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The DeLeon City Council met in regular
session, Thursday, December 27, and made short work of a fairly
routine agenda.
All council members -- Mayor Danny Owen,
Howard Gifford, Norma Locke, Avery Carlise, Roy Dale Freeman and Gayle
Stroud -- were present for the 6 p.m. start, as were City Secretary
Karen Wilkerson, Police Chief Ralph Dickey and Emergency Management
Coordinator Ray Helberg.
Gifford included Dora Rangel and her
family in his invocation remarks, praying specifically that Rangel
would be able to return home soon. Rangel, a DeLeon City employee, was
recently transported to a Fort Worth hospital after a sudden illness.
There were no participants in the
Citizen’s Presentation portion of the meeting, and the only agenda
item to draw significant discussion was one on possibly setting the
rental fees for the pavilion, amphitheater, and tractor pull arena, at
the new Community Park.
“I requested this be put on the agenda,”
Mayor Owen said. “I don’t have any suggestions, I just know that we
really need to start thinking about this. I do think we need to have
some kind of fee to off-set the electricity usage and so-forth out
there. Now, this is excluding the Peach and Melon Festival group, but
it’s for other people coming and wanting to use the amphitheater and
so on. I don’t even know where to start.”
“May I suggest a starting place?” Councilman Freeman said. “Let’s find
out what it costs us to put it on. I think that would be the initial
step. If there are other communities, and I’m sure there are, that
have tractor pulls, then we might consult with them and see how they
handle it.”
“The electrical expense, since it’s a new
facility, we don’t have any earthly idea,” Mayor Owen said. “I think
we need to take into serious consideration that we do have a group of
guys who are trying to put on tractor pulls and so forth and the
money’s going back into the park. I think we need to look at that
option also, if it is going back into an account for the betterment of
the park.”
Owen also noted, “There’s not too many
areas our size, who have an amphitheater.”
After more discussion, Council member
Gayle Stroud asked, “What did they charge for the musicals at the (old
grounds)? And do we want to consider security, as we do for the
auditorium.”
“I agree with you,” Owen said. “If
someone comes in and puts on a large dance, or something of that
nature, we may need to have something in the rules that law
enforcement is figured into that.”
“I think it should be done like the
auditorium,” Wilkerson said.
“As far as security, why don’t we turn
that over to Ralph,” Freeman said. “You have a pretty good idea of
what the going rate is for security on things like this don’t you.”
“Everybody charges $25 per hour, per
officer,” Chief Dickey said.
“My thought on this,” Gifford said, “is
maybe to consider drawing up an agreement, kind of like (the one) for
City Hall...but I was thinking that maybe for the year 2008, we should
just waive any fees so that we could try and promote the use of the
park and the amphitheater, and get some people in here actually using
it and seeing what the facility is and what they can do with it. And
at the same time, that gives us an opportunity to see what it will
cost us, on an electrical basis, so that we don’t end up changing our
rates when it’s been open for six months or a year. It’ll cost us a
little bit in electricity, but by waiving any kind of usage or rental
fee, it gives us a chance to promote the park more.”
“We could just ask for a donation,”
Wilkerson said.
“And also, it could depend on whether a
group is non-profit,” Stroud said.
“I know that there is only one
stipulation,” Wilkerson said, “and that was with the insurance company
-- that there be a set amount (paid) for insurance.”
“Well, to us, I wouldn’t think that it
should matter if they’re for profit or non-profit,” Freeman said,
going back to Stroud’s statement. “Most of them will probably be
non-profit.”
“They probably will,” Stroud said. “I
know we’ve waived fees here (City Hall rentals) occasionally. I’m kind
of like Howard, that maybe we wait awhile, see what it’s going to
cost, and then write up the rules much like we have for the
auditorium.”
After several more minutes of discussion,
Mayor Owen noted that he liked all the ideas that had been presented
on how to deal with fees and usage.
“My concern is,” Owen said, “that we
don’t come up with fees that will scare everybody off -- but the
electricity out there’s going to run up in a hurry.”
“Yes, we need to cover our expenses,”
Freeman said, “plus at least a little bit.”
“Maybe we could work out some arrangement
where the cost of the electricity, water and gas is what they’re
invoiced for,” Wilkerson said, “and they have to pay that invoice.”
“Yes, they would be responsible for the
cost of utilities,” Freeman said.
“We wouldn’t charge them rent that way,”
Wilkerson said.
“No, we need to charge rent too,” Freeman
said. “I don’t care how much, but it’s a lot easier next year, or year
after next, to bump the rent a little bit, than to introduce it after
people are used to not paying it. Plus, we need the money.”
“It’s going to be difficult to charge
them for the utilities on it,” Gifford said, “and then go ‘oh, by the
way, whenever we get our electric bill, and stuff like that, we’re
going to invoice you for that too.”
Eventually, Council members voted to take
no action on rental and usage of the park until further information
could be obtained from cities with similar venues.
Mayor Owen noted that this sort of
discussion and exchange of ideas, was exactly why he wanted to get the
item on the agenda at this time.
In other business, Council members:
• Approved the minutes for the December
13, 2007 meeting.
• Approved the second and final reading
of Ordinance #017-07; canvassing the November 6, 2007 special election
for the Place 3 Council member.
• Approved Resolution #012-07; with one
vote for Sam Sparger and five for Gaylon Atkins, for the Comanche
County Appraisal District Board of Directors for 2008-2009:
• Approved accounts payable.
• Approved payroll.
In the open discussion between City
officials and employees, Mayor Owen noted that caulking and painting
was in progress on the inside of the ticket booths. No other Council
members had any items for discussion, but Chief Dickey noted that he’d
recently received a “very nice compliment” from Child Protective
Services (CPS) personnel on Sgt. Dustin Paulsen’s handling of a recent
case. That announcement generated several positive comments from
Council members on Paulsen’s attitude and abilities.
Emergency Management Coordinator Ray
Helberg then reported on several conferences he’s attended recently in
San Antonio and Abilene.
Helberg wrapped things up with an
announcement that the 2008 Comanche County Skywarn spotter
training/severe weather program -- co-sponsored by Comanche County
Emergency Management -- is scheduled for January 14 at the Proctor
Community Center from 7-9 p.m. |
