Let's discuss solutions together.... I have requested the Service Plan for annexation from Natalie Bilby at the city. I have also reached out to some trusted city employees for advice on how to get the city to take over the maintenance of our roads. I will update any findings as they come. If you have any info, ideas or details in your efforts to get the city involved, please send them to me at troy@xbp.homes.
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I followed up on any progress that Mike Murray may have made and got the following very promising email:
Hi Troy,
We did have a pretty good Christmas. Hope y’all did as well.
I am supposed to talk to the City Attorney on Monday and will discuss an idea or two with him. Also, we met with an engineer last week at and about the airport. He had some interesting news regarding a grant for the airport that might be a “two-fer” solution. I am working on another idea or two as well, so, we haven’t put the ball down on this one at all. Lets meet again sometime next week or the following if you have time and I will let you know some of my thoughts and what I have found out from the City Attorney.
Happy New Year to you and yours as well. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Mike
Sorry for the delay - managed to pick up the Covid - AGAIN!
Met with the City manager Mike Murray on Tuesday Dec 14th. He has only been in the role for about a month, so he was trying to get his feet under him. He was receptive and gave me over an hour of his time. I did a PowerPoint presentation that showed the history of the annexation and the service plan that was never initiated, as well as showed the pictures of the road, etc. He listened intently and asked a lot of questions. Overall, it was a positive meeting, but I heard more barriers to solutions than I heard potential solutions.
I sent him the following email followup (cut and paste):
Mike,
It was a pleasure to meet you this morning. I know your time is valuable and I very much appreciate you taking the morning to hear my concerns about the service level at the Bridgeport Airport Estates. I understand and appreciate your sworn duty to the City of Bridgeport and the challenges of managing a great city with very limited budgets, personnel, and resources. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your service to the city. I would guess that in the City Manager position, you probably hear a lot more complaints than you do thanks. Thank you and welcome to the city.
Admittedly, I left our meeting more discouraged than before. You made it clear that roads are off the table. Despite your desire to provide water, sewer, etc., it’s clear that the city will not be able to provide those services to that area either. This dumb Marine just cannot grasp a situation where citizens are paying very large tax burdens and getting zero in return. Frankly, the county (to which we also pay taxes) would provide police, fire, and EMS. So, in reality, the annexation 20 years ago, brought our home/property owners all of the burden with none of the benefits of being in the city limits. Being only a couple of homes at the time, I imagine there was not enough ground swell to oppose the annexation, and still we are only a forgotten few that have a minuscule voice in the grand plan.
I am the type of person that must solve problems and always move forward, so I am seeking your advice on potential solutions. You had mentioned a meeting with the city attorney. Do you see an avenue there that may help? What about the Mayor? Are there options for de-annexation? Do you think making the case to the city council will have any benefit? I would like to give that PPT presentation to the council with all of the property and homeowners present to let the city know that we will not be forgotten. I do appreciate that this is a very complex problem and I could really use your help.
Thank you again for your time and consideration,
Troy Kehoe
(817) 300-6387
He replied with:
Hi Troy,
It was great to get to talk to you as well and I hope to be able to meet again soon at your earliest convenience.
I certainly didn’t mean to be discouraging. I was hoping just the opposite, that I would be encouraging while still being honest about the challenges ahead. I am actually more optimistic that we can do something with the roads than I am with the water and sewer. It will just take some study, thought, resources and creativity. I can even imagine being able to provide water and sewer to the neighborhood but that has a few more hurdles to jump over. So, please don’t be discouraged. I am a firm believer that there are almost always alternative solutions and I would welcome the opportunity to put our collective heads together to see what we can come up with.
This is really the first time that I have had the chance to look at this problem so I am not as well versed on it as I would like to be. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to the City Attorney about it but I will the next time that we meet, which I anticipate will be in the next week or so. One of the things that I want him to confirm is that this was a voluntary annexation, which it appears to be. It looks like the developers requested that the property be annexed and it wasn’t something that would have been opposed as you say but rather was something that the developers saw as beneficial. I need to confirm that and a few other questions that I have for him.
So, please don’t be discouraged. Let me get some more facts and info gathered and lets meet again in the next week or so and see what we can come up with.
Definitely looking forward to solving some problems.
Mike
So, this is where we are right now.... Will keep you posted.
Troy
Meeting with the Bridgeport City Manager on Tuesday @ 10:00am. Will keep you in the loop. Attached below is the Annexation Service Plan and the Engineering Design Manual. It may work to our benefit that the annexation service plan is no longer valid. It was only good for 10 years. Since none of the services that were stipulated in the plan were never provided, and it sounds like we have a reasonable new city manager, we may make some headway..... The design manual is reference for the street requirements to meet city spec.
Had a fruitful discussion with a senior city official this morning. He fully sympathizes with our road issues and agrees that we are not receiving the benefits in proportion to the taxes. He will be facilitating a meeting with the City Manager, the Airport Manager, the Chief of Police, and other interested parties for next week. Will keep you posted.