“It will be better than what it was,” said Tim Quimby, community resource officer. “We won’t have officers changing shifts or having to work overtime.”

When fully staffed the department has 42 employees, but within the past year it has been short by eight officers. The number promised to drop when the department hired five new officers, but they had to complete an intense 19-week training program before working on their own.

Two new officers finished training in the last week of September, one was released into the field two weeks ago, and another officer just assumed normal duties on Sunday. Another trainee will graduate in about a month, and the department recently hired someone else who is still in the second phase in a 5-step training process. That leaves only two positions still unfilled.

“Since we’ve all been released everyone’s been trying to take some time off,” said Douglas Clawson, a new officer who finished training two weeks ago. “It’s been a long time since a lot of these officers have taken days off. They’re definitely happy about it.”

The training program includes five phases that require the new officer to assume more and more duties as the training progresses. The trainees ride with experienced field training officers who teach them and oversee their duties.

“They have to learn a lot of stuff in that 18-to-19 weeks they’re in the training program,” said Lt. Bill Bledsoe, who supervises the program. “It’s just task after task after task.”

Officers complete a firearms training workshop, and must also get certified to use equipment like tasers and radar devices. They learn to complete paperwork for a vast array of offenses, and they must know the laws they’ll be enforcing. Officers must know how to investigate crimes like home burglaries, which may include taking pictures, lifting fingerprints and collecting DNA samples.

Bledsoe said new officers even learn to identify rabid animals, because at times they must respond to animal control incidents. The trainees must know the directives and procedures in a 400-page manual, so the list goes on and on.

Clawson said it was helpful to train with a number of officers in the department.

“Some officers have different tactics they like to use, or are stronger in some areas,” he said. “You take what you like from each officer and mold your own person.”

Before the new officers hit the streets, the staffing shortage was affecting everyone. The department always had the minimum number of officers working at one time, but staying at the required staffing level sometimes required people to change their schedules. Quimby, the community resource officer, used two days per week to go out on patrol. Detectives and lieutenants did the same, and even a records department employee worked patrol shifts. The new officers will help everything go back to normal.

“Officers who couldn’t take vacation time before will be able to take off now,” Quimby said. “It’s great when you get back to being fully staffed again.”

The Museum of Fine Arts opened a new exhibit, "Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography," that explores Korea through five themes.

“Operating under a relatively new democracy in South Korea, artists experienced a burst of creative energy and freedom of expression in recent decades,” said curator Anne Tucker in a statement. “The photographers in Chaotic Harmony observe the country’s notable growth in terms of industry and urbanization and convey the resultant issues as well as reflect on the country’s ancient culture and religions.”

The exhibit, “Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography” is running now through Jan. 3. It explores Korea through five themes: land and sea, urbanization and globalization, family, friends and memory, cultural and personal identity, and anxiety.

Admission is $7 for adults, $3.50 for children and seniors, and free for kids under 5. For more information call (713) 639-7300 or visit www.mfah.org.

Jackie Liedtke was named a Russian Language Scholar Laureate by the American Council of Teachers of Russian, a professional association with 1,650 members.

Lamar H.S. Russian teacher Lisa McLendon and senior Jackie Liedtke, who was named a Russian Language Scholar Laureate.

“Scholar Laureates are serious, dedicated students,” said Liedtke’s Russian teacher Lisa McLendon in a statement. “Jackie is the epitome of the student scholar, but she is so much more. Her enthusiasm for learning and her behavior is exemplary.”

Liedtke decided to study Russian four years ago because she thought it would be a good match for her planned career in engineering. Now she is vice president of the Russian Club and a member of the Slavic Honor Society. She said she wants to visit Russia during college.

“Studying Russian gives you an insight into how the country has progressed and how different their culture is,” Liedtke said in a statement. She credited her success to McLendon’s helpful and patient teaching style.

Liedtke is applying to eleven universities that have well-known engineering departments. She said she may minor in Russian.

“I was really, really happy,” said Debbie Helweg, director of the day school, which for 26 years has taught local children aged 3 to 5. “It was a long process, but it wasn’t as strenuous as I thought it would be.”

Samantha Johnson, a 4-year-old student at Faith Lutheran Day School, tells teacher Stephanie Hall about her latest "Class News." The school operates out of the Faith Lutheran Church Community Center, because Hurricane Ike damaged its old building.

