It was good news and bad news for Donley County last week when the Texas Historical Commission awarded a $2.3 million grant to help fund preservation work on the 1890 Courthouse.

While county officials were pleased the THC recognized the importance of preserving the Texas Panhandle’s oldest functioning courthouse, they say the grant was not at all what the county had applied for.

County Judge John Howard said the county had applied for a restoration grant to complete more than $4.6 million in needed repairs, specifically to address conservation of spalling sandstone and problems in one of the building’s masonry walls.

The county had pledged a match of $820,000 in its grant application, which amounted to an overmatch of 18 percent instead of the required 15 percent, in hopes of securing the necessary state funds to do the work.

But when the THC made its announcement last week, it awarded Donley an emergency grant, which requires a 50 percent match. In other words, the county would have to put up $2.3 million of its own money to get the state’s $2.3 million to complete the $4.6 million project.

“It all comes down to whether or not we were ‘fully restored’ in 2003,” Howard said. “We believe we were not because there was work that was not done.”

At the time of the original restoration two decades ago, several items – including the stone conservation, masonry repairs, and a fire suppression system – were deleted from the scope of the project to stay on budget.

THC, however, holds that Donley County was fully restored and is therefore only eligible for an emergency grant.

Howard says the county has 30 days to accept or reject the grant and says commissioners will consider the matter during their regular meeting next Monday.

The county has been putting money aside for this work for several years, so it has the $820,000 on hand. Howard said commissioners may consider scaling back the project and seeing if the state will match its $820,000.

The judge himself is reluctant to accept the grant as it was awarded because it would require an additional tax burden to borrow the funds needed for the match, and he says now is not the time for that.

He said the county could also reapply later if the Legislature allocated more money for the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.

The THC last week awarded matching grants totaling $46,224,812 to nine counties to aid in preservation of Texas’ iconic historic county courthouses, including four grants for full restorations.

Donley, Duval and Refugio counties received Emergency Grants to address critical issues endangering these courthouse buildings and impacting their use.

Comanche, Kimble, Van Zandt and Willacy counties received full restoration grants. Castro and Gonzales counties received Planning Grants that will create planning road maps for future restoration work.

The 13th round of THCPP grants were made possible through a $45 million appropriation by the 88th Texas Legislature. An additional $3-4 million is anticipated in September 2024 from the Historic Infrastructure Sustainability Trust Fund.

The THC received applications from 31 counties requesting grant funding of nearly $150 million for projects totaling over $200 million. The agency determined grant awards by assessing 23 criteria including the building’s age, endangerment, historical designations, the project proposals, local support for the project, county revenue and more. This round includes a new scoring criterion, longevity. The new criterion provides points for previously unsuccessful applicants that recognize the county’s ongoing commitment to these preservation goals.

Emergency grant requests were scored based on seven criteria, while emergency requests for previously restored courthouses were scored on 14 criteria.

“The requests we received this year demonstrate both the counties’ enthusiasm and their need for the funds this program provides,” said THC Executive Director Joseph Bell. “We look forward to partnering with these nine recipients and preserving their real histories and authentic characters.”

Howard said Donley County appreciates the THC grant and the state’s recognition of the importance of the local courthouse, but he said commissioners will ultimately have to do what’s in the county’s best interests.

The Clarendon CISD Parent, Family, & Community Back To School Bash will be held Monday, August 12, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

Clarendon Elementary School parents and students can meet the teachers that evening starting at 5:30 through 5:50 for students with last names beginning with O-Z, names A-G will be 6:00-6:20, and names H-N will be 6:30-6:50.

Clarendon Junior High and Clarendon High School students can meet their teachers in Bronco Stadium beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The overall Back To School Bash at the stadium will feature pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, and water; and organizations will be selling homemade ice cream, tea, lemonade, and t-shirts. Those in attendance can sign up that night for Little Miss Cheer and Donley County 4-H. Games will be available for the kids to play until 7:15 p.m., and the district will hold its annual Title I meeting that evening.

The evening will wrap up with the annual Meet the Broncos event starting at 7:30 p.m.