Fairfield residents, business, and property owners continue to voice their concerns over the possibility of the City obtaining a bond, more precisely, a certificate of obligation, to purchase the Navarro Campus as the new City Hall, as well as road re-pavement and several other smaller projects.
Dick White, resident and property owner, addressed Fairfield City Council at the Tuesday, February 12, 2019 meeting regarding his personal concerns.
“I’ve seen no transparency here,” White said. “The speed of this process has me worried. There has been no word of any other options for City Hall; and I don’t believe there has been enough public input taken into account.”
He went on to say that he thinks there should be a task force formed, comprised of about 10 to 12 people to work with the City to determine the City’s needs and to prioritize those needs. Once the needs are determined, an information packet, approved by City Council, should be provided to the community, followed by a town hall meeting.
“Citizens should be involved, engaged, and informed in the entire process before Council places a vote for a bond or certificate of obligation,” he concluded.
Barry Capps, business and property owner, addressed Council for the second time since the beginning of this year expressing his thoughts on the matter.
“I understand y’all are going out for a Certificate of Obligation as opposed to a bond,” he said. “If true, this means that the public has no voice. I like Mr. White’s idea. I believe that the people who are going to pay have a right to vote if they want it!”
Up until 1999, local governments and taxing authorities were required to have voter approval to issue a bond.
In 1999, State Legislature approved a law to allow cities and other taxing authorities to issue “Certificates of Obligation” in place of bonds. They are like bonds in that they bear interest, are issued for up to 20 years, or possibly longer, and are redeemed like bonds. They are obligations secured by property taxes and possibly other sources of revenue for the city such as fees for water and sewer.
As these comments were made during the Visitors and Citizens Forum, Council members were not allowed to respond as they can only take action on items specifically posted on the agenda.
Departmental reports are as follows:
–Mayor Kenny Hughes – Nothing to report
–City Administrator, Nate Smith – He is well on the way of achieving his top three goals for his first 90 days in office; introducing himself to the community, financial management – there will be office training on billing and human resources; and updating the personnel handbook.
–Director Of Public Works, Clyde Woods – The new water meter project is about 90% complete with a total of 1,850 meters having been installed so far; and project should be completed by the end of the week. Oak Street is about two-thirds complete and he believes the repairs are working so far. Corrections on the Mim’s Creek violations are approximately 85% complete. They have 90 more days to finish the project per TCEQ.
–Police Sergeant David Utsey – January was a slow month for ticket writing. Officers patrolling Interstate 45 issued six citations in January.
–Municipal Court Clerk, Donna Bulger – Revenue for citations totaled $4,100 for the month of January. Of that, $1,600 is paid to the State. The remaining goes to the City.
–Fire Chief, Matt Foree – 2018 was a very busy year. So far this year, the department has responded to 70 fire calls. Chief Foree has recently completed leadership classes, including budgeting. The ladder truck is still out for repairs.
–Chamber Executive Director, Brenda Pate – The Chamber banquet was a huge success and had a great turn out. Coming up in April is the annual Easter Eggstravaganza. Chamber is looking into having a fishing and boat show; details to be announced at a later date.
Councilmen voted to approve the City Election to be held in May.
Sergeant David Utsey gave the annual Racial Profiling Report to Council.
“With several new laws in place, it creates a very long and detailed report, breaking everything down. Looks like the females were almost as bad as the males this year,” Sgt. Utsey said with a laugh. “It also shows that we don’t have a racial profiling problem here in Fairfield.”
Removed from the agenda after some discussion was the possible consideration of a Hotel Occupancy Tax Service Agreement between the City and the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce as presented by City Administrator Smith.
As the Chamber also serves as the City’s Visitor’s and Tourism Center, this contract, if approved by City Council and the Chamber’s Board, would give the Chamber a certain percentage of the Hotel/Motel Funding. The monies would be put into its own bank account and the Chamber would be responsible for paying invoices for advertising and promoting the City of Fairfield.
“I think we need to meet with Brenda [Pate] and discuss this further before voting,” said Councilman #3, Keith Daniels.
Councilman #4, Landis Bayless explained that he was not ready to vote on this matter. “I just saw the contract three days ago. We need to look at this really hard and discuss it. I believe the Chamber is doing a great job already! This needs to be a workshop and talked about in depth.”
“I also want to seek legal council on this contract before voting,” stated Councilman #2, Randy Johnson.
The item was removed from the agenda and will be discussed at a later date.
Councilman unanimously voted to approve going out for bids for the two following items:
–A Collection Service for the Municipal Court – It was found that there is approximately $200,000 in unpaid tickets for the City.
–A Sanitation Service for the City – Councilmen explain that they want to see bids to include options for recycling in addition to the normal sanitation pick up.
Following a two-hour executive session, Councilmen unanimously approved the appointment of Sgt. (and Interim Chief) David Utsey as Fairfield Police Department’s new Chief of Police.
“We really appreciate the job you’ve done!” exclaimed Councilman Johnson.
“Thank you for stepping up. Morale over there [in the department] is great!” concluded Councilman Daniels.
