Roger Estlack

Voters will go to the polls this Saturday, May 4, to decide elections in Howardwick, Clarendon, and the Clarendon school district.

Howardwick will select a new mayor as four people seek to succeed Mayor Greta Byars, who is not seeking re-election. Those candidates are Alderman Brice Hawley, Tony Clemishire, Coy Cooper, and Jeramy “J.D.” Kindle.

Also on the Howardwick ballot, five people are running for two positions on the city council. Alderman Johnny Floyd is joined on the ballot by Beverly McCaskill, Erica Mills, Tammy Jordan, and Jerry Mullanax.

Four candidates are seeking three positions on the Clarendon CISD Board of Trustees. Incumbents Robin Ellis, Chuck Robertson, and Will Thompson are joined on the ballot by challenger Zack Robinson. The top three candidates will be elected to that board.

Clarendon citizens have no candidates to choose from but are being asked to decide a sales tax question. If voters give their approval, the ballot measure would eliminate the city’s current 0.5 percent sales tax that is dedicated to property tax reduction and replace that with a 0.25 percent sales tax going exclusively to street maintenance and 0.25 percent sales tax going to the city’s general revenue. The city’s overall sales tax rate of 2.0 percent will not change regardless of the election’s outcome. The property tax reduction sales tax revenue, which amounts to about $100,000 per year, currently results in lowering the city’s ad valorem rate by about 20 cents per $100.

Clarendon and public school voters will cast ballots at the Donley County Courthouse Annex, and Howardwick citizens will vote at their City Hall. Polling will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Hedley High School has announced Jayden Lambert and Kasie Hinton as its top students for the Class of 2019.

Both girls will be recognized during commencement activities at Hedley High School at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.

The Valedictorian is Jayden Grace Lambert, who has an average of 95.125 or a GPA of 3.887. She is the daughter of Ronnie and Cindy Lambert. She has played varsity basketball for four years and was awarded All-District honorable mention the last three years, Offensive MVP for two years, and Academic All-District. She has been co-captain of the basketball team for two years.

Lambert advanced to regionals two years in cross country, she advanced to regionals in track for 4 years and has been a regional finalist in the 300-meter hurdles for 2 years. She has been a cheerleader for three years. She advanced to regionals in number sense her Junior year. She is the president of National Honor Society and her Senior class. Lambert will attend Clarendon College in the fall, where she has completed twenty-six dual credit hours.

Kasie Nicole Hinton is this year’s Salutatorian with an average of 94.946 or a GPA of 3.887. She is the daughter of James and Samantha Hinton. She participated in both basketball and FFA for four years. She was involved in cross country, track, cheerleading, and NHS for two years. She competed in UIL for 3 years. She advanced to regionals for two of those years.

Hinton was co-captain of the cheerleading squad her senior year. Her sprint relay team advanced to regionals her Junior year and her 200m relay also advanced to regionals her senior year. She was awarded the Young Woman of the Year Award for 2018. She will have 26 hours of college credit whenever she graduates. Hinton has also been successful in her livestock showing career. After high school, Hinton plans on attending Clarendon College to receive her associate’s degree. Afterwards, she would like to further her education to receive a degree in business.

Mark your calendars for Clarendon’s 14th annual “Trash To Treasures” garage sale event, which will be held Saturday, June 1, this year.

The sign-up period is now open for garage sales in Hedley, Howardwick, and the surrounding area. Residents who wish to participate in this year’s “Trash To Treasures” are asked to come by the Enterprise before 5 p.m. on Friday, May 24, to sign up for the promotion.

For just $25, each household will get a 50-word advertisement in the Big-E Classifieds and the exclusive “Trash To Treasures” garage sale signs. In addition, the Enterprise will print a city map the week of the event indicating the location of each sale and will promote the citywide garage sale in area newspapers and with local radio ads.

“The more people who have garage sales during Trash To Treasures, the better everyone will do,” said Roger Estlack, publisher of The Clarendon Enterprise which sponsors the event. “Sign-up fees are what cover the cost of area advertising, so we can reach more people and have better attendance if we have a larger number of sales.”

For information, call 874-2259 or come by the Enterprise office at 105 S. Kearney.

The Howardwick City Council approved filing a lawsuit against the Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department during its regular meeting April 9.

Aldermen first unanimously approved authorizing City Secretary Sandy Childress and the city’s attorney to complete requests for motor vehicle registration forms in the name of the City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department, then went into executive session for almost 30 minutes with legal counsel before unanimously authorizing the lawsuit.

Childress told the Enterprise that the city’s official fire department – the City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department as defined in Chapter 7 of the code of ordinances – has been replaced by a new entity calling itself the Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department.

According to a statement from City Hall, the Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department is a non-profit corporation created on March 26, 2018, separate and apart from the city, and the city believes fire vehicles were improperly transferred to the new department making them uninsured by the city’s insurance.

“The City has a duty to protect the assets of the City,” the statement said.

A restraining order was obtained the same day the lawsuit was filed, April 17, to prevent the department from using the fire vehicles until it could provide proof of insurance. That proof was provided the next day, which allows the department to use the vehicles and protect the city while the litigation is pending.

Part of the litigation issue, the city says, is that the fire department does not have a service agreement with the city. Fire Chief Will Jordan says an agreement is in place, but the city just doesn’t like it.

