Just the Facts about Copper Canyon — February 2021

On May 1, 2021, Copper Canyon will conduct an election to elect a Mayor and two Town Council positions.

This year, three citizens will be elected at large to serve two-year terms. The terms of office will be from May 2021 to May 2023. Please note that the places are not geographically based. These positions are currently filled by: Mayor – Ron Robertson; Place 2 – Ted Stranczek; Place 4 – Robin Douglas-Davis.

As of Jan. 29, the following people have filed to run: Mayor – Ron Robertson; Place 2 – Ted Stranczek; Place 4 – Dale Andrews.

Applications may be filed Monday through Friday at Town Hall, 400 Woodland Drive, Copper Canyon, 75077 and must be received by 5 p.m. Feb. 12, 2021. Town Hall office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., however, there may be certain dates during the election period (refer to the calendar) that may be open until 5 p.m.

Planning for 2021

The Mayor, Council, staff, and professional staff held a workshop in January to plan for the upcoming year. The Council enacts ordinances, orders elections, levies taxes, authorizes public improvements, approves contracts, and adopts traffic regulations. As you can see from the 2019-2020 list below, we have been very busy and will continue to work this next year to make Copper Canyon a great place to call home.

• Implemented a Master Plan Review Committee and hired a professional land planner to work with the committee
• Hired new legal firm. Budget went from $84,300 to $25,000 per year
• Hired new engineering firm. Budget went from $72,700 to $25,000 per year
• One of the first changes the Council made was to go back to having two patrol officers instead of three. Crime statics in the Town did not warrant a third officer. This saved the town $102,000 a year plus the $68,000 for a patrol car. In the upcoming year, the Council will consider additional patrol hours for night shifts.
• Council implemented Homestead Exemption for Disabled Persons and Persons over 65, freezing the town taxes on their property
• Hired an Onsite Sewage Facilities Inspector. TCEQ was taking up to 6-8 weeks to review plans for homeowners and builders
• Refinanced the 2010 Bond and went from 4.5% to 1.78% saving the town $137,366
• $700,000 of tax notes will be funded with an estimated $145,000 of debt service each year, with a projected rate of 2%. This allowed the town to take advantage of a very low interest rate and complete several years of road projects.
• The town had received a letter from the County stating they were reallocating the 3.4 million set aside for the reconstruction of Chinn Chapel. We worked with Commissioner Edmondson to reinstate the Interlocal Agreement that has allowed us to move forward with Chinn Chapel reconstruction.
• Staff secured a CoServ Grant for $17,000 and a COVID-19 CARES Grant for $80,000

Boards & Commissions Appointments

The P&Z and BOA had not gone through the process of new appointments in many years and so every term for each board member/commissioner had expired. The Council encouraged residents who wanted to serve, to turn in an application. The Town received many applications and held a workshop to interview the applicants. Council members then ranked the interviewees, assigning them a number 1-5. Ranking sheets were tallied and whoever received the most votes, was assigned to Place 1, followed by the person that received the second most votes was assigned to Place 2, and so on for the P&Z and BOA; the same was done for the alternates.

Poindexter Branch Study

For years flooding has been an issue in the town. TNP, under the direction of Gary Vickery, our Town Engineer, has initiated the initial Flood Plan Survey of the Poindexter Branch. The survey will map the entire basin from Copper Canyon Road to the northeast corner of the Town. This Plan will serve as the basis for developing a comprehensive Flood Mitigation Plan for Copper Canyon.

A Word of Thanks

We would like to thank Judge Andy Eads, our Pct. 4 Commissioner Dianne Edmondson, Denton County Commissioners and the Denton County Health Department for an outstanding job of keeping our cities informed during the COVID-19 Pandemic.