Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The streets of Tomball are about to come alive, as the city and the Greater Tomball Chamber of Commerce (GTACC) prepare for the 40^th version of the annual Tomball night festival. 

This year’s celebration will be held Aug. 3 and will feature shopping specials at various stores in town, along with food, music, games, a car show, a parade and a fireworks show. 

Local retailers, businesses and restaurants will stay open late, offering specials throughout the evening.  “We also have more vendor booths this year,” GTACC Vice President Brandy Beyer said. “It is always a really great and fun evening for everyone involved.” 

Musicians from Woodlands Church and River of Praise Church will be among the several music acts performing, bringing a top-notch production with them.  “These are not just any productions,” Tomball Night Chair Rob Greening said. “These are truly major productions with lights, sound --- lots of sound --- and professional quality talent.”  Other music performances will be scattered throughtout Tomball, including a DJ, a live performance from Curtis Poullard & Creole Zydeco Band and a live feed from K-Star 99.7 FM.  The Niftee 50ees car show will be held in the Academy parking lot, while downtown Tomball and the Main Street area will have a petting zoo, inflatibles, food, music and games. 

“It’s a great Tomball tradition,” Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan said. “It really brings the community together and the chamber does a great job putting it together.”  Organizers are preparing for more than 20,000 festival-goers. The Tomball Night celebration all started when past-Mayor Ben Scholl issued a proclamation starting an event to encourage residents to shop in Tomball.  “We are preparing for a huge crowd,” Greening said. “This year there’s so much to choose from with the addition of new retail establishments and restaurants since the last Tomball Night.”   

An added bonus is the Mystery Shopper game. According to GTACC officials there will be 10 mystery shoppers scattered throughout Tomball and anyone who correctly identifies them will receive $100 on the spot. Clues are provided in a poem at the bottom of this page.

Fagan said her favorite part of Tomball Night is the parade and fireworks show. 

“Everyone always seems to love a good parade and fireworks show,” she said. 

The festivities begin at 5 p.m., all over Tomball, with the Parade of Lights set to start just after 9 p.m. The parade will wind to the Tomball Depot and end with a fireworks show. 

It’s time for the fortieth Tomball Night,

You don’t want to miss the awesome sight!

When Mystery Shoppers wear purple

You must identify—and be very, very verbal!

Then a new $100 bill will be yours to pocket

At Tomball Night where you can really

rock-it!

For More information call GTACC at 281-351-7222, or visit www.tomballchamber.org.

With a background as diverse as the state of Texas, new Tomball city planner Rebeca Guerra is settling into her new office, in a new state.

Guerra was hired by Tomball after she spent several years as a senior planner in the Orlando, Fla. area, serving the county government and a area population of 1.2 million people.

She has an associate degree in journalism, a bachelor’s in international affairs and a graduate degree in urban and regional planning. She is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners, certified in the crime prevention through environmental design program and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accredited professional.

“I’ve always wanted to live in Texas,” Guerra said. “I love the independent spirit that Texas personifies.”

Guerra said that the draw of Texas ultimately led her to the opening in Tomball. She immediately liked what she saw and decided to pack up and head west.

“I saw a charming downtown area with a great council that had a comprehensive plan for the entire city,” she said. “I have a chance to get right into the middle of it.”

Guerra stated that she has immediate goals she is working on, such as the ongoing Downtown Specific Plan project and a re-working of the city’s sign ordinance.

Guerra said that the city is working hard on getting a final version of the Downtown Specific Plan completed before the end of the fiscal year.

In the 2012-13 fiscal year, Guerra said she has four key areas she would like to focus on. She is looking at updating the zoning ordinances, rules governing landscaping, parking requirements for businesses and completing a connecting sidewalk pattern around the Medical Complex area.

“Medical Complex is a wonderful jewel that Tomball has,” she said. “We need to work very hard to make it all it can be.”

Guerra said it hasn’t taken much time for her or her pets to get settled into the area.

“This is an incredibly friendly town and everyone at the city including (City Manager George Shackelford), Mayor (Gretchen) Fagan and city council have all been a wonderful help,” Guerra said.

While this is her first position as the head of a planning department, Guerra believes that her background and experiences as a senior planner have readied her for the position.

“I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities I have here,” she said. “Tomball is ready to blossom and I am just blessed to be here.”

Maintaining adequate staffing levels is tough for any public entity, but it has been extremely hard on the Tomball Fire Department (TFD). With a booming population comes increased traffic, more accidents and more calls for service.

“It’s a balancing act,” Tomball Fire Chief Randy Parr said.

That’s why when word came of a federal grant program that would enable the department to hire more firefighters, Parr jumped at the chance to apply. The Tomball City Council gave Parr permission to apply for the grant and he recently heard from FEMA that their grant proposal was accepted.

