Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

MAGNOLIA - The Magnolia City Council continued with its extraterrestrial jurisdiction (ETJ) expansion eastward, along FM 1488, at the Sept. 11 meeting. In Texas, the ETJ of a municipality includes specified unincorporated area that is adjacent to the city limits. Property owners can request to be part of the ETJ.

In the future, the City of Magnolia may choose to extend city limits and city services into the ETJ areas.

Unincorporated areas may be subject to annexation by a nearby city, which could be either Conroe or Magnolia. Currently, Magnolia has extended its ETJ areas five miles east of the city limits, which could add a beneficial tax base for the city in the future.

“We have one of the largest ETJs for a city of our size in the state of Texas,” said Deborah Rose Miller, Magnolia’s economic development coordinator.

In other business, the council appointed Anne Sundquist as the city representative to the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s general assembly, which meets in January. The Houston-Galveston Area Council is an association of 36 members from local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning Region of Texas. Its service area comprises 12,500 square miles and more than six million residents.

Following an executive session, the council terminated the Magnolia Waste Management contract for sewer treatment (sludge removal) services. The city will continue to use Magna-Flow for these services. Contracts with both services have co-existed and the council wanted to remove the redundancy.

Police Chief Domingo Ibarra announced the promotion of Officer Kyle Montgomery to the rank of Sergeant. He also had news about the cooperation of the MPD patrol division with other government entities.

“They are doing a great job working together. As an example, we recovered a stolen vehicle recently from the Brookshire Brothers parking lot, which was a great success,” said Ibarra.

A new Magnolia Police Trespass Agreement Program was announced by Ibarra. The program offers businesses and property owners the opportunity to allow Magnolia police the authorization to contact and question persons who may be unlawfully on private property (without prior authorization from the property owner). It is expected to reduce the instances of crime on private property.  

The Magnolia Community Foundation presented Magnolia City Manager Paul Mendes with a plaque honoring his volunteer service for the organization. Mendes has been instrumental in many of the accomplishments of the Foundation, and has donated his time to help ensure the success of community events, such as those at Unity Park and The Stroll.

Miller, who is also president of the Magnolia Community Foundation, explained the plaque was very appropriate.

“We wanted Paul to know his efforts are greatly appreciated,”