This past Monday, Jan. 10, Taylor Deputy City Manager Jeff Jenkins sat down with Taylor Press Publisher Jason Hennington in the newspaper’s monthly Facebook Live interview.
Jenkins has served as Taylor’s Deputy City Manager for five years and has been involved with city management for 16 years throughout the state of Texas. The Deputy City Manager position serves as the second in command in Taylor city operations.
Jenkins first spoke about upgrades coming to the local area parks.
“At Taylor Regional Park, we’re about to go into construction. We have a contractor that is onboard and there, we’re going to be adding some amenities to the park,” said Jenkins. “Upgrades will include a fishing pier, an additional soccer field, additional trails and additional shade structures.”
Developments are also on their way to Doak Park. Currently, the park has just two baseball fields, but plans are in place to add a play structure to the facility.
“The whole focus is to improve the quality of life for everyone and having something for all ages,” said Jenkins. “The park improvements are partly funded by a grant the city received for $500,000.”
At percussion park located at Murphy Park with funds raised by Taylor Good Life and a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife, progress is at the bidding stage for contractors.
Health and the safety of residents and employees has been an utmost importance to the city even in the continued COVID-19 pandemic.
“So far, the city hasn’t seen any major issues,” said Jenkins. “Last Thursday, I believe the library had to open a little later. All in all, we’ve been doing pretty well.”
Human resources were the next topic and what has been happening in Taylor.
“We’ve been focused on making employees comfortable with a great place to work and benefit,” said Jenkins. “I think we’ve done a good job maintaining service levels and getting through the pandemic.”
Conversation then shifted to the Paycom system. The city is looking to make the system easier by moving on from the traditional to a more high-tech system.
“Employees can also use it on their phone which makes it more convenient for them,” said Jenkins. “Anything to make it more convenient and innovative, we’ve been focused on.”
The interview turned to the topic of Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI). Jenkins reiterated his statement of the quality of life.
Jenkins then briefly spoke about Lonestar Circle of Care at the West End school building. They will be having their grand opening on Feb. 25, as they “breathe new life into an old building,” said Jenkins.
As a liaison of grants for the city, Jenkins spoke about one grant in particular a community development block grant which is a mitigation grant for drainage.
“We’re waiting on the final paperwork and we’ve been told we’ve been approved for a $5.5 million grant,” said Jenkins. “It may be the largest in Taylor’s history. The focus of that grant will be on drainage and improvements around the city.”
Jenkins also briefly spoke about other grants recently secured to help out the city with street repairs and stated that the city is always on the lookout for grant opportunities to improve the city.