“We have a five-year service agreement in place,” Jordan told the Enterprise Tuesday. “We got it approved right before the election,” he said, referring to the November 2017 special election in which Greta Byars was elected mayor.

“I wanted to insulate the department from what I saw coming,” Jordan said.

According to Jordan, the city gave the department permission to incorporate in 1999, but no one ever followed through with it. When they finally did incorporate last year, he says the title work on the vehicles was done to clear up confusion.

“We had titles in all different names – Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department, City of Howardwick VFD, Howardwick VFD,” he said. “There was just all these different names and too many unknowns.”

Jordan says the HVFD was planning to get their own insurance anyway, which he did the day after the lawsuit was filed through the Texas Forest Service for less money than the city was paying.

In other city business, the council did approve an animal ordinance, Ordinance 115, as corrected; and in her Mayor’s Report, Byars said that Red River Water Authority had pulled over 100 water meters of people that were getting free water.

A divided Board of Regents voted down a contract extension for Clarendon College President Robert Riza, and one regent indicated his intent to resign from the board following the president’s evaluation last Thursday, April 18.

The 4-5 vote came after most regents spoke about the president’s performance. Riza deferred his comments until after the vote was taken.

Regent Jack Moreman started the discussion and offered the motion to add one year to the president’s contract, which expires in June 2020 and said he thought the board should entertain a raise also.

“We’d be hard pressed to replace the man we have now,” Moreman said. “I’ve served or worked with all of our presidents since Kenneth Vaughn. He [Riza] and Bill Auvenshine are the best of them.”

Moreman went on to address financial concerns some board members have had, attributing them to former vice president of administrative services Lana Ritchie and said “some of this stuff is old… going back three years.” He also said he had calls in support of Riza.

Regent Edwin Campbell said he had averaged the board’s evaluation figures, which were done on a scale of one to five, five being the best, and said the average in each main category was more than three, which meant expected or good performance. Campbell said Riza’s overall evaluation average was 3.36.

“We’ve got a president that this board evaluated a little bit above average, understanding that there are some things that need improvement,” Campbell said. “We’ve got a good evaluation. It’s not one that I would like to have or give; but looking at the overall board, this is what this board did in evaluating him.”

Regent Darlene Spier focused on the areas of weakest scores – fiscal operations, personnel accountability, and leadership – and wanted to know what Riza’s plan was to improve those areas.

Regent Ruth Robinson, who seconded Moreman’s motion, said she wanted the board to work together.

“We can work together better than we are,” she said.

Regent Bill Sansing praised Riza, saying he’s done more in less time than anyone before him and said he did not want to try to find a replacement after having been through three presidential searches.

“The caliber of person that Dr. Riza is can’t be found on the street corner,” Sansing said. “And I hope all would agree with what Ruth said. We didn’t use to have this lack of harmony. It used to be fun to come to board meetings.”

Chairman Tommy Waldrop said he likes Dr. Riza but that he’s concerned about finances and the college’s reserve funds.

“I’d like to keep Dr. Riza, but I’d like to see growth in our finances,” Waldrop said. “I’d like to just let this thing sit since he has another year left on his contract. Let’s see what happens.”

Regent Susie Shields said she agreed with the previous comments that there were good things and things that could be improved.

Regent Lon Adams made no comments, and Regent Jerry Woodard said he had asked for facts and financial things and never gotten them and asked for things to be placed on the agenda that never were. He said there are good things and said the board could work together.

Waldrop said that he thought the people in the room could work together better.

“I would rather go for a monthly colonoscopy than come to these meetings,” Waldrop said.

The motion then failed with Moreman, Robinson, Shields, and Sansing voting for the extension of the contract. Adams, Woodard, Campbell, Spier, and Waldrop voted against the measure.

Later Riza laid out the accomplishments of his administration and said he would put the successes of CC up against anyone.

He recalled when he hired on he said he would make mistakes and own up to them and that he could have handled some things differently with the board.

“Some have stated that I don’t resolve conflicts well. Actually I’m very good at it,” Riza said. “However, when my character is attacked by members of this board for reasons that are proven incorrect, I don’t apologize for that.”

He said memos of understanding expanding opportunities for high tech dual credit classes and education classes through universities were on his desk but were pending the results of that day’s meeting.

Responding to some evaluations that claimed they had not observed his efforts with the state, Riza reviewed his work with the coordinating board, on state committees in which he’s the only college president member west of I-35, and how he was the only college president asked to testify on Senate Bill 2. He discussed the college’s success numbers, how dual credit numbers had doubled since 2014, how he’d been included on a conference call with the White House, and how state appropriations had gone up $850,000 under his watch.

He closed his comments by addressing concerns about his leadership and noted that the college nearly collapsed under the previous administration due to a loss of enrollment.

Riza then distributed information regarding the current review of the actions of the board by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Commission on Colleges. He said the best case scenario would be a monitoring period and the worse would be a warning or probation. Woodard asked when the board would have a chance to respond, and Riza said the board won’t because SACSCOC communications go through the president’s office. However, he did say that SACSCOC President Belle Wheelan is considering coming to Clarendon herself.

Before the meeting adjourned, Moreman said he had spent 50 years working for the college or serving it.

“If you think I’m not interested in Clarendon College, that should tell you that I definitely am,” he said. “I think I’ll just walk.

You’ll get a letter from me. My life is more important than serving on this board.”