A grant for a little more than $1.2 million spread out over two years, will enable Parr to hire nine fulltime firefighters.

“This is truly a game changer for the Tomball Fire Department,” he said. “It will provide continuity in our operations and groups of firefighters will be able to work together continuously.”

The department has always been able to maintain a high rating, even in the face of staffing shortages, Parr said, but the constant struggle to move parts and people around hasn’t been easy.

“The issue has been to have enough consistent staffing to keep two fire stations open for 24 hours,” he said. “In order to do that, we have to have two apparatuses staffed with a minimum of three people.”

Parr said that two out of every three days, station two on Holderreith Road is closed at night, due to understaffing.

“In order to mitigate that we have to have four full-time firefighters,” he said. “This will improve the safety of the community and the safety of our firefighters.”

The grant will be all of the salary and benefits for the nine firefighters, which Parr said will consist of three officers, three driver/operators and three firefighters. A cutback of part-time firefighter hours and continued growth of city and emergency service district revenue streams, will go towards ensuring the department will be able to keep the new firefighters after the two-year grant period. Parr said that he, Tomball City Manager George Shackelford and the Tomball City Council will work together over the next year to come up with a plan.

“We still continue to anticipate growth in revenues,” Parr said.

Parr said that once news arrived that TFD was being awarded the grant, he knew the community had won.

“We will now be able to provide our good, consistent service for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

The 40^th annual Tomball Night was a huge success, as it drew thousands out to the streets of Tomball. The annual celebration and shopping extravaganza is organized by the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce.

Photos by Caleb Harris

The Tomball City Council passed the proposed 2012-13 budget 3-2, during a regular session Aug. 6. Council members Derek Townsend and Mark Stoll voted no on the proposed budget.

City Manager George Shackelford explained the budget process and how staff members came up with the estimates.

“Obviously this year we are collecting more in sales tax revenue than we projected, but things happen so we wanted to be conservative with our estimates,” he said.

The budget process includes three major funds. The general fund provides for day-to-day operations of the city and its departments, the enterprise funds are revenues collected for water, sewer and gas services, while the debt service fund is the fund that pays off city debt like bonds.

The city is expecting about $16.3 million in revenues for the general fund and projects to spend about $15.5 million of that next fiscal year. Thos funds include about $20,000 designed to send all council members and some members of the Sister City organization to Telgte, Germany, for the sister city’s anniversary celebration. Townsend and Stoll took issue with that.

“I feel that council needs to reconsider this,” Stoll said. “The Tomball Sister City Organization is a separate organization which does not fall under the City of Tomball’s control. They do not need the taxpayer’s assistance (to send their members to Germany).”

Stoll went on to say that he would support the city paying the airfare for the mayor and city manager, so that they can represent Tomball at the event.

“Keep in mind that the council passed a 36 percent tax increase on taxpayers last year,” Stoll added. “How do you think this expense is being taken in their homes?”

Townsend agreed.

“I received several phone calls and I’ve got to agree with Councilman Stoll,” he said.

Both Townsend and Stoll said they could not approve of the budget with that expense in it.

In other business, the council approved spending $36,000 to purchase several pieces of property along Elm Street and also named Grady Martin, president of the Tomball Sister City Organization, as the 2012 Mayor’s Volunteer of the Year.

Martin was shocked by the announcement.

“Oh wow, this is a great honor, thank you so much,” he said.

Council also approved expenditures for several yearly events, including $12,000 in hotel-motel tax funds for the second annual Bugs, Brew and Barbeque event, $60,000 from the same fund for the annual Tomball German Christmas and the Tomball German Heritage festivals.

Council also approved a bid from TJ&T Enterprises of a little more than $210,000 to improve concrete streets within the city.

Finally council approved a two-year grant that will enable the fire department to hire nine more full-time firefighters.

There will be a final public hearing and vote on next year's budget, at the Aug. 20 meeting.

Amidst an already ongoing remodeling project at the Four Corners Shopping Center in Tomball, owners have approached the city and the Tomball Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) for help.

With over 114,000 square feet of retail space and sitting near a high traffic area, much of the center has sat vacant and deteriorating since it’s previous anchor store, Kroger, moved across the street.

Local retail brokers Jason Baker and Kenneth Katz created a firm, BK 2920 Ltd., with the purpose of purchasing and redeveloping much of the site. They then began negotiating with city officials for public financing options.

‘They have some major challenges in redeveloping the area,” TEDC executive director Kelly Violette said.

