Howe, Texas Hometown News Source Since 1963
MileSplit has recently completed a documentary on Jake Merrell’s journey to becoming one of the greatest high school track runners in Texas history. The self-driven athlete is the son of Brandi Hash Merrell, a Howe 1993 graduate, and the grandson of Vincent Hash, an outstanding Howe multi-sport athlete in the 1970s.
https://www.facebook.com/MileSplit/videos/10155364629326856/
The Howe Police Department was alerted to a vandalism call at the Howe Athletic Complex on Tuesday morning, July 3. The vandal used red Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X which was found near the scene of one of the vandalized areas.
The damaged areas included the back of the third base dugout at the baseball stadium, the right-field wall at the baseball stadium, and the back of the first base dugout at the softball stadium.
Those with information are asked to contact the Howe Police Department.
We are one week away from the 18th Annual Lone Star Hoops Camp in Howe. They are encouraging any “late-comers” to take advantage of an extended period for boys and girls to enroll at the $110 early rate.
The Howe Police Department overheard radio traffic from Van Alstyne that the McKinney Police Department was in pursuit of a newer model green Chevrolet truck coming north on Texas State Highway 5. Officers say speeds of the pursuit were around 120 mph. The reason for the stop was for a possible DWI. Howe Police Lieutenant Michael Hill was able to get into position and set spike strips on Hwy 5 near Ponderosa Road. The spike effort was a successful deployment as they took out the left front tire of the speeding vehicle. The vehicle continued onto the highway followed by McKinney Police Department units as well as Grayson County Sheriff units. The vehicle came to rest on U.S Highway 75 north just before the Red River bridge. Five individuals were taken into custody from the vehicle. As of now, it is unknown what charges McKinney PD will be filing on these individuals.
Howe ISD has been in the minority of not offering insurance to students. In the past, students have been injured and either did not have insurance or did not have adequate insurance. Fundraisers have taken place over the years to help the gap between medical bills and Superintendent Kevin Wilson says now is the time to provide insurance at the school level.
“I personally feel like for a fairly small amount of money, it’s something we can offer for our students and parents,” said Wilson to the school board on Monday night. “It will cover not only athletic events but if a kid fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm.”
The board looked at four different types of insurance that were specified for different services. Wilson recommended an unallocated plan to the board.
The plan would cover players in athletics that suffer an injury unless it is an injury due to repetitive motion (such as a baseball pitcher’s throwing arm).
Prior to this motion, any player that was injured in a football game or any other sport would be liable 100 percent for any injury cost. The school district had no liability prior to Monday’s action. School Board Member Clint Catching made the motion to provide student accident insurance and allow the administration to choose a policy.
With the high school now 18 years old, the air conditioning and heating units are in need of being replaced and are now scheduled to be done by the time the students arrive.
Open bidding went out last month and the district received four bids which the lowest bidder was $343,843, however, Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson checked references and found that another bidder with good feedback. Wilson recommended to the board that they contract McDaniel Air of Collinsville and their bid of $358,400. McDaniel has done work for Howe ISD in the past and Wilson was comfortable with their work.
“I know there’s discussion of whether we have the money to do that or not, but the bottom line is that they have to be replaced,” said Wilson. “We’re spending a lot of money replacing some and if you’re going to rent a crane, you might as well rent a crane and knock them out instead of doing one or two at a time. It’s time. They’re 18 years old.”
The board approved the motion to accept the bid from McDaniel Air and the work should be completed by the summer’s end.
Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson announced at the Board of Trustees meeting last week that he has accepted resignations from Erica Allen and Priscilla Lankford, both aides at the elementary school. Allen is going back to school to pursue her teaching certificate while Lankford, a prior substitute indicated she wanted to go back to that role due to flexibility.
He said interviews were taking place for a high school history teacher/coach as well as a middle school history teacher/coach, assistant band director, two elementary aides, and an elementary physical education coach.
“We were rocking right along and then we’ve hit a lull,” Wilson told the board. “But I think they’ve done some interviews and are looking for that perfect fit.”
In the April 23 edition of the Howe Enterprise, it was announced that the City of Howe and Howe ISD would partner together to share a resource officer. However, the number of applicants were small and Howe ISD has moved forward with a different plan.
Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson has been reluctant in the past to have the district create a police force, but after visiting with Anna ISD and their situation, he feels now that having a Howe ISD Police Chief that answers to the district and not the city council is more favorable.
“Another pro for us to be able to find a police chief is that it’s an opportunity for advancement for possibly someone who is retiring from a city or county force and can get into the school business and get in our retirement benefits,” said Wilson to the board.
After visiting with Anna ISD’s police chief, Wilson felt more comfortable since the chief said they had wished it were set up sooner.
The first step in the process is to hire an SSD (safety and security director) which would be a police officer who would be commissioned by another organization. The officer would be armed security for the district and would be the police chief-in-waiting. There is a process to be approved to have an ISD police force which is a three to six-month process. In the interim through the process period, the SSD would have that title instead of police chief until the ISD process has been fulfilled.
“When everything gets approved, the SSD becomes the chief and we can hire additional officers at that time,” said Wilson.
The going rate for a school police chief is $70,000 to $80,000. Wilson said he and Howe ISD Finance Director Julie Snapp looked at the budget and were able to shift dollars around in order to make room for the hire.
Another expense that the district would incur would be a police vehicle. Wilson says that he learned from the Anna ISD police chief that they could purchase a Dodge Charger for far less than $31,000. The projected cost in year one is $57,000 plus the salary. Wilson says the bulk of that amount is in the vehicle but expects it to be far less than the projected amount. The total slot would be $110,000 for the first year to start the Howe ISD Police Force.
Wilson did discuss other options with the board including hiring security companies or off-duty officers.
“My main thing is that I want a person assigned here every day where it’s not a revolving door with an officer that doesn’t know our kids,” said Wilson. “I don’t want just an armed presence. A big part of this I think is becoming part of the district and building relationships with students and staff.”
Wilson also suggested that down the road if the officer has a degree, they could teach some courses.
Wilson suggested that he felt comfortable that the district could find a police chief by the beginning of this school year and be in a situation to have multiple officers by this time next year.
School Board Member Clint Catching made the motion which carried unopposed.
The primary driver of any ISD budget is the compensation plan and Howe is no different. All across the country, people say that teachers don’t get paid enough and Howe ISD has improved their pay scale again this year to be competitive to attract high-quality educators as well as retain high-quality educators. The district upped their starting salary to $40,000 per year.
“We compare pretty well with Grayson County, but when you go south, they are all well above $40,000.,” Superintendent Kevin Wilson told the Howe ISD Board of Trustees on Monday night.
All other ISD staff members received a three percent raise and teachers with over 20 years experience and not on the pay schedule will receive a $500 step increase. The starting salary for an aid was $14,250 and will now be increased to $15,000. The ISD did a comparison with other local districts and found they were beneath the average payment amount for substitutes and raised the rate for certified substitutes from $70 to $80 per day. With insurance for employees going up to $367, the total budget for payroll came to $8,493,089.
The enrollment increased from 1066 students at the end of the 2017 school year to 1199 at the end of 2018. The ISD is adding six positions to keep the student/teacher ratio at 13.31 which is in line with the last five school years with the exception of last year due to the increase in students by 130 while working on the same budgeted amount for teachers.
“Teachers will increase from 86 to 90 and that’s the greatest need we have and that’s where we want to put our money,” said Wilson to the board.
The district saw a 15 percent increase in property tax evaluations and Wilson said he expects another 15 percent increase. However, they base their tax rate on 96 percent of evaluation totals to make for a conservative figure. During Wilson’s term as superintendent, the tax rate has always decreased from the original projection based on the conservative figure he presents in mid-summer.
The estimated revenue for the 2018-19 school year’s general fund is $11,343,551 which is roughly $800,000 increase from last year. Payroll cost is $8,493,0859 which is increased from $7,707,093 a year ago. Payroll cost is generally 75 percent of the total budget and it is scheduled that way once again for this school year.
Factoring in all revenues, the budget reflects $13,669,844 which includes the general fund amount plus $508,300 for food service, $1,546,220 for debt service (bonds), and $271,773 from federal funds. The increase in budget from a year ago is slightly over $1.4 million. Expenditures are the same except for the debt service is short $220,000 due to the district paying the first bond payment from reserves without tax revenue initially recovered.
