The Wylie News Vided a Recommendation to the Geted $5 Million to Replace Me- Council on the Brand and Mod- Ters
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THENEED FATHER WYLIE’S DAY GIFT IDEAS? SEE LIFE NEWS& STYLE, 1B Covering Wylie and the surrounding area since 1948 ©Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved. Volume 73 Issue 7 Wylie, Texas • Wednesday, June 17, 2020 • C&S Media Publications • 2 Sections, 14 Pages $1.00 City expands business assistance program By Joe Reavis ated a similar effort to help non- with money from the general for net assistance of $860,000, sole proprietorships. The coun- tions will make presentations to [email protected] profit organizations that have fund and provided $115,000 and removed some restric- cil removed a provision that al- the council stating their needs. seen request for aid increase to qualifying applicants. The tions from the earlier program. lotted set pools of money to dif- The council conducted a pub- To help businesses recover this year. council had set aside $301,000 Businesses that applied for the ferent sized businesses. lic hearing and lengthy discus- from losses attributed to the Funding for both programs in city funds for the assistance. original grants were ineligible Applications for assistance sion on a proposed development COVID-19 health crisis, Wy- comes from $2.4 million in fed- After awarding grants, city staff if they had received federal will open for two weeks starting on 47.29 acres on Country Club lie City Council last week re- eral funds allocated to the city determined that business assis- relief funds, but now they are Friday, June 19, and are to be road, south of Parker Road, that newed a financial assistance through the Coronavirus Aid, tance qualified for federal funds eligible for the city program if screened for eligibility. would contain 313 apartments in program and more than doubled Relief and Economic Security and that the money already ex- they can show losses in excess Additionally, city staff was eight buildings, 70 single family the amount of aid available to Act. Collin County is adminis- pended could be recovered. of assistance they have already directed to develop criteria for homes and 13,500 square feet of $750,000. tering $171 million in CARES The new program is to be received. providing financial assistance retail space. Council renewed the pro- funds, a portion of which goes funded solely through CARES Grants of up to $5,000 are to non-profit organizations Requested was a change gram, which it had offered in to cities. money and was increased in available to businesses who em- that have been impacted by in zoning from agriculture May, at its regular meeting The city kicked off the ear- scope to $750,000 in addi- ploy up to 50 people and grants the virus. When the program Tuesday, June 9, and also initi- lier business relief package tion to awards already made, up to $1,500 are available to is opened, non-profit organiza- See PROPERTY page 8A Water meters, water rates discussed By Joe Reavis years old and failing at a rate [email protected] of 200 meters per month, the JCI report showed. A total of Among five workshops con- 3,200 meters, or about 25 per- ducted last week, Wylie City cent, have to be manually read Council directed city staff to each month to generate water proceed with a project to re- bills. place all water meters with The company recommended updated remotely-read meters a Neptune R900 model that is and heard a proposal to in- priced lower than other models crease water and sewer rates. studied, has proven to be reli- The workshops were held able and that can be serviced after the council meeting on locally. The Neptune meter Tuesday, June 9. also will allow water custom- Other topics were discus- ers to access data to monitor sion of the Code of Ethics, city their water usage. charter amendments and bud- Cost of the replace- get projections. ment project is $7.3 million Findings of a 6-month study and would take about eight by Johnson Controls, Inc., pro- months. The council had bud- Sonia Duggan/The Wylie News vided a recommendation to the geted $5 million to replace me- council on the brand and mod- ters. JCI will provide a guaran- el of water meters for replace- tee that the city will annually Glory days ment of the more than 13,000 increase revenues by $232,725 meters in Wylie. from billing accuracy and will Wylie resident Jennah Abdulrahman pauses amid flags set up to honor Flag Day Sunday, June 14. Flags were on full Current water meters, which display throughout downtown Wylie and in front of the municipal buildings in Wylie and Murphy. are read electronically, are 15 See COUNCIL page 3A Hauling in honors Wylie East softball was COVID-19 downright dominant during the selection of all-district honors for the 2020 season. They earned five superla- hospitalization tives, a pair of first team and six academic picks out of 10- 5A. See 5A. cases rising INSIDE THIS ISSUE County reporting cases are tracking. Part of the 4B reason is the shift of reporting Classifieds................ now handled COVID-19 information from 4A Education................ the county to the state. Obituaries................ 2B by DSHS Effective June 1, all report- Opinion.................... 6A ing of COVID-19 case inves- By Chad Engbrock Sports....................... 5A tigation and contact tracing [email protected] activities are being handled by the Department of State Health LAKE LAVON The reopening of Texas and Services (DSHS). Joe Reavis/The Wylie News subsequent protests in the area As of June 14, the total re- LEVELS Longtime Smith Public Library director Rachel Orozco wrapped up 15 years of could be cause for concern in ported COVID-19 cases in Normal 492 service last week. relation to the continued rise in Collin County were 1,647 and 492.07 ft. COVID cases. COVID-related deaths were as of 6/15/20 While some may think the 37. Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concern is justified, others Dallas County reported a Library director begins new chapter may attribute the rise to the in- total of 13,930 cases and 283 THE WYLIE NEWS (USPS) creased amount of testing now COVID-related deaths through 626520) is published each available. the same date. By Joe Reavis - - Wednesday at 110 N. Ballard, job as assistant librarian for gree in English at the Univer One key statistic that is As of May 31, Collin Coun [email protected] - - Wylie, 75098. Second Class Brazoria County helping over sity of Houston at Clear Lake reported daily is hospitaliza ty had reported 1,312 cases - Postage paid at Wylie, 75098. see 11 libraries. and a Master’s Degree in li tions. and 34 COVID-related deaths. - - Send address changes to P.O. After serving 15 years as di “I’m headed back to Hous brary science at University of From May 16 to May 31 Similarly, Dallas County had - Box 369, Wylie, 75098.- Pub rector of Smith Public Library, ton to be with my mom, broth North Texas. state-wide COVID-19 cases reported 10,234 cases and 229 lished by C&S Media, Inc. a period that included moving ers and cousins,” Orozco said. She took her first job that required hospital care COVID-related deaths. ©Copyright 2020. No -repro into a spacious new facility, “I always knew that we would at a library while she was dropped from 1,791 to 1,684 Additionally, on May 31 - - duction without permission. Rachel Orozco officially re go back when we retired. But, in her junior year of col for those days. Collin County reported 16 tired Friday, June 12, from her I decided I’m not finished with lege and found her calling. Since June 1, when report- hospitalizations and only four job as library director for the libraries yet so I’m going to “I applied four times before ed hospitalization cases were on June 14. How to reach us: city of Wylie. be the assistant director at I got hired. I was persistent,” 1,756, daily reports have ex- Gathering information 972-442-5515 phone She and her husband, Alan, the Brazoria Library System Orozco said. “It paid off be- ceeded 2,200 hospital cases about cases by city in Collin [email protected] are moving to the Houston working with branch library cause I loved it and found my per day. Then on June 13 and County now requires addition- area so that Orozco can help staff.” place in the working world.” 14, state-wide cases were al steps as well. take care of her mother and to The long-time librarian was Prior to joining Smith Li- 2,242 and 2,287, respectively. Prior to June 1, the county re- be near family. reared in Pasadena, graduated brary, she had worked 10 years In Collin County, it’s be- leased daily updates, including However, she is not through South Houston High School, come ztmore difficult to de- working and has accepted a earned a Bachelor of Arts de- See DIRECTOR page 8A termine how trends in reported See AMUSEMENT page 3A 2A June 17-18, 2020 AREA•POLICEBLOTTER 972-442-5515 | C&S MEDIA PUBLICATIONS Jail manager joins Wylie PD FROMTHENEWSPAPERARCHIVES-JUNE19,1969 Methodists break ground By Joe Reavis The new jail manager, the [email protected] first to hold that position in- Wy lie, is a native of Farmersville Although the Wylie Mu- where he graduated high school nicipal Jail is not scheduled in 1987. He reported that he to reopen for several months, was active in FFA as a high Bryce Thompson reported as school student and his children the new jail manager last week also have taken part in the pro- just three days after retiring as gram in Farmersville.