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HomeMy WebLinkAboutreporter.aug07© City of Georgetown, 2007 R&D Molders, a Central Texas plastics company, moved their 48 employees into an existing 60,000 square-foot industrial facility at 107 Park Central Boulevard that had been vacant for five years. The company produces a wide variety of parts, including medical machine components and bottles, industrial containers, fishing lures, canteens, and promotional footballs. “The fact that you could make two million fishing lures a year is amazing to me,” said Mayor Gary Nelon at the grand opening event. “I’ve lost a few,” quipped the Mayor, an occasional angler. The reconstruction of Park Central Boulevard, which serves the company and other facilities in the industrial park, was funded with $550,000 from Georgetown’s 4B corporation. A sales tax of 0.5 cents provides revenue for the Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation, which funds new road projects that are tied to job creation VOL.5 • NO.8 A Publication of the City of Georgetown August 2007 Trees Trucked to New Home in San Gabriel Park Manufacturer Brings 48 Jobs to Georgetown Eleven trees were picked up and transplanted in June to spare them before bulldozers prepare the ground for the expansion of the Recreation Center (to include indoor and outdoor pools, a gym, and a senior/teen center). Little promotional footballs were a popular item on the plant tour at the R&D Molders opening on June 26. A company called Environmental Design used a machine that lifts out a tree’s root ball like an enormous scoop of ice cream. Two chinquapin oaks, a red oak, and several other trees were moved and re-planted near soccer fields in San Gabriel Park. The “new” trees provide instant shade for soccer fans. The A shift at Georgetown’s new Fire Station 1 includes (left to right) Firefighter Keith Hehmann, Lt. Jeff Davis, Battalion Chief Mark Moss, Firefighter Amador Anguiano, and Apparatus Operator Ethan Walker The Georgetown Fire Department invites the community to an Open House at the new Fire Station 1 on Aug. 14 from 5 to 9 p.m. City offi- cials will mark the opening of the new fire station at 5 p.m. with a flag ceremony and a “hose uncoupling,” Fire Station 1 Open House which is a fire service tradition similar to a ribbon cutting. The Georgetown Firefighters Pipes and Drums, a nine-member band that formed last year, also will perform at the ceremony. The station is located at 301 Industrial Avenue. The Georgetown City Reporter is a publication of the City of Georgetown Public Information Office located in City Hall, 113 E. Eighth Street, Georgetown, Texas, 78626. For questions or comments, contact Keith Hutchinson, Public Information Officer for the City of Georgetown at (512) 930-3690, or by email at pio@georgetowntx.org. Discover the latest news about the city at www.georgetown.org You may not realize it, but due to an unexpected crisis, a family that lives in your neighborhood may be struggling. Like one family with two young boys who moved here recently from San Antonio. They moved suddenly after the woman’s mother had open-heart surgery and needed 24-hour care. The father, who has a college degree, is working day-labor jobs to earn some income while he looks for a local posi- tion in his field. He had a good job in San Antonio, but now there isn’t enough money to pay the utility bills. Or the young couple in their 20’s with a 10-month-old baby. The father, who was working at a major local employer, was laid off, and overnight there was no income. The Good Neighbor Fund was set up 20 years ago to help utility customers like these who face an unexpected financial hardship. The program pays up to one-half of a customer’s utility bill. The other half is paid by the customer or a local nonprofit, which is typically The Caring Place, a local assistance program that administers the Good Neighbor Fund contributions. In 2006, the Good Neighbor Fund assisted 141 customers who demon- strated financial need with a total of $13,712 in matching contributions. According to the City Utility Office, one in every seventeen utility customers contributes to the fund. That’s about six percent. Each year, the need for utility bill assis- tance at The Caring Place far exceeds the available matching donations. According to Lori Frasco, program director at The Caring Place, a total of $106,777 was provided in utility bill Georgetown Citizen Academy Members of the 2007 Georgetown Citizen Academy were recognized at the June 26 City Council meeting. The eight-week program introduces citizens to each City department with tours, demonstrations, and presentations. Graduates included (seated left to right) Carol Van Wassehnova, Sheila Mitchell, Jessica Hamilton, Lisa Haines, (standing left to right) Don Van Wassehnova, Rick Williamson, Leslie Green, and Noel Glucksman. Graduates not pictured include James Clark, Tina Heine, Trish Long, Sandra Ramjit, Pat Reynolds, and Warren Robb. The Georgetown City Reporter was recently named the top external newsletter in Texas for cities with populations up to 55,000. The award, which Georgetown shared with University Park, was presented in June by the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers Georgetown City Reporter Wins Statewide Award assistance from The Caring Place from July 2006 to June 2007. Currently there is $1,800 in the Good Neighbor Fund. The need is especially critical in the hot summer months. “Come August, everyone starts getting utility bills that are triple what they usually are,” says Danette Lopez Garza, self-sufficiency program coordinator at The Caring Place. She says they typically provide up to $150 for utility assistance, a cap that allows the agency to assist more people, many of whom are elderly or disabled. While Georgetown’s average income is higher than many communities, it may be surprising to learn the number of families seeking assistance from The Caring Place. “We’re serving well over 2,000 households a year,” says Lopez Garcia. That translates to roughly 14,000 people. The agency can help clients with needs such as food, clothing, and rent, as well as utility bill assistance, which is the most common request. Thanks, in part, to the Good Neighbor Fund, the family who moved here from San Antonio was able to get through a tough time. The electricity stayed on and the woman’s mother, who had heart surgery, is now doing better. The young couple with the baby is also getting back on their feet. The father has a new job and the mother is studying to get her real estate license. A one dollar donation on your utility bill “[can] really make a big differ- ence,” says Lopez Garcia, who notes that many of her clients who received utility assistance in the past are now regular contributors to the fund themselves. “The Good Neighbor Fund has really helped us out.” To apply for assistance from the Good Neighbor Fund, utility customers should contact The Caring Place at (512) 869-4735. The Georgetown Fire Department is offering free smoke alarms to residents who do not have them in their homes. The “Smoke Alarms in Every Home!” campaign is made possible by Wayne Wright Lawyers, a Texas law firm that made a charita- ble donation of 5,000 smoke alarms to fire departments in Williamson County. The campaign by Wayne Wright Lawyers was launched after nine people in San Antonio perished from fires in 2006 in homes that were not equipped with smoke alarms. A working smoke alarm can be a critical life-saving device in the case of fire. According Smoke Alarms in Every Home to a study by Johns Hopkins University funded by the United States Fire Administration, 75 percent of residential fire deaths and 84 percent of residential fire injuries could have been prevented by smoke detectors. If you live in Georgetown and would like to request installation of free smoke alarms for your home, call the Georgetown Fire Department at 512) 930-3473. at their annual meeting. The City of Georgetown website and three news releases also were recognized as finalists in the annual awards competition by TAMIO, a statewide organization for communications professionals in municipal government. A Good Neighbor Needs Your Help Georgetown Fire Chief Anthony Lincoln with one of the free smoke alarms.