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Hospital Starts New Fiscal Year with Profit
Property Tax Rate Left Unchanged

By JERRY MORGAN, Reporter

VAN DYKE -- For the second month in a row, there was no red ink at the bottom of Comanche County Medical Center's earnings statement, a distinct improvement from the usual summertime seasonal pattern of losses.

The Board of Directors of the Comanche County Consolidated Hospital District met in regular session on Tuesday, August 26, with five members present.

The meeting was conducted by Board president Gale Easley, with members Joe Locke, Charles Mazurek, Karen Petty and Billy Ray Evans present. Janna Morris was absent.

Medical Staff Report

Dr. Dwayne Miller indicated that he did not have anything in particular to report, other than everyone was working hard and staying busy, including the new staff additions.

"We're ready for another physician," Dr. Miller added, noting that he was looking forward to Dr. Ruth Reeves' starting her work at the hospital and clinic. "Everybody's real happy to be here," was another of his comments.

The Board unanimously voted to accept the resignation of Dr. Martin Belli of Brownwood, who had previously been serving as medical director for the laboratory.

Executive Session

After only around five minutes of public session, the Board adjourned into closed, executive session to consider personnel matters and nepotism.

The session lasted almost an hour with all members of senior hospital staff except for Chief Executive Officer Kevin Storey remaining in the meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Charles Mazurek offered a motion to authorize a six month contract with Sandra Storey, wife of Kevin Storey, for work related to the installation and utilization of the MediTech hospital information system. Karen Petty seconded.

Billy Ray Evans stipulated that the authorization would direct that she would report to and be supervised by secondary management and not directly to her CEO husband.

The motion and the vote of approval was unanimous.

Although not stated during the public portion of the meeting, Mrs. Storey was later described by a board member as expert in various facets of the MediTech hospital information system and that her expertise would be a valuable asset during the conversion process.

Financial Report

Chief Financial Officer Tom Letz reported that his staff was quite busy already with the MediTech conversion.

"They're hitting us from about every angle," he noted, adding that many different hospital departments were involved.

Letz stated the hospital had recently been advised that it had been awarded a $50,000 capital improvement grant from the Office of Rural Community Affairs. The funds, when received, will offset the paid cost of already purchased equipment.

The $615,000 semi-annual bond principal and interest payment was made on August 15, with $73,000 remaining in the account. Monthly fundings are made to the bond sinking fund account to insure funds will be on hand when the semi-annual payments are due.

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Council Hires New Police Officer,

Discusses Wastewater Treatment Plant

By Laura Kestner, Editor

DeLeon City Council members voted to hire Tim Fanning as DeLeon’s newest full-time police officer, and fire marshal, during their most recent regular session Thursday, August 28, 2008.

NEW DELEON POLICE OFFICER. Tim Fanning, currently of Comanche, was sworn-in Tuesday, September 5, by DeLeon City Administrator Karen Wilkerson. DeLeon Police Sgt. Dustin Paulsen submitted his resignation last week.

Although it was not discussed during this meeting, according to Police Chief Ralph Dickey, Sgt. Dustin Paulsen has submitted his resignation, effective, September 6, to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

All council members -- Mayor Owen, Lee Childers, Pauline Villarreal, Avery Carlisle and Gayle Stroud -- were present for the 6 p.m. meeting, with Councilman Carlisle leaving early. Also present were Police Chief Ralph Dickey, Public Works Administrator Rob Duncan, and City Administrator Karen Wilkerson.
Clint Bissett, with Emprotec-Hibbs and Todd, an engineering firm, spoke to the city about options regarding a new waste-water treatment plant.

“The city (DeLeon) applied to be eligible for monies through the Texas Water Development Board,” Bissett said. “To go in and essentially build a new waste-water plant.” Bissett said that the Texas Water Development Board offers “low interest rate funding” usually around 2 to 3 percent interest.

Bissett later explained that approximately two months ago, “We got notice back from them that the funds were going to be available to the city if you wanted them.”

“We were fortunate enough, if fortunate is the word, where the annual income (for DeLeon residents) put us into a bracket low enough that they’re actually going to loan you the money at zero percent interest,” Bissett said. “You can’t beat zero percent interest.”

Bissett explained to council members that the existing plant is essentially a pond system.

“It’s been having issues for several years now, consistently busting the TCEQ permit limit on ammonia,” Bissett said. “We’ve tried several different things to try to take care of that issue, but nothing has been totally successful.”

Bissett added that that was due primarily to the fact that the current system is an old one. “And there’s not a lot of fine-tuning you can do on a pond,” Bissett said. “What we looked at doing to resolve that, was to look at options for a new mechanical plant.”