Upon looking at a possible tax rate, the local rate is scheduled to remain the same at $1.17 and the debt services amount will increase from $0.225 to approximately $0.38 if everything falls into place with the new bond amount. Therefore, the bond will take the overall tax rate from $1.395 to approximately $1.556.
If there were no increases in home valuations, the overall tax burden means that the average Howe home which is listed at $156,110 would see a real increase in their taxes from $1,689 to $1,908 which equates to a $219 increase yearly or $18 monthly. But in real life terms, valuations are steadily increasing and combined with the tax increase would make the average Howe home valued at $180,395 which would result in an annual increase of $504 or $42 monthly.
Former Howe Police Officer Tom Mrozinski, who is now on the force of the Frisco Police Department spoke to the Howe City Council on Tuesday in regards to a $15,000 valued donation of equipment he was able to help earmark for the Howe Police Department.
“Over the years, I’ve helped donate equipment to not only Howe but other agencies in Southern Grayson County such as armored vests, uniforms, and things our agency is able to get in surplus,” said Mrozinski to the council. “I’ve been going to our chief and recommending that we donate items set to be destroyed to be donated to smaller agencies that can use them.”
Frisco PD was able to get a grant for new 3D surveying equipment for investigating crime scenes. This meant that the previous equipment would no longer be needed. Mrozinski recommended the Howe PD for the donation. He initially made the agreement with then-Howe Police Chief Carl Hudman but the donation was made official at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The items are surveying equipment minus the software. The software would enable Howe to supply to the district attorney a much better presentation for a crime scene.
Three Frisco PD Officers have agreed to supply minor training to the Howe Officers for use of the equipment.
Mrozinski’s 25-year service as an officer began in Howe in 1993. He has also served as a city council member.
Clay Barnett, Grayson County Engineer addressed the Howe City Council on Tuesday and told them that the county has projected roughly a 350,000 population for the county in 2040 which is an increase of over 200,000. He stated that the majority of that would be in South Grayson County. With that information, the commissioners’ court tasked Barnett with creating a county-wide thoroughfare plan for each city to adopt.
“We started with all of the cities that had thoroughfare plans, for example, Sherman, Denison, Gunter, Van Alstyne, and Howe,” Barnett told the council. “The goal is to be able to get from one side of the county to the other.”
Barnett said one of the projects they are looking at is the FM 902 connection which currently spills west traffic through town instead of a direct connection. Barnett said the plan has language that requires developers to donate right-of-ways along the projected expansions.
County Commissioner Jeff Whitmire told the council that people have been talking about growth for 40 years but now it’s really happening.
“How do we get the infill between (US Highway) 75 and (Texas State Highway) 289 and how do we take advantage of it,” said Whitmire to the council.
He indicated that FM 121 would be a main connection as well as FM 902 and State Highways 56 and 82.
“This is kind of a two-part deal,” said Whitmire. “Right now we have to have a comprehensive thoroughfare plan to access some additional TxDOT dollars. That means that everyone is on board with it.”
Whitmire says that Gunter did not have a quorum present at their city council meeting to approve the plan and that they were meeting in special session next week. Otherwise, he stated that Sherman, Pottsboro, Denison, Van Alstyne, Whitesboro, and Van Alstyne have all approved the plan. He stated that after July 4, they are scheduled with Whitewright, Tioga, Bells, and Collinsville.
“You will remain in control what happens inside the city of Howe,” Whitmire told the council. “If you decide several years from now that you don’t like a certain angle, then you change it and update us and we update the entire document. The county is not taking control of what happens. Howe still has control over what happens in Howe.”
Howe councilman Sam Haigis asked whether Howe would have access to the TxDOT dollars in which Whitmire said that most of the dollars would be spent on US Highway 75. But he said the county wants to fix FM 902 for a major east/west connection which has to be remedied in Tom Bean and in Howe.
“We can devote county money, some resources from TxDOT if there’s some city participation also on what would be a state road. It has to become a state road which FM 902 already is,” said Whitmire.
The council approved the plan unopposed.