Mayor casts tie-breaking vote to approve repaving section of Calvert Street

Members of the City Council of Karnes City were presented with a report about concerns for posting rules and regulations for the Karnes City Park by Sherry Sommer, who is a member of the park’s board of directors.

Sommer shared different lists of rules from various other area parks and asked that the council give the board direction and legal authorization to post their own set of rules.

Discussion followed concerning the posting of general rules or detailed rules with ordinance numbers included.

Councilman Jimmy Loya said he thought general rules for the park would be easiest for people to read and a question was raised about where to post them.

Sommers said the board had talked with City Administrator Larry Pippen about getting the ordinances needed to enforce the rules. Pippen said that he had met and will meet again with the city’s attorney to draw up the ordinances. He also stated that it would be up to the park board to decide where to place the rules.

Councilman Raymond Robinson said that any posting of the rules should include the ordinances or at least their numbers and where to find their explanations. Discussion led to whether to post them all on an enclosed large flat board or to have them posted according to the areas in which they apply. This matter will be taken up again at a later meeting.

Other city park information included determining use fees to and improvements to be made on the pavilion. Also to be looked into will be other improvements that are planned for both sections, A and B, of the park.

In other business, Jerry Smith was appointed to represent the city on the Karnes County Economic Development Corporation board for a two-year term. The El Oso Water Supply Corporation contract passed. The council also passed the Order of Election to be held on May10, 2008 for city council positions. The city is authorized to be open two weekdays for 12 hours during the regular early voting period.

A lively discussion was held on whether to approve the paving of a twelve-foot-wide center section of the 900 block of E. Calvert Street. Councilman Jimmy Loya questioned moving forward with paving that section of street while other citizens have concerns about their streets. Councilman Robinson said that he also has had a number of citizens asking for improvements on their streets. He questioned about doing "patch jobs."

Councilwoman Mary Kruciak asked if it was necessary to go back at a later time to completely pave that block and would they be able to keep the center part already paved or would they have to start over with a loss of the money spent on the center pavement.

Pippen said they could not just add the outer sections to the paved part and would have to redo the whole thing. He also said a contractor in Falls City had submitted a bid that was a lot lower than the first bid. The company would pave that section for $14,100. After more discussion as the motion and vote were called for and with the absence of Mayor Pro-Tem Leroy Skloss, the votes came to two for (Lyssy and Kruciak) and two against (Loya and Robinson).

Mayor Don Tymrak said that this vote would mean a repaving of a street that was paved to begin with, while many of the other streets in question had never been paved and he cast the decisive vote for approval of the motion.

Other agenda items were tabled. There was not enough information to proceed with ratifying a Water Purchase and Delivery Agreement with P.C. Aquatics L.L.C. and Karnes City. And with additional information requested about the future consequences of a freeze on homestead taxes for disabled citizens and those 65 or older, that proposal was tabled to the March City Council meeting. Discussion by the Council members concluded that they need to take another look at the eventual consequences for those citizens who will be the ones to bear the burden of a tax freeze for parts of the citizenry. Pippen also said that the agenda item to authorize Homestead Exemptions is not necessary as it is mandated by law already.