2. Departmental Reports

Electric, Water, Sewer, Police, Street, R. 0. Plant, Golf Complex,
Economic Development Director, and City Secretary.
 
The Electric, Street, Reverse Osmosis and Golf Complex were unavailable for comment.

Water/WW Operations Superintendent Greg Shumate:

Our department has been busy with work orders and service calls. We fixed 8 water leaks since the last council meeting, one being a 6 inch main by the Methodist Church on the Lubbock Highway. I’m waiting on some contractors to pour the concrete for us, but, due to the hail storm we had we’ve had to wait to get the job done. We also fixed an 8 inch line out at SFRE that was on the discharge side of the pumps for Missie to be able to water the greens. The Waste Water Sewer Plant is running real good. We got behind on cleaning the pits due to all the wet weather we have received, but, now that everything is drying up we have been able to clean them out. We did our first meter readings with our new hand helds, and everything went ok. Once we get the hang of it, it will be a lot quicker and less re-reads. Robert went to school in Abilene to get some hour credits and I will be going to Abilene next month also.

Police Chief Tommy Duncan:

We answered 324 calls for service and investigated 2 minor traffic accidents. There were 24 felony and misdemeanor cases filed that included D.W.I., Theft, Disorderly Conduct, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Resisting Arrest and Possession of a Controlled Substance. There were 29 persons booked into the holding facility and 107 warnings and citations issued this past month. Our Animal Control Officer answered 49 calls for service. Our Code Compliance Officer abated 3 junk vehicles and tagged another 18. He completed 187 property inspections and sent out compliance request letters. As the Mayor mentioned a few minutes ago, this is National Police Week. This past year 145 law enforcement officers lost their lives in America. That’s roughly 1 every 2 and a half days. It is important to understand that these men and women died doing a job they truly believed in. I hope sometimes during this special week you will join me in remembering these fallen heroes and their families.

If it pleased the council, I would like to dedicate at least a portion of this week honoring the memory of Police Chief Bill Jones who gave his life on March 23, 1985 in Lorenzo Texas while answering a domestic dispute. Bill was not only a good friend, but, was my partner for quite some time back in the early 80’s , he is sorely missed.

Economic Development Department Director John Studer:

Here is the text of Studer’s written report. 
“May 13, 2007
Economic Development Department
Monthly Report for May 2007
From: John W. Studer, ED Director, City of Seymour, Texas

Dear Mayor and Council,

The projects this office is working on this month are:

Rural Development RBEG:

This grant, which was written for the Seymour Community Development Corporation, is called a Rural Business Enterprise Grant. This grant was approved by Nortex Regional Planning. These grants go through several levels of approval before acceptance. They have to be approved by Nortex, the Regional Rural Development office at Abilene, and finally to the State Rural Development Office at Temple. It is in the final stage at Temple. It looks favorable.

New Business Prospects:

We have been in negotiations with Mr. Harish Patel on the building of the new chain type hotel on the Hwy 277 re-route. He agreed to the price of the land, to the abatement proposal and the general location. He was to call and set up a meeting in Seymour to work out the final details. He never called and I made several attempts to get in touch with him. I finally made contact with him and he said they had a death in the family and would defiantly contact me at a later date. That is where it stands at this moment. I have also contacted the tire shop which plans to locate on the re-route. I have also talked to the truck stop group and have let them know about the early completion date for the highway re-route. I also had a good e-mail from the Olney extrusion plant that they are still considering the expansion to Seymour. Also, had a good visit with the Museum of Natural Science Group. The old Big Cheese Pizza is supposed to open soon as an all you can eat fish place. This week, I had two contacts with prospective businesses for Seymour. One was retail and the other was light manufacturing/retail. The first thing they both inquired about was “what incentives can you give me if I move here”. They know that most communities have Economic Corporation with revenues funded by sales taxes to entice businesses to move to their communities or to help retain existing businesses. I am sorry for redundancy, but, this is a problem that the general public and the other taxing entities need to hear on a regular basis. Hopefully, when you see other taxing entity board members, you can convey this need. It is a community problem that will take community solution to resolve. We have really accomplished a lot as far as revamping the Seymour Community Development Organization ability to be the central point for addressing economic issues that affect the community. Most of the correct framework is in place except for the funding issue we so badly need for our community. The logical solution for this will be additional tax revenues from the wind farms. We are making progress, but, this issue is keeping us from excelling.

