Today’s Galveston City Council agenda includes a proposed resolution approving the rebuilding of the remaining public housing units damaged by Hurricane Ike and authorizing an interlocal agreement with the Texas General Land Office, however details of that plan had not been completed by publication time. Thus, a special meeting has been posted for Friday afternoon in case the resolution is not approved by the city council today. Agenda
The GLO has threatened to withdraw Galveston’s funding under the Hurricane Ike Recovery Program if an acceptable plan is not approved by Friday.
Also on today’s agenda is a request by the Port of Galveston to extend the deadline for establishment of a “lump sum amount” for construction of the Downtown Intermodal Transportation Terminal under the Livable Communities Initiative and the renovation of the Shearn Moody Plaza Parking Garage.
Transportation Consultant Barry Goodman and Port of Galveston Director of Real Estate and External Affairs Roger Quiroga explained the issue in a workshop meeting with the city council this morning. Listen
Goodman explained that the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves on Monday awarded a construction manager at risk contract to Turner Construction Company and port staff is now negotiating with Turner to establish the total cost of the project.
“Is providing this extension going to increase cost to the city in terms of dollars or resources?” asked Council Member Norman Pappous.
“No, we're hoping that it will decrease it significantly,” Quiroga said. “That’s the advantage of the method that we used this time. We’re going to try to cut the cost down as far as we can to benefit both the city and the port.”
The city council also met again in workshop with Moody Gardens President and CEO John Zendt about a requested amendment to the management agreement with Moody Gardens for the Galveston Municipal Golf Course, which is on today’s action agenda. Listen
Zendt reported a steady decline in revenue every year since the 2007 agreement with the city and has asked to delay the first payment to the city for two years. The discussion included a debate between Mayor Lewis Rosen and Council Member Terrilyn Tarlton about the importance of a city-owned golf course.
“We as City Council have a duty to our citizens and to the taxpayers on this island and that is to give city services, and I’m going to tell you, we don’t do it,” Tarlton said. “I tell you there is a threshold that we cannot provide those services because we don’t have the funding.”
“A municipal golf course is required for our city,” Rosen said. “Would you agree with that? Don’t you think that’s a necessity? I mean all cities have municipal golf courses.”
The regular meeting of the city council will begin at 4 p.m.