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Administration
Jessica Leyva
joined the staff as the office assistant this month. She is
organizing her work area, learning about the H.T. E. program for
purchasing and personnel, and organizing the deposit process and
reservations. She will have many days of learning, but has been
taking care of each transaction in a helpful manner. We are glad to
have her in the office.
The Mayor’s
Committee for People with Disabilities met this month. Garland
Picou said he needed to resign the leadership position of the
committee. He said he wanted to continue to be involved.
Budget
preparation kept us on task. We definitely do not want to enter
next year without a budget.
The Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board heard several reports this month. They
are waiting to hear the final projects to be considered in the
capital improvement program. They made several comments about the
new maintenance report each two weeks.
Arborist
At the City
Council meeting on Tuesday, May 20th, Todd Nightingale,
Texas Forest Service, District Forester congratulated the Mayor and
City Council on completing eighteen years as a certified Arbor Day
foundation Tree City USA. He presented the Mayor with an Arbor Day
flag, pin, and cap. He also recognized the Tree Board members. The
2008 Tree Board includes Chairman, Joe Pase, Council Members, R. L.
Kuykendall, Lynn Torres, and Phil Medford, also past chairman, John
Courtenay, Darwin Foster, and Janet Clarke.
I attended and
gave a presentation at the Texas Association of Botanic Gardens and
Arboreta. This year it was located in Orange, TX at Shangri La
Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. Nestled within 252 acres in
the heart of Orange, it is the former private garden of H.J. Lutcher
Stark and is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark
Foundation. Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the
first project in Texas and the 50th project in the world to earn the
U.S. Green Building Council's Platinum certification for LEED®-NC,
which verifies the design and construction of Shangri La reached the
highest green building and performance measures. Their motto is, “Be
kind to your world.”
Dr. Charles
Allen, Botanist at Fort Polk Louisiana, formerly professor at LSU
will present his very popular presentation “Edible Plants of the
Gulf South.” Hosted by the Gardening Friends of Lufkin, the June 5th,
event will be held at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center. Allen has
authored several books, which will be available for sale. All
lectures are free to the public. A plant drawing will be held and
refreshments will be served. For more information, call 633-0431 or
email remrick@cityoflufkin.com. There will be no lecture in July
and we will resume on August 7th as Steven L. Chamblee,
Chief Horticulturist at Chandor Gardens in Weatherford, TX, presents “Texas Tough Plants Top
Sixes—Native & Adapted Species.”
The Lufkin
Landscape Task Force continues with fundraising and planning for
Bronaugh Park. Mark your calendars for their largest fund raising
event, “a Taste of Tuscany”, which will be held at the Pitser
Garrison Civic Center on November 15, 2008.
AB/C has begun
a Sponsorship Program where individuals or organizations can pay to
sponsor a program. The website with details is http://www.angelinabeautifulclean.com/sponsorships
. They also are gearing up for the 2008 Amazing Turtle Race.
Horace and his
helper planted additional azaleas and Virginia sweetspire ‘Little
Henry’ at Kiwanis Park. As summer approaches and we are
experiencing high temperatures, irrigation and watering are quickly
becoming our priority. Plant stress increases dramatically as
temperatures rise above 80º. Every year getting the irrigations
systems repaired and running is a challenge.
Parks
Jory Smith has
taken the lead position on our trim crew. Jory’s crew is made up of
Express Personnel employees. His crew changes from week to week.
He is doing a good job in the parks. When he gets past the learning
curve, the mowing turnaround should be faster. The trim crew is
also the crew that moves bleachers and sets up the stage for special
events. This month was Cinco – De – Mayo and picnic tables for
neighbor association at Four Seasons Park.
The parks crew
was busy getting the spray play open by May 3 and 5th.
The swimming pool opens May 24th. The crew also worked
on Kiwanis playground unit, the main unit is installed we will be
installing two sets of swings and a retaining edge boarder around
the area. Azaleas and ground cover was planted in some existing
flower beds at Kiwanis Park.
Some of the crew
attended a Loss Prevention Training Corse put on by TML Risk Pool.
Supervision and operating vehicles were the main topics for the
day.
Angelina Rotary
Club poured a cement side walk at Chambers Park from the back
parking lot to pavilion #4 and on to the restroom and the walk
bridge. The parks crew formed and removed the forms and is working
on backfilling around the sidewalk.
Office
This month has
been a great month. More and more people are reserving the park
pavilions and community centers for many different events, such as,
baby showers, reunions, parties, wedding showers, and weddings. We
offer the Chambers and Brandon Community Centers to be rented for
all these events. Our most popular times to rent them are the
weekends, but we would like to mention that these buildings are also
used in the daytime for meetings. During the week it is not as
busy, so if you are looking for a meeting place remember the
community centers.
Number of
Reservation
Chambers Center
- 21
·
Birthdays- 2
·
Reunions- 5
·
Dulcimer- 5
·
Graduation party- 1
·
Meeting- 4
·
Parties- 2
·
Dinner- 2
Brandon Center -
13
- Meeting- 3
- Church
Services- 5
- Baby
shower- 2
- Picnic- 1
- Graduation
party- 1
- Reunions-1
Chambers Park-
82
Kiwanis Park- 58
Grace Dunne
Richardson- 65
Herty Park- 2
Winston Park- 7
Jones Park- 8
Total Revenue
for Chamber Center - $585.00
Total Revenue
for Brandon Center - $440.00
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