Grove is a Positive Community, says Galletly

City Manager Bill Galletly said Wednesday that dirt would begin moving in about two weeks on the 18th Street Project from Sumac to Shundi and on Shundi from its intersection with 18th north to 13th.
He was the speaker at Wednesday's Grove Rotary Club meeting and gave a "State of Grove" talk.
The 18th Street Project will be built in three phases, he said, with the second phase being Shundi from 13th to 9th and eventually north to Third Street, forming a loop around the east side of the city and opening up new access to the east part of the city.
Landscaping will be done at major intersections on this project as well, he said.
Another road project, State Park Road, will be redesigned, he said, and rebuilt from Highway 59 to Broadway.
All of these roads will eventually have bike and walking paths, he said.
He said work would start in the near future on the Downtown Revitalization project with drainage and utilities in the alleys now in final design stages; new ordinances regarding metal buildings have been approved and new signage standards for the community are making their way through the Planning & Zoning Board.
New subdivision construction regulations are in place, he said, and the burden is being shifted from the taxpayers to the developers for construction requirements, including adherence to the Stormwater Law which says you cannot dump water on your neighbor. A runoff plan must be in place and "we now have a program to do that."
He said Grove is a positive and wonderful place to live despite some of the problems that have surfaced and "the school bond election yesterday was another positive thing for the community."
"There are a lot of things being done at city hall that you can't see, such as new accounting practices, new software, new ordinances, organizational development, and employee recognition. We have outstanding city employees who are doing great work," he said.
"We should have two new cellular towers up by Spring which will drastically improve cell phone service as well as offer wireless high speed internet service," Galletly said. They will be put up by different phone companies with a 20 year free lease to the city for its communications uses on the first tower, he said.
A third tower will go up shortly after that to serve Buffalo Shores South and Patricia Island, he added.
He said new industry was making inquiries about Grove and he expected two or three new companies to move into town that could bring a total of 175 new jobs. "People are coming to us looking to relocate," he said.
He said Rocket Gaming started out with 125 employees and are now at 200.
Asked about Honey Creek Ranch, he said nothing was planned that he knew of. Asked about the foul odor coming from the old sewer plant, he said the plant had been disconnected from the system but the odor was being caused by sewage in the lines that goes toxic and turns into a septic condition. He said a $70,000 filter was needed and would be budgeted for GMSA for spring or summer installation.
He said new light bulbs were installed last week on the overhead lights on Sailboat and Honey Creek Bridges, replacing the burned out bulbs.