Story by Judy Griffin, Forney Messenger

During the Commissioners Court meeting of Monday, June 8, Commissioners discussed and considered an agenda item concerning a resolution “in support of the construction of both the Highway 34 bridge in Terrell and the Forney Parkway Bridge and/or in the alternative decide on which project individually should be recommended to the Council of Governments.”

The discussion began with Precinct 2 County Commissioner Ray Clark saying that he had put this item on the agenda.

Clark began his discussion by giving a background of how this money—$20 million—had been discovered from the North Texas Council of Governments.

The $20 million is in RTR funds—$7.17 million in RTR/ARRA swap funding, $2.83 million in a Kaufman County RTR allocation, and $10 million in New Boundary RTR funding.

Clark said he had been working on this project for Kaufman County for 1 1/2 years and that his goal was to get the money for the the cities throughout the county to enable them to proceed with their projects.

This money is not TxDOT money and will not reduce or affect any TxDOT money that has been allocated for Kaufman County projects.

The original stimulus projects for Kaufman County on the short list for the Dallas District are:
U. S. 80 at FM 548—funds requested: $10 million; and
U. S. 80 new interchange at Forney—funding
requested: $18 million.

During Clark’s presentation, he pointed out that the City of Forney had adopted a resolution in support of $10 million for the construction of State Highway 34 bridge over U. S. Highway 80 and $10 million for the construction of the Forney bridge at the most recent meeting of the Forney City Council on June 2.

Clark also pointed out that the City of Forney had adopted a resolution at the same Council meeting stating that they would fund a total of $8 million towards this project.

Clark informed Commissioners that the city of Talty and their mayor, Carla Milligan, were in favor of the City of Forney project. Clark read a letter to that effect.

A resolution by Commissioner Clark affirms that the Forney Parkway project will connect FM 1641 and FM 548, allowing for mixed use and regional development in accordance with the stated goals of the Regional Transportation Council (RTC), and that it therefore supports the allocation of $10 million for the construction of the Forney Parkway Bridge. The NCTCOG resolution limits fun ding to the Forney Parkway Bridge only unless funding is approved for other projects by Kaufman County and the RTC, and stipulates that construction contracts must be let by July, 2011.

Commissioner Clark closed his remarks by encouraging all the cities to find ways to finance their projects in order for the projects to be completed.

Before recognizing visitors who had signed up to speak to this item, County Judge Wayne Gent asked for a motion concerning the proposed agenda item. Clark made a motion to allocate $10 million to the Forney Parkway Bridge project. His motion drew a second from Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Deller.

Judge Gent then said he would allow speakers to have the floor only if they had new information to present to the Court concerning the transportation resolution. The following signed up to speak: Mayor William Fortner, Kaufman; Mayor Hal Richards, Terrell; Heath Kaplan, City Manager, Crandall; Curtis Snow, City Manager, Kaufman; Danny Booth, EDC and Chamber of Commerce, Terrell; former Mayor Darrell Grooms, Forney; Mayor Darren Rozell, Forney; Troy Edwards, City Manager, Terrell; and Mike Sims, Assistant City Manager, Terrell.

All of the speakers except former Mayor Grooms and current Mayor Rozell of Forney said they were in total support of Kaufman and Terrell receiving the entire $20 million in funding. Rozell and Grooms explained Forney’s position, which was to support the allocation of $10 million to the City of Forney for the Forney Parkway Bridge project and $10 million for the Highway 34 projects in Terrell and Kaufman. Rozell also explained Forney’s complete cost breakdown on the Parkway project, including the bridge and spine roads.

During comments from Commissioners, Commissioner Jerry Rowden (Precinct 1) presented a resolution which the city of Terrell had adopted at their June 2 Council meeting, which would allocate the priorities of eight projects with 1 being the highest priority and 8 being the lowest priroity. These projects are:
(1)?State Highway 34 separation in Terrell from Grove St. to High St.; (2) State Highway 34 in Terrell from Airport Rd. to Grove St.; (3)?State Highway 34 in Kaufman from SW to FM 1388 to SH 243; (4)?U. S. 175 in Crandall from FM 148 to CR 4106; (5)?U. S. 80 bridge at proposed new parkway east of FM 548; (6)?U. S. 175 new grade separation in Kemp; (7)?Re-alignment of FM 148 in Crandall from south of U. S. 175 to north of U. S. 175; and (8)?Re-alignment of State Highway 34 from north of Kaufman to south of Terrell.

Commissioner Rowden emphasized that the Highway 34 project should be priority since it has been on the books for about 40 years. He said he supports the Kaufman-Terrell projects and urged Commissioners to “search their hearts” before voting. He urged Commissioners to adopt a resolution similar to the city of Terrell’s.

In response, Clark said everyone should push their projects to get them completed.

Commissioner J. C. Jackson (Precinct 3) said that the Highway 34 project should be priority because in its present shape, it is a “very dangerous situation” for the citizens of Kaufman County.

Commissioner Deller said that this is the hardest decision he has ever made since he had become a Commissioner on the Kaufman County Commissioners Court.

Commissioner Rowden offered an amended motion. The amended motion was seconded by Commissioner Jackson. The vote was: For: Rowden and Jackson; against: Clark, Gent and Deller.

Judge Gent then went back to the original motion, which was to allocate $10 million to the Forney Parkway Bridge project, with the stipulation that a contract must be negotiated by or before July, 2011 or the City of Forney would lose the $10 million. The original motion carried by a vote of 3-2, with Commissioners Clark and Deller and County Judge Wayne Gent voting in favor. Those voting “no” were Commissioners Rowden and Jackson.

There is $10 million left to allocate, and Commissioners hope to allocate the remaining amount either June 22 or June 29. Commissioners Clark and Jackson were planning to discuss transportation with TxDOT on Wednesday, June 10 at the TxDOT offices and report back at a later date.

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This story and any accompanying photo(s) were originally published in the Forney Messenger and are Copyright © 2009, Forney Messenger, Inc. and have been used by permission. The Forney Messenger is the publisher of Kaufman County’s oldest newspaper and may be found online at www.ForneyMessengerInc.com.

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