Bissett said that his company put together a preliminary engineering report, adding that there were four different options for a mechanical plant. He named the four plans, but noted that the names would probably not mean anything to the council. “We looked at all these,” Bissett said. “We took site visits to see all these -- and let Rob (Duncan) see them, and get a feel for what the processes were like, and what was involved in operation and maintenance on them.”

Bissett then discussed the financial aspects of a new waste-water treatment plant, saying that his firm did more than figure how much a plant would be to construct, but also did research on operation and maintenance costs for a 10-year period, as well as energy efficiency, etc.

“The results of that were that the Shreiber process was the lower cost alternative,” Bissett said, “both in additional capitol cost, and long-term cost.”

According to Bissett, the over-all cost, which includes construction, engineering, and financing costs, would be $2.35 million. He acknowledged that it was a “pretty stiff hit.” He said he believed there was a 20 or 30 year term on the TWB loan.

“But you’re not going to get any better treatment than what you’re getting out of your pond system right now,” Bissett said. “It’s not going to get any better, no matter what we do. Bissett noted that the Shreiber process was “a really good process that worked well.” When council members asked Duncan for his opinion, he agreed with Bissett’s assessment of the Shreiber system.

“What is the time-frame on the plant you’re talking about, from start to finish, under normal circumstances?” Mayor Owen asked Bissett.

“You’re probably looking at nine months to a year for construction,” Bissett said.

“Is there maintenance on this, over the years?” Councilman Childers said.

“Yes, like anything mechanical, there will be things that need to be addressed,” Bissett said.

“Will you do it, or will you train our people to do it?” Childers asked.

Bissett replied that his company would work with DeLeon employees, as would a representative of the equipment company.

Mayor Owen asked Bissett to confirm that the current licenses held by DeLeon employees would be sufficient to operate the new plant. Bissett said he believed that to be true.

When Councilman Childers asked if the city had the land to build the new treatment plant, Mayor Owen told him that that item was also on the agenda. In response to a question later by Childers, Bissett explained that the city would not try to construct the new plant on the current site, but would build nearby.

Mayor Owen voiced a concern that the old plant not end up as a liability, especially where the TCEQ was concerned. “It won’t be an issue,” Bissett said. “We’ll make sure it’s taken care of, that it’s closed properly.”

Mayor Owen noted that even though this was a necessary action, “the hardship would be on the citizens using the sewer system, that would have to pick up the tab on this.”

“We don’t have any other way to do it,” Owen said, “so there will be an increase in the monthly fees as we prepare to go into this agreement and build this new plant.”

Owen noted that the interest-free loan would help. “We’re doing everything we can,” he said.

“How much of an increase?” Childers asked.

Mayor Owen said it would cost customers approximately $8 more each month.

“When people realize how much of an increase it’s going to take for all of us to get this new plant, many will be unhappy,” Owen said. “But we really don’t have any other alternative but to continue to pay these extremely large citations as they come from TCEQ.”

“That $8 increase will be pulled out and put into a separate fund,” Karen Wilkerson noted, “so it will not go into the general revenue.”

There was then discussion of beginning to collect the extra $8 per month early, or some portion of it, so that the money could earn interest.

Bissett said that construction could possibly begin as early as the end of 2009, with the plant completed and on-line by the end of 2010 -- possibly just a bit earlier.

Since Bissett explained that his presentation was “purely informative” and that no action was required of the council at this point, council members thanked him for his time and information.

“Is there anyone that could come down and do like a town-hall meeting, or provide information for our customers?” Mayor Owen asked Bissett. “Is there someone who can explain why we’re doing this, and what to expect, so that they’re not just blind-sided?”

Bissett indicated that he thought that was a good idea, though no specific date for such an event is available at this time.

In other business, council members:

• Voted, after a closed session, to approve the purchase of 9.2 acres of land for the new wastewater treatment plant from the Peach and Melon Festival committee. Councilman Carlisle, also a member of the Festival committee, abstained from voting.

• Tabled an agenda item described as “Discuss and consider agenda request by Jack Dixon in regards to mobile home permit fee” due to Dixon’s absence.

• Approved continuing to pay City Judge L.T. Lewis while he’s out due to health problems.

• Voted to continue a service maintenance contract with Kirbo’s for the copier which was moved to the Police Department.

• Approved a bid by Mike Barker Construction, of Coleman, Texas, in the amount of $49,910.00 for concrete work at the new Community Park to bring it into ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. This work will include sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and hand rails. According to Wilkerson, the work must be completed by February of 2009.

“State law has upped the bidding process,” Wilkerson said, “so that as long as it’s under $50,000 we don’t have to go out for three bids. It used to be if it were more than $25,000 we had to go out for three bids, but now it’s $50,000.”

Davis Wins Season’s First Football Contest

WEEK 0 WINNER Freddie Davis

The Free Press’ panel of pigskin prognosticators got off to a rough start in Week 0 of the Texas schoolboy football season. More than a third of their selections proved to be incorrect, earning only a “D” grade.

