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January 5, 2009

Rusk officials pleased with progress last year

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The year 2008 was one of challenges for the city of Rusk, according to City Manager Mike Murray.

The city managed to finish a new water well, weather Hurricane Ike and still plan for the future.

“How a town handles challenges as well as opportunities says a lot about it, and Rusk proved to be up to the task in both regards during 2008,” Murray said. “No doubt, Hurricane Ike will be remembered as the major occurrence during the past year. However, we were also able to take several major steps forward in 2008 despite the difficulties that we faced.”

The Category 2 hurricane blew through Rusk on Sept. 13 and did significant damage to Rusk and surrounding areas. Power to most Rusk residents was off for two to three days, closing schools and making refugees from the Texas Gulf Coast, who initially sheltered in Rusk, have to move elsewhere.

“It stretched our people and resources to the extreme,” Murray said. “Rusk proved up to the task however, thanks to many dedicated city employees, volunteers and resilient citizens.

“During the storm, every road in town was blocked. They didn’t remain closed for long though because our volunteer fire department and city crews did a fantastic job removing debris, often within minutes of a tree falling,” Murray said. “The clean-up after the storm took a while longer but we finished this task in about half of the time estimated thanks in large part to help from the TDCJ community work squad. And, while the cost of the repair and clean-up strained our finances considerably, we are slowly beginning to recover in that area as well.

“Thankfully, we were able to install our first new generators at a city water well and pump station the day before the hurricane hit,” he said.

Murray explained those generators were acquired through a grant that was available because of Hurricane Rita and allowed the water service to remain on in the west side of town.

Another boost to the city’s water system includes the new 250-gallon-a-minute capacity well on the east side of the city.

“The eastern part of the city has always suffered from water pressure loss any time that the electricity goes out,” Murray said. “The City Council, in an effort to rectify this ongoing problem, wisely decided to drill our first new water well in 47 years to serve the east and south sides of town. This new well, complete with generator, tank and pump station was brought on-line in December of 2008. It will be a tremendous addition to our water system and will ensure both future growth as well as uninterrupted service to the entire city.”

Other significant achievements Rusk accomplished in 2008 included the renovation of the Civic Center; a decrease in the tax rate; installation of a new software system and server; tripling its licensed operators; completion of major repairs to city infrastructure and buildings; implementation of a tax incentives program; changing from a 4A Economic Development Corporation to a 4B Economic Development Corporation and getting the city charter amended via an election.

“The City also helped secure a new major employer to Rusk, ETECH RMS, with a future potential of 200-plus jobs,” Murray said. “In addition, the city of Rusk is assisting with the recruitment and retention of several other businesses and is looking forward to a prosperous 2009.”

Murray said he was pleased with the progress the city made.

“All in all, 2008 proved to be a very successful year for the City of Rusk,” he said. “The challenges that we faced and our response to them only proved that we are a strong community made up of hard working, caring people.

“Our council is an outstanding group of individuals who are planning for the future instead of just reacting to crisis and deserve a tremendous amount of recognition for their insight, wisdom and vision. We are looking forward to a great 2009 and anticipate building an even stronger community on the solid groundwork laid in 2008,” Murray said.

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