Town of Van Horn receives award for best-tasting water

Mayor Pro-tem Pam Young on Tuesday signed a proclamation honoring the water utility employees for their hard work leading to Van Horn water placing first in the 2014 Regional Best Tasting Water Contest.  Van Horn is now eligible to compete at the State Contest in February in Corpus Christi, representing the Central West Texas Region.

The Town received notice on May 6 that it had been awarded the Big Country Best-Tasting Water Award for a  municipality with a population less than 10,000 persons. The judging took place in Abilene.

The following cities entered the contest: Abiline, Jacksboro, Van Horn, Kermit, Eastland County, Clyde, Robert Lee, Winters, Stamford, Stephenville and Channing.

The winners were: City of Abilene for Best Surface Water serving more than 10,000 people; City of Jacksboro, Best Surface Water serving less than 10,000 people; Town of Van Horn, Best Ground Water serving less than 10,000 people and City of Jacksboro, Best Overall Water.

“We’re very proud of the hard work Cuco (Corralez), Dion Corrales and ther rest of the water departement employees do on behalf of the city,” said City Administrator Fran Malafronte. “The water department team also takes a great deal of pride in their work, and it shows. This is a great honor.”

In other action, Council voted to table a request from Golf Course manager, Raul Rodriguez to purchase a John Deere mower with bagger to be used for mowing the city’s parks in an effort to control goat head proliferation.  Gas & Water Department manager Dion Corrales then presented Council with a final bill from Big Bend Well Service for labor costs for the installation of the gear head for the Thrift Well.

Mr. Corrales reported that both the Thrift Well and the Courthouse Well are now both fully functional.  Council then voted unanimously to amend the employee vacation schedule for full-time employees so that those with one year of service would be eligible for one week of vacation, two to five years of service would get two weeks of vacation, those employees with six to 10 years of service would get three weeks of vacation time, and those with 10 or more years would get four weeks of vacation.

Council heard and approved a request from the manager of the CCAISD school lunch program to donate a bicycle to the program for one of its annual contests.