June 2015 City Connection
CITY
CONNECTION
Volume 11, Issue 9
June 2015
Calendar
June 2015
2 - City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
3 - Yard Waste Trimming Collection
4 - Planning & Zoning Commission -
City Hall at 12 p.m.
10 - Heavy Trash & Large Yard Waste
16 - City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
17 - Yard Waste Trimming Collection
18 - Planning & Zoning Commission -
City Hall at 5:30 p.m.
24 - Heavy Trash & Large Yard Waste
July 2015
1 - Yard Waste Trimming Collection
2 - Planning & Zoning Commission -
City Hall at 12 p.m.
3 - Independence Day Holiday -
City offices closed
7 - City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
15 - Yard Waste Trimming Collection
14 - Heavy Trash & Large Yard Waste
16 - Planning & Zoning Commission -
City Hall at 5:30 p.m.
21 - City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
29 - Yard Waste Trimming Collection
28 - Heavy Trash & Large Yard Waste
Submit requests for Heavy Trash pick-up
before noon on Monday, the week of the pick-up,
at 294-5796.
Learn more about
City events at
www.huntsvilletx.gov
The next time you are down at 1212 Avenue M, take a moment to stop out-
side the doors to the Council Chamber and remember when. The quilt
hanger is now displaying a special item from Huntsville’s 150th birthday
(the birthday comes around again on July 12!). Wynne Home Coordinator
Linda Pease shared a special story about how this quilt was created.
The Huntsville Arts Commission, Pease said, heard & approved a proposal
for the Quilt of Huntsville, now approaching its 30th anniversary. It was lov-
ingly created and completed in 1986 by the Grandpersons Center (now the
Senior Center of Walker County) and Coordinating Artist Roberta Norris Bur-
ton, and presented to the City of Huntsville on the steps of the Steamboat
House, at its Texas Sesquicentennial celebration in July of that year.
The Quilt features quilted squares by each of fourteen seniors in Walker
County of their perceptions of downtown Huntsville and its surrounding his-
toric sites: the downtown Square, early cabins of the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries, an infamous (of the time) train wreck, chickens
and crops along with farmers, inmate field workers, early churches, Old
Main (a special SHSU building lost in a fire), Sam Houston’s home, and oth-
er elements. Burton designed the manner in which the individual pieces
would be held together with a clever and meandering route of wooded
roads and streams, so typical of Huntsville.
Additional funding for the
project came from the Texas
Commission on the Arts and
the National Endowment for
the Arts, along with support
provided by the City through
the Huntsville Arts Commis-
sion.
The 52” x 86” cotton work
has been featured in Lone
Stars, Vol. II: A Legacy of
Texas Quilts, 1936-1986 by
Karoline Patterson Bresen-
han and Nancy O'Bryant
Puentes (University of Texas
Press) and on the cover of a
medical journal, and has
been part of the Houston
Quilt Show and Huntsville’s
Airing of the Quilts.
See the photo on page 3 of
this issue, picturing partici-
pants in the making of the
quilt – the appliqueing, em-
broidering, and quilting - at
the presentation in 1986.
Then drop by City Hall to
take a moment to reflect on
your memories of our com-
munity, soon to celebrate its
180th birthday - anyone for
the novevicennial?
“New” Quilt at City Hall
City Water Division Wins
Prestigious Statewide Award
The Water Division of the Public Works Department has been honored as the 2015 Outstanding Municipal Utility by the
Texas Municipal Utilities Association (TMUA). The award, given each year, is a special recognition of leadership in munici-
pal utilities across the state of Texas.
City of Huntsville Water Services Superintendent Joyce Hubbard nominated the City for the prize, based on work done to
improve water quality.
“The Water Division is very pleased and honored to win this award. The hard work and dedication of the employees made
it possible,” said Hubbard. “The water division will continue to focus on improving water quality and customer service.”
The Texas Municipal Utilities Association was organized in 1925 to promote the proficiency of the utility management pro-
fession and utility operations. It promotes communication between managers and provides a forum for professional devel-
opment of employees, officers, and governing officials having an interest in or responsibility for municipal utilities. It devel-
ops and upgrades the quality and mutual respect of utility managers, and promotes the general welfare of all municipal
utility employees.
Municipal utilities operate in concert with other functions of local government to provide vital community services. The
principal emphasis of the association is the management and the direction of municipal utilities, including the special re-
lationship of city managers, members of governing bodies, and boards of directors related to municipal utilities. It is a fo-
rum where members can learn from each other and benefit from professional association with other municipal utility man-
agers in Texas.
TMUA is an affiliate organization of the Texas Municipal League (TML), which represents some 98% of Texas’ urban popu-
lation through its over 1,000 member cities and towns. Organized in 1913 as an informal association of 14 municipalities,
TML today is a progressive, multi-million dollar enterprise offering a wide variety of services to Texas cities.
To qualify, TMUA recommends a nominee: should be widely recognized as a leader in the municipal utility industry; has
enhanced the prestige of all municipal utility systems; has made a measurable improvement to customer services; or has
developed innovative solutions to any utility problem.
TMUA President Rodney Taylor, Assistant Director of Utilities for the
City of Abilene (far left) and TMUA Region 2 Director Kevin Scalley,
Assistant Director of Utilities for the City of Brownwood (far right) pre-
sent award to City of Huntsville Water Services Superintendent Joyce
Hubbard and Assistant Water Services Superintendent Kyle Matthews.
Citizens are encouraged to follow the City of Huntsville Twitter feed, @HuntsvilleTexas, for updates on the City’s curbside
recycling and solid waste efforts.
According to Carol Reed, Public Works Director, additional material is being made available for residents via the City’s exist-
ing Twitter page as part of the “Greener Huntsville: Easy Recycling” initiative.
“We have activated curbside recycling in all eight areas of the City and have had changes to yard waste and heavy trash
pickup policies, so we want to provide our residents with as much information as possible about how to take advantage of
these services correctly and easily,” Reed said. “By providing how-to guides, tips and reminders about curbside recycling
and important dates to remember, our hope is to make recycling a quick and convenient part of our citizens’ daily lives.”
The tweets address not only recycling, Reed said, but also assist customers in pinpointing Heavy Trash, Yard Waste, and
regular garbage pickup dates and requirements. Specific items which are accepted for recycling are also listed.
“We are using Twitter to remind people to put their blue or green carts at the street’s edge both at the right time and on the
right day,” Reed said. “For example, for customers in Areas 1, 3, 5 and 7, we send a tweet out on Sunday evening to re-
mind them their garbage pickup is the next day, Monday. That way, they have plenty of time to get their carts out before
the next morning at 6 a.m. when pickup begins. We do the same thing for recycling later in the week; these messages are
sent on a set schedule so citizens always have an extra reminder. Occasionally, we will also tweet about other services
provided, like the TIPS Warehouse, and on other ways residents can recycle, compost, or otherwise reduce waste.”
Reed said the “Greener Huntsville” Twitter initiative will also include energy conservation tips for residential and commer-
cial entities, methods for saving water and more. For more information, contact Reed at (936) 294-5768 or Solid Waste
Superintendent Esther Herklotz at (936) 294-5724 or email her at eherklotz@huntsvilletx.gov. The City's Twitter feed can
be viewed at https://twitter.com/Huntsvilletexas.
Solid Waste customers: Look for “Greener Huntsville” Twitter posts