Archives for December 2018

Seventy-five percent of Clarendon’s water meters have been replaced in the last week as the city nears completion of the first stage of a USDA-funded infrastructure project.

City Administrator David Dockery said replacement of residential meters will likely be completed this week. Larger commercial meters will take a bit longer, but installation, training city staff, and testing meters will be completed within 30 days.

The new electronic meters are expected to save the city time and labor and will record more accurate readings of water usage.

“It currently takes five men two and half days to read all the meters,” Dockery said. “These meters will be read by one man in one to three hours.”

The smart water meters will transmit a signal up to about a thousand feet, allowing a city worker to drive down selected streets in town to read all the meters.

“After they have been in for a while, they learn what the normal consumption is for a home or business,” Dockery said. “It will then long an alarm if the usage is abnormally too high or too low and alert the reader when the meter is read.”

The meters also recognize if water usage is stopped or reversed and can store information for more than 30 days.

“It can tell us what day, time, and amount water was used,” Dockery said.

Joshua Garrett of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the installers working in Clarendon for contractor UMS and says he can change out a regular meter on a one-inch line in about five minutes. He likes the electronic meters because of the data they can record and their accuracy.

“These measure down to 100th of a gallon,” Garrett said.

Dockery said the city’s old meters – some of which have been in service for 40 years – can only report water usage per 100 gallons or per 1,000 gallons.

The 900 new meters, which cost $416,000, are expected to pay for themselves through labor savings and increased accountability. They will have a 20-year service life with their lithium batteries, which are fully guaranteed for the first 10 years with a prorated warrantee in the second ten years.

“We selected this particularly brand of meter because it only transmits data when it receives a signal to do so,” Dockery said. “Other brands transmit continuously at certain times, which makes a difference to battery life.”

Dockery also said when the water meter project is completed, he intends to redirect the labor previously spent on reading meters to repairing streets.

Six trees on the Courthouse Lawn will be removed immediately under a long-range plan approved by Donley County Commissioners Monday during their regular session.

Jeremy Hogan with Arbor Solutions presented a plan calling for eventual removal of 21 Siberian Elm trees, which are suffering from disease and insects. The Siberian Elms, which are mostly on the perimeter of the square between the curb and the sidewalk, are also presenting a safety hazard with dead branches falling and treating each tree for disease and bugs would cost about $2,000 per tree over ten years.

“We’re at about 100 years,” County Judge John Howard said. “They are at the end of their lifespan, and we have to weigh the cost of treating them for the next couple of decades versus removing and replacing them.”

Hogan and county officials agreed that 12 trees, including several large American Elms, two Siberian Elms, and three evergreens on the interior of the lawn, should be trimmed, treated, and maintained.

Commissioners also agreed to plant four or five, depending on spacing, Lace Bark Elm trees, 15 to 20 feet in height, in the lawn along the sidewalk the north side of the square from the War Memorial walkway to the jail and three Cleveland Pears along the north side of the jail.

Trees along Third Street will all be removed for the aforementioned reasons. Two of the worst trees will be removed immediately; the others will be replaced by flowering trees in a couple of years after the new trees inside the lawn get established

Hogan favored taking down all the north side trees at once and planting red bud and/or white bud trees in their place along with the Lace Bark Elms and Cleveland Pears. But Commissioner Andy Wheatly thought the public backlash would be too much.

“Put the interior trees in,” Wheatly said, “give them some time, and then take down the north side and save the butt-chewing.”

Two Siberian Elms on the east side of the square will be taking down immediately, and Lace Bark Elms planted on that row will be moved to the interior of the lawn as the county begins to line Sully Street with Cleveland Pears, which will flower in the spring and put off red foliage in the fall and mature to a height of about 30 feet, Hogan said.

Hogan also is calling for the eventual removal of all the trees on the south side of the square along the Courthouse Annex. Those trees, which are growing in islands between parking areas are also diseased and are stunted because they can’t get enough water where they are.
Commissioners discussed turning those tree islands into additional parking spots. Judge Howard pushed back against that idea, favoring some type of more aesthetic approach, such as planters or decorative lamps. For now, those existing trees will be trimmed of deadwood.

The court also favored spreading out the young red oak trees placed too close together on the west side of square and planting some Chinese Pistachio trees in that area as well.

