Archives for September 2019

The City of Clarendon will break ground its water recreation facility next week after aldermen approved cost saving measures last Thursday.

Mayor Sandy Skelton said the groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled for Tuesday, September 17, at 2 p.m. at Fourth and Kearney streets, the site of the new Clarendon Aquatics Center.

“All the numerous donors and others are encouraged to attend,” Skelton said. “A&S General Contractors will begin moving equipment to the site prior to the groundbreaking and construction will start soon after the 17th.”

The city council met September 5 with Lloyd Finley of A&S General Contractors of Amarillo and Craig Kooda of subcontractor Gold Medal Pools of Frisco. After consulting with pool designer Dave Schwartz, the council accepted value engineering recommendations that lowered the cost of the facility by more than $320,000.

The pool project was also boosted last week by the donation of $25,000 from Jerry and Margaret Hodge in the name of the High Card Ranch.

“We cut $321,000 and did not affect the size or features of the project,” Skelton said.
Significant savings, more than $122,000, came from an apparent over estimation on the cost of outdoor overhead lighting at the facility.

Another large savings was the acceptance of switching the construction method of the pool walls from poured-in-place concrete to a shot concrete method known as gunite.

City officials had been wary of gunite construction, by Skelton said Gold Medal has an extensive portfolio of gunite pools they have done.

Mayor Skelton also said that the pool designer agreed to the gunite method after Finley and Kooda agreed to eight specific construction method requirements proposed by Schwartz.
Skelton said the estimated date of completion for the project, depending on weather, is June 15, 2020.

The Texas Panhandle’s oldest Catholic Church is scheduled to be demolished next Monday, September 9, more than two years after it was damaged in an automobile accident.

St. Mary’s Catholic Church parish member Chriss Clifford told the Enterprise Tuesday that Jordan Green has been hired to do the work after the church spent much time trying to figure out the best way to move forward.

On Sunday, April 23, 2017, just a few months after St. Mary’s celebrated the opening of its new Parish Hall, the unfortunate accident occurred during the church’s annual fundraiser barbecue. After the collision, Clifford said church members entered the building to find that pews had been thrown about by the impact.

“We knew something bad was wrong,” Clifford said.

As insurance adjusters and an engineer began to look at the situation, the church moved its weekly mass to the new Parish Hall; and within 30 days the stained glass windows – created by parishioners themselves just ten years earlier – were removed from the building.

“We were afraid they were would break from the strain on the walls,” Clifford said.
The church learned the collision had broken the floor plate as well as several floor joists and that stress was being put on the roof of the 1892 building that was built by Irish immigrants working for the railroad.

Understanding the historical significance of the building, preservation architect and Preservation Texas board member Chuck Lynch was brought in to help determine whether the church could be saved.

“No one wanted to save it more than him,” Clifford said.

Clifford said a storm in the early 1900s took the church’s gothic roof and bell tower. Afterwards, as the roof was lowered, the gothic buttresses were removed.

“It lost a lot of historical value when those things happened,” she said.

The parish eventually decided to tear down the old building and make plans for something bigger that would fit its growing congregation, and Clifford said the parish members are generally in agreement about what’s happening.

“Everybody knows it has been severely remodeled. We have a historical site, not a historical building.”

Care is being taken, however, to reclaim as many historical elements from the church as possible.
Bead board found behind the drywall in the church has been reclaimed for use in a new building, and will be featured prominently behind the historic high altar that was restored several years ago by A Fine Feathered Nest.

The bead board will also be fitted into niches in the new church building.

Some of the original flooring has been salvaged and will be put behind the altar rail so that the priest will be standing on the original church floor. And of course the stained glass windows will be re-used.

Clifford said the new church design will mimic the original church design, bringing back the gothic roof, the buttresses, and the bell tower. The new steel and wood building will have siding that looks much like the original shiplap, but the new siding will be made of concrete.

The new church will also be slightly bigger – seating 120 instead of the old church’s capacity of 60 – and will be connected by a breezeway to the new Parish Hall.

Constructing a new church will also help meet accessibility requirements that never could have been accommodated in the space of the old church, Clifford said.

