The City Council met in regular session on Monday, June 19, where they addressed the items on their bi-monthly agenda.
After the Invocation led by Mayor Tommy Hicks, the Council listened to a few announcements. Councilman Robert Hanneman noted the annual Fly-In breakfast recently held at the Denver City airport was another success despite two other shows going on at the same time. He went on to say the volunteer fire department did an excellent job of providing breakfast for not only the 14 planes that came in, but also to the local citizens who came out to support the event.
Also during the announcements, City Manager Stan David informed the Council they could have access to all the City codes on line. Each Council member was also given a letter from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality noting they had completed a technical review, which included air quality analysis, of the Golden Spread Electric Cooperation which runs the Mustang Power Station east of Denver City.
After making one correction to the minutes from the last meeting they were unanimously approved.
In the first item on the agenda David wanted the Council to consider approval to request bids of the City wastewater treatment plant farm land. Corky Black had previously leased this property and had then subleased it to a private farmer. After Black passed away in January the Council agreed to allow this individual to stay on the land, but noted it would be put up for bids at the end of the summer. David said he had at least three other individuals show an interest in renting the land.
David had given the Council the terms of the current lease for them to look over and suggest any changes they felt like needed to take place. One of the conditions in the new lease is that the land would not be subleased to anyone. After more discussions, mostly about the length of the lease, it was suggested by Councilman Hanneman to initially make it a two-year lease to coincide with other city owned property, and then extend it to a five-year lease.
In the next item, the David went into details about the damage done to city owned buildings from the April 12 hail storm. These buildings included the Animal Shelter, the City Hall, Police Station, Fire Station, the Scout Buildings, the main hanger at the airport, the Post Office, the garage on the corner of 4th and Main, the mobile home located at the airport, and the Denver City Museum.
According to an adjuster from Sexton Claim Service out of Ropesville, the most severely damaged buildings are the City Hall ($19,226.77), the Post Office ($17,287.09), and the Museum ($35,996.98). The total damage, which also included skylights at the fire station and some exterior damage to the mobile home, was $73,084.59.
The Council instructed David to seek bids for the work either for each individual building or for all the buildings together. All three buildings will require distinct types of roof repair; foam on the city hall, shingles on the post office, and metal on the museum.
And in the last item on the agenda, David gave each Council member a Drought Contingency Plan to look over before the next meeting. The plan is designed to conserve the available water supply and to protect the integrity of water supply facilities for domestic water use, sanitation, and fire protection.
Following this discussion, the Council went into a 45-minute Executive Session.
After coming out of Executive Session a motion was made to pay regular bills that totaled $74,574.21 and May Manuel checks that totaled $133,821.60. Following the meeting they met for a budget work session.
Council members Joan Breith, Robert Hanneman, Clinton Bowman, Mark Sherman, and Keith Mensch along with mayor Tommy Hicks were in attendance. Council member Ronald Weir was on vacation and was not present.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 3, in the City Hall chambers starting at 7 pm.
