November 18, 2015 - Jose Leos was sworn in as the newest city council member in Tenaha to fulfill the remainder of former council member Claudine Howard's time following her resignation.
Leos was recommended by Mayor Orinthia Johnson and following the beginning of the meeting was sworn in by the mayor. He will hold the position until May 2017 when the seat comes up for election again and he will have the opportunity to run for the position. Shelby County Today has confirmed with the municipalites in Shelby County, Leos is the first Hispanic community member to be seated on any city council locally.
During the meeting Leos stated, "I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be a part of this council. Never being one before, I just hope that I will do my best to support what is best for the city."
The council discussed the possibility of giving a water rate discount for employees living in the city as some other cities provide such a discount to a predetermined amount for council members and employees. The council did not adopt any such discount at this time. In light of the fact most employees do not live within the city limits, Natalie Harris remarked if such a benefit could not be provided for all employees then it shouldn't be done for any.
Property which formerly was under the stewardship of Tenaha ISD on Sugar Hill Road, and on which baseball fields have been, was discussed by the council as earlier this year the school relinquished the property back to the former owners. The land was deeded by three of Tenaha's landowners for the purpose of the school using it at their discretion until they no longer where in need of retaining the property.
The city is interested in forming a similar agreement with the landowners; however, it cannot move forward until the landowners receive the deed, which at this time has been in the mail since September.
Jimmy Wagstaff, Tenaha City Marshal, reported on the the department and he gave reports for both September and October. For September 102 citations were issued and there were twelve calls for service and in October 105 citations were issued and there were 15 calls for service.
Stacy Cranford, Director of Public Works, updated the council on the city's pH adjuster and it has been finally approved on a ground storage unit. Simply Aquatics Inc. has been working with the city and will be installing the adjuster.
Approved items on the agenda:
Minutes of the previous meeting.
Financial Statements for October.
Adjournment at 6:06pm.
"We're going to see an increase in our chemical because we're going to be adding sulfuric [acid] to lower our pH, but we should also see a decrease in our chlorine, because it takes a lot less chlorine to treat the water once the pH is at the right level," said Cranford.
The city has had violations due to the trihalomethane levels in the water as a resulting residue of the chlorine use. Cranford is hopeful the adjuster will solve several problems for the city water, and he expects the process to take several months. He commented that the city of Gary and Murvaul have had difficulty with trihalomethane levels as are other cities.
One suggestion Cranford has received to help with the trihalomethane levels is to clean and de-silt the main water tank. With a reduction in water use resulting from cooler weather, this is a project which can be done soon and should take a week to complete. He doesn't foresee the process having any effect on water service in the community.
A lot of street and drainage water has been finding its way into the water plant and the city workers have been locating manholes and working to clean them out to reduce this issue. Five manholes have been located and one even was missing its cover. Recently it was discovered by the Marshal's Office portions of the road on Church Street have caved in, and barricades have been put in place.
Cranford stated a great deal of material has been washed away by rain and there is an 8x8 hole in the road where it has washed away.
Natalie Harris, Mayor Pro Tem, inquired with Cranford on the Pilgrims Pride project and she wanted to know how much the city looks to benefit from that project. Cranford stated he does not yet know at this time as parts are still being received for that job.
Sheryl Clarke, City Secretary, told the council the new Windstream phone system at the city office has been installed and is now working following some initial struggles with its use. Mayor Johnson welcomed Leos to the council and announced the city will have its Thanksgiving dinner in appreciation of city workers and employees on November 25.
During council comments Michael Baker, Councilman, expressed his appreciation to Jimmy Wagstaff and Darren Grey with the City Marshal's Office as well as Craig Terry with the Volunteer Fire Department for installing the barricades on Church Street.
Harris has presented some items for the agenda for council to consider and discuss at past meetings which has been met with question as to the right of council members to have items added to the agenda. She wanted to clarify for the council members and mayor this is a right of the council.
Texas Municipal League Legal Services, the Attorney General has opinioned that, absent of written policy, each member of the governing body should be allowed to place items of his or her choosing on the agenda prior to the meeting. In a city without an agenda setting policy, the mayor or city secretary would not control the preparation of the agenda for the city council. She added the only person who can then remove that item from the agenda is the council member who placed it there.
"We as city council do have the right to put things on the agenda without any yay or nay from anybody else," said Harris.
The meeting adjourned at 6:06pm.
