City Council Place 3 Runoff Date June 18
MIDLOTHIAN – The Midlothian City Council voted Tuesday night to approve June 18 as the runoff election date for the City Council Place 3 seat.
Originally on the agenda to canvas votes from the May 7 election Tuesday night, there were still votes uncounted. Due to this fact, canvassing was postponed until all votes were counted by end of week.
The Place 3 seat will be up for a runoff since there were four candidates; incumbent Ted Miller and challengers Ed Gardner and Anna Hammonds and no one candidate received over 50% of the vote. The unofficial results reported Hammonds with a little over 36% of the vote; Gardner with 25.21% and Miller close behind Gardner with 24.35%.
City of Midlothian Branding Initiative
Council approved in a 6-0 vote to move forward with North Star for new branding for the City of Midlothian, Midlothian Economic Development, and the Midlothian Community Development Corporation in the amount of $86,000. Research, creative services, and implementation will also be part of the branding initiative, which North Star will be identifying. The city’s portion of the cost is $32,700.
In addition to North Stars’ proposals there were nine additional proposals considered. A review committee decided to select North Star based on its experience with branding for municipalities. Plus, North Star has worked with seven additional municipalities in Texas.
A resolution passed in the amount of $26,700 allowing for the Midlothian Community Development Corporation to cover direct and shared costs with the development of the new brand.
This item also passed 6 – 0 with Midlothian Mayor Richard Reno expressing his enthusiasm for the new branding activities and what would result in the future.
Founders Row Project
Also approved by council in a 6 – 0 was the authorization and amending of the grant terms between Midlothian Community Development Corporation and Stephen Hidlebaugh for the Founders Row Project.
In January 2017; the Midlothian Community Development Corporation Board approved the grant request from Stephen Hidlebaugh in the amount of $350,000 for the Founders Row Project. The City Council approved the same on March 14, 2017.
According to staff “The terms of the original agreement were that for each historic structure that was moved in and restored, MCDC would fund the amount of $43,750 after the issuance of a certificate of occupancy and the installation of a plaque detailing the history of each structure, with a sunset clause of five years, which was January 31, 2022. There were eight structures originally planned for the site.
In June 2020, the Board approved an 18-month extension to June 30, 2023, with Council approval of the extension on September 22, 2020. Mr. Hidlebaugh appeared before the Board at its April 28, 2022, meeting. He requested the number of structures be reduced from eight to four, funding $87,500 per house and extend the sunset clause of the grant to October 31, 2023. The Board unanimously approved the amendment to the grant.
