Mayor’s comments dominate H’wick meeting

The Howardwick City Council held is first full business meeting with its new membership last Tuesday May 15 with Mayor Greta Byars’ comments taking up a large portion of the evening.

Aldermen approved minutes and city bills, before the mayor’s comments came up on the agenda.

Byars warned residents to watch out for rattlesnakes in the community and updated those in attendance about restitution being paid to the city by its former fire chief for “absconding” with city equipment.

The mayor also focused her attention on the chain of command in the city in terms of emergencies, noting that she herself is number one person to be contact. The comments stemmed, she said, from an incident about 9 p.m. last Friday when scanner traffic reportedly claimed the mayor had called for Howardwick to be evacuated while wildfires were being battled south of Goodnight and Ashtola.

Byars said she had never given any such order and promised to prosecute whoever had perpetrated the fraudulent report. Alderman Brice Hawley said he would like to get the scanner recordings from the dispatcher and hear the matter for himself.

Byars then turned her attention to the Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department and an October 16, 2017, agreement with the department approved by the city council. The document outlines the city’s responsibilities to provide insurance, funding, utilities, and other things to the HVFD. It also outlines the department’s duties, but prohibits the city from exercising any control over the department or its membership.

“How many of you know that we have no control over the fire department?” Byars asked.
Alderman Doc Holladay said the agreement gives the fire department a “blank check” to do whatever it wants, Alderman Hawley emphasized that the firemen are volunteers, and Alderman Johnny Floyd said the city should look the agreement and talk to other communities of similar size.

The mayor also said the department’s members are not trained and not qualified to fight house fires. Alderman Hawley objected to that comment, saying that he himself was trained, and later in citizen comments, Coy Cooper said the HVFD has six members trained to fight house fires.

Byars also raised concerns about confusion over water conservation in which someone unrelated to the city had asked people to stop watering their yards, “pretending” to represent the city. Holladay said the water problem was due to a tripped breaker that resulted in Red River Water Authority’s tanks not filling.

Heidi Phelps later said in citizen comments that Fire Chief Will Jordan had told her that Red River’s Walt Rice had told him that the water tanks were almost empty and asked Jordan not fill up the fire trucks until the tanks recovered.

“He said he wished there were a way to get people to stop watering their yards long enough to fill up tanks,” Phelps said. “So Steve and I went around and did that.”

Citizens and city officials put forth ideas on how to better communicate important city information, such has having an electronic message board at City Hall.

Citizens’ public comments also included questions about whether the city can install its own water wells, the planning and zoning commission, and appreciating area firefighters. Coy Cooper also raised questions about Alderman Holladay’s son working for the city, the need for the mayor to read the employee job descriptions outlined in Ordinance 109, and accessibility issues with City Hall under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

In actual city business listed on the agenda, aldermen approved the audit for fiscal year 2017, accepted bids on tax delinquent properties as presented by the Donley Appraisal District, selected Gordon Maddox as the city’s new auditor, and discussed auditing the city books from the beginning of the current fiscal year October 1, 2017, through March.

The council voted in favor of setting City Hall’s office hours as Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with June through August hours being 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A motion to purchase new Quickbooks software was approved, discussions were held about improvements to the community building with motions being approved for work not to exceed $500 and to let Sandra Childress do the work.