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COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL
Columbus’ City council held a meeting Oct. 15, where Mayor Lori An Gobert addressed comments made at a town hall meeting in regard to residents’ fear of retaliation.
Gobert raised these concerns to city council members last Tuesday, not indicating where the retaliation was coming from, but relaying the sentiment of residents at the town hall meeting the day prior.
The town hall meeting, held the day beforehand last Monday, Oct. 14, was attended by almost 30 people, where comments were made about residents’ fear of retaliation from one another in regard to filing reports or complaints to city officials about neighbors or other Columbus residents that would somehow make their way back to those being complained about.
One anonymous resident, who attended both the town hall and city council meeting, feels it is difficult to report on issues about neighbors or people in town, given the size of the town and how word may spread from one person to another, even if told in confidentiality.
“I feel this is the reason retaliation is an issue in Columbus,” said the resident. “I hope city officials can learn from these concerns and refrain from speaking about complaints made by one person, to another.”
City manager Donald Warschak also addressed projects throughout Columbus in the upcoming weeks, including waterline work set to be done downtown and beyond.
“There will be work on Travis Streett from the courthouse square, starting on Spring St. down to Bottom St,” said Warschak. “We’ll be doing work on Milam Street from Jackson to Wallace, also on Live Oak Street, from Jackson Street all the way to St Anthony’s school to Wallace, and then on the south side of St. Anthony schools, over to Bowie Street.”
A motion was made to approve an agenda item regarding the partial release of an easement regarding a 6.229-acre tract of land by the upcoming construction of the Texas Crossroads Business Park.
“This easement for now is in the wrong spot since they are buying all that land,” said Warschak. “So, they are wanting to abandon just this easement. There is no current fix here, it is just an easement on paper. It terminates about right there. We’ve got a full water main that goes over here. We’ve got a sanitary sewer that comes across like this and stops there. And natural gas is also over on this boundary
