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The DeLeon City Council met in regular
session Thursday, May 10, 2007, and addressed several issues related
to items discussed at the April 26, Council meeting. All Council
members were present, as was Lois Rockefeller, city attorney.
During the citizen’s presentation, Bill
Wilson, who lives on North Bell Street, addressed the Council first.
“I’m here about the noise level at the dance they had over there,”
Wilson said. “Levy Wayne had a legitimate gripe. I’ve lived there 17
years, and that was the loudest I’ve ever heard it.”
Wilson said that even with his windows
and doors shut, and television volume higher than normal, he could
still hear “everything that was said up there.”
“I have a suggestion as a taxpayer, which
I’m sure nobody will go along with,” Wilson said. “But as a tax payer
and a citizen, I say donate the City Hall to the bands free. Help them
get people in to town. The state has improved our sidewalks, maybe
we’ll have some businesses open up, or maybe some of the existing
businesses will stay open later. As the saying is in politics these
days, this seems like a win-win situation.”
Wilson went on to say, “The noise was
extremely excessive the other night, I don’t care what anybody said. I
made complaints before it was brought up here. I’m not here just
because of what I read last week.”
Mayor Owens told Wilson that if he wanted to stick around for a while,
the issue would be addressed a little later in the meeting, as part of
an agenda item.
Jane Sims, who lives on North Travis,
expressed similar concerns to the Council.
“That particular night, of April 21, I
was in the house with all the doors and windows closed,” Sims said,
“and yet it was extremely loud. In August, during the Peach and Melon
Festival, our windows are all open. I can hear the noise from the
Festival grounds, I know there’s something going on, but I can never
hear it like it was that night. I don’t object to the band. I don’t
object to the dances. It’s the volume that I object to. There’s no
reason it has to be that loud…turn the volume down.”
Pauline Villarreal also addressed the
Council. “I went to the dance that Saturday night,” she said, “and we
didn’t think it was that loud. And we were there up close. I’ve gone
to dances where you feel it in your chest…that boom, boom, boom.
Nobody else complained that was nearby – and I asked. I went three
blocks down and asked, and they didn’t have any complaints. They said
it wasn’t as loud as the Peach and Melon Festival. I’m sorry if it
bothered some people that we had a concert, but it was nice, and it
was nice to have something come to DeLeon. And that brought people to
DeLeon, to buy gas and food in this community. And we have not had a
Spanish concert as long as I remember – we have a Spanish dance during
the Festival, but this was nice, and we would like to keep having it.
Not every week, but maybe once a month.”
The Council could not respond to the
citizen presentations, but did address the situation during the agenda
item described as “Discuss and consider a request by (Art) Valencia
in regards to Spanish dance on May 12, at the American Legion stage.”
“This is kind of a last minute thing,”
Valencia said, going on to describe DeLeon as friendly, and an awesome
town, and saying that after the May 12 concert, he probably wouldn’t
have another one until July.
“The Police Department is real helpful,” Valencia said. “And the
American Legion and the Peach and Melon Festival were very helpful.
We haven’t had a problem except for this
problem with this gentleman (Levy Wayne Alexander) and I can see his
argument, because the wind was carrying, and the wind can carry a long
ways...Maybe we can keep it down. I don’t want anybody mad, and if he
says it’s too loud, we’ll turn it down.”
Valencia and Mayor Owen then discussed
some problems that had occurred with the sound system that night, and
speculated that it could have made the situation worse.
“As you’re aware,” Owen said, “the main
complaints that we’ve been dealing with for the last week, was the
volume of the music, and the time frame it ended.”
Owen went on to say that he wanted to
make sure that Valencia and other visiting bands and performers were
aware of the noise ordinance. Bill Wilson then repeated some of his
complaints after noting that Valencia had arrived for the meeting
late, and he wanted to bring him up to date. Wilson said that he
wanted “everybody to have fun” but that it was just too loud.
Valencia told him if the music were too
loud, “Give them a call, we’re definitely not going to ignore anyone.”
Councilman Howard Gifford broached the
possibility of stacking hay around the stage and dance area to absorb
the sound. After some discussion, the idea was deemed a good one, and
one that worked in some instances, but that among other problems there
wasn’t an abundance of hay available.
Several of the Council members commented
on the fact that they hoped it could all be worked out.
“With our new facilities coming in the
near future,” Mayor Owen said, “we were looking to try and bring
things in, and not just once a year. If you’ve got activities that are
bringing visitors to town, then that will spark some new activities
and new business in the future. Other small towns are doing this,
they’re not just relying on big industrial to get some
growth...hopefully, we can find a situation that will work for
everyone.”
Art Valencia also discussed the
possibility of bringing in a rodeo at some point and Mayor Owen noted
that a blue grass group had expressed interest in performing at the
new park. Valencia mentioned that one of the reasons that DeLeon is a
promising location for some of his entertainment ventures is because
it’s safe.
“They know that a small town is not going
to be corrupted and bad,” Valencia said, “and they don’t have to worry
about walking around. In a big city, people are scared to walk
around.”