Negotiations have ended with TEDC, Violette said and its board members have approved an agreement. The agreement will provide up to 75 percent of new tax revenues generated within the site for the next 13 years, to help BK 2920 Ltd. offset some of the proposed costs.

“The group wants to attract new retail to the site, but many of the bigger and more prime sites are taken,” Violette explained. “They will incur a cost to provide relocation incentives to those tenants, as well as costs in attracting new tenants.”

“They are trying to free up the prime areas,” she added.

The agreement, called a 380 agreement, will provide the dollars only if there is an increase in sales tax revenue and even then it will be limited. Violette said the agreement calls for caps of $300,000 in reimbursements per year and $1.5 million over the life of the agreement. The agreement also calls for the developer to make a minimum investment of $3.4 million on the site.

‘The beauty of this type of agreement is that the city and the TEDC don’t front any money,” she said. “It is based on performance.”

Violette said the agreement and redevelopment is an important step in the continued growth of Tomball.

“(The shopping center) is at a key intersection in the city --- alonst a gateway --- and it’s been in such disrepair for so long,” she said. “If the term ends and he hasn’t yet been able to recoup the maximum reimbursement, it doesn’t matter, the agreement still ends.”

The plan presented by the developer calls for more than $9 million in building and tenant improvements, site work and signage.

The agreement will now go to the Tomball City Council for final approval.

Tomball’s new marketing director Mike Baxter has made a splash in his first year, guiding the city to eight top awards at the recent Texas Festivals and Events Association’s (TFEA) annual conference.

Tomball joined the group upon Baxter’s arrival.

“There were 375 entrants in several categories and we entered eight of them,” Baxter said. ‘We won seven of them.”

Baxter said the city entered in categories for events with a budget of $75,000 or less and took home the top spot in Best New Event for the Rails & Tails Mudbug Festival, Best New Mascot for Rusty Rails, Best Social Media for the city’s Facebook page, Best Event T-shirt for Rails & Tails, Best Promotional Poster for Rails & Tails, Best Event Hat for Bugs, Brew and Barbeque and Best Event Button also for Rails & Tails.

“We accomplished so much in this first year,” Baxter said. “For a first timer to come and do this is remarkable.”

Baxter, whose previous background was in entertainment and amusement parks, said he took the approach to treat marketing Tomball like he was starting up a new amusement park.

“From the grassroots marketing to the mascot, it’s all something that an amusement park would do and obviously that approach has paid off,” he said. “There is so much buzz about Tomball now. It’s not just that town you drive through on the way to the Renassaince Festival.”

Baxter said that buzz is what will make tourism a valuable entity to the city.

“People now know that there’s so much more here than they thought,” he said. “We have special events, we have festivals, we have concerts, we have live music, there are so many good restaurants in town and more on the way --- this is just the right time for the right place.”

“It’s been a fun year,” he said. “It’s all coming together now.”

For 11 years Tomball High School (THS) senior William Milby has been earning his merit badges as a member of Boy Scout Troop 471. He rose through the ranks and completed a complicated project to become an Eagle Scout. A lifetime of dedication has enabled Milby to complete a rare feat in the scouting world -- being awarded all 133 merit badges offered by the scouts.

“It’s feels great to accomplish this,” Milby said.

Merit badges were something added by the Boy Scouts of America in 1910, to encourage scouts to learn areas of interest and teach them valuable skills. The scouts started with 14 badges and over time have added more and subtracted some, leading to the current maximum of 129. There were four centennial badges that were offered for a short period during the Boy Scouts 100 year celebration. Milby earned those, giving him his grand total of 133.

Milby got into scouting early in life, encouraged by his mother Denise.

“He wanted to get involved because some of his friends were,” Denise said. “He’s always seemed to enjoy the learning.”

“My grandfather was big into scouting as was my uncle and my dad,” Will added. “I’ve always been drawn towards the outdoors.”

Will earned his Eagle Scout rank in junior high, by building a raised amphitheater to view the duck pond at Jones State Forest. He and his volunteer helpers put in more than 350 man hours on the project.

He credits scouting for helping him grow, as he is also involved in the THS Navy JROTC program, FFA, the JROTC color guard and air rifle teams and his church youth group at St. Anne’s Catholic Church.

“It’s helped me become more diverse.” he said. “I’ve been able to go and see the world and many different cultures.”

Milby also said his scouting work has given him a chance to grow closer to his family. Both his parents have volunteered for his local Boy Scout troop and his sister is part of the Adventure Crew, a co-ed program for 13-21 year olds to continue Boy Scout principles and leadership.

“We’ve had some really good adventures,” his mother added.

Milby said he wants to remain involved with the Boy Scouts after he turns 18, as it has given him so much. After high school he will be headed to Texas A&M to study geological engineering and hopes to join the Corps of Cadets.

