Backers in the proposed multimillion-dollar Howdy Truck Plaza in Hennessey at the U.S. 81/S.H. 51 intersection have agreed to the town’s counter offer.

That means Howdy developers will pay to run water and sewer lines to their planned plaza and Hennessey has agreed to reimburse them from sales taxes the town gains on that new business.

That’s what Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman told the town board at the end of their Thursday night, Feb. 10, meeting.

A Howdy principal also wanted the town to continue to pave its Main Street straight north a half-mile off U.S. 81 (the now rock road to Matousek Veterinary Clinic).

Paving the road would provide easier access for suppliers once the truck plaza opens.

Tillman’s counter offer was for developers to pave the road and run the water and sewer lines themselves, with the town helping defray their utility line costs through gained sales taxes.

It was estimated that the cost to run the lines would be about $500,000, and Tillman said last month that the town didn’t have that money.

“He said he’d have to talk with his banker,” she’d told the board about her conversation with the developer.

All board members attended this month’s meeting: Mayor Bert Gritz, Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Trustees Richard Simunek and Harold Shaw, and in the audience, newly-elected Trustee David Jones, who will be sworn in at a later date.

More information on the February meeting will appear in a later edition.