City, EDC, county officials to meet
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A proposed property transfer between the City of Copperas Cove and Coryell County is the subject of a joint session between the Copperas Cove city council, the Coryell County commissioners, and the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation board to be held on Thursday at 5 p.m.
The site of the meeting is the Economic Development Corporation building, located at 210 S. 1st St. which is one of the properties up for discussion.
The other property is the Coryell County Annex, located at 201 S. 2nd St. in Copperas Cove.
Comparing the two properties, the preliminary assessed value for the 4,276-square foot, 50-year-old EDC building is $429,650. It sits on 0.462 acres. The 6,100-square foot, 60-year-old County Annex’s assessed value is $366,740. It sits on a comparable lot size of 0.475 acres.
The EDC building is owned by the EDC, and at the EDC board’s February meeting, City Manager/EDC interim executive director Andrea Gardner told the board she had exchanged emails with Coryell County judge John Firth regarding the county’s facility needs as well as possible joint projects with the city.
At that time, Gardner recommended the board consider a lease for the building along with giving her direction on repurposing the now-vacant facility. The board was also asked to come up with a possible lease amount she could bring to the county.
On Thursday, all three groups have an executive session slated for the joint meeting, after which there could be action taken, depending on the outcome of the closed meeting.
Currently, the Copperas Cove city council uses the EDC building for its meetings, as does the EDC board, with other council-appointed boards conducting business in the building as well.
The city’s new Information Technology building at 508 S. 2nd St. is on track to be the site of those meetings come late June 2017, according to Kevin Keller, the city’s public information officer.