Farmers, chefs and foodies are all invited to an “Alternative Crop Tour” near Clarendon that will allow participants to “see how your food is grown” on Sept. 24 by the Potter County Extension Service.

This free crop tour won’t feature traditional crops such as sorghum, wheat and cotton, said Megan Eikner, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Potter County.

“We are going to be talking about marigolds for seed production, watermelons, cantaloupes, food corn, squash and more,” Eikner said. “We’ve had a growing interest expressed in alternative crop production, as well as detailed understanding for the general public about the safety of the food we eat.”

The program will be located five miles north of Clarendon. Participants can meet at the field, located at the old Hitchin’ Post north of Clarendon on Texas Highway 70, at 9 a.m., or in Amarillo at the Flying J Travel Center at 8 a.m. to caravan to the farm.

Rides will be available with an RSVP by Sept. 16. Lunch will also be provided with an RSVP to the AgriLife Extension office for Potter County at 806-373-0713.

“On the tour, participants will get a chance to ask producers about chemicals they use and get the truth behind applications affecting your food sources,” Eikner said. “We’ll also cover the Food Modernization Act that protects public health.”

For more information see the AgriLife Extension, Potter County Facebook page.

The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce will hold its next Business After Hours and its third Totally Locally $500 drawing at Saye’s Tack Store next Thursday, September 12.

The come-and-go event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and will provide Chamber members and prospective members an opportunity to learn more about what’s happening in the local business community. Refreshments will be served.

In addition to learning more about Saye’s, one of the highlights of the September After Hours will be the Chamber’s third Totally Locally drawing. Shoppers can sign up for the drawing at eleven local stores, and one will win $500 in Clarendon Cash at the After Hours.

Donley County Com-missioners will consider adopting a $2.79 million budget for fiscal year 2020 during their regular meeting next Monday, September 9.

A public budget hearing held before the vote will start at 9 a.m.

County Judge John Howard said the proposed budget is unusual because of one particular line item.

“The salient feature of this year’s budget is that we need money for a capital murder trial,” Howard said.
The trial would be that of Jarvis Fierro, who stands accused of murdering James Fierro and Candice Garrett earlier this year.

Howard said recent capital murder trial costs in other counties have ranged from $123,000 to $941,000, and he says Donley County’s proposed budget is about $81,000 for that expense.
Some state funds may be available to assist the county with the burden of paying for the trial.

“We can ask the governor for permission to apply for a grant as funds are available, called a County Essentials Grant,” Howard said.

In addition to the prosecutor’s costs in the trial, the county is also obligated to pay for the defense of the accused. The county already pays into a regional public defender fund out of Lubbock, which costs about $2,000 per year and is providing for two defense attorneys from Wichita Falls. That only pays for the lawyers and not expert witnesses or other costs.

An indigent defense grant might also provide relief for those defense costs, Howard said, but the county must first spend the money before it can apply for assistance.

Outside of the capital murder trial, the judge said regular indigent defense expenses are rising. The county has already exceeded its $40,000 indigent defense budget for the current year by about $14,000. Commissioners have increased that budget line to $60,000 in the new year.

The 2020 budget will be supported by a total tax rate of $0.65970 per $100 valuation, which is about four cents lower than the current tax rate. Howard said the rate is lower than both the rollback rate or the effective rate and therefore does not require holding public hearings on that.

County employees will receive a $50 per month cost of living raise, and Howard notes that the county has been able to lift county salaries for full time positions by about $4,900 over the last six years.

Health insurance premiums for full time employees are going up about $45 per month, and the county will cover that cost.

The county will receive its third of ten annual payments from the wind farm in the next fiscal year, an amount of $200,000. Unlike the previous two years when the county put half of that money into reserves, all of the payment will go to help cover expenses in fiscal 2020. Howard hopes when the trial is completed, the county can resume putting money into savings in 2021.

The county budget also includes the fourth year of a five-year grant for the sheriff’s department’s highway safety officer. The county will pay 60 percent of the expense for that officer in 2020.

Howard said overall he believes the county in this new budget is doing well to live within its means while meeting the needs of the people and its employees.