The Office of Community Development at the City of Denison, TX administers a grant from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The majority of the funds are spent to bring owner occupied substandard housing up to Housing Quality Standards. We inspect the home for code violations and prepare a work write-up for contractors to prepare a bid for the project. After a public bid opening, the bids are checked for accuracy and the Director of Community Development awards the contracts. There are approximately 50 homes receiving Minor/Emergency Rehabilitation such as replacement of roof, re-wire the home to codes, and re-plumb the house, level/support the structure and provide heat to the home. All of these projects are done to applicable codes. Funds are also spent to remove unoccupied, unsafe dilapidated structures in the low/moderate income areas of the city. There are approximately 20 - 25 structures removed each year. Each year there are local agencies receiving CDBG funds to assist low/moderate income families. The office of Community Development monitors each of these agencies during the program year. There are about twenty households assisted each year with the First Time Home Buyers program.

Other duties include the transportation planning process for the city. Computerized traffic counters are used in areas of concern by the Council or citizens in town. The counters will give us traffic counts, classification of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, traffic intervals, surface conditions of the street (wet or dry, surface temperature, etc.), and other data of traffic patterns in the study area. This is used with a street inventory of each block in the city. Every block of the street system is inventoried each year to determine the state of deterioration. This survey, along with the volume of traffic, is used to determine what blocks are to be included in the annual asphalt overlay program.

Each department head is required to attend the City Council work sessions on Wednesdays and the City Council meetings on Mondays to respond to any questions by Council or citizens. Each department head is responsible for the presentation of any item on the agenda that concerns their departments. This and other duties as assigned occupy the day.