Hello Collin County,
This week we have news from McKinney and Parker. With all our wins in the May elections, now is a great time to support our new council members and trustees by getting involved in our mission. We still need coverage of city council and school board meetings across the county. If you can watch meetings from home and write reports on what took place, reach out today and we will place you on a team. Our newly elected officials need your ideas and support. Most importantly, all of Collin County needs your involvement.
McKinney City Council
At their May 16 meeting, the McKinney City Council heard comments from the executive director of Grace to Change Rehabilitation Services. With the recent news that the state of Texas will receive money from a settlement regarding the opioid crisis, the director is requesting $150,000 of the settlement money for an additional counselor. Though they serve all of Collin County as a contractor for Lifepath, they are not allocated any direct monies from the commissioners court. They only receive some funding from Lifepath on a per-patient basis, so the additional funding from McKinney for a counselor is much needed.
McKinney has been awarded $450,000 of the settlement money. Only $140,000 has been received thus far with the timing for the remainder of the funds unknown. The other significant item was a presentation on the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness. One of the priorities of the task force is a campaign to end panhandling. Approximately $20,000 has been spent on signage dissuading residents from giving to panhandlers.
The McKinney Urban Transit District Board met on May 16. In this meeting, the North Central Texas Council of Gov’ts (NCTCOG) presented changes to the McKinney Urbanized Area (MUZA) resulting from the 2020 Census. The area is now considered a “large urban area” and will be combined with parts of Frisco to create the McKinney Frisco Urbanized Area (MFUZA). Since the physical area has also changed, Melissa and Princeton have been removed from the Urbanized Area.
Funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) will now have to go through the NCTCOG instead of directly to the McKinney Urban Transit District. NCTCOG will try to work with Collin County to re-establish their Rural Transit District that was lost when the county stopped receiving transit services in 2015 due to the financial failures of the Texoma Area Paratransit System (TAPS) which was chaired by none other than Chris Hill. September is when the board estimates they will be able to announce their decisions regarding the reforming of services under the new Urbanized Area.
Parker City Council
At their May 16 meeting, the results of the May 6 election were announced. Jim Reed won re-election and two new members, Amanda Noe and Todd Fecht, were elected to at-large positions. Prop A, an $8.6m bond issuance to construct a new municipal facility, failed. Prop B, changing the mayor and city council term lengths from two years to three, also failed. Prop C, a 1% sales and use tax to fund street repairs and maintenance, passed. Michael Slaughter was also re-appointed as mayor pro tem.
Don’t forget to vote in the runoff for the Collin College Board of Trustees! Early voting begins May 30 and runs until June 6 (except Sunday, June 4). Voting Day is on June 10. Let’s get our candidates, Stacey Donald and Scott Coleman, across the finish line and flip the board! See y’all next week.
Yours Truly,
Justin Wray Neth
Neth.justin@yahoo.com 682-225-4495