Mayor S Minutes June

MAYOR’S MINUTES – JUNE

Our meeting on Tuesday had Steve out with Ann and Jay on her honeymoon. Please continue prayers to Steve and his family and congrats to Jay and Sammy Gerik on their wedding!

We did accomplish a few things at our meeting. Most of the items on the agenda consisted of taking no action from the council. We had an update from our city engineer, Jed Walker on the park, street and utility infrastructure projects. FEMA approved our Project Worksheets for the utilities and streets but we have requested “improved projects” and this has to be reviewed and approved by the State of Texas and FEMA. That is currently in the pipeline. Also, we are still waiting to hear back from FEMA regarding using the “Sandy” provision under the FEMA reimbursement for the park.

The new “Sandy” provision was enacted after New Jersey’s Hurricane, Sandy. This provision allows all money to be allocated up front and you have more flexibility on the various items in the work project. This means we can use more money than allowed for something like the rebuilding of the rest rooms and less on the playground (which is being funded by Parkers Park Project). FEMA does not get in a hurry about anything and although everyone we talk to says we are way ahead of other disasters, it just seems like the process takes forever! Your mayor has no patience and I think everyone from the White House knows that by now!

Good news to all of our citizens that have been waiting for on-line bill pay. Brian Muska has secured a 3rd party contract with a company that will provide water bill and court fines to be paid online by credit card or e-check. This will include late notices and urgent items like boil notices to be sent directly to our customers email address. Look for this in the coming month or so. Thank you Brian for getting this convenient feature going for our citizens!

The council did take action on our mobile home ordinance and they have extended use for another 6 months for anyone that is currently occupying these due to the explosion and lack of housing. The trailers used by the workers building the new nursing home will be grandfather in and can stay in their trailers until the job is complete.

We reviewed a number of building ordinance’s including sprinklers. With the number of new homes getting more irrigation the city may require all homes to install what they call a RPZ which will not allow water to back up in the public system. This will not affect any current homes at this time. We reviewed our pool ordinance and currently ours does not require a fence and that needs to be addressed. Another ordinance we addressed was having propane tanks inside the city. I feel that these are a hazard and should not be allowed except for certain businesses. Al Vanek discussed our planning and zoning ordinance and building ordinance and suggested that both need to be updated before we start using Bureau Veritas which is a private inspection firm. Bureau Veritas will be in charge of inspecting all construction in West, both residential and commercial.

Tom Marek from West Ambulance gave the council a history on the financial partnership between the city and the ambulance association. We currently pay $11,000 towards Tom’s salary and also pay for the ambulances diesel. This will be reviewed at budget time and again, no action needed to be taken. We tabled the appointment of a new Fire Marshall for the city as George Nors resigned from this position. It’s our goal to get a certified fireman for this part-time position and one that can also be part of the fire department.

We reviewed a bid for repair of the restrooms and the floors at the Community Center and I will insist if possible to put funds in this year’s budget for this long overdue project. The restrooms need to be handicap accessible and the floor is atrocious.

We discussed annexation of property East of Playdium Dr. and the Zoning board proposed this land to be zoned commercial.

It is my pleasure to announce some very prestigious awards being given to some City of West employees. The Texas Law Enforcement Officers Association will be presenting awards to Lt. Irving and Officer Pope. Lt. Irving and Officer Pope are receiving awards next week for their heroism though their actions on the evening of April 17, 2013. Congratulations to these fine man and thank you for a job well done!

With school out now, please be aware of children playing outside. Please slow down and have a great summer!

Mayor Muska