Meeting a fundraising goal of $3 million is the next hurdle for the preschool to get its new home, free from the flooding and foundation problems that haunted its old location at 4601 Cedar St., on the same campus as Faith Lutheran Church. On Monday the church is hosting its first fundraising meeting to generate pledges and donations.

After Hurricane Ike, Helweg took a flashlight and waded through up to 10 inches of water in some rooms to inspect damage to the school. It was pretty far gone.

“We were Ike’d,” she said. The catastrophic flooding was the last straw in a series of floods that Helweg said have gotten progressively worse over the years.

Since then, the day school lost about half its students because it had to move to the church Community Center, right next to the damaged school.

The center doesn’t have as many classrooms, so Helweg and her staff built dividers to create separate areas in a large meeting room. Everything must be packed away on weekends and on some week days, because the church uses the same space for Sunday school, and allows community groups to meet there.

“The open concept, I’m not a big fan of,” Helweg said. “It’s working, but I’d like to get back to individual classrooms.”

After discovering that repairing the damaged school would not be cost effective, the day school had to apply for a special use permit to construct a new school. The city requires the permit to operate a school in a residential district.

On Monday, the council voted unanimously to grant the permit, with 12 conditions that create requirements for fencing, landscaping, building materials and utility service. One condition that caused some controversy during Monday’s meeting deals with parking.

Councilman Will Hickman said he lives on Cedar Street, near the proposed location of the new school. Parking is an issue, Hickman said, because if two cars are parked on opposite sides of the street simultaneously, it’s hard for cars and emergency vehicles to pass through.

“I’d like to propose an amendment to the conditions,” Hickman said on Monday. “That there will be no parking on the South side of the block of Cedar Street.”

While other council members didn’t dispute that parking on Cedar Street may be a problem, they refused to accept Hickman’s proposal because they thought the city should address parking on a larger scale, instead of tacking it on to the day school’s permit.

“I guess spot legislation does bother me,” said Councilman Pat McLaughlan.

It’s likely Hickman will raise the issue again in the future.

“I would be very receptive of it as a parking issue, and as soon as possible,” said Councilman Phil Nauert.

Helweg said she is grateful to the city’s community development department for helping the day school navigate through the complicated process of getting the permit.

Even students are pitching in to pay for construction of the new day school. This piggy bank lights up and makes noises when children contribute coins to the fund.

“The next step is getting some cash in,” Helweg said. Monday’s fundraising meeting is the first step in that process, and the amount of pledges and donations the church receives will help determine the construction timeline.

But that’s not the only way the day school is raising money. They are seeking help from day school alumni, the church congregation and parents of current students. They will host a silent auction and rummage sale, and the children are even pitching in. Kids can donate coins in a special piggy bank shaped like a railroad crossing sign that makes noises when coins go in.

Helweg said the school hopes to move its fundraising campaign along at a quick pace in hopes of lowering its costs, because the current economic recession has forced construction companies to become very competitive.

“The quicker we can do it, the more advantage we have,” she said. “But it all depends on the money.”

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The city hosted a public hearing about the plan on Monday. Residents still have time to submit written comments before the city council early next week discusses changes based on resident feedback.

This sketch shows a "vision" for future development near Westpark and Loop 610, an area targeted for a future light rail station. The Comprehensive Plan calls for this area, as well as Bellaire's downtown, to transform into pedestrian-friendly shopping and restaurant "villages."

The Comprehensive Plan has been in development for years. The Bellaire Planning and Zoning Commission developed it based on input from a citizen’s advisory committee and planners from the Kendig Keast Collaborative.

Bruce Volkert was the person who first pushed for revisions while serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission. At Monday’s public hearing, Volkert asked members of the Bellaire City Council, when they finally vote on the Comprehensive Plan, not to get bogged down on specific details. Instead, Volkert said, the council should remember the plan only creates “guidelines” for future growth that are not written in stone.

“It is a guideline, a roadmap,” Volkert said. “Do you agree with the goals, do you agree with the basic strategies that are in there?”

There are several elements of the Comprehensive Plan that threaten to bog down discussions.

The plan calls for more diverse housing options, such as condos and town homes, so young couples and older residents can still afford to live in Bellaire. But some people envision apartments that will mar Bellaire’s image as the “City of Homes.”

