Aldermen table discussion on streets

By Roger Estlack & Ashlyn Tubbs, Clarendon Enterprise

Clarendon city officials tabled a resolution on a proposed street project last Tuesday after hearing from another engineering firm.

The Board of Aldermen had previously been considering a program from Oller Engineering of Lubbock and a possible $10,000 plan to seal coat a few streets this year.

But Tuesday night the city’s current engineer, Che Shadle of OJD Engineering, addressed the board and said the city already has a seal coat program in place and that it could partner with the college to get bids this year.

Some aldermen were disgruntled about the city’s previous paving projects with Alderman Ann Huey calling one project “a disaster.”

Alderman Kyle Davis also expressed reservations about the scope of the project outlined for this year.

“Ten thousand dollars isn’t going to cover all the streets that need repairs for the seal coat project,” Davis said. “I think we should wait until next year when we have more money to cover more streets.”

No action was taken on the seal coat project. Aldermen will discuss the matter further at the next city meeting.

In other city business, the board heard a presentation from Tylan Shelton from RD, Inc., on wind energy. He asked the city to pay half the cost of a $2,000 study for a possible 10 megawatt wind farm. The board took no action on this request.

City Administrator John Webb updated the board on job openings the city has. He was looking to fill one vacancy and said he would like to hire one more person since summer is approaching.

The board set the dates for aldermen and city employees to paint the interior of City Hall on the weekends of March 28 and April 4.

Changing stated city meetings to a monthly schedule was tabled for the time being.

During the board’s comments section of the agenda, Alderman Davis said he was receiving several complaints about the water rate increase. Webb said he had received only a couple of complaints. The administrator also said that 56 percent of accounts did not change and that other accounts are now paying for what they use.