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The DeLeon City Council held a regular
meeting on Thursday, June 22, with only four of six members present.
Council members Howard Gifford and Avery Carlisle were absent due to
family matters and illness, respectively.
A discussion involving a resolution for
the City of DeLeon to request a $250,000 Texas Community Development
Block Grant for additional water storage capacity disclosed a
surprising development regarding deficiencies in the city’s water
system.
On March 30, 2006, former Mayor Jim Adams
had been advised by a certified letter from the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) of three alleged violations regarding the
city’s water system. Assistant City Secretary Jamie Welch revealed the
problem to the Council when she explained that because the City was
being held in violation by the TCEQ, it would receive bonus points in
the multi-city competition for the grant funds.
Neither current Mayor Danny Owen nor any
of the members from the previous council indicated they had any
knowledge of the notice. City Secretary Karen Wilkerson said she
assumed former Mayor Adams had informed the Council members of the
TCEQ notice. Wilkerson then made copies of the letter and distributed
it to the Mayor and Council.
Following the meeting, it was learned
that the City had failed to exercise its opportunity within ten days
of the notice to contest the violation, and had only forwarded the
letter to Hibbs & Todd Engineers in Abilene.
One of the violations involved the
failure by the City to file a required quarterly water distribution
report since January 2004.
Another violation involved the total
water production capacity of the city’s water system. The TCEQ letter
stated that the city’s total contracted pumping capacity with the
Upper Leon River Municipal Water District (ULRMWD), which supplies all
of the city’s water, was less than one third of the state
requirements.
Gary Lacy, General Manager of the ULRMWD,
was contacted on Friday and said he had no knowledge of the TCEQ
notice of alleged violation. He stated his belief that the standard
cited in the letter was inappropriate for the city’s water system and
that the appropriate standard was only 30% of the standard cited. Lacy
also questioned whether the city had appropriately reported the number
of active water connections to the TCEQ. He noted that if the total
number of installed meters was reported, as opposed to the active
water accounts, that it would make a substantial difference in the
water production capacity requirements.
Neither of the preceding two violations
were discussed at the meeting, and no explanation was offered as to
why the City had failed to file the required reports.
The third violation cited involved the
water storage capacity within the city. According to the TCEQ, the
city has only 125,000 gallons of storage capacity in the elevated
water tower, which is 55% of the required storage capacity. The
storage capacity requirement is again based upon the reported number
of system connections.
The City Council had been advised by John
Voller of the Hibbs & Todd engineering firm in Abilene at an August
25, 2005, meeting of the potential storage capacity problem. Because
the city’s existing ground level water storage tank next to the
elevated water tower is no longer in service, Voller stated the city
would likely be cited as in violation of state water storage capacity
standards.
There had been discussion at the August
meeting of the need to either rehabilitate the ground level water
storage tank or construct a new elevated storage tank, probably at the
south end of town. It was noted at that time that grant funds could
possibly be obtained to fund the majority of the cost of the
construction of a new storage facility, but no funds were available to
rehabilitate an existing facility.
At the earlier Council meeting, a plan
was discussed for the city’s public works manager, Rob Duncan, and
representatives from Hibbs & Todd engineering to visit with the TCEQ
in Austin about the situation and find out if part of the water
storage capacity of the Water District could be counted in meeting the
city’s requirements. That meeting never took place, however.
There were no proposed fines stated in
the letter. It did note, however, that the TCEQ has enforcement powers
which could be exercised to ensure compliance with their regulatory
requirements.
Council member John Holdridge asked Karen
Wilkerson if the letter of citation included a time limit for response
or compliance. Wilkerson responded, “No.” When she subsequently
distributed copies of the letter of citation to the Council, however,
it contained a provision that gave the City 180 days, or until
September 30, to establish compliance.
Ilene Manes, a consultant with GrantWorks,
an Austin firm that specializes in assisting rural communities in
obtaining state funds to assist in housing and community development,
spoke to the Council about the grant application. She discussed a
$250,000 grant application which would be a 90% grant, meaning that
the City would have to fund $25,000 total project.
Manes commented that there was no
assurance that the City would obtain the grant in the current year’s
application process, because there was strong competition from other
cities in the area. However, because the city had a notice of
violation, its grant funds application would be awarded more points in
the evaluation. She added that if the City’s application was not
awarded in the current year that it would be given additional points
in the next round of Community Development block grant applications in
2009.
