City Council approves creation of Gonzales Beautification Committee

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The Gonzales City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, March 9 at City Hall, 820 St. Joseph St. One of the big agenda items discussed was ordinance number 2023-7 about the creation of a City of Gonzales Beautification Committee.

The council approved an ordinance adding Section 9.309 Beautification Committee to the city’s Code of Ordinances and amending Sections 9.400 (Rules of Procedures Decorum and Ethics) and 9.500 (Code of Ethics and Conduct for City Officials and Employees of the City of Gonzales).

The council went over how many people should be on the Beautification Committee. Numbers from different boards were used as an example, from JB Wells to the Airport Board, with seven members brought up by Councilwoman Ronda Miller, who suggested they make the board bigger with more representation.

“We talked about the duties of the board and working as a community partner on behalf of the city. I was thinking, maybe we can make that a bigger number, just a bigger representation and more people to still represent,” Miller said.

Councilwoman Sherrie Koepp agreed with Miller about making the board bigger due to the “huge undertaking” it will be.

“It's going to take a group of citizens to make Gonzales even more beautiful than what it already is,” Koepp said.

Gonzales Mayor Steve Sucher said he doesn’t know what the right number is for the board, but suggested to start small and they could always add more.

“It is an important assignment, and to have a smaller group [of the Beautification Committee], sort of reaching consensus quicker,” Sucher said.

Sucher recalled the last time the city had a Beautification Committee, it was a big board with various entities in the community.

“All the gardening clubs, all the art clubs — all of them had a designated representative on that board, and it was a big board and it didn't work,” Sucher said.

“What I'm looking for is this is an important assignment. I think this affects our economic development, the sense of pride that we feel as residents of this community, so these are weighty matters,” Sucher said.

Sucher suggested to start with a smaller board, and once the board sets an agenda for what they are going to work on, then the council can add more people.

The council approved the following agenda times:

• approved suspending the April 10, 2023 effective date of the proposal by Texas Gas Service Company, A Division of One Gas, Inc. – Central-Gulf Service Area, to implement interim grip rate adjustments for Gas Utility Investment In 2022.

• approved rejecting the proposals received for the 2022 Street Improvement Projects

• approved authorizing City Manager Tim Crow to negotiate and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Edwards Association for the placement of a monument at Independence Square commemorating the post-Civil-War rise and progress of the African-American people in Gonzales County.

• approved an amended and restated performance agreement by and between the Gonzales Economic Development Corporation and Main Street Inc.

• approved a Budget Amendment to the Operating Budget for the Fiscal Year October 1, 2022 and Ending September 30, 2023.

• approved amending Chapter 12 Traffic and Vehicles of the City of Gonzales Code of Ordinances adding Article 12.2000 Utility Vehicles; All-Terrain Vehicles of Golf Carts on Public Street, Parking Area and/or Traffic Way.

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