News

The Clarendon City Council continues to narrow its search for the next city administrator following interviews conducted last Thursday, January 26.

Meeting at Clarendon College’s Bairfield Activity Center, the council conducted virtual interviews with Brian Barboza – City Administrator at Knox City; Fred Ventresco – Town Administrator at Pine Tops, North Carolina; and Vance Lipsey – former Town Manager at Lake City, Colorado. The council also met in person with Terry Schilz – a District Manager for Southern Methodist University, who lives in Azle, Texas.

The council met again in called session Monday night and agreed to bring Barboza and Lipsey to Clarendon for in-person interviews at City Hall this Thursday, February 2, starting at 1 p.m.

Aldermen also agreed Monday night to hold a second virtual interview with Ventresco. That interview is scheduled to be held February 9 at the Bairfield Activity Center.

Dockery announced last spring his desire to retire as city administrator this April.

A Fort Worth man lost his life Friday night in a one-vehicle accident near Ashtola.

The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that John Albright, age 39, was driving a 1996 Buick Park Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. westbound on US-287 when the vehicle veered off the roadway and entered the north ditch.

The Buick traveled through the ditch and continued north. It struck the railroad tracks, vaulted over them, and landed on the north side of the tracks, where it caught fire. Albright was pronounced dead at the scene by Donley County Justice of the Peace Pat White.

The crash remains under investigation.

Two weeks into the filing period, few citizens have stepped forward to serve on the boards of six local governments that are scheduled to hold elections this spring.

The cities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick; the Clarendon and Hedley school districts; and the Donley County Hospital District have 17 positions available this year.

Howardwick led the candidate count as all three incumbents have filed for reelection – Mayor Tony Clemishire and Aldermen Johnny Floyd and Jada Murray.

Clarendon Alderman Eulaine McIntosh has also filed for reelection. The city has the mayor’s seat and two aldermen’s positions up.

At Clarendon ISD, Chrisi Tucek has filed for reelection to the Board of Trustees. Tucek’s and one other trustee positions are available.

Rose Lemley has filed to run again for her Place 1 position on the Donley County Hospital District Board of Directors. Place 2 and Place 3 are also up for election.

No candidates have formally filed to run at the City of Hedley, where three seats are up on the Board of Aldermen.

Hedley ISD has two full three-year terms and one unexpired term up this year, but the school had no official candidates at press time.

Filing began January 18 and continues through Friday, February 17. Elections will be May 6, 2023.

The investigation of possible misappropriation of funds continues this week at the City of Hedley.

Mayor Carrie Butler told the Enterprise Tuesday that she is very concerned about the city.

“So much is missing, and so much was spent,” Butler said.

The mayor said she is planning to meet with an attorney to represent the city as the investigation continues. She also said the city knows of about $50,000 missing so far.

The public was first informed of the investigation at a January 19 meeting of the Hedley City Council at which aldermen accepted the resignation of former city secretary Kim Davis Grossman.

About 200 signatures have been obtained on petition to protest a 40 percent water rate increase from Red River Water Authority, which went into effect February 1.

Howardwick City Secretary Sandy Childress said she is still working to gather more signatures to block the rate increase.

Red River Water Authority serves the City of Howardwick and several rural residents and communities. More than 400 signatures of Red River customers are needed to protest the rate.

Childress encourages any Red River customer to sign the petition soon because of a looming deadline to block the increase. Red River customers interested in signing Howardwick’s petition are asked to call Childress at City Hall at 806-874-2222.

Law enforcement officials this week continue to investigate allegations of misappropriations of funds at the City of Hedley involving former city secretary Kim Davis Gossman.

The Hedley City Council met in closed session for about ten minutes last Thursday, January 19, during their regular meeting before accepting Gossman’s resignation and announcing that an investigation was underway. The council then voted unanimously not to press charges against Gossman, but Mayor Carrie Butler said following the meeting that the council’s vote would have no impact on whether law enforcement might file charges.

As the investigation moved forward, Butler contacted the Enterprise Monday morning and said the city will in fact be pressing charges and also confirmed that the investigation was also focusing not just on Gossman’s role at City Hall but also at the Hedley Community Development Corporation, the local housing authority.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn could not comment on the case Monday other than to confirm that an investigation is underway and that he expects formal charges to be filed soon. He also confirmed Tuesday that his office is seeking the assistance of the Texas Rangers in investigating the case.

Following the council’s meeting last Thursday night, Butler told the Enterprise at that time that the investigation was focused on payroll funds and contract labor funds and said that vacation pay was specifically being looked at.

According to Butler, the city’s auditor, Foster & Lambert, had discovered “discrepancies” in Gossman’s salary while conducting the city’s fiscal year 2022 audit, covering July 2021 through June 2022. Auditor Denise Foster notified the mayor of the discrepancies on Monday, January 9.

The council met in an emergency session on January 10; and according to the uncertified minutes of that meeting presented on January 19, no action was taken in open session. The council did meet in closed session for about 40 minutes to consult with counsel on legal matters, the minutes say.

Butler told the Enterprise last Thursday night that Gossman had returned money to the city and, at the time the council voted not to press charges, she said no money was missing from the city. Butler also said at that time that she herself was conducting an internal audit of the city.

At press time Tuesday, the Enterprise had not been able to connect with officials over the Hedley Community Development Corporation for comment or to confirm if Gossman was still employed by that agency.

The revelations about the investigations came at the end of Hedley’s city meeting which began with three citizens speaking on several issues early in the agenda. Residents Nikki Glover, Carol Glover, and Christan Coyle spoke on a wide range of issues involving water bills, water meter reading, water rates, street maintenance, and other issues. Several residents spoke negatively of Gossman, who was not present at the meeting. When the council initially voted not to press charges, the standing room only crowd erupted with cries of protest and anger from several residents.

Also in Thursday’s meeting, the council approved removing Gossman as a signatory on city accounts and named Butler and Mayor Pro-Tem Trisha Chambless as the two signatures needed for the first and second quarters of this year. Two other council members will be named signatories for the third and fourth quarters.

On Thursday, January 19, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), along with the Amarillo Police Department (APD) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), conducted a joint operation to combat human trafficking by identifying and apprehending suspects who were soliciting prostitution.

The DPS reports that as a result of the collaborative effort, the following individuals were arrested, transported to the Randall County Jail, and charged with solicitation of prostitution: Mohamed Sharaf, 31, of Amarillo Travis Brollier, 37, of Clarendon; Steven Shaw, 38, of Borger; Tilar Holloway, 26, of Pittsburg; and Dusty Smith, 37, of Amarillo.

Solicitation of prostitution, a state jail felony, involves an individual offering or agreeing to pay a fee to another person to engage in sexual conduct.