City Council meets in regular session

The Cameron City Council met in regular session on Monday August 21 with four members of the Council present. Councilman L. Corey Sloan was absent from the session. 

City Manager Mark Gaugh offered updates during his Manager’s report including information on the animal shelter. Nada Woodworth has volunteered to be part of the committee to work on the animal shelter plan and Gaugh said there may be others interested. The first meeting should be in the next week or so.
Gaugh also told the Council about the Cameron Historical Video which is now on display near the front counter of City Hall. It is a short video depicting life in Cameron in years past.
Gaugh’s final portion of his update was to inform the Council about the upcoming judging for this year’s Community Betterment Award to take place in September. Jack Briggs has once again taken on the MCB program and five projects have been submitted including: the tree planting project, the fine arts program, Homeruns for Rose, the sidewalk over Highway 36 project and the two community playhouses. 

During the final portion of the City Manager’s report, Terry Rumrey of Rumrey & Associates stepped before the Council to offer an Economic Development report. 

Rumrey began his report by telling the Council about a site visit which was to have occurred on Tuesday with a company interested in the new industrial area. 

Rumrey said there has been a purchase of land at the corner of Interstate 35 and Highway 36 which had previously been owned by Flying J and then Pilot. The new owners have big plans for the thirty-nine acres and a major employer in town. The owners have joined the CID group, which has been formed in that area. According to Rumrey it is a multi-million dollar project planned. 

Restaurants and big box store are right where they were. There is a gentleman involved in retail trying to find a piece of property he needs. There is national retailer who is signing a lease on a piece of property. 

The VA Clinic is still wanting to move, according to Rumrey, the work with them continues. There was a gentleman involved in the project with the VA, who quit and it put the entire project on hold. The VA Clinic has been in communication and said they should be getting back to the project within the next month or two and is still looking to place it in Cameron. 

Rumrey said he is working with Gaugh on the CID in the area of Highway 36 and Interstate 35 and it is moving along. They have chosen their board and have a lot of legal work to complete. 

Councilman Dennis Clark said how much he appreciates the work being done and Councilman Ronnie Jack commented he was happy something was being done on the corner out at 35 and 36. 

The Council heard full readings on two bills concerning e-Truck Transportation LLC – one being a lease agreement and the other a sales tax reimbursement. According to Gaugh, the Council is already aware of the details of the bills and has met with e-Truck. The bill was concerning a lease agreement on a building at the newly acquired industrial park. The City has agreed to make improvements to a building and lease the building to the company for a period of time. 

“The city will covered in all ends of this thing,” Gaugh said. “So if they do not produce sales taxes, we will not sell land. This is a cooperative thing, where we will work with them and they will work with us and have potential sales tax to the city that will be substantial in the long run.” Both bills were passed unanimously by present Council members. 

The Council heard a full reading of a bill to set the tax levy for the General Fund, Park Fund, Library Fund and Municipal Band Fund. The tax levy was $1.0545 per $100 assessed valuation in 2016 and the rate will remain exactly the same for 2017. The bill was passed unanimously. 

One bill and one resolution were heard by the Council about the budget, the bill was to make an adjustment to the October 2016 budget and the resolution was to approve the budget for the fiscal year October 2017 to September 2018 budget. Both bills were passed unanimously. 

A Resolution was brought before the Council to support Greenfield Villas, a Senior Development. Councilman Clark recused himself from both the Resolution and the next public hearing do to possible perceived conflict of interest since much of his business is rental properties. The remaining Council members passed the resolution unanimously. 

Also concerning the Greenfield Villas a public hearing was opened to discuss annexation of the property where Greenfield Villas would be located on BB Highway. Two citizens stepped up to ask questions about the development. Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Chairman Mike O’Donnell stepped up to explain that the only consideration of the public hearing at that time was annexation, not the development itself. O’Donnell explained when P&Z looks at land for annexation, there is only certain things they consider – which is can the City of Cameron provide utilities to the property and does it meet the other criteria for annexation, which include being connected to city property. They do not look at site plans when considering annexation, all of those questions and considerations come later and will involve other public hearings.  Councilman Jack expressed his concern about “islands” being created in the city and how they can become a problem. Islands as he referred to them, are those pieces of property where the property owners have chosen not to be annexed into the city limits, but are surrounded by property, which is within the city limits. O’Donnell said there is a process for forced annexation, but it is long and arduous and not something P&Z really wants to get into, but they will if Council directs them to. 

An appointment to the TIF Commission sparked conversation amongst the Council once again. Two resumes were received by the board, one for Michael Russell and one for Quentin Lovejoy. The TIF Commission recommended the appointment of Michael Russell. There was some conversation among Mayor Darlene Breckenridge and Councilman John Feighert to ask if both applicants could be appointed to the board, but the legal council for the City expressed that there was only one appointment to the board open and the number of members on the Commission is set by state statute. Russell was appointed to the Commission by a vote of 3-2 with Mayor Breckenridge, Councilmen Clark and Jack in favor and Feighert opposed. During the closing comments of the Council, Mayor Breckenridge said “This was a hard decision I made this evening, not because I favored one over the other, but because I believe they are both qualified. We have had one individual and it’s Quentin, apply for many boards and it appears, appears, maybe, when someone sees he’s applying that maybe someone is getting in their ear to get someone else too.”

“I’m all about fairness,” the Mayor continued. “I did not want to see another board go without an appointment. I did not want to see another board go without an appointment. Michael I think you will do a wonderful job. I’m not going to compromise a board or anything else because that hurts the city too.” 

Other bills before the Council which passed unanimously were: two bills concerning the zoning classification change to two pieces of property owned by the city – one near the wastewater treatment plant and another for the industrial area;  a bill to certify the results of public election defeating the proposed use tax; a bill to accept property for public right of way located along Oak Avenue and West Third Street. 

The other business before the Council was to approve the liquor licenses for five businesses who will be participating in Crossroads Crush. City Clerk Barbara O’Connor assured the Council all the fees had been paid and applications completed. The Council approved the licenses unanimously. 

The next City Council meeting will be Monday September 4 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.