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West Nile virus questions lead Frisco town hall meeting
By Anthony Tosie, atosie@starlocalnews.com
When the city of Frisco held its town hall meeting on Monday, Aug. 21, three topics were planned for discussion: West Nile virus, the expansion of Stonebrook Parkway and the city’s 2013 budget. It quickly became clear which topic residents were most concerned about, however.
The majority of questions at the town hall meeting, which was conducted both in person and via telephone, related to West Nile virus and what the city is doing to prevent its spread.
John Lettelleir, the city’s director of development services, answered most questions regarding West Nile virus, and said the city is taking both proactive and reactive approaches to combating the spread of the virus.
Lettelleir said the city isn’t considering aerial spraying, a tactic recently undertaken by Dallas County. Instead, he said, the city will continue to monitor public property that features standing water and will spray areas surrounding the homes of residents who test positive for the virus.
“The city follows protocol and process of targeted spraying when a case is identified from the county health departments,” he said. “The city puts out signs [prior to spraying] and we’ll put out notices on our website. At this point there’s no plans to do citywide spraying.”
In addition to spraying, the city monitors and treats foreclosed and vacant properties with swimming pools and other bodies of water. Swimming pools that are active and maintained are not an issue because they recirculate water and use chlorine, Lettelleir said.
So far this summer, Frisco has announced four confirmed cases of West Nile virus contracted by its residents. It’s not known in any of the cases whether the residents contracted the virus inside city limits.
Several residents asked questions about specific areas with standing water; in each case Lettelleir or Mayor Maher Maso said the city would look into the respective locations.
Though West Nile virus dominated the discussion, numerous residents posed questions regarding the city’s roadway expansion projects.
Regarding the expansion of Eldorado Parkway, Paul Knippel, the city’s director of engineering, said the city expects construction to begin this year.
“The construction plans are about 90 percent complete,” he said. “We’ll begin the process of utility relocation and bidding on the project [within the next 60 days]. With all of that we’re fairly confident we’ll be under construction by the end of this year or the first of next year.”
Knippel also said the schedule for Coit Road to be paved is in a “similar situation” to Eldorado Parkway’s expansion, with the city nearing the bidding phase before construction likely begins later this year or early next year.
While no residents chose to pose questions relating to the city’s 2013 budget, one question was asked about the status of the bonds for the city’s acquisition of Exide land and how those bonds would be funded.
Responding to that question, City Manager George Purefoy said the bonds would be sold at the end of the month and funding would come in September. Maso noted the bonds would be funded through sales tax revenue by the Frisco Economic Development Corporation.
“Until we get the bids in [for the bonds] we won’t know the rates are,” Purefoy said, adding that the bonds would have 20 year terms.
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