During the July 27 Aledo City Council meeting, updated renderings for the new city hall featured a new home for the East Parker County Library just inside the main entrance across the hall from the council chambers. The City of Aledo has already begun talks of acquiring the EPC Library in preparation for that transition.
“The library’s been struggling for several years now,” Mayor Nick Stanley said. “They have looked to the City of Aledo for assistance, and we’ve been contributing financially to the library for many years. The discussion happened as we’re building a new city hall, trying to activate that space and empower the library to have more opportunities for kids, families, and adults in this community to come to an amazing space that’s been refreshed and revitalized and can serve the community well.”
Transitioning the library from a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity to the Aledo Public Library will provide the library with long-term financial viability, while also creating the runway for the institution to enhance programming offered to the community.
The transition is far from complete. According to Stanley, no firm timetable has been set. The earliest expected dates for the transition to begin are during the latter part of the city’s fiscal year in April or May of 2024.
Once the transition is complete, the city hopes to retain the current library staff as they become city employees.
The meeting was abnormally busy. Residents of Aledo filled the usually empty seats ready to make their voices heard regarding a proposed zoning change.
The property in question, located at 819 Old Annetta Rd., currently exists as a single-family residential property. The proposed change to zoning would allow 2.66 acres of the unplatted property to become a planned development area with a commercial base.
Several residents took to the podium to address the council during the public hearing portion of the meeting. Conversation became heated as the public hearing ran to its conclusion.
Moments later during the council discussion of the matter, a resident attempted to address the council from the podium out-of-turn, resulting in a stern exchange between the individual and Stanley about the rules for the meeting.
Ultimately, the disgruntled resident returned to her seat, allowing the meeting to move forward.
Another significant order of business during the meeting was in regard to electing a mayor pro tem to act as mayor in the event the sitting mayor should be absent for a period of time. Within moments after the discussion began, Place 4 Councilman Nelson Rowls was nominated for the position.
The motion was quickly seconded to bring the council to vote on the measure. With a unanimous vote, the ayes carried, making Rowls the new mayor pro tem.
After deliberating on the matter during the June session, the council voted to move to a twice-a-month schedule starting in August. Going forward, meetings will be the first and fourth Thursday of each month. The first August meeting was being held at press time on Aug. 3 and the second will be on Aug 24 at 6 p.m.
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