This Week

The Clarendon City Council reversed course on a proposed County Assistance District during their regular meeting January 11, voting to rescind its December action on the subject.
Donley County officials have proposed creating four sales tax-funded County Assistance Districts to help fund the sheriff’s department. The plan would ask voters to approve creating one district in each of the cities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick and one in the unincorporated areas of the county.

The city approved a resolution to put the matter before the voters during a December 21 meeting. Two of the five council members were absent from that meeting, and one of the members who voted for the resolution asked that it be reconsidered at the January meeting. All five aldermen were present last week.

Clarendon currently has a two-cent sales tax, the maximum allowed for a Texas city. The county has asked the city to rescind or give up five-eighths of a cent (0.625 cents), which would then be re-directed to a County Assistance District covering Clarendon.

The new district, according to statements made by county officials at the December meeting, would be governed by two city representatives, two county commissioners, and the county judge.

County officials also previously said the district would be capped to only take $165,000 per year and anything above that would be returned to the city.

Discussion at last week’s city meeting centered on doubt about how the proposed district would be governed, how the revenue cap would work, the limitations that would be put on future city councils by the creation of the district and loss of the sales tax revenue, and the benefits of the city continuing to fund the sheriff’s department by contract as it has since 1981.

Two citizens spoke about the proposed district. Roger Estlack said revenue generated by sales taxes in the city limits ought to continue to be governed by the city council as the elected representatives of the citizens of Clarendon, and he encouraged the council to continue to work with the sheriff to fund law enforcement by multi-year contracts.

Former city administrator David Dockery asked the council to consider the limitations that would be placed on his successor, Brian Barboza, and the council going forward by giving up a portion of the sales tax.

Several council members said they did not feel like they had had time to consider all the aspects of the county assistance district at the December meeting, and members also noted that this was the first time they had considered the downsides to giving up a portion of the city’s sales tax to another body.

Mayor Jacob Fangman also addressed the need to keep the city’s options open in the future. He said right now it doesn’t make sense for the city to have its own police department, but he said circumstances may be different at some future date.

Mayor Fangman also discussed pursuing a multi-year contract for law enforcement but wants to consider ending the county’s support of the city-owned Burton Memorial Library and subtracting that amount from the law enforcement contract. The county, he said, could redirect those funds to the sheriff.

The council then unanimously approved a motion to rescind its December action on the proposed district in its entirety.

Clarendon’s sales tax revenue rose slightly for January when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributes $1.1 billion in monthly sales tax revenue to local governments.
The city brought in $38,454.40, up 2.15 percent from January 2023.

Hedley’s January allocation dropped 3.31 percent to $797.23, and Hedley’s revenue fell 32.08 percent down to $1,268.81.

These allocations are based on sales made in November by businesses that report tax monthly.

The Clarendon CISD Board of Trustees will meet in called session this Thursday, January 18, at 7 p.m. to discuss facilities improvements.

Superintendent Jared Bellar says the board will hear from a speaker on possible new facilities and facility upgrades and from another speaker regarding the possibility of passing a bond to pay for the improvements.

Bellar said the school is looking at security improvements and possibly a new field house and new agriculture building.

Citizens can start signing up next Wednesday, January 17, 2024, for positions at seven local governments that are scheduled to hold elections this spring.

The cities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick; the Clarendon and Hedley school districts; the Clarendon College District; and the Donley County Hospital District all have a total of 21 positions available this year.

In Clarendon, the two-year terms of Aldermen John Lockhart, Larry Jeffers, and Tommy Hill are up this year.

Hedley has two aldermen’s seats and the mayor’s position up this year. Those are two-year terms and are currently held by Mayor Trisha Chambless and Aldermen Aaron Hanes and Clayton Beagle.

In Howardwick the terms of Aldermen Mary Grady, Terry Barnes, and Del Essary are expiring. Those are all two-year terms.

Clarendon ISD Trustees serve three years, and the terms of Wayne Hardin and Wes Hatley are expiring.

Hedley ISD has two three-year terms up this year. Those seats are held by Carole Ward and Dana Bell.

The Clarendon College Board of Regents’ terms are six years, and three full terms are up this year as well as one partial term. The full terms are held by Tommy Waldrop, Janice Knorpp, and Lon Adams. A partial term expiring in 2028 is also up this year and is currently held by Brittney Word.

The Donley County Hospital District Board of Directors has four two-year terms up this year. Those are currently held by Jan Farris – Place 4, Nikki Adams – Place 5, Mark C. White – Place 6, and Lori Howard – Place 7.

All local boards are elected at-large, but hospital board candidates must file for a specific place on the board. Candidate applications are available from the administrative offices of each entity.

Filing continues through Friday, February 16.

A new program by the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation is designed to encourage mural art in the community.

The CEDC board approved guidelines for the Mural Grant Program at its December meeting and posted the guidelines on its website this week.

The purpose of the program is to enhance Clarendon’s appearance, increase employment opportunities in the arts, raise awareness and appreciation of the value of art, create civic pride, reduce blight, and encourage tourism.

Grant recipients can be eligible to receive reimbursement for up to one-half of the mural project cost based on funds available each fiscal year.

The program rules were modeled on a similar program in Amarillo and stipulate that proposed locations for grant-funded murals must be high-traffic areas that are readily visible and must be in the Central Business District or along the US 287 corridor.

Grant recipients must agree to maintain murals for five years, and murals must be a minimum size of 10 feet by seven feet.

For fiscal year 2024, funded grant projects must be completed by August 15, 2024.

Mural grant applications are available online at ClarendonTX.com/CEDC or from the Clarendon Visitor Center.