City council to reorganize tonight
Code enforcement, transportation plan, more on agenda
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

Besides hearing complaints from Councilman Charles Bujan about cable service in Port Aransas and appointing members of the Parks and Recreation Board and the Board of Adjustments and Review (see related stories), council members this week will welcome one new and two veteran members to the dais.

They'll begin by swearing in Glenda Balentine and Mike Hall, who were unopposed for Places 4 and 6 respectively, and Mayor Claude Brown, who won a second term. Hall and Brown are veterans of the council; it's Balentine's first term as a council member.

They'll also elect a mayor pro-tem for the coming year and honor Councilman John "Bubba" Jensen for his six years of service. Jensen's Place 4 was vacated because of term limitations imposed by the city charter.

The council will hear presentations on the city's code enforcement efforts and plans for the future as well as work done by the marina technical team, a group set up to advise the city on marina needs.

Members will decide who represents the city on the Coastal Bend Council of Governments (traditionally, the mayor).

They will hear the first reading of an ordinance accepting the transportation component of the city's comprehensive plan. Among the proposals in this component:

• Support the implementation of the adopted thoroughfare plan to identify and prioritize roads targeted for capacity increases and identify intersection studies

• Create and implement a city-wide street inventory and maintenance program that prioritizes and categorizes needed repairs, expansions and maintenance

• Rewrite the city's development codes to consider more flexible design standards for roadway alignments and cross-sections

• Promote public transportation use through a media campaign to businesses and the general public

• Support the implementation of the adopted pedestrian/bicycle mobility plan to identify and prioritize safe routes targeted for construction

• Review current parking standards to ensure that they are consistent with smart growth concepts

• Continue efforts to create a ferry stacking lane area as depicted in the 2005 priority boarding lane plan.

Brown has also asked the council to take a look at the practice of throwing free advertising flyers in driveways and leaving them there.