Conroe City Council approved the program during its March 27 meeting, which is designed to build on past efforts while setting a new standard for ongoing maintenance, Deputy City Administrator Nancy Mikeska said.
The idea of a dedicated downtown maintenance team has been long in the making, starting with the creation of a Main Street Advisory Board in 2022. However, the board is currently taking a pause with the creation of the new program, Mikeska said. Mikeska also said Mayor Duke Coon wanted a program to help improve Conroe’s downtown.
The overview
Mikeska said the year-round Downtown Rangers will be made up of four to five part-time staff members, and the funding will come from reallocating some of the parks department budget to the downtown budget.
“We want to establish a routine of maintenance ... and work on some beautification as well,” Mikeska said.
The Downtown Rangers will also assist the parks department with event setup and takedown, Mikeska said.
See the map below to view downtown Conroe's districts, which were adopted in 2021, according to city documents.
Diving in deeper
Though the Downtown Rangers program is new, it mirrors work previously done by the Main Street Advisory Board, which was formed in 2022 after Conroe earned a Main Street designation through the Texas Historical Commission, as previously reported.
Larry Foerster, former board member of the Main Street Advisory Board and Montgomery County Historical Commission chair, said the board had originally proposed a similar downtown maintenance team.
“We didn’t call it the Downtown Rangers, but in effect, that’s what it was,” he said. “We wanted at least two individuals designated and responsible for downtown maintenance and beautification.”
Foerster chaired the board’s design committee, which focused on visual improvements like downtown signage and landscaping. However, the committee's proposals were slowed by shifting priorities and budget cuts during a time of city financial restructuring, Foerster said.
“When the city began having financial difficulties, they redirected money from downtown improvements to other priorities,” Foerster said.
Foerster emphasized that while the City Council’s renewed attention to downtown is welcomed and encouraged, the Main Street distinction itself is in jeopardy. Foerster said with no city staff member currently serving as a designated Main Street director, the city is at risk of losing the designation.
“Downtown Conroe is the county seat,” Foerster said. “The image it projects reflects not only on the city, but on Montgomery County as a whole. That’s why it’s so important to keep it vibrant, clean and welcoming.”
Mikeska said downtown merchants will not be asked to contribute to the program at this time.
“If you can see a difference, that is a great benchmark,” Mikeska said. “It is not about just cleaning up the downtown, it is about maintaining a certain assurance that our downtown reflects the kind of city that we are.”
Stay tuned
In an April 25 email, Mikeska said the city would advertise for the new hire ranger positions in the next few week and will be trained on the job by the city’s facility manager and the assistant director of community development. Mikeska also said the cost of the pilot program is still unknown.
Mikeska envisions other projects for the program, including the addition of restrooms and new events.
