|
 |
|
CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION. City Secretary Karen
Wilkerson, left, presented out-going council members Howard
Gifford and Norma Locke certificates of appreciation during the
May 22 council meeting. |
A changing of the guard dominated the
regular city council meeting, Thursday, May 22, 2008, as council
members Howard Gifford and Norma Locke participated in their
last meeting (the first half), and newly-elected members Pauline
Villarreal and Lee Childers participated in their first meeting
(the second half).
Present and participating in both
segments of the meeting were Mayor Danny Owen, Council members
Avery Carlisle, Roy Dale Freeman, Gayle Stroud and City
Secretary Karen Wilkerson.
After the original council dealt with
some on-going issues, such as the contract with IESI for the
city’s solid waste disposal, Mayor Danny Owen (who was
re-elected May 10) announced that there would be a 30 minute
recess, at which time certificates of appreciation were
presented to the outgoing members, and the newest members
(including Owen) were administered the oath of office by
Wilkerson.
 |
|
SWORN-IN. Newly-elected council members were sworn-in during
the DeLeon City Council meeting, Thursday, May 22, by City
Secretary Karen Wilkerson. Pictured left to right are Mayor
Danny Owen, Pauline Villarreal, Place 1; Lee Childers, Place 2;
and Wilkerson. |
There was then a cake and punch
reception, after which Gifford and Locke left, and Villarreal
and Childers were seated at the council table. When the
certificates were presented to Gifford and Locke, Mayor Owen
noted that it was in recognition of their dedicated service and
input into the operation of the City of DeLeon .
Following the recess, Mayor Owen
welcomed Villarreal and Childers and said he looked forward to
working with them.
Mayor Owen then invited Tim Beaty,
Hiram Smith and Betty Lowery to address the council regarding
the next agenda item, described as “Discuss and consider request
by DDT in regards to remodeling project for City Hall”, with
Beaty doing most of the talking.
“We’ve got an offer of free money for
you, hopefully,” Beaty said. He went on to explain that DDT is
Developing DeLeon Today. We’ve been meeting for probably over a
year now,” Beaty said, “talking about some renovations to City
Hall – the bathrooms mainly, those are in pretty rough shape. We
had some plans drawn up by an architect before I got on there
and I’ve been on there for about a year. Recently, Ina B.
Barnes, the mother of Ben Barnes, passed away. Most of you know
who Ben Barnes is, and he’s a Comyn native and a graduate of
DeLeon High School. He approached Hiram about a way to honor the
memory of his mother here in DeLeon. We had a couple of projects
going on – we’re looking at the old depot building down town
trying to do some things on that, but that’s going to be a
bucketful of money. So Hiram mentioned the project we’ve got
going on here with the City Hall and he (Barnes) was very
interested in that, and he told us to get some figures together.
So that’s what we’ve been doing since probably October or
November – trying to get some bids together and things like
that. We finally got it all pulled together and Hiram and I met
with Danny (Owen) and Karen (Wilkerson) a couple of weeks ago
and presented this to them, and went through it and we just
wanted to meet with the entire City Council.”
Beaty then outlined the proposed
renovations for City Hall, including remodeling of the kitchen,
lighting and audio system for the stage, painting the outside of
the building, bathroom renovations, refinishing the auditorium
floor and remodeling of the dressing rooms.
Beaty mentioned that recognition for
Mrs. Barnes would also need to be addressed. “It could be
something like a plaque...to something like renaming this the
Ina B. Barnes recreation center and City Hall or something like
that,” Beaty said. “It’s an issue for the council to decide in
conjunction with the Barnes family, if you decide to do this.
Basically, this is going to be the City Council’s decision,
because it is city property.”
There was then a general discussion
regarding several aspects of the proposed project, including
storage issues, and determining whether there were any legal
specifications on renaming any part of the City Hall, as well as
exploring all options for appropriate ways to honor Mrs. Barnes.
“I think the next logical step, if
the council decides they want to proceed with this,” Beaty said,
“is to appoint a couple of members to work with us, as far as
DDT, to coordinate with the Barnes family, even as we get into
construction.” It was noted at one point that the Barnes family
still has to approve the final plans and costs, but that when
originally presented with only one part of the renovations, they
had expressed interest in doing more.
Beaty then noted that some of the
bids they’d received (total bids received in excess of $85,000)
may not be “firm bids”, due to rising prices, so time was of the
essence.
“I would make the motion that we go
ahead and say yes, we want to do this,” Gayle Stroud said. “I
would say we should accept it as written, and then let them (the
Barnes family) decide whether they want to do all of it.” The
vote for approval was unanimous.
Gayle Stroud and Lee Childers were
then appointed as a committee to work with Tim Beaty and Hiram
Smith, with Beaty noting that Smith “had already done a lot of
work on this.”
It was also mentioned that at least
one local civic club was interested in contributing money for
the project, and that others would probably be interested if
approached with the idea.
In other business, council members:
• Approved the minutes of the May 8,
2008 council meeting.
• Approved the April 2008 Tax
Statement.
• Reviewed the proposed changes to
the IESI contract as recommended by City Attorney Lois
Rockefeller, and voted to table approval pending further
consultation with the attorney regarding those changes
(including perhaps increasing insurance bond amount from $10,000
to $20,000). It was noted that IESI representatives should also
review the proposed changes.
• Approved a contract between the
city and the Peach and Melon Festival committee regarding the
festival’s use of the new Community Park for three weeks each
year.
• Approved drafting a proclamation
declaring August 9, 2008 Lloyd Dixon Day in honor of Dixon
turning 100 earlier this year, and the renaming (for the one
day) of McKinney St. to Lloyd Dixon St.
• Accepted the second reading of
Ordinance # 004-08, amending the existing gas franchise
agreement between the city and Atmos Energy.
• Accepted the reading of Ordinance #
005-08 -- canvas of the votes for the May 10, general election.
• Agreed to present to the attorney a
decision to abandon the city right of way on alley between
Houston and McKinney, Juarez and Bivar.
• Elected Gayle Stroud as Mayor
Pro-Tem.
• Tabled, after a brief executive
session, a decision on hiring Bryan Butler as a DeLeon Police
Officer due to Butler having to leave the council meeting early,
and not being present for an interview.
Shortly before the conclusion of the
council meeting, several members of the Peach and Melon Festival
committee entered the council chambers and, after the official
adjournment, addressed issues regarding the grand opening
celebrations planned for June 7, 2008, at the new Community
Park. The discussion that followed revealed a degree of
“miscommunication” and confusion between city officials and
festival members regarding the intent of the celebration. City
officials stated that their intention was for it to be a chance
for people to come and see the park, and enjoy a broad variety
of activities, whereas festival committee members believed it to
be a fund-raiser for the park. Most everyone eventually agreed
that the June 7 celebration was an important one, and that
better communication was vital to its success. More planning
sessions were then scheduled, including one on Tuesday, May 27.
Editor’s note: Since the meeting
occurred past our press time, please see final planning details
on the June 7 celebration in next week’s edition of the Free
Press. Also, the report on Howard Gifford’s participation in the
council meetings of May 15 was erroneous in last week’s edition
to the Free Press. Gifford was present for the 5:30 p.m. meeting
to canvas the votes, as was Norma Locke, but neither was present
for the 6 p.m. meeting that followed. |