Freddie Davis, Billy Warren and Daryl Peterson tied for top picking honors, each missing in only three out of 15 contests. Davis’ guess of 38 points scored in the DeLeon v. San Saba tie-breaker game was closest to the actual 40 point total, and he won the $50 weekly prize.

Those who missed only four games included Blake Janek, Andy Quinn, Barry Hooker, Don Carruth, Steve Chick, Joe Robledo, Buddy Sharp, Beth Riggs, Derek Elmore, Aaron Smith and Carolyn Frasier.

The games most often missed, in order, included May over Woodson, Eastland over Hico, Aledo over Stephenville, and Rio Vista over Tolar.

Games most often picked correctly included Gustine over Cranfills Gap, Strawn over Follett, Gorman over Evant and Cisco over Early.

The first of the season is often the roughest for our contestants to pick correctly. By the time the season gets well underway, the relative strengths of the teams become more apparent, however, there are always the upsets and the games too close to call.

For those email subscribers who wish to enter the contest, print out the page or the portion of the page with the contest, fill it in and mail or bring it by our office. As always, the contest is free to all who purchase a newspaper.

Good luck in next week’s contest!

Summer Sports Create Lasting Memories

By LAURA KESTNER, Editor

School is back in session, and football and volleyball teams are hard at work, and the days of summer are dwindling quickly. But thanks to small group of dedicated volunteers, many of DeLeon’s young people will have memories, thanks to summer sports, to cherish for a lifetime.

Although summer sports have been a DeLeon tradition for years, for the past few years the efforts have been spear-headed by Todd Griffin, president; Josh Thayer, vice-president; Lacey Gibson and Michelle Beck, co-secretary-treasurer, of the DeLeon Sports Association. More than 250 DeLeon youngsters participated this year.

Gibson said she enjoys many aspects of volunteering, but especially likes the fact that playing ball helps the children learn everything from good sportsmanship to discipline. “And the kids are having fun,” Gibson added. “That’s what it’s all about -- the kids.”

Gibson’s son, Evan, has participated in DeLeon’s summer sports for eight years. “I’m not going to say that I don’t do it for my child,” Gibson said. “That’s initially why you get involved. But I’ve been involved since Evan was 4-years-old, and he’ll be 12 next week. I just think it’s awesome -- that first day of the season when we try to play games all day long -- it’s just incredible. That’s what it’s all about -- those kids. I get passionate about it, that’s why I’m involved.”

Gibson said the first DeLeon Sports Association meeting of the year is usually held in January. “We get officers elected, discuss registration and set our registration fees and take off from there,” she said.
Gibson noted that there are now other opportunities for youth sports here, as well as the school sports programs.

“They have a youth football league starting up here,” Gibson said, “and there’s talk of a youth soccer league. This is the time of the year for that. And of course we do our Pee Wee Basketball, in November, Kelly Sparger is the president of that.”

Todd Griffin’s son, Cass, was also 4-years-old when he began playing eight years ago.

“I’ve been a coach for the past eight years,” Griffin said, “and I’ve been president for the past three years.”

Griffin agreed with Gibson that playing in youth leagues helps youngsters develop better sportsmanship and team work abilities, but noted that it also helps them physically.

“This way they’re outside doing something physical,” Griffin said, “instead of sitting in the house playing video games. And it also gives the parents a chance to get outside.”

Griffin noted that sometimes parents have been known to complain about how long it takes to play. “But we want every kid that wants to play, to get a chance to play,” Griffin said.

In addition to those listed earlier, DeLeon Sports Association officials include: Arthur Beck, parliamentarian; Terrill Casey, concession chairman; Chuck Miller, t-ball commissioner; Billy McGrath, softball commissioner; and Rodney Hardin, baseball commissioner.

“And Brad Sanders contributed his time and effort for the last several years, to help things run smoothly,” Gibson said. “And Casey Stone has always booked our umpires for us. And Gustavo Chaveria has helped.”

Griffin noted that Todd Morris has been the tournament director and “put in some long hours.”

Griffin also mentioned that area businesses, community sponsors, and parents help make it all possible.

A total of 12 youth teams (not including t-ball) participated this summer, with 11 of them advancing to district tournaments.

“And two of them went to state,” Griffin said. “And one of those, the S&S Midgets, (7-9 boys) won the state tournament -- for the second year in a row.”

The other team to advance to state was the “Slammers” -- 10 and under girls.

“We’ve got some good ball players in this town,” Griffin said. “It’s interesting when kids don’t think they can do anything, but as a coach you can see their potential, and then when it all comes together there’s nothing better. But it’s not just about baseball, there’s a lot of life lessons learned out there.”

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