“I think the market realities of Bellaire, now and going forward, will make it hard for that type of development to emerge,” said Gary Mitchell, vice president of Kendig Keast Collaborative. He said the city could create design requirements like height limits that would make it difficult to construct apartments.

Bellaire resident and activist Lynn McBee raised concerns with six areas of the plan, including setting height limits for new construction.

McBee said the height limit should be six stories, “stated clearly so no one with a planned development can come along and say ‘just us, higher’.”

Mitchell said tall buildings could only go in designated commercial areas: downtown Bellaire, and the industrial district near Westpark and Loop 610, which has been targeted for a future light rail station. Buildings could be up to six stories in the center, but only two-to-three stories on the edges adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The plan envisions these areas transforming into pedestrian-friendly shopping and restaurant “villages” that will attract Bellaire residents.

Making Bellaire friendly to pedestrians was one concern raised by resident Sam Lott at Monday’s public hearing. Lott, a consultant in the transportation industry, said he wants existing pedestrian trails on Newcastle Drive and parts of Bellaire Boulevard to extend uninterrupted all the way to mass transit stations.

“That connectivity that will be most practical will be for the pedestrian and those who want to ride bicycles,” Lott said.

Mitchell said that while the Comprehensive Plan creates a vision for the two development areas, the city would still have to work hard to create the ordinances and regulations that would create the desired outcome. Even then, success would be partly up to chance.

“At some point it is up to the market, though, if that’s the area they want to visit,” Mitchell said. “There’s a number of factors that look very positive for development in the city.”

The city council will meet on Monday and Tuesday with the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider changing the Comprehensive Plan based on resident feedback. Residents can still send written comments to City Clerk Tracy Dutton before Thursday at noon. Her email address is tdutton [at] ci.bellaire.tx.us.

Bellaire Police pulled the men over because the vehicle was suspected of “being associated with a forgery case in the area,” according to the police report.

They searched the car and found multiple items with identifying information that didn’t belong to the suspects. Police found that the driver was driving with a suspended license and did not have car insurance. The passenger had outstanding warrants from the Harris County Sheriffs Office.

HISD District 5 covers Condit, Gordon and Horn Elementary schools, Pershing Middle School and Bellaire High School.

The candidates answered questions on Oct. 15 at the Bellaire Area Candidates’ Forum, an event hosted by the Bellaire Democrats which also included the 14 candidates for Bellaire City Council.

Ray Reiner, left, and Mike Lunceford answered questions on Thursday about their positions on issues affecting the Houston Independent School District. They are running for HISD Trustee for District 5.

Although their positions are similar on many issues, the candidates tried to distinguish themselves by noting how their past experience will serve students.

Reiner is a retired HISD administrator who worked with students, parents and the community during his time at the school district.

“I have a good sense, a good feel for what is going on in our public schools,” Reiner said.

Lunceford graduated from an HISD school, sent his children through Houston schools, and has been an active school volunteer for 16 years. He is a petroleum engineer who focuses on strategic planning and data analysis.

“I look at things from a business scale from the outside,” Lunceford said about how he would approach the Trustee position.

Both candidates agreed that the dropout rate and achievement gap are the most pressing issues that HISD currently faces.

Reiner said the district should expand its career readiness programs and form more partnerships with universities in Houston for dual credit programs. Equally important, he said, is strengthening early childhood development programs.

“There has to be a commitment on the part of school districts to be reevaluated every year with early and head start programs,” Reiner said.

Lunceford said the district should “think outside the box” to make sure it’s meeting the needs of students who are at risk of dropping out. Vocational training should be revamped to include modern classes in the medical and technology fields. The district should offer class schedules that work for today’s students, he said.

“There’s a large group of kids, that maybe they have to work,” Lunceford said. Night classes may help them stay in school.

Both candidates agreed that administrators need to try to improve parental involvement in students’ education. Reiner said parents can join Parent Teacher Organizations, and various school committees. But another way to involve them is through extracurricular activities like sports and band, he said.

“Parents will have kids involved and come up to the school on a regular basis to see  them perform, or participate in different activities,” Reiner said.

Lunceford said he also supports getting parents involved in decision-making committees, and that the responsibility to improve involvement should come from the school administrators.

