Harker Heights City Info

HARKER HEIGHTS , TEXAS . Harker Heights, located on U.S. Highway 190 just east of Killeen in Bell County, originated when two landowners, Pinckney R. Cox and Harley Kern, began subdividing their land and selling lots in 1957. Their 400-acre plot corresponded with the boundaries of Water Control and Improvement District No. 4, established in 1955. Purchasers of the lots demanded water, and Cox led in getting a water system completed in September 1960.

Sometime before that, residents of the area, estimated at 600 to 700, had filed a petition for an incorporation election, which occurred on September 24, 1960. Voters overwhelmingly approved the incorporation and named Harker Heights in honor of Harley Kern, who had died earlier. Cox, the first mayor, held the office from November 1960 through April 1966. In December 1988 the city annexed the 2,200-acre Comanche Hills utility district, which increased the townsite from 4,400 acres to 6,600 and added almost 3,500 people to the population, bringing the total to 16,500. Harker Heights is a bedroom community; most of its residents work in Killeen, Fort Hood, or elsewhere in Bell County. A 1987 study estimated that 8 percent (approximately 4,300) of Fort Hood personnel living off base lived in Harker Heights.

The city has 300 businesses but no major industry. The schools are a part of the Killeen Independent School District. Four recreation areas are available to citizens, in addition to the Killeen Municipal Golf Course and Stillhouse Hollow Lake.  In 1990 the population of Harker Heights was 12,841. Source: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/hfh1.html

City Government: The City of Harker Heights is a home rule City which operates under a Council-Manager form of government. All powers of the City shall be vested in the elective Council which enact local legislation, adopt budgets, determine policies and employ the City Manager. The City Council consist of a Mayor and five council members who elect one of their members to serve as Mayor-Protempore. The City Manager shall execute the laws and administer the government of the City.

The City government provides a broad range of goods and services to its citizens. The activities and personnel required to provide these goods and services are organized into broad managerial areas called Funds. Funds are separate fiscal and accounting entities with their own resources and budgets necessary to carry on specific activities and attain certain objectives.

Funds are further organized into functional groups called Departments. A Department is a group of related activities aimed at accomplishing a major City service or program (e.g. Police Department). A Department may be further divided into smaller areas called Divisions. Divisions perform specific functions within the Department (e.g. Animal Control is a Division of the Police Department).

At the head of each Department is a Director who is an officer of the City. Directors have supervision and control of a Department and the Divisions within it, but are subject to supervision and control of the City Manager. A Department Head may supervise more than one Department. Source: http://www.harkerheights.com/

Mayor, City Manager & City Council: http://www.harkerheights.com

Statistics: http://www.city-data.com/city/Harker-Heights-Texas.html