VOL. 1 | NO. 2
PROSPERTIMES Friday May 12, 2017 | Prosper, Texas
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Ho d g e s w i n s e l e c t i o n f o r t o w n c o u n c i l Joyce Godwin Joyce@Cedarbrookmedia.com
are now. “It will be nice to see what they need and what their priorities are and try to help there.” Vogelsang also says he’s glad the election is finally over. “I’m excited and humbled to be able to serve the town of Prosper once again,” he said. “I look forward to working with our new council member Jeff Hodges as well as our existing Jeff Hodges Place 5 council members. I want to continue and emphasize our police/fire/ safety, infrastructure (roads/water), and business development as we tackle the challenges of our growing community.” Vogelsang says his goal will be to continue to seek excellence in all these areas as residents have come to expect and demand. “I have always sincerely appreciated the support, input and concerns that I have a received about our Town. I look forward to that continual feedback.” Following are the list of propositions on the ballot.
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who work for the town and see how hard they work behind the scenes. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that you don’t realize.” Hodges said since he signed up to run for his Council seat, he’s been asked often why he wanted to do it. In response, he names a few issues of interest. “I know the town is growing and I want to keep the feeling we have now,” he said. “It’s a small town where everybody looks out for their neighbors and you wave to people down the street. I want to try to keep the big businesses around [U.S.] 380 and the residential area further north.” He added that the town government has been great and he wants to be a part of the team. Now that he’s about to be on that team, he says he’s excited to see exactly what the Council is capable of doing. One of the things he will have on his mind as a member of the Council, he says, is to help the police department get located in one spot instead of spread around as they
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Prosper residents let their voices be heard last Saturday in the May 6 general election. Voters elected Jeff Hodges for Town Council Place 5 with 57 percent of the vote over Laura Thomas while approving all but one proposition on the ballot. Councilor Curry Vogelsang was on the ballot for Place 3 because his term expired but he had no opponent. Mike Davis, who held the seat for Place 5, decided not to run for another term. For the town of Prosper, Proposition No. 1 and numbers 3 through 10 were all approved, while Proposition No. 2, which had to do with removing term limits, was defeated. For the Collin County Community College District, Proposition No. 1, providing for a $6 Million bond for constructing, improving, renovating and equipping school buildings, was approved with
56 percent of the vote. Hodges, who survived his first election, will be sworn in at the Sept. 23 Council meeting and take his seat on the Council. “It’s a relief to have the whole thing over,” Hodges said of the election. “We filled out paperwork in February and it seemed like it would take forever to get through the election. Just the not knowing for a few months [about the outcome] was stressful and the closer you get to the end, the more stress.” Hodges said he had a lot of support from friends who helped with placement of his signs. “People showed they have confidence in me to do the job and I’m going to do the best I can,” he said. “I won’t forget the people who put me there [on the Council]. Hopefully I won’t lose their confidence.” Hodges is currently in the middle of his second term serving on the Parks and Recreation Board for Prosper. “It was a lot of fun,” he said. “I got to meet a lot of people
See HODGES on page 3 Curry Vogelsaang Place 3
D r. G o d d a r d f i n d s n e w home at Red Oak ISD Joyce Godwin PROSPER TIMES
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Dr. Mike Goddard speaks during the Red Oak ISD Board meeting as Red Oak Board member Dr. Mark Stanfill looks on. This is during the meeting in which Goddard was named the lone finalist in the search for Red Oak Superintendent.
Almost as if living in another dimension, Dr. Mike Goddard has one foot in two worlds at the same time as he travels these days between Red Oak Independent School District and Prosper. While folks in Prosper are saddened at the news that Goddard will move to Red Oak, people can’t help being excited for him for the new opportunities that will come with his new position there as superintendent. Goddard pointed out that things don’t slow down in Prosper, so he has his hands full spending time in both places every day preparing for the move while finishing his duties in Prosper. Along with the new position will also be a move of residence to Red Oak which will take his wife Dena out of the district as well. Goddard says Dena is sad to be leaving. “She’s so connected with the kids,” Goddard says. She’s been the Dyslexia lead of the district and spends most of her time at Cockrell [Elementary]. She is the reading whisperer.”