“It starts at the top at the school,” Lunceford said. “The Principal has to make a concerted effort.”

When asked whether students should be allowed to complete performance surveys to rate teachers, the candidates agreed such a system would be okay as long as all parties agreed on the rules.

When asked how they would deal with teacher shortages, Reiner and Lunceford said HISD must work harder to recruit qualified teachers, and offer incentives to retain current teachers. Reiner said teachers for upper-level classes like German and calculus are hard to come by, so the district should mentor and support them, and do everything possible to keep the teachers. Lunceford said he supports a program that gives bonuses to teachers who excel, and said he’d like to implement better mentoring during new teachers’ first three years of employment.

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Around lunch time, Lynette Gaido and Susan Boyd, the Lamar Principal’s secretary, were crossing the street at Westheimer Road to get something to eat. A car driven by an elderly man turned from River Oaks Boulevard and hit both women in the crosswalk.

“It was like a movie: arms and legs in the air, somersaulting,” Gaido said. “I think I flipped 2-to-3 times. I remember falling on my front and my leg slapping the street. I knew when I heard that slapping sound that something was broken.”

She was right: Her leg was broken in three places, requiring surgeons at Memorial Hermann Hospital to install metal rods to piece the bones back together, she said. Boyd escaped the accident with cuts and bruises and is at home today recovering, said Lamar spokeswoman Tina Thompson.

Miraculously, a group of fire marshalls were standing at the school’s entrance and they saw the accident happen.

“I looked up and saw a sea of blue running towards me,” Gaido said. They tried to stabilize her condition until the ambulance arrived.

An elderly man was driving the car that struck Gaido and Boyd, and Gaido said he apologized profusely multiple times. The Houston Police Department did not respond to a request for more information before the deadline for this story’s publication. InstantnewsWestU.com will update the story as soon as possible with information about the driver, and whether police cited him for the accident.

Gaido said she never learned the driver’s name, but she felt sympathy for the man because he felt so terrible about the accident.

“That’s why they call them accidents, the don’t happen on purpose,” she said. “It makes me realize personally, in my car I need to be more careful about pedestrians. I’m sure there will be a lot of lessons learned from this.”

Gaido said she thinks the intersection at Westheimer Road and River Oaks Boulevard is dangerous, because the crosswalk signal turns to “walk” at the same time the green light changes for cars on River Oak turning left onto Westheimer. Lamar’s 3,000 students use the intersection multiple times daily, to catch the bus, go to lunch, and more.

“There should be a sign or something saying ‘pedestrian crossing’ or something like that,” she said. “But I’m not raising a flag. I want to get back to work.”

Before she returns to teaching Chinese, Gaido must complete physical therapy. She may need to use a wheelchair until she recovers, since her job requires hours of standing. But that’s not what was on her mind when Lamar Principal James McSwain visited her in the hospital yesterday.

“I said ‘Please, I’m concerned about my Chinese classes falling behind’,” Gaido said. It’s difficult to find substitute Chinese teachers.

“She’s the one who told him to go to Broadway,” Fran Callahan, executive director of the Lamar High School Alumni Association, said about Denney.

Now Tune, who graduated from Lamar in 1957, is returning on Oct. 21 to his Alma mater for a special performance as a way to say thank you. The event marks the grand opening of the school’s auditorium, which underwent a $1.5 million renovation and is reopening as the Ned S. Holmes Performance Hall.

Tune will perform his current touring show, “Steps in Time: A Broadway Biography in Song and Dance.” He wrote, choreographed and directed the biographical show, which takes the audience through his 50-year career on Broadway.

The legendary performer won his first Tony Award for his leading role in the Broadway musical Seesaw, and he has gone on to win eight more Tony Awards for acting, choreography and directing. He has earned countless other awards, including the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic achievement. Tune even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

About five years ago, he performed at the Lamar auditorium when the school’s Alumni Association began a fund raising campaign to renovate the space.

“It was in pretty bad shape,” Callahan said. “The sound sytstem didn’t work, the lights didn’t work, the seats were wooden seats that had been built in 1937.”

Since then, the Alumni Association raised $2.5 million from 300 private donors, including parents, alumni and foundations. Several donors contributed gifts of $100,000. Houston businessman and 1963-Lamar-graduate Ned Holmes, the namesake of the renovated auditorium, gave a whopping $500,000, Callahan said.

