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With all council members execpt John
Holdridge present, the DeLeon City Council met in regular session,
Thursday, October 12, and addressed a brief agenda. Karen Wilkerson,
DeLeon city secretary, was absent due to family matters.
Activity at the Community Festival
Gardens Park was discussed briefly, with Jamie Welch, assistant city
secretary, updating the council on recent progress. Welch told council
members that Perkins Electric had marked the electrical sites at the
RV park, and that Rob Duncan, Public Works Administrator, and other
city employees, had done considerable work on the project recently
too.
Mayor Owen also discussed progress at the
park, including the RV portion, noting that when that section was
completed, “We do have permission to go ahead and start utilizing it.”
He also said that council members needed to start thinking about fees
for camp sites.
“That’s something that could generate a
little income,” Owen said. “I don’t know if it’s going to make us
rich, but I hope to break-even anyway.”
Welch also told council members that
“Texas Parks and Wildlife came for a visit recently” and that they
were “very excited and very pleased” with the project.
“We’ve got some things happening now,”
Owen said, “That’s a positive.”
Councilman Gifford concluded the park
discussion by reminding everyone “We’re down to about nine months” to
complete the project. “Are we any closer to having this split up into
sections and getting some people designated for overseeing each
section?” he asked. He was informed by Mayor Owen that several people
were willing to “take a responsible role in the tractor pull”
including hands-on use of heavy equipment.
“And Gayle Stroud has our list (of
volunteers and donations) and she’s calling people to see if they’re
still interested in helping,” Owen said. “We’ve got things happening
behind the scenes.”
“Well, I would suggest that when she gets
through that list and finds those who are still willing to
participate,” Gifford said, “that we break the different projects up
that are going to be done by local labor and see if we can locate an
individual to head up, and an assistant to that person in each one of
those categories, and let them put their teams together and get
started.”
Gifford went on to discuss
weather-related concerns that might affect the project, adding “We
just don’t have any time to waste on anything.”
“We’re still kind of pulling the reins
until we get that (loan) money in the bank,” Owen said.
“Yes, money!” Welch said. “You can make
things pop in every direction when you have money.”
Gifford then said he thought the
volunteers needed to be lined up before the money arrived, in order to
save time. He also noted that he appreciated all the attention that
Gayle Stroud was devoting to the project.
“I do hope those people step forward,”
Welch said, referring to volunteers, “because we’ve not been able to
get them to -- even for fund raisers.”
Gifford said he thought that people’s
reluctance to get involved was directly related to how long it’s taken
for the park project to really get started. “I’ve been on the council
for three years,” Gifford said, “and it’s been the big talk since I’ve
been here -- and even longer than that. People are still skeptical.”
“We’re going to get it done,” Owen.
Council members opened the three bids
received for the construction of the pavilion at the new park, during
the meeting, and awarded the bid to Cloyd Teague of Teague Welding.
Teague’s bid of $14,000 was $20,120 lower than one received from
Hively Construction. Prime Metal Buildings and Designs of Dublin
submitted a bid of $12,534, but Mayor Owen noted that it was “for
materials only.”
While discussing the bids, Council
members Avery Carlisle, Howard Gifford and Norma Locke noted that they
believed Teague would do a good job, with Gifford adding, “I’m glad to
be getting a local contractor involved in some way.” Mayor Owen
agreed.
During the Citizen’s Presentation portion
of the meeting Barbara Helberg, Chamber of Commerce manager, noted
that the “circus was fun” and that she believed the children in
attendance really enjoyed it, to which Mayor Owen noted that he’d
heard “a lot of people brag on that.” Owen also thanked Helberg and
“her group” for all the hard work that went into arranging the circus’
appearance, and Helberg thanked city officials and employees for all
their help.
In other business, Council members:
• Approved the minutes for a regular
meeting on September 28, and a called meeting on September 29.
• Took no action on a request by Denise
Hamilton to form a committee for landscaping downtown because Hamilton
was not present.
• Approved the September 2006 Tax
Statement.
• Approved Resolution #018-06 authorizing
the opening of a bank account for funds from the park loan.
• Approved accounts payable.
• Approved payroll.
• Voted to do more research on an agenda
item regarding changes to rules and regulations for the Gardens of
Memory Cemetery before taking any action.
“The way I understand this,” Owen said,
“is that we’re getting frequent calls for additional burials in the
same plots -- people who’ve been cremated. How many do we want to
allow in a plot?” After a brief discussion, council members decided
that they needed more information, including all state rules and
regulations, before proceeding with changes.
Mayor Owen wrapped up the meeting by
mentioning that starting next week, weather permitting, seal-coating
would begin on portions of East Ayres, South Bell and North Texas
streets. “This is the quarter percent sales tax that is designated for
road improvements,” Owen said. “I wanted to mention that in the near
future we need to really be promoting this, because we’re going to put
this back on the ballot again in May, for the taxpayers to vote on.
This has to be brought before the voters every four years. We do need
to encourage everybody to vote for this, because if they don’t, this
money is given back to the state and we don’t get this additional
money to make repairs to our streets. So it’s very important that
everybody understands that this is a win-win to get this additional
money coming in -- and it it designated for street improvements. So we
sure don’t want to miss out on that.” |
