Thank
You to Clear Lake and Bay Area Civil Servants by Taylor Lake
Village Mayor Natalie O'Neill
April 18, 2005
As
the Chair of the Clear Lake Area Council of Cities since 1997,
I have noticed an exciting trend this last decade. The Clear
Lake and Bay Area city governments have really opened up their
lines of communication to work together towards common goals.
We have always communicated with one another on some
level but in the last few years the mayors and council members
of Shoreacres, Seabrook, El Lago, Taylor Lake Village, Clear
Lake Shores, Nassau Bay, Webster and Friendswood have shared
ideas and philosophies and joined forces to address common
needs and objectives. In the past, each city had its own
vision and administration and each entity managed its own
issues. Now, because of tremendous growth in all our
communities and continued growth predicted in the next decade
the cities realize; what affects one city affects us all. Our
last Clear Lake Area Council of Cities meeting was a sharing
of each city’s vision. Each city developed visions for their
future and we discovered that we all want the same things; a
small town atmosphere and continued quality of life even if we
grow into big cities. We want less crowded schools, decreased
flooding, and improved traffic management and better air
quality.
Issues like
Flood Control on Clear Creek, safety, traffic and air quality
from the Bayport Container Port, NASA Parkway and Webster
By-pass, and the proposed widening and possible elevating of
SH146 through Seabrook are issues that the local elected
officials have discussed and worked together on… towards
consensus. While the administrations of each city all do not
agree on every issue, at least we work together and openly
communicate to try and come to some agreement on what we must
do to provide each of our municipalities with what is needed
to prosper.
La Porte,
Shoreacres, Seabrook, El Lago, Taylor Lake Village, Clear Lake
Shores, Nassau Bay, Webster, Friendswood and Pearland meet
together with TexDOT, Harris County Flood Control, the Army
Corps of Engineers and others to open lines of communication
express concerns and find common ground. The aforementioned
cities also work with groups like the Bay Area Transportation
Partnership, the Clear Creek Watershed Steering Committee and
Technical Advisory Committee, the Clear Lake Area Council of
Cities, as well as non-profit groups like the Galveston Bay
Conservation and Preservation Association. Mayors Robin Riley,
Nancy Edmonson, Kathy McIntyre and Council members Natalie Ong,
John Tully, Mel Measels, Jerry Ericsson, Floyd Meyer and
Vaness Hamilton (to name only a few) come to many, many
meetings to educate themselves and to be sure they are aware
of the issues that confront our developing communities. While
some larger cities have staff that manage day to day details;
some of your elected officials are dedicated civil servants
who really take their commitment to the community seriously.
With these
dedicated people has come this new open communication. With
the huge growth in our communities is it important that we all
work together. It gives me a great deal of personal pleasure
to do my job with the support of so many volunteer, public
servants who give of themselves in a sometimes thankless job.
As
the Chair of the Clear Lake Area Council of Cities since 1997,
I have noticed an exciting trend this last decade. The Clear
Lake and Bay Area city governments have really opened up their
lines of communication to work together towards common goals.
We have always communicated with one another on some
level but in the last few years the mayors and council members
of Shoreacres, Seabrook, El Lago, Taylor Lake Village, Clear
Lake Shores, Nassau Bay, Webster and Friendswood have shared
ideas and philosophies and joined forces to address common
needs and objectives. In the past, each city had its own
vision and administration and each entity managed its own
issues. Now, because of tremendous growth in all our
communities and continued growth predicted in the next decade
the cities realize; what affects one city affects us all. Our
last Clear Lake Area Council of Cities meeting was a sharing
of each city’s vision. Each city developed visions for their
future and we discovered that we all want the same things; a
small town atmosphere and continued quality of life even if we
grow into big cities. We want less crowded schools, decreased
flooding, and improved traffic management and better air
quality. 