Sidewalks Grant:

I hope to start soon on grant proposal through the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Downtown Revitalization program for sidewalks down Washington Street. There have been two grants submitted in the last three years for sidewalks in the downtown area. The earlier one was this same grant through TDA. It is a maximum grant of $ 150,000.00. Shelly Green wrote the last one and it was rejected. Hopefully, I can re-write it and submit it once again. I know it is something the population wants, but, it is almost impossible to do without grants.

Wind Generator Companies:

One of the companies old me that you will know they are about six months from construction when they start asking for abatements. I also had a request from Mark Lundgren, the Representative Thornberry’s Office for the contact persons information for both wind companies. He said that Rep. Thornberry is writing a new energy bill.

Hunter’s Survey:

I sent out a letter mailing to all those out of town hunters that participated in the Hunter’s survey. I t involved a chance to win a taxidermy mount donated by Shumate Taxidermy. It is a very good way to build contacts with the many hunters who come to Baylor County each year. We sent each out of town hunter a letter thanking them for spending time and money in our community. We also encourage them to explore all the possibilities that Seymour has to offer as far as investments, the re-location of a business, or just to make our community their home town. All the comments we get are generally favorable. They love our hunting, our town and are looking for a way to spend more time here. We had a little over one hundred non-resident hunters respond to our survey. This is a source of business prospects which are already familiar with us. This is only a small fraction of the number of hunters which spend time in our community.

Petition:

The Dollar General Store Manager Mike Staven, asked us to do a petition to obtain signatures for a newer and better store for our community because that was the way a new store was built in the cities of Munday and Archer City. He has been doing such a petition at his store. The owner for the building who has around eleven of the building that lease to Dollar General came by and wanted to know what was going on. Mr. Staven could not take any of the responsibility for doing the petition, so I did. It really worked out well. Ms. Strickland, who is the owner is eager to enlarge the present store or build a new one. She said she would even lower the rent a lot on the existing store if a new one was going to be built on the re-route. She has better connections with the home office than we do and is eager to speed up the process. I don’t look for anything dramatic to happen soon since the old store has about 2 ½ years left on the rental contract. We need to keep a store in the down area but, the decision for the company is one of making money and finding ways to stay in business in a community.. 

Miscellaneous:

I put the Better Business Bureau article in the Banner about choosing roofing contractors and auto hail damage repair. I also did research and made some calls on annexation information. Finally, received some information from City Attorney Paul Hayers on annexation information. Reviewed information on sales tax history requested from Austin through Representative Hardcastle’s Office. There are also 31 people at the regular monthly
communication meeting in May.
 
There are always a lot of projects, in progress, that might not be in this report. If you have any questions, I urge you to call, or come by my office, anytime. Thanks for your support of the efforts of this office to strengthen our community’s future.”
 
City Secretary Conchita Torrez:

Submitted report(s) in memo format.
 
3. Canvass of Election Returns from the May 12, 2007, General Election for Municipal Officers for a two-year term for Council Member Place #2, Council Member Place #4 and Mayor position as reviewed by Council Canvass Subcommittee: Councilman Donald G. Coltharp and Councilman David Snyder.

Since Councilman Coltharp and Councilman Snyder did not run this time, they served as the “Canvass Committee”. They reviewed copies of the Talley Sheets from Early Voting and Election Day. Alternate Judge Brenda Dickson, was present at the meeting to attest to the accuracy and to answer questions, of which there were none.

4. Consider Approving Resolution #1279, Declaring the Results of 2007 City Office Election (s).
The Canvas Subcommittee, approved the documentation provided for their canvass and moved for the passage of the Resolution.

Motion:

Motion to Approve and adopt Resolution# 1279,
by Councilman Coltharp, and Seconded by Councilman Snyder.

Vote on the Motion:

passed unanimously.

THIS IS RESOLUTION #1279

It is attached to an original copy of the agenda that was posted for this meeting.

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