Countyrecord issue020316

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Published for Orange Countians by Orange Countians H

County Record

TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 57 No. 40

The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas

Week of Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Motion filed to halt relocation of City Hall Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

The City of Orange has temporarilty halted its plans to move its headquarters to a new location in town, as well as possibly sell its current City Hall building. A motion has been filed by a group of local citizens recently in the 260th District Court of Orange County, which has forced the City of Orange to put its plans on hold to relocated City Hall to the First Financial Bank building on 16th Street. It has also forced the city to halt any possible action in regards to its current City Hall in downtown Orange. “I feel the city did not follow its charter or its own procedures to involve the public to make this kind of decision,” said Leslie Barras of the group, Historic Orange Preservation Empowerment (HOPE). “We were supposed to have a hearing (Tuesday, Feb. 2), but the city agreed to hold off on its purchase and asked for later date.” Barras said the organization HOPE and the City of Orange will now meet in the 260th Dis-

trict Court of Orange County, presided over by Judge Buddy Hahn, on Wednesday, March 2. “A win by HOPE only Barras means the city will have to step back, get the public involved and possibly look at other options,” Barras added. “People should have the option to have a say in what the city is trying to do.” In early January, the City of Orange approved plans to relocate City Hall in an effort to better purchase the current First Financial Bank location at 819 16th St. and convert it into a a new City Hall. This location will also house the Orange Convention and Visitors Bureau. A study was conducted by Architectural Alliance this past year to determine if the current City Hall facility in downtown Orange could meet the needs of the community for the future. Results from the study indi-

Orange Mardi Gras 2016

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County approves new energy saving project Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

Renovations and repairs are coming to several Orange County facilities and it will not cost the county a cent. Orange County Commissioners unanimously approved a measure to have Way Service, Ltd. to conduct repairs and make upgrades to several county buildings in an effort to increase savings related to energy efficiency. Much of this project will include either repairs or upgrades to a variety of energy related systems, such as lighting, HVAC and more, and will potentially save Orange County millions of dollars. The total cost of this project is approximately $6.4 million, which will be spread out over a period of 15 years, and the total scope of savings is estiimated to be $7.1 million over that same period of time. “This project will be paid for

through a calculation of savings to the county,” said John Banken, Orange County Commissioner of Precinct 3. “If we do not CARLTON meet these savings goals, then, by law, (Way Service, Ltd.) has to guarantee the savings,” said Orange County Judge Brint Carlton. “They would basically have to write us a check for the difference.” According to a story in the Jan. 27, 2016, edition of The County Record, all air-conditioning systems at county buildings have been inspected for energy savings potential and condition. Each system has had a “data-logger” installed which downloads operational information and interior conditions to a computer for anal-

RECORD PHOTOS: Lawrance Trimm

The 2016 Krewe of Krewes Mardi Gras Parade will be one to remember as the biggest crowd in its brief history lined the streets of Orange this past Saturday, Jan. 30. Highly decorated and beautifully illuminated floats traveled the streets of Orange from the Orange Riverfront Pavilion and back. When the floats turned from 10th Street on Green Avenue is where the largest portion of the people were located as thousands upon thousands of adults and children cheered and stretched out to catch the colorful beads being tossed. Following the parade, an extremely entertaining concert featuring Grammy Award winning artist Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys performing to a standing room crowd on the stage at the Orange Riverfront Pavilion and Boardwalk.

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UIL realignment reshapes districts for two years Tommy Mann, Jr. For The Record

Every two years, the University Interscholastic League changes the landscape of high school sports with its realignment announcement and this past Monday was little different. The UIL announcement its reclassification of high school football and basketball districts on Monday in Beaumont,

and for the five Orange County high schools that meant lots of speculation on what the new districts would look like for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. For West Orange-Stark and Orangefield in the new football District 12-4A Division II of Region III, the district makeup remains exactly the same with Hamshire-Fannett, Liberty and Hardin-Jefferson joining the Mustangs and Bobcats.

“I didn’t think our district would change too much,” said Josh Smalley, athletic director and football coach of the Orangefield Bobcats. “The only thing we thought might happen, and didn’t happen, was that Jasper would come into our district too. Instead they ended up in a whole different region.” The Orangefield Bobcats, with its above listed district opponents in football, have

tentatlively scheduled Buna, Kirbyville, Woodville, Livingston, Beaumont Kelly and Diboll as non-district opponents. The West Orange-Stark Mustangs, the defending Class 4A Division II State Champions, have tentatively scheduled Nederland, LC-M, Bridge City and Silsbee as non-district opponents, along with its four district matches. The team is still working to fill its two remaining non-district open-

ings. For basketball and other sports, the District 22-4A makeup consists of Orangefield, West Orange-Stark, Bridge City, Little CypressMauriceville, Hamshire-Fannett, Silsbee and Beaumont Harmony Science Academy, which replaces the departing Hardin-Jefferson Hawks. “The biggest shock to me, out of all of this, is losing Hardin-Jefferson out of our basket-

ball and baseball district,” Smalley added. “We now have Beaumont Harmony Science Academy in the district, and none of us are really familiar with them at all.” Bridge City and Little Cypress-Mauriceville will experience a couple of changes to its football district as the new football District 10-4A Division 1 will feature familiar op-

UIL

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