“I have a question,” said Corporal Robert
Kluge, “I need to know what the Council wants me to do. I understand
disorderly conduct and what the state law says, it’s very specific,
but our City ordinance says that if I can hear the music from 50 feet
away -- I need to know what the City Council wants me to do about that
ordinance, because I’m the one that’s got to work that night (May 12)
and I don’t want to be back in here having a man tell me I’m not doing
my job again at the next Council meeting.”
“What you have right now,” said City
Attorney Rockefeller, “is an ordinance that was really more directed
at jake brakes and sound systems in vehicles. What you’re really going
to need to do is go back, in light of this particular set of
circumstances, and add provisions to this that anticipates some
exclusions.”
Kluge said he understood and agreed, but
was concerned with “what we have right now.”
“If you get complaints,” Rockefeller
said, “you need to work with Mr. Valencia and try to bring that down
-- I don’t think it’s anybody’s desire that anybody goes to jail
here.”
“I’m not looking to take anybody to
jail,” Kluge said.
“Or cite them,” Rockefeller said. “But at
this point, if there’s a complaint that comes in, we absolutely need
to respond to it. And you need to feel like the response of whoever’s
operating the audio system is sufficient to meet the needs of
whoever’s making that complaint...until we’ve got something a little
more specific that deals with these outdoor activities. I know that’s
not real clear cut.”
“It’s not a good answer,” Kluge agreed.
After still further discussion, involving
most of the Council members and several audience members, on possible
solutions, the Mayor did want to make sure one point was clear.
“There have been several rumors around,”
Owen said, “that the American Legion is no longer active, and I know
for a fact that it is active, dues are paid, they have their officers,
and they have full authority to lease out that property for concerts.
That was told to us from Austin. Everything’s on the up and up.”
Mayor Owen also had another point he
wanted to stress. “Before we leave this particular item,” he said, “I
would like to really stress to everyone here, and everyone in our
community, that we really need to work on this. Because if we
(include) everyone it will effect what we’ve had for so many years
with the tractor pull and Festival and other activities that have had
a long history in DeLeon. That’s one of my main concerns is that we
don’t shoot ourselves in the foot here, and not be able to enjoy a lot
of our history.”
“Do we need a motion on this?” Councilman
Howard Gifford asked. After several Council members agreed they really
didn’t have any authority to approve it, Bill Wilson said, “I move to
let him have the dance, and hold the volume down” to which everyone
laughed.
Valencia stated if there were any
complaints they would turn it down, or if necessary they’d shut it
down.
During the open discussion between city
employees and city officials, Mayor Owen discussed the issues with the
waste water plant.
“Scott Hay spoke to Rob Duncan (public
works administrator) and our engineers did send a letter of our
projected goals on trying to accomplish our deficiencies, and get us
back in compliance. We requested five years and they said three. If we
keep our paper work up and (do the) best we can on our chemical
testing, then we’re probably not going to receive any more citations
during this part. We will have to give an update, every 180 days, to
make sure we’re continuing to work toward what we said we’re going to
do. My concern, as far as the three year part of our project here, is
obtaining some financial assistance on this. TCEQ says they’re going
to work with us on this, but my understanding from Scott Hay is that
there are many other small towns in this same predicament and it’s
just reached a point that promising and not following through, is not
going to happen any more. So after our election this weekend, we’re
probably going to meet with Scott Hay and have some workshops so we
can bring everybody up to speed on this, so we can get some answers.
It’s going to be expensive, but I don’t think we have many choices.”
Police Chief Ralph Dickey addressed the
Council and said he had “quite a few citizens” ask why an individual
(Levy Wayne Alexander) was not arrested at the last Council meeting.
He explained the definition of disorderly conduct, and terroristic
threat, according to the Texas Penal Code, and said he did not think
Alexander had been guilty of that, and that he’d also contacted two
other law enforcement officers who agreed.
“I just wanted the public to know why
that subject was not arrested,” Dickey said. He and Corporal Robert
Kluge both noted that if there were any question about whether someone
should go to jail or not, they erred on the side of the suspect.
Chief Dickey also donated a decibel meter
to the city that he’d purchased. He later mentioned that the (assault
family violence) charges against former officer Waverly Inman had been
dropped, and he recommended that Inman be put back to work as a
regular reserve officer. “He’s ready to work,” Dickey said, “he’s
willing to work, and honestly we can use the help.”
“We’ll have to get that on another
agenda,” Mayor Owen said.
In other business, Council members:
• Approved the minutes for the April 26
meeting.
• Approved the tax statement for April
2007.
• Approved Resolution # 007-07 expressing
a desire to obtain the old Comanche County Road 103 bridge at Jimmy’s
Creek, a historic bridge, from the Texas Department of Transportation
to provide access at a City of DeLeon Park (Festival grounds.)
• Approved a request by Gene Williams to
extend the riser in front of the stage area in the City Hall
auditorium by eight feet.
• Heard a report on the work at the
Festival Park grounds, in which Mayor Owen noted that progress was
being made in several areas (although the wet weather has slowed some
work) and that two young men were interested in erecting flag poles at
the park as part of their efforts to earn their Eagle Scout badges. |
