Early City Administrator Tony Aaron was a guest on KOXE’s Morning Show Friday, and despite a bond election for the proposed Brown County Family YMCA at the Early Town Center not appearing on the May 3 ballot, he stated there is still life to the project.
“As many people that are behind that project, I can’t say it’s over with and that it doesn’t have life,” Aaron said. “It’s not going to be on the ballot for a bond election in the May election. Commissioners did not put that on the agenda to discuss. That was a big part of the financial piece of the project. We built the concept around indoor swimming, indoor track, and the total is $20 million. It’s just not feasible for the City of Early to take that on financially. It would be really oppressive in what just the citizens of Early would have to pay. So we have to get back to the drawing board and see if there’s other ways to do it. People say fund raise for it, but in this day and age raising $20 million is a challenge. But with the life that’s still there, and the people that have the desire and see the vision for what that can do for the community, we have to regroup and see what happens next.”
Aaron encouraged the public to reach out to the City of Early with ideas and suggestions.
“Maybe somebody out there is thinking of something we haven’t thought of,” Aaron said. “The good thing about public discussions and public input is everybody becomes educated, and together many minds make a better solution than just a few minds.”
Aaron also talked about the new ladder truck the City of Early has purchased for the Early Fire Department, which should arrive within the next 45 days.
“For the first time in the history of Early firefighting, we are purchasing a used ladder truck,” Aaron said. “The Early Volunteer Fire Department has brought that whole department a long way. We have a great partnership with Brownwood and Brownwood has a ladder truck and occasionally their ladder truck is down and if their ladder truck is down, I can’t tell the closest ladder truck and we have places like Atwoods and multi-story buildings, and the mall that we’ve had for years. Now we’ll be able to be a better partner in providing them some back up and just some assurance that we have that.”
The truck will feature a 103-foot ladder and the cost is $630,000, while most brand new firetrucks of similar design are in the $2 million range.
The City of Early has also applied for a $4.4 million sidewalk grant through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
“We’ve applied for this in the past, and one of the highlights of the project would be connecting Early Blvd. along CC Woodson to the Williams Ranch Road with sidewalks,” Aaron said. “I think Brownwood is working on a grant to bring the sidewalk that way from the Coliseum. There’s a lot of traffic on CC Woodson and occasionally you may see people walking or riding bikes in a ditch which is really unsafe.”
Aaron also stated the Boardwalk and Mangrum Street, being constructed at the Town Center, are expected to be completed near the end of the summer or early fall.
Also next week, 1,200 trout will be stocked in the Town Center Lake, the largest number thus far, in conjunction with angler education and fly fishing instructor programs that will be hosted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Construction also continues at the new Atwoods location, along with Logan’s Way, the road being built adjacent to the property that will provide access to the facility and more than 140 acres of future development projects.