“That’s pretty unusual for a public school,” she said. “I just think we owe a debt of gratitude to all the donors. It wouldn’t have happened.”

Holmes is the chairman and CEO of Ned S. Holmes Investments, a nationwide real estate firm. Before that he lead a financial holding company and bank for about 20 years. Holmes currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Transportation Commission, and he has an extensive public service record that includes membership on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, a City of Houston planning commission, and the Port of Houston Authority board.

The alumni association spent $1.5 million to renovate the school’s auditorium. Instead of squeezing into 18-inch-wide wooden seats, guests on Oct. 21 will comfortably enjoy Tune’s performance in 23-inch-wide upholstered seats. Other renovations replaced the stage, lighting, sound system and curtains, painted the walls, and polished the Art Deco metal fixtures.

“All of that, now, is spit polished and shining again,” Callahan said. “The chairs are the most impressive because they’re 100 times better than the other ones.”

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show cost from $75 to $150. A rehearsal at 3 p.m.  is also open to the public, and costs $35. People can purchase tickets online at www.signmeup.com/66550 or call Fran Callahan at (713) 522-5960, Ext. 359.

The warning comes after the FDA recently purchased and analyzed several products represented online as “Tamiflu,” also known as oseltamivir, which may pose risks to patients.

One of the orders, which arrived in an unmarked envelope with a postmark from India, consisted of unlabeled, white tablets taped between two pieces of paper. When analyzed by the FDA, the tablets were found to contain talc and acetaminophen, but none of the active ingredient oseltamivir. The website disappeared shortly after the FDA placed the order.

At the same time, the FDA also purchased four other products purported to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure the H1N1 influenza virus from other websites.

These products contained various levels of oseltamivir, but were not approved for use in the United States.  Several of the products purchased did not require a prescription from a health care professional.

Additionally, the products did not arrive in a timely enough fashion to treat someone infected with the H1N1 influenza virus, or with an immediate exposure to the virus.

“Products that are offered for sale online with claims to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus must be carefully evaluated,” said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “Medicines purchased from websites operating outside the law put consumers at increased risk due to a higher potential that the products will be counterfeit, impure, contaminated, or have too little or too much of the active ingredient.”

Consumers may not know exactly what they are getting when buying such antiviral products on the Internet from an unfamiliar company.

Patients who buy prescription drugs from websites operating outside the law are at increased risk of suffering life-threatening adverse events, such as side effects from inappropriately using prescription medications, dangerous drug interactions, contaminated drugs, and impure or unknown ingredients found in unapproved drugs. This may particularly be the case in the event of a public health emergency, such as an influenza outbreak, where approved treatment options would be in high demand and expensive, and where drug shortages could occur.

Drugs that are in high demand are vulnerable to counterfeiting and diversion because buyers may be desperate to stock the product. This is when criminals can capitalize on the situation, the FDA said.

The FDA urges consumers to only purchase FDA-approved products from licensed pharmacies located in the United States. Consumers should contact their health care provider if they have any questions or concerns about medical products or personal protective equipment.

The two antiviral drugs approved by the FDA for treatment and prophylaxis of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus are Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) and Relenza (zanamivir). 

Tamiflu and Relenza, in addition to their approved label, have Emergency Use Authorizations that describe specific authorized uses during the current public health emergency.

The FDA actively monitors the Internet and, where appropriate, will purchase and analyze drug products.

Consumers can also visit FDA’s website for tips about how to protect themselves when buying medicines online.

People shop for jewelry at the spring Bellaire Art Festival in February. The event returns to Bellaire Boulevard Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“It’s all handmade crafts for the most part. A lot of jewelry vendors, painting, sculptures, wall art and yard art,” said Jonathan Beitler, spokesman for Greater Southwest Houston Chamber of Commerce. Vendors also provide food and entertainment at the festival, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The chamber and the Houston Civic Arts Association organize the festival in the spring and fall. Beitler said he expects 1,000 to 2,000 people to attend, depending on the weather.

The candidate profiles published today kick off the Q&A series. Regular posting will begin on Oct. 20.

Do you have a question for city council candidates? Please email any questions to Angela Grant, agrant [at] instantnewsbellaire [dot] com.

