Council taps E-Z Mart CEO to fill Riverbend position

Public discusses extending hours to serve alcohol on the Texas side

During a regular meeting Monday, the Texarkana, Texas, City Council appointed E-Z Mart CEO Sonja Hubbard to the board of directors of Riverbend Water Resources District.

No one raised any objection and there was no discussion when Ward 5 Council Member Bill Harp nominated Hubbard to be the city’s representative on the Riverbend board.

Hubbard will complete the unexpired term of Kelly Mitchell, whom Gov. Greg Abbott recently appointed to the Sulphur River Basin Authority board.

“Having Mrs. Hubbard join Riverbend could not have come at a better time as the district prepares to implement much needed water infrastructure to meet current and future municipal and industrial demands,” Riverbend President Marshall Wood said in a news release.

Hubbard has served as CEO of E-Z Mart Inc. since 1998. She has held many board and officer positions, recently serving as the chairman of the board of National Association of Convenience Stores and as a director of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Also, the meeting included a public hearing on allowing bars and restaurants with the appropriate state permit to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. The current cutoff time is midnight.

Joyce Lipham-Taylor spoke against the proposal, recounting her father’s death because of a drunken driver and calling drinking alcohol “a treacherous habit” that has ruined “untold thousands” of lives.

A co-owner of Tusks-NHorns, the bar and grill that requested the late-hours ordinance, responded.

If the ordinance passes, Tusks-N-Horns would stay open until 2 a.m. only on select weekend nights, usually when a band is playing there, Todd Lumpkin said. His employees already work to ensure that customers are not overserved alcohol and do not drive drunk, and they would continue to do so, he said.

A second reading and vote on the proposed ordinance will come at future council meetings.

The council voted to approve a budget for the Bi-State Justice Building that estimates expenditures of more than $8 million. The Texas side’s contribution will be more than $1.99 million, with Bowie County, Texas and Texarkana, Ark., contributing most of the remainder.

The council also approved rezoning and a site plan to allow Gregg Orr to build an auto collision repair business at 4001 Mall Drive.

In other business, City Health Department staffers Kelly Brush and La Fonda Clough updated the council on the department’s recent building improvements and current programs, including immunization, family planning and providing discounted lab tests for city employees.

The council’s next meeting is scheduled for March 26.