*****

Joaquin City Council renames Street in Honor of late Mayor - November 18, 2009
By Mona Brandt

In last night regular meeting of the Joaquin City Council it was voted on after a motion by Councilman Rusty Wilson and a second by Councilwoman Sheila Posey to rename Water Street to Steve Hughes Drive. This is in honor of the late Mayor Steve Hughes. The entire Council agreed on this.

Also, a new building permit was issued to Curtis Oilfield Services for a work shop to be located beside the building already located at 13271 State Hwy 7 East. This was done on a motion by Councilman Mike Atkinson and a second by Councilwoman Sheila Posey. Welcome to Joaquin Curtis Oilfield Services.

The Council spent more time than usual on voting on paying the invoices and bills. There was much discussion about the KSA Engineering Firm and Davis Contractors and about who was at fault over the fact they had started building a road to the new proposed site for the water tank, in the wrong area. Mrs. Dorothy Strong sold the land to the city in 2007 and also marked the easement for the road on the survey. This new road is about 30 feet off the mark. The Council wanted to know who was going to make up this extra money to have the road moved. They had been told that another two to three thousand dollars would be needed to complete and move the road, plus the total that had already been quoted to the council at $37,000, from the last meeting. They finally agreed and voted to go ahead and pay the difference and just move ahead with the already, behind the deadline, project.

Bids were read concerning the painting of city hall. The Council awarded this bid to Marvin the Painter, who had the lowest of the 4 bids that were turned it to the city. This work will begin in two weeks according to Mr. Steyer, who was in attendance. His bid did not have a bid for the flooring that needs to be done. The flooring will be done at a later date after more bids come it.

Axley & Rode, LLP were not in attendance to present the letter of engagement for Auditing Service for the year 2008-2009. Councilman Rusty Wilson commented that he thought that it was time that the City hired a new Auditing Service. After some discussion it was decided that they would look around and see who they could find. Councilman Stacy Taylor stated that there are several types of audits and that he would like to see an internal audit conducted this year.

Amending the current employee handbook was next on the agenda. This brought the meeting to a stand still when Councilman Stacy Taylor made a motion to hold an executive session. Mayor Wood spoke up and stated that it may be illegal to hold an executive session without notifying employees that they may be discussed during the course of the session. All Council members expressed their interpretation of the Open Meetings Act. Acting City Secretary Nikki Arbuckle called City Secretary Teresa Hughes, who was at home, on the phone and a copy of the open meetings act was presented to the council members. There was much discussion over the issue and it was decided to consult the City Attorney Gary Rhodes for the legal advice. This was tabled until the December meeting.

Wendy Gurrely talked to the council about the possibility of having drug testing done to the city employees. This item is in the employee handbook and has never been started. After her presentation Councilman Rusty Wilson stated that this was way over due and needed to start this. After some discussion, Councilman Wilson made a motion to have drug testing set up with MedDirect, the Company that Mrs. Gurrely represents. After this was seconded, the council agreed that this would be put into place ASAP.

The Council next voted upon the representative to the Appraisal District Board. Since James Allen Cockrell is the one on this Board now, they decided to leave him on it.
In the Public comment session of the meeting, former Mayor Paul Jackson stated that he thought that the city needed a red light at Brookshires and the New Dollar General. He was informed that the city had been trying to get Txdot to do this for several months now. Txdot, says that there is no need for one there. The Former Mayor stated that the government still had some money and he thought he could get them to put one there and also one at the “Y”. The Council members were elated to hear this and the fact that the former Mayor was willing to try and do this for the city.
The enforcement of violations of the no smoking policy inside Joaquin City Offices was talked about and the Mayor stated that since no one has broken this ordinance since it was put into place that a penalty did not need to be addressed at this time. Councilman Rusty Wilson stated that they could leave like it is and that if need be they can always come back and inforce it.

*****