Rob Duncan commented that there was still
a possibility that the TCEQ would allow the City to count some of the
ULRMWD’s water storage capacity to allow it to meet the state
requirements. City water department employee Jerry Logan noted that in
the past the state would not allow the city to count the Water
District’s storage capacity in meeting its requirements.
Duncan commented, “As long as we are
making an effort, they are probably not going to start fining us, as
long as they know we are trying to correct the problem.” He later
added in response to a question by Mayor Owen, “Normally the only time
they are going to fine us is if we are taking no action to correct the
problem.”
John Holdridge said regarding the grant
application, “Let’s go for it.”
Danny Owen responded, “Well, that’s kind
of the way I think. We need to pursue this.”
Manes noted that the top half of the
successful grant applications will be funded for 2007 and the bottom
half for 2008, so the City would have time to budget for its $25,000
matching cost in the appropriate fiscal year. She also noted that the
project would be engineered to be completed within the available grant
funds.
John Holdridge made a motion to approve
the grant application, Johnnye Howell seconded Holdridge’s motion and
the vote to approve was unanimous.
No Action Discussion Items
During an agenda item near the end of the
meeting, the Council and City staff discuss items of general
information not requiring immediate action.
Mayor Owen mentioned he had been given an
early indication that the water rates charged by the Municipal Water
District to its five member cities, including DeLeon, would likely
increase by 8-10% during the coming year.
Owen also said that he thought the
Council needed to pass an ordinance banning vending from all City
streets. This action had earlier been discussed, however, according to
City Secretary Karen Wilkerson, no formal action has yet been taken.
Owen told the Council about the tree
trimming progress that City workers are making along the streets in
town. He and Public Works Manager Rob Duncan listed the sections of
the following streets that have had overhanging tree branches trimmed:
Cato, Bell, Preston, Allen, Ross and Rusk. According to Owen, the
trimming program has been well received by residents in the affected
areas. He also mentioned that the City needs to establish a rate to
charge for use of the tree limb chipper when its use is requested by
City residents.
County and City Emergency Services
Coordinator Ray Helberg informed the Council that a regular program of
testing the emergency siren will commence at noon on the first Monday
of each month. Monday, July 3, will be the first such test. Helberg
said that they will also test their ability to break into local cable
programming with an emergency message for city residents.
Mayor Owen discussed progress in the
review of applications for the vacant DeLeon Chief of Police position.
A meeting is to be held on Friday, June 30, with three members of the
Texas Police Chiefs Association who are doing volunteer work in
checking out the credentials of the many applicants. The three Police
Chiefs are from Abilene, San Angelo and Morgans Point, near LaPorte in
Harris County.
Other members on the applicant review
committee include Mayor Owen, city attorney Lois Rockefeller, DeLeon
PD Sergeant Ralph Dickey and Comanche County Sheriff Jeff Lambert. The
Council discussed having a special called meeting to review the
applications following the credentials review meeting.
It was noted that DeLeon Police Officer Robert Kluge and former
policeman Joe Canterbury have applied for the Police Chief position.
Other Business
In other action items, the Council:
• Voted to authorize the lease of a new
postage machine.
• Heard a request by Jim Jones of JJ’s
Appliance Sales & Service to build concrete walls along the banks of
Austin Creek between Juarez and Bell Streets for erosion control
purposes. The Council voted to table the request for the following
regular Council meeting in order that the matter might be publicized
and any affected property owners could be afforded an opportunity to
comment on the matter.
• Approved on second readings ordinances
denying Atmos Energy a rate increase and amending the franchise
ordinance between the City and TXU Electric.
• Appointed Danny Owen, John Holdridge
and Karen Wilkerson as the City’s representatives on the Special
Projects Committee that plans improvements to the DeLeon Cemetery.
• Agreed to take bids on three City
vehicles no longer in regular use.
• Agreed to administrative office use of
a Dodge pickup received from the Rural Area Narcotics Task Force.
• Heard optimistic progress reports on
the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department grant to build the new Festival
Gardens Park and on the Texas Home Grant to demolish and rebuild
selected homes in the City.
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