To w n Ha l l a n d m u l t i purpose facility construction on schedule Joyce Godwin Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.com Anyone who drives west on Broadway to the old part of Prosper’s downtown can see the construction project underway for Prosper’s new town hall. Expected to be complete in April 2018, the project is still in its early days. When completed, it will be a three-story nearly 53,000 square foot building on four acres west of Main Street, the former location of Main Street Park. In addition to Town Hall, the surrounding infrastructure, Main Street (First to Broadway) and Broadway (McKinley to Coleman), will also get a major facelift, with new pavement, lighting and landscaping. Pogue Construction Company Project Superintendent Dave Walker says it’s going to be a beautiful building — a real show place. But before that happens, Walker, the Pogue Construction team and about 40 subcontractors have a lot to do.
Crews are busy erecting steel this week with the help of a crane that stretches a boom 210 feet in the air and swings steel beams to all sides of the project to be welded into place. Also on the project site almost daily is Prosper’s Fire Marshall Bryan Ausenbaugh, who is serving as project manager for the Town of Prosper. He and Walker said they talk every day and often several times per day. Ausenbaugh said he remembers this project being in the works on some level for at least the past 13 years. So, it’s exciting to be on the site of the actual project in the works. He expressed great faith in the ability of Walker to run the project. “He sees things before they happen and gets a problem worked out before it becomes a problem.” For Walker, it’s an insight built on 30 years of experience — the last 13 with Pogue. Ausenbaugh says he gets a new perspective on the building every time he is there because so many changes are going on. It looks different every day.
Joyce Godwin / PROSPER TIMES
This photo is shot from the east side of the construction project for the new Prosper Town Hall and shows an overview of the steel as erected this week.
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Calendar - 2 Community Connection - 4 Eagle Hype - 6
See GODDARD on page 3
Ma y 9 t h To w n C o u n c i l Me e t i n g Joyce Godwin Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.com The Prosper Town Council had a big agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting made more full by the large number of individuals from the Lakes of La Cima who came to address the Council. In addition to the large number of residents’ comments, the Council made three presentations, one to Councilor Mike Davis in honor of his service, and licensed a veterans memorial for Frontier Park. At issue for the residents from Lakes of La Cima was the condition under which school children must cross Coit Road and La Cima Boulevard going to and from Rogers Middle School and Folsom Elementary School as well as the speed limits there and on La Cima Boulevard. Angela Loertscher was first to address the Council concerning the crosswalk by Rogers. She said she worked as a cross guard there last year for free just to make sure the children crossing there were safe. This year she has been told she can’t do it anymore because it is on city property. The problem has been made more critical by an accident last week where a Rogers’ student was hit by a car. Loertcher suggested to the Council to reconsider the speed limit at that location and to clear up the confusion of whether or not there can be a crossing guard. Next came Sandra Aldridge, whose son Spencer is the student in last week’s accident. She asked the Council to lower the speed limit there and expand the area of the school zone. She also went into great detail to show actual conditions under which the Rogers students must navigate Coit Road going to and leaving from school. Council members were attentive and even responded with some factual information. They are not permitted to engage in dialogue and
discussions during the “Citizens Comments” section of the meeting because it hasn’t been placed on the agenda, but they are allowed to share factual information. Jennifer Chapman also addressed the Council. “There is not a safe way to get to Rogers for our kids from Folsom [Elementary],” she said. She also pointed out that bus service will stop for the children there next year and that alone will cause an increase in traffic because more parents will be driving their children to school. Michael Poitevint came in support of what was already said by residents. He reported that another child was hit by a car at Arrowhead Drive and La Cima Boulevard on Sunday. He was asking the Council to consider reducing the speed limit on La Cima to 35 miles per hour. He also asked that a speed study be conducted as soon as possible that will take into account the pedestrian traffic along that road. The point was made that action should be taken now and the Council should not wait for a child to be killed before making changes. Council members all appeared to be moved by what was presented. At the end of the meeting, town staff was asked to put the speed limit and school zone issues on the agenda for the next regular meeting. In other business Mary Ray Smith presented a plaque to Mike Davis to thank him for his service on the Council. Davis elected to not run for another term on the Council and will be replaced by Jeff Hodges who won the race for Place 5. The Council also amended Planned Development-66 on more than 900 acres to modify the residential architectural requirements south of Prosper Trail and north of First Street west of Dallas Parkway and east of Legacy Drive. See COUNCIL on page 3
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