The Howardwick City Council took no action on a petition demanding the removal of Mayor Greta Byars last Tuesday, August 14, after it was presented at the end of a meeting marked by cooperation and respect.
Howardwick citizen Steve Phelps presented the petition bearing 111 signatures but also complimented Byars on how that night’s meeting had been conducted.
“This is the first meeting I’ve seen running orderly,” Phelps said. “You can act nice.”
Phelps said the city had been through “nine months of hell” since the mayor took office, marked not by confidence in her office but by malfeasance, misconduct, and abuse of power. He also implored citizens to get past hurt feelings and get back to being friends again.
“Let’s try to live our lives like tomorrow is our last day,” Phelps said. “Let’s be more Christ like.”
Phelps said the mayor and council were there to lead and that everyone needed to “quit bitching.”
Alderman Johnny Hubbard agreed with Phelps, noting that previous meetings had been “fairly bad” but that Tuesday’s meeting was much better.
“If we can do like we’ve done tonight, we can be the council the city wants,” he said.
Alderman Johnny Floyd also agreed and asked the citizens to continue to give the current council a chance to fix things and to work with the mayor.
City officials said after the meeting that the aldermen do not have power to remove the mayor but that the petition expressed citizens’ frustrations.
Mayor Byars opened Tuesday’s meeting with a Bible devotional and said she felt the city has a group of strong and influential leaders, and she outlined her vision for the city. She said she wants to base decisions on health, safety, and welfare; wants to clean up the city; and wants to see improvements for camping areas, park equipment, and walking trails.
During the night’s agenda, the board opened bids to sell a city tractor, approved buying a radio scanner for City Hall, authorized the administration to pay regular utility bills without council approval, and approved paying for investment training for the city secretary.
The council discussed mowing in the city including the possibility of privatizing the city’s mowing and Hubbard suggested possibly changing the maximum height of grass from 12 inches down to six or eight inches.
Council Rules and Procedures were adopted, and the aldermen voted to limit the mayor to two $100 purchases per month.
Jerry Mulanax was appointed as the city’s code enforcement officer, and the council banned smoking in city buildings and while working on certain city equipment. The board also voted that the city’s emergency management committee should follow the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The council also considered work needing to be done to City Hall and authorized some of that work while waiting on more bids for electrical improvements.
No action was taken on several agenda items, including discussion about a city website and a possible online chat room for aldermen only.
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