12-05-1983 Public Hearing La Porte City Council'

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Minutes, Public ~aring, La Porte City Coun~ December 5, 1983, Page 5 4. Why aren't the people of our districts being given fair • notice of these hearings, and why are both hearings scheduled the same night? I polled a few of the residents around my house and none of those who signed this sheet which I have here, subscribe to the Bayshore Sun. This again would be directed primarily to our utility district. Mayor Cline: I can't answer your question as to why the people out there were not made aware of it any more so than the people in La Porte.. We of course complied with the requirements in publishing the notice. It's possible that your board out there should have made an effort to notify all the people. I can't answer that; maybe your board members can. City Attorney Askins: The provisions of law say that a notice should be published once in a newspaper having general circulation in the City and in the area to be annexed. The official designated newspaper of the City of La Porte is the Bayshore Sun,. and that is where our legal notices. are published. I would say, from feed- back which the City in various departments have had, that there seems to be a pretty good awareness in the two districts of the pendency of the annexation, other .than the formal, bareboned legal notice, the Bayshore Sun and the Baytown Sun, particularly . have carried a lot of front page articles, backgrounding this and news stories on the hearings and the deliberations of Council. I would regret if there's anybody who feels like they did not • have sufficient notice, but we have published the notices that the law requires. Mayor Cline: Mr. Trahan, I daresay there's very few people in the City of La Porte-that are aware of the public hearings being held, and a lot of them probably do take the local paper, which is our official papers, as Mr. Askins pointed out. But they might read about it, but not retain it. Councilperson Longley: Were these people unhappy about the annexation? Trahan: No, I don't think that many .people are unhappy about it; quite a few of the residents would have preferred to be annexed by Pasadena, and over the years we've been led to believe it was possible. Another thing, a few people fear some of the services will be, when we're first annexed, will possibly be reduced. Several of the residents feel why, after so many years, are we now being annexed. I understand.(?) had a lot to do with it. Councilperson Longley: I can assure you that you're certainly coming into the best city. Mr. Trahan: There's some concern about the fire service. At present, Deer Park responds and some .people fear that possibly • once we switch to La Porte we may not get as quick a response out of La Porte as we did out of Deer Park.