On Oct. 5, the Bellaire City Council approved the final leg of the self-guided Bellaire History Walk. The Bellaire Arts Commission, Centennial Commission and the Bellaire Historical Society have worked together since early 2008 to create the History Walk.

The city will hire a company to fabricate 10 historical markers and place them at some of the interesting sites from Bellaire’s past. Five existing historical markers will also be part of the tour. Brochures with a map will lead residents on their self-guided tours.

“Markers can be added later as items of historical significance get brought to us,” said Kay Hieronymus, a member of the Bellaire Arts Commission. She told the city council that residents going on the tour can park anywhere, start at the marker of their choice, and progress in any order they want.

Sketches by local artist Jim Arp will adorn each historical marker on the Bellaire History Walk. Two stops on the self-guided tour highlight the Bellaire Trolley, which transported residents into Houston from 1910 to 1927.

The base of each marker will be pink granite, topped with a stainless steel plate etched with a pen and ink drawing by local artist Jim Arp. Each marker includes a 50-word description explaining its significance.

The city’s cost is $18,640 for the historical markers, $3,000 for artwork and $825 to print brochures. This is less than the project’s budget of $30,000.

“That’s very good,” said Councilman Jim Avioli after discovering the project was about $7,500 under budget.

Karl Miller, director of facilities management, said that after the markers are completed, the Public Works department will help identify the best places to install them near the historical sites.

New markers for the Bellaire History Walk will highlight these sites:

1. City Hall, Community Center and Library
2. Original Bellaire school building, 1914 (located on grounds of present-day Condit Elementary School)
3. Bellaire Mission Presbyterian Church, 1919
4. Trolley Dedication Day, 1910
5. Bellaire Trolley Station and Pavilion, 1911
6. Rosner’s General Store and U.S. Post Office, 1929
7. “The Little Brown,” Bellaire’s first one-room school
8. Bellaire centennial time capsule, 1908 to 2008
9. Alfred J. Condit house, damaged in 1915 hurricane
10. Convent of the Incarnate Word, 1931
11. Home of Frank S. Henshaw, Jr., mayor from 1933 to 1937

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The 1-foot gaps between the bathhouses’ walls and ceilings, meant to keep air circulating in the absence of air conditioning, also allow in leaves and rainwater during storms. Dirty floors, peeling paint, rusted fixtures and mildewed walls are the consequences.

“You can clean them. You can use bleach, and Pine Sol, and Clorox,” Anthony said. “But then you finish and it looks the same. It’s depressing.”

The deteriorating state of Evergreen Pool’s restrooms has been a recent topic at Bellaire City Council meetings, and on Monday the city manager presented options for substantial renovations, which could cost up to $85,000. (Click photos to enlarge. Scroll down for more story.)

The 2010 budget set aside $17,000 for “sprucing the place up” by resurfacing and repainting the floors and walls, said City Manager Bernie Satterwhite. He and staff members from the Parks and Recreation Department gathered quotes from contractors after council members Jim Avioli and Pat McLaughlan raised concerns that the bathhouses needed more substantial improvements.

“I really can’t emphasize enough there’s really a need to respond to what we see in those bathhouses,” Avioli said. He handed out photos to other council members showing the restrooms’ leaf-strewn floors and dirty walls.

Satterwhite presented plans that included the city knocking down all the walls that partition the changing areas, showers and toilets, and replacing them with all-weather partitions with doors for privacy. But he said the main issue would be making sure the restrooms comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which sets guidelines to ensure public buildings are accessible to people with disabilities.

“It’s kind of crazy to not be ADA compliant when we have a therapy pool sitting right next to it,” said Councilman John Jeffery at Monday’s meeting.

To make the restrooms ADA compliant, Satterwhite said the city would need to move over toilets in the men’s and women’s restrooms to make space for wide stalls with handrails for people who use wheelchairs. The restrooms would also need wider entrances, and ADA-compliant sinks and showers.

Anthony, the self-titled “guardian” of Evergreen Pool, said that one therapist with three patients in wheelchairs visit the Elaine Wood Therapy Pool about once per week.

“It’s kind of sad if you’re in a wheelchair and you can’t go to the restroom,” she said.

Satterwhite said the city would need to move the men’s restroom to a new location, because if the entrance was widened to fit a wheelchair, it would also allow people walking by to see right into the restroom.