“It’s made me a more well-rounded person and a chance to do and see so many things,” he said. “I just want to give back to others what I have had given to me.”

17 area youth were able to spend a week at two separate YMCA sponsored events recently, where they were able to develop their character and bond with others.

Six teens traveled to San Francisco this summer for the Teen Escape Service Learning program, while 11 teens traveled to the Blue Ridge Christian Values Conference in North Carolina. The teens are from Bear Branch Junior High, Magnolia Junior High, Alpha Academy, Magnolia High School and Magnolia West High School.

Magnolia/Tomball YMCA Senior Program Director Stephanie Saker said the trips were made possible because of local generosity.

“We were able to send them because of donations through our YMCA Partners of Youth program,” she said.

The San Francisco trip focused on community service, character building and self-discovery, according to YMCA board member and Alpha Academy teacher Nita McNulty, who accompanied the students.

She said the students are expected to take what they learned and reapply it in their community.

‘This was an awesome opportunity for our teens to learn what it means to help others without the expectation of payment,” she said. “Most teens do not get that until they do work to help others. They will be able to take the lessons they learn through this experience and apply it.”

The students that attended said they learned a lot during their trip.

“Seeing everybody get along with one another, smiling and having a good time made my day,” one student, Tony, said. “I loved and cherished every second of the day, from the time I opened my eyes to when I was in bed replaying the day in my head.”

Tony, who has done landscape work with his father, was able to teach others at the camp how to plant items correctly.

“As I also taught some of my new friends about planting and how each plant had a specific duty to play in the environment made me feel really proud of myself,” Tony said.

Blair, another student, helped repaint the local YMCA, among other things.

“I learned that even the little things have an impact,” Blair said. “I plan to use this new lesson I learned in my community, doing things here and there to help those that need it.”

Another YMCA board member, Keri Hefner, accompanied 11 teens to North Carolina, where they attended the Blue Ridge Christian Leadership Conference.

Saker said the teens there divided into families and the entire focus of the conference is to break down the walls the teens have built up and show them how to build relationships.

Thumper, a teen that attended the conference, said it has impacted his life tremendously.

“My attitude has improved, I have a strong bond with God now, my work ethic is great and how I treat others has greatly improved,” he said. “When you’re there, everyone treats everyone so passionately. Complete strangers treat you with such kindness and everyone can be themselves without the pressure of what other people think about them.”

“Confidence was something I experimented with during my stay there,” added Lillian. “I left the mountain with double the confidence I had when I arrived.”

“Blue Ridge has certainly made an impact on my life,” she added. “I learned new lessons and gained different perspectives and friends. My religious faith has also strengthened.”

All the students said they wouldn’t trade their experiences during the summer trips for anyone else’s summer vacation.

“These are not just trips,” Tony added, “they’re life changing experiences that everybody should get a chance to experience.”

TOMBALL - A straight shot to the Beltway from Tomball is inching closer to reality, as the Harris County Commissioners Court approved contracts with several engineering firms.

The expansion of SH 249 into a six-lane toll way, was approved by the court earlier this year and will run from the Tomball bypass to where the current freeway ends just north of Spring-Cypress Road.

The commissioners are looking at breaking ground about a year from now.

“I’m very excited,” Harris County Pct. 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said. “This road is a road that a lot of people have had a desire to see completed for awhile now.”

The court approved more than $7 million in expenditures for design plans, environmental studies, utilities, lighting, landscaping, signs and planning.

The overall plan is to eventually extend the highway through a sliver of Montgomery County, where SH 249 merges into FM 1774. The court is now looking at when the best time to complete the second phase, along with Montgomery County. Montgomery County is also in the beginning stages of looking into its part of the expansion.

“Everyone understands that as you increase mobility in that area that it increases the benefits for both counties as a whole,” Cagle said.

Harris County has planned all along to extend the highway north to Tomball, as there is already a huge median between the north and southbound lanes.

Current plans call for the toll road portion to be EZ tag only and will be the standard fee for Harris County toll roads.

The project was pushed along by Cagle, after being approached by members of the new 249 Partnership. The group includes members in Tomball, Magnolia and Navasota and exists to promote growth along the 249 corridor. They are currently working with TxDOT to promote expanding 249 through Navasota. That expansion would create a highway running from Houston all the way to College Station.

“This is a very good first step to make Texas A&M more connected to Houston and Harris County,” Cagle said.

Expenditures approved by the court for the expansion included nearly $2.8 million to engineers Binkley & Barfield, $1.5 million to Pierce Goodwin Alexander & Linville, $1.3 million to I.S. Engineers, $1 million to Aguirre & Fields, as well as several others listed under a million dollars.