Daniel Prince
New water meters, water pipe replacement among discussed uses of ARPA funds
At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Lockhart Town Council, Mayor Connie Porter briefly discussed the upcoming special election on Tuesday, November 2nd. Lockhart Town Hall will be the voting site for the Lockhart precinct. On the ballot is the Capital Project Sales Tax and a change in the form of government for the county.
Next, they discussed a proposal by C-4 Services and Healthy U Behavioral Health Services for Healthy U to open a satellite office in the town. Lockhart has been identified as a hot spot for drug activity, and rather than having residents drive all the way to town, the group felt it would be good to offer services in the town. They would be in Lockhart on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8-5 to do counseling and roll call and to provide other avenues of help as needed. The group requested a side room in the Town Hall for one-on-one counseling, and they requested use of the conference room for group sessions. Mayor Porter also suggested the possible use of the former Hope Hospital if the group needed more privacy. Porter stressed the service would not cost the town anything, and any upgrades to the meeting spaces needed would be paid for by C-4 or Healthy U. The council voted 3-1, with Donnie Adams opposed, to allow the group meeting space either at the town hall or the hospital.
Mayor Porter then briefed council on the American Rescue Plan Act funds. The town is expected to receive $376,100. The government places limits on what that money can be used for, but water and sewer projects are among the projects allowed. Porter mentioned possibly using money to purchase new water meters for the town and maybe get more pipes fixed in the town. Lockhart has not yet received the ARP money.
Finally, Mayor Porter brought up the possibility of circulating a petition around the town asking that the post office be allowed to stay open until noon. Right now, the hours have been cut to 8-11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 9-10 on Saturday. She said the goal for the US Postal Service seems to be to keep cutting hours until they succeed in closing the post office permanently. Porter stated the town was successful in using a petition a few years back to be able to keep an employee there. Council voted to begin circulating petitions around the town to see if they could get enough to convince the Postal Service to allow their local post office to stay open an extra half-hour.