Two quick things this morning; the site is going to be undergoing some minor and hopefully not-so-minor changes in the next few weeks, and the final, final election results.

First, the changes to the site. As I have more and more news and information to share, the front page of the site is getting longer and longer, making it load slower and appear to be more difficult to read. If you’re familiar with blogs, many blogs will post a summary of the story, followed by a “Read More” link to read the details of the story. I’m going to switch to that format, so if you see a story you’re interested in on the front page, you’ll need to click the link that says “Read More” to read the whole story. Also, older entries from previous months that no longer fit on the frontpage are automatically archived by month as well as by their category, so to see older posts, simply click on the names of the categories to the right of the front page of the site, under where it says “Categories”. Clicking a month under “Archives” will also let you see every post that month in all of the categories.
Now, the election results. What I reported below as the final election results did not, apparently, include “military, manual and provisional ballots”. The county has taken down the previous 100% results, so I’m not sure how many votes this adds. It doesn’t appear to have changed any of the bond elections, but for accuracy’s sake, here’s the new final numbers. Again, as these numbers are “unofficial”, they could be subject to change, but the school district has also reported these election numbers on its website, so in theory, these are the final numbers.

Final Election Results - 42 of 42 Precincts Reporting + Provisional, Military & Manual Ballots

• Forney ISD
  • Prop 1: 2,537 for; 2,204 against (53.51% for, passes)
  • Prop 2: 2,781 for; 1,958 against (58.68% for, passes)
  • Prop 3: 2,361 for; 2,335 against (50.28% for, passes)
  • Prop 4: 2,361 for; 2,358 against (50.03% for, passes)
  • Prop 5: 2,472 for; 2,243 against (52.43% for, passes)
  • Prop 6: 2,249 for; 2,490 against (52.54% against, fails)
  • Prop 7: 1,657 for; 3,035 against (64.68% against, fails)
• City of Forney
  • Prop 1: 1,539 for; 506 against (75.26% for, passes)
  • Prop 2: 1,290 for; 734 against (63.74% for, passes)
  • Prop 3: 1,247 for; 783 against (61.43% for, passes)

I’ll repeat what I posted below about what this election means to Forney. It refers to prop 4 being decided by 1 vote - in the updated totals it was a slightly larger margin, but it was still decided by only 3 or 4 votes, so its important to realize that every vote really does count and makes a difference.

What does these results mean for Forney?

Well, first the good news. All three city bond initiatives passed, at least in the final, unofficial count of the vote. This means 54 million dollars worth of improvements to the roads in Forney, primarily focusing on an impressive plan to build a beltway around Forney, as well as significant improvements to the “WalMart intersection” at Highway 80 & FM-548, where a majority of the new commercial development is building in Forney.

This also means almost 12 million dollars for a new police station, holding area and municipal court.

Finally, this means a little more than 14 million dollars for parks, primarily focusing on the first phases of a 127 acre community park on FM-548 between 1641 and 741.

Unfortunately, Forney ISD didn’t fair as well. A majority of Forney ISD’s bond proposals passed, meaning Forney ISD will be able to:

• Build 4 new elementary schools on land already owned
• Buy the land for a total of 6 additional new elementary schools
• Buy the land for a new middle school
• Upgrade facilities at Criswell Elementary, Johnson Elementary and Forney High School
• Build a new bus maintenance facility and build a new (relocated) agricultural facility
• Build a new Network Operations Center
• Expand the Electronic Textbook Initiative district-wide to grades 5-12

So Forney will be able to build 4 new elementary schools, and purchase the land for a third middle school and 6 additional new elementary schools. However, unfortunately, both proposition 6 (a new high school on land already owned by the district that’s set aside to be used for a new high school) and proposition 7 (a new freshman center on land to be purchased by the district) failed. So the voters have said that they don’t want a new high school, and they clearly do not want a freshman center. However, the current high school is becoming overcrowded and will reach its capacity within a few years, if not sooner.

The good news is, the voters in Forney ISD rejected a new high school by about a 2-to-1 margin back in May of this year. This time, six months later, as more people with children move to Forney and realize the importance of ensuring smaller class sizes and keeping pace with growth, the measure failed by a little over 250 votes, a much, much closer margin. Surely over the next six months to a year, 250 people will realize the tremendous need for a second high school and will vote for the measure the next time it comes around. Obviously, with Forney growing at an estimated 20% growth rate, this issue will come up again, and soon, as the situation becomes more dire.

Also, remember, EVERY VOTE COUNTS. You’ve heard it before, and it sounds cheesy, but re-read the results of the election. Proposition 4 of the Forney ISD bond election passed by one vote. That one vote made a difference. So if you haven’t already, register to vote and be sure to vote in the elections that will be coming up in May 2007.

Welcome to Twenty Peaceful Minutes (20PM) - a community website for Forney, Texas. In addition to this blog, 20PM is home to the Forney discussion forums, which you may reach by clicking the Forney discussion forum link or going to http://20pm.net/forums; also, considering signing up for email or newsreader (RSS feed) notifications of new posts to the 20PM blog!