Community leaders reflect on 2013, look forward to 2014

A new year is always a time of reflection a time to contemplate accomplishments of the past year and anticipate upcoming events. The Van Banner asked city leaders and the Van ISD superintendent to take a few moments and answer some questions about the year past and the one just started. Here are the first responses received and we are hoping to run the remaining responses next week.

Van City Council Member Amanda Davis

Residents of Van, First, I would like to thank the citizens of Van for allowing me to serve as their voice on the city council. The past six months have been an exciting time for me as a council member, as a council we have established a new Parks and Recreation board, kept our tax rate from rising yet again and also are pushing for the annexation of Interstate 20. I hope over the next year and a half, we can accomplish more of the goals that I originally set when I ran for office. -One of these accomplishments was the formation of the Parks and Recreation board, which will hopefully take the initiative to begin repairs and update our city parks and ensure the use of them for many years to come. Van residents all know that our city parks have declined and that our pool was closed. I hope to work closely with the new parks and recreation board to get our parks where we all would like to see them- safe, clean, and a focal point for our children. We hope to apply for many grants and work closely with the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions club, Kiwaniss club and our citizens to give our children a safe environment for them to play. While pushing for the repair of our parks, it is also crucial to push for development across Interstate 20, a must if Van is to move forward into the future. We all know that Vans oil and mineral revenue has steadily declined over the past few years and will continue to do so with more oil wells are being capped every year. I hope in the next year, we can expand infrastructure across interstate. Van is a prime location. If we could get south of Interstate 20 developed, it would increase sales tax revenue and allow for exponential growth. It is imperative for us to keep strategic planning as a priority in order for us to move ahead. Ive tried to help raise awareness with the safety concerns of the I-20 exit ramp 540. Moving our ramp back would not only eliminate the safety concerns currently on our minds, but would open so many opportunities along our I20 corridor. If you havent written Dan Flynn or Bob Deuell regarding the safety concerns of our ramp, I would encourage you to do so. We, as a community, need to voice concerns regarding our roads to ensure a productive and safe community. Although taxes were raised in Van Zandt County, the council voted to keep our tax rate the same instead of raising it yet again. If we continue to support our local businesses and our sales tax revenue continues to rise, I would like to see us try to lower our tax rate next budget cycle. As many of you know, our Economic Director, Jerrod Fishback, recently left. We are confident that even with his departure, we are on the right path for success and I hope to have the support that would entail me to further Vans growth. During my time as a council member, we have seen many new businesses come into Van, the tax rate kept the same and the formation of the Parks and Recreation Board, something that Van vitally needed for its residents. As a council member, I will continue to work tirelessly to prosper, grow and move Van into the future. Again, thank you for trusting in me to be your voice. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of service to you.

Van City Council Member Jackie Nations

What do you see on the horizon for Van in the upcoming year? Several things are on the horizon for Van in 2014. We will be replacing Jerrod, our EDC Director and picking up where Jerrod left off to not lose momentum with the projects that Jerrod and the board had begun during the past year. The new Parks and Recreation Board that has been formed can have an impact for our community if we can find funds to restore some of our facilities.

What would be Vans biggest challenge in 2014? Our biggest challenge for 2014 is finding ways to fund all that we need to do in our community without raising our taxes. Growing our business base to increase sales taxes and creating jobs for our local people is a challenge for all of us in our community. Our oil revenue dollars are decreasing, as evidenced by the continual plugging and abandoning of the wells which have given Van much of its support in the past. Another challenge is cleaning up our town so that those who come here will see our community as a nice, neat place to live, raise our family, or start a business. We all need to look at our premises to see if there are ways we can contribute to this effort and have pride in our outward appearances.

Any significant events that the residents of Van should be looking forward to? The events that everyone should look forward to are the development of several new businesses. We will continue to actively solicit new businesses to come to Van while pledging our support to the other existing businesses in town.

What should people put on their calendar right now so they will be sure not to miss it? Our citizens should watch for ongoing events that are normally posted in our Van Banner paper and support our organizations and efforts to bring people closer together to grow our community.

Several accomplishments in 2013 were: The Van EDC has taken great strides in their efforts to inform people of their efforts and to set up a base work for the direction we need to grow our business base. Several streets were re-paved in the city. This may not seem like much, but it is a big expense. I hope it will be a new beginning to continue with several streets each year. A previously water well that has been out of service for many years has been resurrected to supplement our water needs for future growth. Water is going to be one of our big ticket items to prepare for future needs of our community.

Superintendent of Van ISD Don Dunn

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Community leaders reflect on 2013, look forward to 2014