In its regularly scheduled meeting of Oct. 18, 2022, the City of Spur had the unhappy task of reporting a couple of hiccups with municipal services, including the Oct. 31 termination of its contract for trash collection by the provider, and a delay by the new firm handling water bills—but in less than three weeks, both problems were solved.
At a special meeting Monday, Nov. 7, city council reviewed the bid of Lubbock-based Caprock Waste. One other bid had been withdrawn earlier in the day, said Mayor Louise Jones. On hand to answer questions from Caprock were district manager Bobby Fira, Joe Landon, District Controller, and technician Jeff Koch. Their bid of $19,500 annually, for service to approximately 300 total residential and commercial customers, was accepted unanimously following discussion focusing on frequency of pickups, size and condition of containers, and start date for service.
Other business in October.
Also in the Oct. 18 meeting, city secretary Ashley Carothers reported that the new process for billing municipal services (water, gas, sanitation, fire, etc.) had resulted in mailing delays by the thirdparty provider. The city has informed customers via its Facebook page that late charges were waived through October 28. Carothers said that, regarding SOS Waste’s cancellation of its garbage collection service, the city had the option of obtaining some enclosed containers from South Plains Waste for citizens to haul garbage until a new contractor was secured, at a cost of $600 per cotainer. Carothers reported that the extended work on the city’s sewer lift station had been completed. Regarding the library board, council accepted the recommendations of new library board members Leslee Hindman, Mandy Henry, Penny Martin and Tom Martin. A proposed addition to the annual agreement between city and library, to encompass 2 weeks’ paid annual vacation time for the library director was enacted by friendly amendment, as the previous version of the agreement has omitted the intended term “paid.”
The city also acted on a request for expansion of a previously approved RV Park for Jonathan Olivarez west of Cruz & Sons. Olivarez said the owners have already built an additional three spaces, but realized he would need to notify council and approve expansion of zoning variance within commercial property zoning. A motion to approve the request carried.
The city approved purchase of a new pickup truck for city superintendent at a cost of approximately $47,000. Due to its temporary freeze on withdrawing funds from its certificates of deposit, present, the city requested and received council’s approval to finance the purchase on terms of 24 months at 4.5% interest.
Council approved a budget adjustment for Water Distribution Department from $23,000 to $24,374, based on recent price increases.
Bids on in-trust properties approved. Council approved bids on the purchase of in-trust properties, and issuance of tax deeds, as follows: R4657, Kazimir Investment Co., San Antonio, $1,359; R5259, Block 1 1-4 Freeman Heights, Matthew and Christy Garcia, $1,000; R5284, vacant lot, Freeman Addition, Kazimir Investment Co., $529; R5338, vacant lot, Freeman Addition, corner of Hwy. 261 and S. 3rd St., Christina Robles, Brownsville, $1,450; R5366, Gabriel Addition, Kazimir Investment Group.
October reports. Reports were submitted by city departments, including police (see sidebar).
Public works reported ongoing trouble with the sewer lift station on E. Harris St., overheating and pumping slowly. Consultants said that pumps installed were too small; council approved recommended replacement of two pumps using ARPA funds “as soon as a good price is identified.” For weed control at sewer plant, city works director Chris Cornett asked council to consider fencing in the site and keeping goats for vegetation control. Tesident Matthew Olivarez offered loan of animals for the purpose. The cost of fencing was estimated at $2,630. The codes compliance department reported handling animal complaints; monitoring RV parks; continuing work on drafting an RV Park ordinances; advising inquirers on tiny home ordinances; sending out multiple ordinance letters; talking with citizens regarding dilapidated structures; and publishing notices of substandard structures. Demolition on substandard structures was to begin right away, with Dickens County handling removal of debris.
For municipal court, Carothers reported that Judge Duggan would back in the office Nov. 18. No letters had been sent out or fees collected for the previous period.
For the city, Carothers said that she and clerk Linda Alexander had undergone training on new billing system, as well as training regarding lead and copper in pipes from TCEQ; she had been working on archiving the city’s Facebook page Carothers noted city hall’s upcoming holiday closure of Nov. 11 for Veterans Day. Council acted on the slate of paid holiday closures for City Hall, to be in sync with Dickens County. Added to the schedule will be MLK Birthday, Mon, Jan, 17; Presidents Day, Mon, Feb. 21; and Columbus Day, Mon. Oct. 10. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Hotel/Motel Tax Ordinance workshop. Council held a workshop Oct. 3 to establish a revised ordinance on the collection and use of state hotel/motel occupancy taxes. The original ordinance was #620; the revised rordinance, #719, will incorporate language suggested by the city attorney, will add short-term rentals to those properties that are subject to HOT tax and clarify distinctions between long-term rentals vs. short-term rentals.
Currently, the city’s ordinance allows for collection of a 7% tax on the occupancy of hotel rooms within the city, to be paid by the lodger. The city also adopt for extraterriotiral jurisdiction ½ mile of city limits. Hoteliers/hosts pay their HOT tax directly to the city of Spur. Delinquent accounts are subject to 10% per annum interest. Changes will take effect after council reads and passes the ordinance at a future meeting.
In its special meeting of Monday, Nov. 7, council members Glenda White moved and Rhea Melton seconded acceptance of Caprok Waste’s bid for garbage collection services. The motion carried unanimously.
Several personnel matters were also handled. Council terminated technician Hayden Palmer’s employment. Council terminated Clinton Stinson’s employment as codes enforcement officer within his probationary period. Council approved rehiring retired codes enforcement officer John Schmidt on temporary basis, two to three days a week, until a new officer hired and trained.
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