Chandler saw a number of new faces and places, as homes were built and families and businesses joined our community in 2009.

Tom Robertson built a wonderful new place that’s the home of Anytime Fitness, Salon 31, and China Chef.

And as the old Donut Palace was torn down, we all anticipated the arrival of a new building to house Chandler Donuts and the aroma of sugar coatings and “pigs in a blanket.”

Winchester Park saw improvements and expansion last year. The City Council and Economic Development Board approved funds to light Field 4, which now qualifies the city to host state ball tournaments.

With these tournaments come players, families and friends who will eat at our restaurants, put gas in their cars, and hopefully stay in our hotel the city and Chandler Brownsboro Area Chamber of Commerce are pursuing.

City maintenance crews have been clearing out areas under trees at the back of the park to provide a picnic area for families and teams.

Additional funds were approved to enlarge Winchester Park’s playground for younger children. Since the playground equipment no longer met current safety standards, the council and EDC were eager to make necessary improvements.

The concession stand near the ball fields also received a facelift. Thanks to donations by local businesses and the boys and girls ball associations, Park Board President Rick Ford and city administrator Jim Moffeit worked together to oversee the expansion of the concession stand with no expense to the city.

With the great need for additional parking and the lack of rodeo activity, it was determined the rodeo arena and bleachers would be removed, and that is under way.

Winchester Park hosted a number of events in 2009. Chandler is now a CASIapproved chili cook-off destination. Those chili connoisseurs heading to the national event can now make our community one of their stops on their way to Terilingua.

One cook-off was during the annual Pow Wow. The 2009 event had to be one of Chandler’s biggest and best. The Lions Club again hosted a huge parade, children swarmed all over the new playground equipment, an abundance of food and entertainment was available, and as Miss Eva Thomkins used to write, “a good time was had by all.”

The ladies of City Hall put together another successful Holiday In The Park with the proceeds benefiting Keep Chandler Beautiful. That money was used to purchase new street-light banners for our community.

For years, the Pow Wow and parade have overfl owed onto Stanley and Rita McCurley’s property that abuts Winchester Park. In late 2009, the McCurleys offered the city the opportunity to purchase their 27 acres, an approximately 3,800-square-foot home, equipment shed and metal outbuildings with water and electricity.

The City Council entered into negotiations and agreed to purchase the property as an investment in Chandler’s growth and development.

The city currently owns Winchester Park, the City Hall property, the library property, and the land the sewer plant and each of the water towers and water wells occupy.

The City Hall property houses the community center and the following city government departments: water, police, maintenance and the municipal court. Nine city vehicles are stored at that location.

The council was anticipating the need to construct a large metal building to house the maintenance department and its equipment at either Winchester Park or at the sewer plant.

By purchasing this land that joins city property, the storage and equipment buildings would facilitate the needs of the maintenance department, saving the city money.

The land will be held by the Texas Recreation & Parks Foundation, so the community will have time to decide its best use. Any of the land used to enlarge Winchester Park could be eligible for improvements through the Texas Recreation & Parks Grants Program.

Chandler is working on a master plan that will take our community into the next 10 to 20 years: a street assessment is complete and a street maintenance plan is ongoing; a water and wastewater capital-improvements plan has been presented to the council by Everett Griffith Jr. & Associates; Planning Concepts of Tyler was hired to work on a preliminary master plan for Winchester Park; and Texas Engineering Extension Service from Texas A&M was in our community to interview stakeholders to provide us a community profile and information viable to businesses looking to come to our area.

As this information begins to unfold, the council looks forward to hosting a town-hall meeting to hear from the citizens of Chandler about their vision for our future, and how they think this newly acquired property could best be used.

SilverLeaf at Chandler is the city’s newest housing development and should be complete in the late Sum- mer or early Fall.

This construction project on Farm-to-Market Road 2010 is a 30-unit rentadjusted senior housing complex that will include a community center and walking path.

An application has been submitted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for an additional 44 units. These one- and two-bedroom units will meet a great need in our area, keeping our longtime residents and muchloved seniors from having to move to Tyler.

Chandler just launched a new Web site developed by Group M7. You can visit www.chandlertx.org to search our newly adopted code of ordinances, review archived council agendas, sign up for our Code Red emergency warning system, access the community calendar, and much more.

City Hall is overrun with paper documents, so the new code of ordinances includes a law establishing a records-management program. An upgrade of the city’s computer system and backup storage has been performed, and an upgrade in the phone system will be completed soon.

Our Police Department is working hard and is fully staffed with the addition of two new officers, Jody Durham and Stuart Alexander.

Three new black Chevrolet Tahoes were recently delivered to the city, and our police vehicles are on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so the mileage adds up quickly with signifi cant wear and tear.

The Tahoes are built for the Texas Department of Public Safety, which allows cities to join their purchase contract, providing a better price.

The Tahoes cost about the same as the Ford Crown Victorias the city had been purchasing, but have been found to last longer than our old patrol cars, thus saving money.

Chandler received a FEMA grant in 2009 benefi ting our police and fire departments. Both departments received new radio equipment and a repeater antennae was installed on the Winchester Park water tower.

This new equipment will provide improved communication within Henderson County and with Smith County agencies as well.

Other events during the year included having the city’s financial statements audited by Gollob, Morgan, Peddy & Co., P.C.

Once again, Chandler was given a financial “clean bill of health.” Sanitation Solutions continues to serve as the city’s waste-management contractor.

Even though costs increased this year for the company’s services, it was absorbed by the city and not passed along to our citizens.

Sanitation Solutions helped Chandler by tearing down five uninhabitable homes within our community. Its construction division provided the labor and hauled away all debris, while the city was only responsible for the disposal fee.

A water well is almost complete at Sportsman’s Paradise and is proving to be a successful well, providing close to 300 gallons a minute. Some sewer lines were extended on Farm-to- Market Road 2010, and a water main was extended to the city limits to provide fire protection for that area.

John Milton Wallace, a long-time Chandler resident, was honored with the renaming of 6th Street to John Milton Street.

An electronic message center was added to City Hall. Many citizens said they didn’t know about events and meetings, so the two-sided message center allows our city secretary to post the latest happenings and emergency notices if needed.

James Allison retired from the Chandler maintenance department after 20 years. Mark Saxon was hired to fill the vacant position, and Kenny Conner was also hired to help with the growing demand on that department.

As our community grows, so does the need for animal control, mowing at the parks and city property, street maintenance and so much more.

Our community has been very blessed, and we have much for which to be thankful. Your city staff, council and many board volunteers work tirelessly to make Chandler a better place to call home.

Many of you were born and raised here, so you have watched this town grow into a bustling bedroom community of Tyler. As Tyler grows to the west, as Loop 49 develops in our direction, and as the Armed Forces Reserve Center and other businesses are built along State Highway 31, our town will be affected.

We must realize that either we control change or change will control us. So I invite you to attend council meetings, call City Hall with any questions, and familiarize yourself with our new Web site so you, too, can be part of the vision.