By Mandy Bourgeois | Published Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wise County and the cities of Bridgeport and Decatur have received the City-County Cooperation Award after a successful cooperative effort to make the Wise County Weatherford College campus a reality.
The award, sponsored by the Texas Association of Counties and Texas Municipal League, is designed to recognize Texas cities and counties working together to meet challenges of local governments. Projects are nominated and winners are selected by a panel of judges.
"It's exciting that Bridgeport and Decatur were able to band together and meet the needs of the entire county," said Bridgeport mayor Don Majka. "We joined together for a common cause. I think it's going to be good, not only for Bridgeport and Decatur, but the entire county. We need more things like (the college) to join our county and meet a common goal."
Weatherford College currently has a campus in Decatur, but the college has outgrown the confines of the former Wal-Mart building in which it is housed. A steering committee was named in 2005 and included Wise County Judge Bill McElhaney, Majka and Decatur mayor Joe Lambert, as well as representatives from the Bridgeport and Decatur Economic Development Corp.
The committee recommended a branch campus maintenance tax to county commissioners and voters approved the tax in November 2008.
"It's great to be recognized for the effort we put into the project. The county, Bridgeport and Decatur can accomplish a lot when we cooperate with each other," Lambert said. "Hopefully, there will be other projects in the future we can work on together."
The award application submitted by the entities said, "by combining the efforts of the two cities and the county, it eliminated the possibility that either city would mount an expensive campaign to have the proposed new branch campus in their city. The willingness of the Wise County Commissioners Court to take the lead in this project eliminated the necessity of creating another government entity to manage the construction of the branch campus."
The project was one of two selected, with the judging panel also recognizing Dallas County and the city of Irving for the Irving Health Center.
The county, Decatur and Bridgeport will be recognized at the TAC annual conference Aug. 26 in Austin, the Texas Association of Regional Councils annual conference Sept. 16 at South Padre Island and at the TML annual conference Oct. 21 in Fort Worth. The winners will also be featured in the Texas Town & City magazine and County Magazine.
