2. Departmental Reports
Electric, Water, Sewer, Police, Street, R. 0. Plant, SFRE Golf Complex,
Economic Development Director and City Secretary.

Electric, Street, and SFRE Golf Complex were unavailable .

Water/WW Operations Superintendent Greg Shumate:
We have been busy with work orders and service calls. The department had a few water leaks which have been down this year. We also rotted out a few sewer lines which is common this time of year. Replaced a tap on west side of town and the WWTP is running great after having a few problems out there, it is running great again. Started running the pits, you can’t run pits when we have wet weather and that hasn’t been a problem lately. A few pumps went out from basically being worn out and we are replacing them as needed. That’s about all I have other than Robert, Shawn and myself attending some schools. Shawn has been helping Rick at the R.O. Plant this week. I have also been working with TXDOT on project 422. That’s all I have for tonight. If you have any questions, I will glad to answer any questions if you have any.

No questions from council.

Police Chief Tommy Duncan:
The department answered 342 calls for service this past month and investigated 3 minor traffic accidents. There were 32 felony and misdemeanor cases filed that included Burglary, Possession of a controlled substance, Possession of marijuana, carrying a prohibited weapon, and theft.

There were 110 citations and warnings issued, 54 of which were for speeding over the posted speed limit. Code Compliance Officer reported abatement of 9 more junk vehicles this month and 52 inspections on other property not in compliance. Our k-9 officer was on hand March 9th at the High School to present a drug program and to answer any questions the students had about illicit drugs and their effects. And finally, the Special Olympics spring games are less than a month away, they will be held the 21st of next month (April ) and we will be there throughout the day to help in anyway we can. I will be talking more about that at the next months meeting.

Reverse Osmosis Supervisor Rick Garcia:
Good evening and its good to be here tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve attended a council meeting. I have been busy getting the R.O. Plant ready for the summer months. I got the new wells on line, everything was approved and ready to go . That is a good plus for the City, we have 19 wells that are ready to go on production as needed. I’ve been working on the Water Development Reports, you have one on hand in your packets which shows the yearly pumpage and acreage for the year and total of what was used for the past year. Rick explained the figures on the report to the council and thanked them for all that they do for each department and the new truck he received. He stated the Reverse Osmosis is on its 7th year running.

No questions from council .

Economic Development John W. Studer submitted his report in writing:

This is the text of his report.

Dear Mayor and Council,

The projects that I have been 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. It is a Grant that is used to set up a Revolving Loan Fund. When the money is loaned out and then paid back; it then belongs to the SCDC. It is a $220,000 grant ( $200,000 from Rural Development, and a $20,000 match put up by the SCDC). It is loaned out for 4% with maximum of $40,000 per individual business loan. The main intent is for it to be loaned to businesses that want to build on, or relocate to the new highway corridor. It can however be loaned to any business in Baylor County. I have had prospective businesses for a motel, a truck stop, a storage facility and a beverage store to contact my office about the funds. It is also intended as a supplement to existing loans. In order to qualify you have to be turned down by a bank for complete or partial funding. I have letters from Mr. Bob McWhorter, Mr. Clifton Talley, and Mr. Jeff Gregg, who have agreed to serve on the application review board for the loans. Mr. Larry Clements from the Rural Development office in Abilene had reviewed the 101 page application prior to completion, and said it looks great. He also approved it again after it was sent to his office on the last day of February. It was sent to the next level of review. Mr. Clements said it might be as much as two months before we will be notified. Hopefully, it will be successful. It took a lot of my time to complete. Additional copies had to be sent to Nortex Council of Government and the State Historical Preservation Officer. The SCDC committed the full $20,000. This is a big portion of their assets, but they felt that it was essential to have this revolving loan fund for the future of Seymour. We just don’t have many tools we can use for Economic Development. This will be a great one to have if we are approved for it.

Highway 277 Corridor:
In the grant, I had letters from three business prospects who plan to relocate on the re-route. I also had one business who said they would send a letter in support of the grant, but, it wasn’t received in time. I also had an inquiry by another business who says it plans to re-locate to the re-route. I also had an inquiry by one of the property owners as to whether his property had been approved for annexation. I can only tell him, we are waiting on the City’s lawyer for his opinion of his annexation application; and, also the approval of the annexation form. If we get his approval on the use of the annexation form, then the process should speed up.

New Business Prospect:
I talked to the internet business owner from Vernon again. He said he is ready to put an article in the local paper about hiring locals to work and commute to Vernon. If the salaries are going to be as high as he has quoted, then his offer will be very appealing. Hopefully, some individuals who want to move back to Seymour to live will have an opportunity to do so because of these good paying jobs.

New Community Development Organization:
The Chamber of Commerce and I had a meeting on the 22ND to initiate this new committee. We had good participation. We also need a good community core group to encourage community involvement. It will also be a very good venue keeping the public informed as to all the projects in progress. One of the commits made at this group’s meeting, was that no one (all the public entities) keeps the public informed about anything that is going on in town. I don’t think this is a true statement. I truly see it as a lack of public involvement and concern. Others attending said they always read the Banner and kept informed that way.

New Regional Organization:
It will cost $1500 to join this organization. I found most of the funds for this worthwhile membership, which will not be any cost to the City this time. I ask the County Judge if the County could contribute $250 for their part. Judge Rogers said it could not come from the county, but, she would donate it herself.

Wind Generator Companies:
I have talked to representatives of both companies this last week. One company has asked for some time on the Ag Day Program, after the speaker, to make an announcement. I am presently waiting on a reply from Florida Power and Light as to what they will say before we grant them a slot on the program. Ranell Walker says they plan to start construction by the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008. If they will say that, and tell us how many of the towers they plan to erect, then we will let them have a part in the program. This is an announcement that all of Baylor County wants to hear. The Ag Day board just wants to be fair with both companies and not favor one over the other. Mr. Collin Flemming from Airtricity said he would know before June if they would start construction in 2008. Airtricity’s phase one of their project would be around a hundred turbines. Both companies talked like the local projects are a high priority and that it is just a matter of when they will be started. It is a matter of deciding where the turbines go first, to our project or to another high priority project. They both sounded good. FPL said that it would be the new and bigger 2.3 megawatt turbines to be placed here. Hopefully, they are almost ready to issue a public statement. I also got a favorable response from one of the Hospital’s board members about diverting part of the future tax revenues from these turbines to an economic fund for Baylor County. Also, the speaker for Ag Day this year will be the new commissioner of Agriculture for Texas, Mr. Todd Staples which will be on Tuesday, April 17th.

There are always a number of projects in progress that might not be in this report. If you have any questions or advice, I urge you to call, or come by my office anytime. As always, thank you for your support of the efforts of this office to strengthen our community’s future.
City Secretary Conchita Torrez: submitted report in writing.

3. Discuss, Consider and authorize city staff to upgrade and purchase five (5) Meter Reading Handhelds from Northrup and Grumman for the net system cost of $17,300.00, and to be purchased with cash ‘on hands’.


Motion:
A motion was made by Council Member Donald Coltharp, 2nd by Council Member Donna Fest to purchase five handhelds from Northrup and Grumman for the net system cost of $17,300.00 due to an upgrade to the billing system.

Vote on motion:
passed unanimously.

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