Other improvements in Satterwhite’s presentation included installing hot water heaters for the showers, moving a rain gutter that currently drains into the men’s restroom, painting the walls and floors, installing new water fountains, and building a storage area to house items currently stored inside the cramped bathhouses.

These proposals are in a very early stage right now, but the city council did vote on Monday to ask Satterwhite to gather more details and present the information at a later meeting. But Councilman Will Hickman voted against requesting more information, because the renovations would cost so much more than the council approved in the 2010 budget.

“This soon after the budget, I don’t think we’re ready to start doing budget amendments,” Hickman said.

Lifeguard Freda Anthony said she frequently hears swimmers complain about the old, “grungy” restrooms.

“I think it’s going to be good if they find the money to do it,” she said. “I think that everyone would be happier.”

As the city council waits for its construction manager to collect bids to determine the maximum price for the station’s construction, the council on Monday learned the final details about what the building will look like both inside and outside. As they discussed the project, council members brought up recurring arguments about the city’s building codes.

This drawing shows what the new Bellaire Fire Station will look like. The city council in November will vote on the bids for all aspects of construction. If approved, the station could be open for business by December 2010.

The council saw and touched samples of materials that will furnish the building: stained concrete and tile flooring, plastic laminate cabinets and doors, and paint shades. The colors of all materials are in neutral, classic tones that will remain attractive throughout the building’s lifespan.

The most important factor in choosing these materials, said PGAL Architect Jeff Gerber, is that they are hardy and durable enough to last for years.

“As you know, fire stations are notorious for getting heavy use,” Gerber said.

Some features that firefighters are most excited about include more space overall, separate male-female sleeping quarters and bathrooms, a bigger training room that will also be the city’s new Emergency Operation Center, a private treatment room to care for sick or injured residents, and a decontamination shower for firefighters and paramedics to clean up after calls.

Trees that line South Rice Boulevard will remain in place, and the construction plans try to ensure the trees’ roots sustain as little damage as possible. Protecting the roots will be tricky when engineers remove the soil under the current station, which has caused structural damage over the years as it expanded, contracted and sunk. They will use a specially designed fill material that is more stable, and then build a strong foundation reinforced with steel beams.

The new station includes built-in flood protection, because the floor will rest at an elevation of 55 feet, five inches, which is one foot and one inch higher than the 100-year flood elevation.

During Monday’s council meeting, several council members raised concerns because the station design does not comply with the city’s residential building code. The station is considered a commercial building, so it is not required to meet the residential code.

Councilman Jim Avioli asked about why the station’s tower is 48 feet tall, which exceeds the size limit for residential construction.

“That element provides an iconic component that anchors that corner of the city’s main complex,” Gerber said. “I think it serves a purpose in that regard. There’s no functional reason for it to be that tall, it’s really an aesthetic.”

The city would require residents building homes in Bellaire to get a variance for a 48-foot tall structure, but that’s not the case for the fire station.

“The way the code is written, we establish size restrictions for residential structures, but not for city-owned facilities,” said City Attorney Alan Petrov.

Councilman Pat McLaughlan has voted against the station in the past because he didn’t approve of the design. On Monday, he raised concerns about the station’s drainage features. Residential builders must show evidence that their drainage controls will offset the excess water runoff that their homes will create.

“You’ve added so may hundreds of thousand of cubic feet of material,” McLaughlan said about the fire station plans. He asked for proof that the underground storm water detention feature in the station’s building plans will properly offset all the materials. McLaughlan said he thinks the city should be required to show the same thing.

“So we’re not putting our adjoining residencies at danger,” McLaughlan said. “It would be the right thing for our community and residences.”

Satterwhite said the station’s drainage system would be more than adequate to carry away all water runoff the building will create, but the city does not have to prove this because the city’s commercial building code doesn’t require it.

“I think we’re probably protecting the neighbors more than a residential home in that area would,” he said. “It meets the code we use for this type of construction.”

The Gilbane Building Company, the city’s construction manager for the project, is currently collecting bids for all aspects of the station’s construction. The city’s budget is $5 million. Gerber said he expects to present the final maximum price to the city council in November.

“You have the flexibility in the [construction management] process to not accept all the component bids unless you want to,” Gerber said. If the council accepts the bids, construction could begin by late November or early December.

The new fire station should be ready for business one year after construction begins, Gerber said.