EDC Board To Remain The Same
City Council Reverses Direction
12/21/2011
VETERAN FCSO DEPUTY JEREMY SHIPLEY (center) has been named the 2011 Deputy of the Year for the Freestone County Sheriff’s Office. Shipley received the award during FCSO festivities held on Friday, December 16th. Officer Shipley has been in law enforcement over 11 years, 9 years with the Freestone County Sheriff’s Office. He lives in Fairfield with his wife Jill and their three children, son Zachary, 9, son Karson, 7, and daughter Addison, 2. Pictured with the Deputy of the Year are Chief Deputy Don Anderson and Sheriff Ralph Billings.
City Council members rescinded a resolution they approved on October 25th to abolish the existing Teague Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors and appoint a new board which would have included up to four city council members by a 3-2 vote while meeting in regular session on Tuesday evening, December 13th at City Hall.
Council member Mark Hargis made the motion to rescind the resolution, which was seconded by Chris Nickleberry. Voting for the motion was Hargis, Nickleberry and Terry Gibson. Voting against the motion were David Huffman and Garland Steed. Hargis said he attended the meeting EDC's November meeting and believed the problem between the city council and EDC board was lack of communication.
Alderman Huffman stated the Oct. 25th resolution was passed because of the lack of projects undertaken by the EDC and "not a lot to show for the past ten years." He added that City Administrator Vince DiMaggio was loaded with expertise in Economic Development and that he could not understand why the council was not using DiMaggio's knowledge. Hargis countered by saying that DiMaggio could work with the EDC without the resolution and that workshops were needed to be held. He noted that the EDC has done a number of things and that city council meeting were not the place for the two boards to meet to try and get things done.
City Administrator DiMaggio reported to the council on the closing of the 2010-2011 budget. DiMaggio said with all departments combined the city had a surplus of $185,000 for the budget year of 2010-2011. He went on to explain that an unforeseen $65,000 will be needed to make up for an overpayment of local sales and use tax buy the State as a local business collected taxes from a customer that, upon being audited, was exempt from the said taxes. DiMaggio further explained that the remaining $104,000 in overage will be decreased by depreciation in asset value by approximately $220,000, leaving a negative overall fund balance of about $116,000. DiMaggio stressed the importance fund balances, which are used in determining a city's eligibility for bond issues, grants, and other sources of outside income.
A motion to give city employees a one-time bonus of $500 was approved by a 3-2 motion with Hargis, Nickleberry and Gibson voting for and Huffman and Steed voting against. Hargis noted that city employees haven't been given a raise in the past three years before making the motion for the one time payment, which totals $17,000 for employees.
Council members tabled hiring an animal control office until the January council meeting. Melissa Harris of Teague expressed her thanks to the city for their efforts in rounding up numerous stray cats in her neighborhood, which had become a nuisance.
Chief of Police Dennis Cox reported he secured two large generators for the city through a program where military surplus is given to law enforcement agencies. The generators have a value of $56,300. Cox added he had also secured a 6-wheel utility truck for the city valued at $74,550 and was working on securing two large roll-up light set worth an additional $36,700 thru the program. Cox added that DWI charges would be filed against a Pasadena, Texas man that ran over the city's fire hydrant last month causing a major water leak.