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Public safety building committee narrows sites; council hears timeline for November bond election
Summary
The Public Safety Building Committee narrowed potential sites to two options and told council it expects to have a recommendation in time to meet an August 18 deadline to call a November bond election; council discussed coordination, site uses and community impacts.
The La Marque Public Safety Building Committee updated the City Council on May 12 that it had narrowed potential sites for a new public safety facility to two locations and sought to align its schedule with the timeline required to call a November bond election.
Committee chair reported the selections are a site in the 1200 block of O’Shea (the former Westlawn Elementary site) and a city-owned building near Highway 1765 (the former ABC building). The committee said it has asked an architecture firm to provide site-specific plans and cost quotes and expects a recommendation in time for the council to act before the city’s deadline to call an election, which staff identified as a window that runs from August 6 through August 18 for a November ballot.
Why it matters: the city is considering a bond to finance a combined police/public-safety facility and wants a clear timeline to place a measure on the November ballot. Committee and council members discussed site advantages, potential for co-located programming (e.g., community center or training partnerships with schools), and the need for a voter-information document that will accompany any ballot proposition.
Council discussion and timing: bond counsel told council that a voter-information document and a substantially final ordinance must be prepared before the council calls an election, and that the August 6–18 window is the legal period for calling a November bond election. Council members asked the committee to finish its recommendation so staff and bond counsel can prepare the required materials; the committee chair said he was confident the committee’s portion could be done before the August 18 deadline but noted some site tasks (surveys, engineering) require third-party work.
Next steps: the committee will obtain quotes and site plans from the selected architecture firm and return with a recommendation; bond counsel and staff will prepare required election documents once the council has a recommended proposition.
Ending: the council committed to work with the committee to meet the August timeline and to consider placing a public safety building bond on the November ballot if the committee’s recommendation and required documents are complete.
