Gravel, cops top Houston agenda

HOUSTON — Between police department issues and a controversial gravel proposal, it looks like Thursday’s Houston City Council meeting will be interesting.

According to the agenda, among eight items are two that have already generated some discussion: approval of a gravel extraction permit for Mat-Su Gravel Products and an executive session for the purposes of discussing, “Police Department concerns.”

The gravel proposal has been hotly debated in the city and has been the subject of a tug-of-war over planning powers between the city and the borough.

Mat-Su Gravel Products hopes to remove gravel from 50 acres of a 69-acre tract split by the Parks Highway just north of the fireworks stands. The hope is that the operation will level off some hills and make the land more amenable to development. Its critics worry about environmental impact, digging into the water table and the effects the operation will have on local water bodies.

And then there’s the executive session.

Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said he couldn’t say much about that executive session.

“Officer Aaron Parker submitted his resignation last week and there’s an internal investigation going on,” was as far as he would go.

Despite what some people are saying, he said the matter is related only tangentially, if at all, to the city’s failure to obtain federal grant money to hire a new officer.

“It was something we were hoping to take advantage of and we missed the deadline on it,” Wilson said. “It’s not going to kill us. It’s not really that big of a deal, I don’t think. It’s something that we’ll probably put in for next year.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.