In other county business Monday, commissioners adopted a new schedule of bonds for elected officials; changed county policy to allow deputies to receive overtime after 40 hours instead of 43; set December 27 from 10 a.m. to noon as the Open House for the new Justice of the Peace office in Hedley; approved a budget amendment of $13,515 for some concrete work at that new office; changed the structure of the Courthouse Lighting Committee to be chair by an appointed person for two years instead of being chaired by an elected official; renewed the annual contract with the Texas Association of Counties to host the county website; and discussed the need to find a new chair for the County Historical Commission to replace the late Jean Stavenhagen.

Local merchants continue to encourage people to shop at home this holiday season as they get ready for 2018’s second night of Late Night Shopping Thursday, December 6.

Santa Claus will be downtown from 5 to 6 p.m., and Hayrides will be available from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The wheel spinning will be at 7 p.m.

Hundreds of dollars’ worth of prizes including $400 in Clarendon Cash are up for grabs when three lucky people will get to Spin the Wheel next week. Participating merchants continue giving tickets for a chance to spin the Wheel with purchases of $25 or more and those tickets already given out since November 19 remain in the hopper.

Lucky spinners on Small Business Saturday were Marianne Rattan, Nathan Zongker, and Scarlet Estlack, and they won prizes from Donley County State Bank, Herring Bank, and Signs Plus / Flying ‘A’ Tack respectively.

You must be present to spin and three more lucky spinners will be drawn during each Late Night Shopping on December 6 and 20. On the final Late Night Shopping on December 20, a fourth ticket will be drawn to win all the remaining prizes on the wheel.

Merchants giving out Wheel tickets include Buckin’ Bean, Cornell’s Country Store, Floyd’s Automotive, Every Nook & Cranny, Turquois & Rust, Henson’s, Speed’s Tire Unlimited, Clarendon Outpost, Country Bloomers, Mike’s Pharmacy, JD SteakOut, Signs Plus, and Saye’s / Flying ‘A’ Tack,

Nine local merchants are also participating in the Selfie with an Elfie promotion. Elves have been hidden at Buckin’ Bean, Floyd’s Automotive, Every Nook & Cranny, Turquois & Rust, Henson’s, Clarendon Outpost, Country Bloomers, Mike’s Pharmacy, and Saye’s / Flying ‘A’ Tack. Customers who find the Elf can take their selfie with it and then post it to facebook.com/ClarendonChamber with the hashtag #ClarendonElf to have a chance to win a photo session by Savannah Askew worth $200. The Selfie with the Elfie winner will be named December 20 during Late Night Shopping.

According to small business advocates, every $100 spent in locally-owned stores returns $68 to the local community through taxes, payrolls, and other expenditures. That same money spent in another town or online returns nothing to your local community.

Shop at home this holiday season and remember the important role your local merchants play in keeping your community strong.

US Representative Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) was chosen last week as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) for the 116th Congress. The recommendation of the House Republican Steering Committee was ratified by a unanimous vote of all House Republicans.

Thornberry has served as Chairman of the Committee for the last four years, but with Democrats winning the majority in the House of Representatives, he will serve as the Committee’s Ranking Member beginning in January 2019.

“Congress has a responsibility to see that our troops have the best training, equipment, and support our nation can provide,” Thornberry said. “I look forward to continuing to work with incoming Chairman Adam Smith and with Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe and Ranking Member Jack Reed for our troops and for American national security.”

The City of Howardwick will pay a $1,875 state fine leveled against the man hired to handle code compliance in the city.

Officials say a complaint was filed with the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation alleging that code officer Jerry Mulanax was working without being certified, had improperly posted a violation, and had trespassed on private property.

In a called meeting last Thursday, November 29, the Howardwick City Council discussed the fine and whether the city should pay it on Mulanax’s behalf, but discussion first centered on the complainant, Coy Cooper. Some officials said Cooper is not a resident of the city, while other people in attendance said Cooper has lived in Howardwick for about a year.

In the video recorded meeting, Alderman Debbora Sharpton said she felt like the city should pay the fine because Mulanax was appointed by the council and was acting for them.

“We’re a team,” Sharpton said, “and we should act as a team.”

Alderman Brice Hawley raised the point that Mulanax was indeed not certified.

Alderman Johnny Floyd said Mulanax was working on the city’s authority and said he felt the city should get legal advice.

An initial motion to pay the fine was unanimously voted down so that a second motion could be made stating that the city would consult with its attorney and then pay the fine if it was his advice to do so. That motion carried, 4-1, with Hawley being opposed.

Howardwick City Hall said Tuesday that the city’s attorney felt like the city could successfully fight the fine and win but that attorney fees and travel to Austin would be far more than the $1,875 fine.