Morgan Wheatly

The owners of a historic Clarendon home are making progress complying with goals set forth by city officials, according to information presented at last Thursday’s city council meeting.

Linda Lewis updated aldermen on work being done to the old Neece house at 602 S. Bugbee and predicted that much of the debris associated with demolition on the property would be gone this week.

One outbuilding has been razed from the property, and a wooden water tank has also been removed. One balcony on the home was completely removed, and a second was partially removed before an infestation of bees shut work down on that part of the project.

A garage on the north side of the property was originally scheduled for demolition, but Lewis said its masonry walls are solid. The roof has been removed, and the building is secured from entry, but Lewis asked that structure be moved into Phase 2 of the work outlined by the city. That would give her three years to finish out that building and put a roof on it.

The council agreed to Lewis’ request regarding the garage, and asked her to clean up the east and north fence line as part of Phase 1. She will update city officials again at their June 25 meeting.

In other code compliance work, Code Officer Will Jordan recommended a condemnation order on the former Ruby Bromley home at 702 S. Carhart. The back of the house is falling in, and animals and vagrants are gaining access to the structure. Attempts to contact the home’s owner, Carol Holden, have proven unsuccessful.

City Administrator David Dockery recommended the city adopt a comprehensive demolition plan for Clarendon before proceeding further on the Holden property. He and Jordan will contact the City of Wellington which recently adopted such a plan.

In other city business, the council approved a bid from Prater’s Heating & Air to replace the heating and cooling at City Hall, appointed Dr. Matt Halsey as the city’s rabies authority, approved a contract with Greenbelt Water Authority to sell groundwater to the authority for 53¢ per thousand gallons – an increase of 8¢, and elected Alderman Sandy Skelton as the city’s mayor pro-tem.

The City of Clarendon is faced with spending tens of thousands of dollars on West Third Street to prevent future flood damage.

Engineer Clayton Scales presented aldermen with options for dealing with heavy runoff on the street between Bugbee Avenue and Allen Street when the city council met May 28.

That section of Third Street was just recently paved and edged with rollover gutters to allow people to continue to park in the city’s right of way. But heavy rains have been washing fill from behind the new gutters and carrying rocks and other debris which then damage the street surface.

Part of the problem is the tremendous runoff that comes from much of the west side of town, through the public school’s practice field, and then rushes onto and down Third.

City aldermen approved authorizing Scales and KSA Engineers to perform topographic and boundary surveys of the area as well as a drainage study for approximately $16,000. Early estimates from Scales for improvements to just the south side of Third Street ranged from $50,000 to $60,000.

The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department recently received an $11,000 grant for a set of extrication tools through Texas A&M Forest Service’s Rural VFD Assistance Program.

“Our department replaced a set of cutters, jaws, rams and a power unit that was in excess of 30 years old,” Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said.

The tools can cut through car metal, apply over 10,000 pounds of force and allow rescuers to reach trapped occupants.

“The new tools will enable us to increase our ability to perform extrications on newer model vehicles,” Powell said.

Clarendon VFD’s service area is 900 square miles and approximately 3,600 people. The department expects to perform up to 25 extrications a year with their newly acquired rescue equipment.

Over 85 percent of fire departments in Texas are either completely or mostly operated by volunteers. TFS passes approximately $12.8 million along to volunteer fire departments across the state each year, helping them purchase equipment to better protect lives and property.

“This program is an excellent asset to VFDs like ours that may not be able to afford up to date equipment without being put under significant financial strain,” Powell said.