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Home My WebLink AboutMIN MAR 01 1977 REGULAR SESSION CITY COUNCIL - CITY OF BEAUMONT HELD MARCH 1, 1977 BE IT REMEMBERED that the City Council of the City of Beaumont, Texas, met in regular session this the 1st day of March, 1977, with the follow- ing present: HONORABLE: Ken Ritter Mayor Don Cash Councilman, Ward I Vi McGinnis Councilwoman, Ward II Calvin Williams Councilman, Ward III Leroy Evans Councilman, Ward IV Howard McDaniel City Manager Lavon Jones Asst. City Attorney Myrtle Corgey City Clerk -000- The Invocation was given by the Reverend Billy Stanley, Lamar University Pentecostal Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Cash. -000- Mayor Ritter issued the following proclamations: "National Youth Art Month in Beaumont" - March 5-31, 1977 and "Texas Shrine Patrol Association Day in Beaumont" - March 5, 1977. -000- Resolution 77-63 authorizing the award of bid for furnishing one (1) low center of gravity tractor for the Parks and Recreation Department to Audilet Tractor Sales in the amount of $6,075. 00 was approved on a motion made by Councilman Evans and seconded by Councilwoman McGinnis. Question: Ayes: All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 77-64 authorizing the City Manager to commence negotiations for rights-of-way needed for the extension of Grant Street (Parcel #29) , a portion of Community Development Block Grant - Census Tract 17 - was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Coun- cilman Cash. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 77-65 authorizing payment of $38,210. 00 to Southern Pacific Transportation Company for work accomplished under agreement between the City of Beaumont and Southern Pacific Transportation Company for improve- ments to College Street - CIP 11-ST-02 - was approved on a motion made by Councilman Evans and seconded by Councilman Williams. Question: Ayes : All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 77-66 authorizing a release of judgment in a suit styled The City of Beaumont V. R. C. Ainsworth, Cause No. 22,970, was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Williams. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- -35- March 1, 1977 Resolution No. 77-67 authorizing the City Manager to execute to Beaumont West, Inc. , a deed conveying a strip of land consisting of . 98 acres (strip 20 ' wide) in the amount of $625. 00 was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Evans. (This property was acquired by City as part of the West End Interceptor Project. ) Question: Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 77-68 authorizing the acceptance, for City maintenance, the water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and concrete pavement improvements in ' Pine Glen Addition, Block 2, Lots 23-30 and Block 3, Lots 1-8 , was approved on a motion made by Councilman Cash and seconded by Councilman Evans. Question: Ayes: All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 77-69 authorizing the appointments of Messrs. Abe Millgram, William Key, John S. McDonald, Don Streety and Howard Caywood to serve the 1977 Tax Equalization Board was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Cash. Question: Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- A public hearing for revenue sharing was set for March 15 , 1977 , on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Cash. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 77-70 creating the Emergency Medical Service Task Force and appointing Glen G. Guillet, M.D. , Chairman; Robert Robertson; Larry Le- Beouff, M.D. ; James Allums, M.D. ; Charles Moore, M.D. ; Joe Reeves, M.D. ; Leldon Sweet, M.D. ; Gene Cornwell; Mark Kubala, M.D. ; James Shuffield, M.D. ; Cheryl Keith; Ed Fuss; Ken Ruddy; Selman Clark; Jim Yarbrough; Carroll Broussard; Addison Duffee; Warner Rogers; Dick Medlin; Joseph Bondurant; Hoke Peacock; Charles Hill; Andrew Johnson; and R. E. Platt was approved on a motion made by Councilman Cash and seconded by Council- man Evans. Question: Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Ordinance No. 77-20 condemning certain dilapidated structures was con- sidered: ORDINANCE NO. 77-20 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE FINDING THE BUILDINGS LOCATED NEXT TO 1109 & 1111 AVE. A (DUPLEX) , 1145 AVE. A, 1045 & 1047 ALABAMA STREET (DUPLEX) , 2110 ALBANY STREET, 2925 ASTOR STREET, .2230 BEATRICE STREET, 3139 W. BRENHAM STREET, 845 BUFORD STREET, 1340 CENTER STREET, 799 COLLEGE STREET, 610 CUNIFF, 615 CUNIFF, 280 E. DELAWARE, 1745 ELGIE STREET, 770 ELM STREET, 780 ELM STREET, 3981 ESTELLE STREET, 1545 EUCLID STREET (REAR) , 1384 EWING STREET, 875 FIFTH STREET (REAR GARAGE) , 2312 FILLMORE STREET, 415 FLETCHER STREET, 425 FLETCHER STREET, 445 FLETCHER STREET, 2030 FORREST STREET, 154 SO. FOURTH STREET (FRONT) , 165 SO. FOURTH STREET (REAR) , 1375 GILL STREET, 1466 GLADYS STREET, 3427 GLENWOOD STREET, 3633 GLENWOOD STREET, 975 HARRIOT STREET, 2340 HARRIOT STREET, 2628 & 2630 HARRIOT STREET (DUPLEX) , 1057 HARRISON AVE. , 11245 HODGE ROAD, 3485 HOLLYWOOD ABRAHAM CTS. UTILITY STRUCTURE #2, 3485 HOLLYWOOD ABRAHAM CTS. UTILITY STRUCTURE #3, 775 HOLMES, 1311 & 1315 ISLA STREET (DUPLEX) , 2105 LIVEOAK -36- March 1, 1977 STREET, 2404 MONROE STREET, 870 PEACH STREET, 865 POLLARD STREET, 885 POLLARD STREET, 895 POLLARD STREET, 3358 ST. HELENA STREET, 693 SHAMROCK STREET, 680 SHERMAN STREET, 2908 TALIAFERRO STREET, 2910 TALIAFERRO STREET, 3215 TALIAFERRO STREET, 3220 TALIAFERRO STREET (REAR) , 2950 VIRGIL ALLEY, 1655-1/2 BROOKLYN STREET, 1190 BUFORD STREET, 1423 CARROLL ALLEY, 1790 CARROLL STREET, NEXT TO 2260 CARROLL STREET, 2291 & 2293 CARROLL STREET (DUPLEX), 1050 DOUCETTE STREET, 1343 DOUCETTE STREET (GARAGE APT. ) 1570 FULTON STREET, 2370 HEMLOCK STREET, 1895 IRVING STREET, 2095 LEIPER STREET, 1645 MADISON STREET (REAR GARAGE, 2328 POPLAR STREET, 865 POWELL STREET, 1030 SCHWARNER STREET, 1030-1/2 SCHWARNER STREET, 1195 STEWART STREET, 1508 TAGORE STREET (FRONT) & 1508 TAGORE STREET (REAR) TO BE A PUBLIC NUISANCE. The ordinance was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Evans. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- City Manager McDaniel gave the following report: At 3 : 00 a.m. , Saturday morning, a newly installed section of a 30" water line near the southwest corner of the Main Pump Station blew out and water from the separated section began cascading down a stairwell blowing out a door and casing which was in a wall and, in a short time, the floor of the pumping station was flooded to a depth of three feet. And, as a result, the 13 water pumping units located on the floor of the station were all either partially or completely inundated for a period of about one hour. We immediately began emergency procedures to shut down energy and to cut off water supply. We also put out a request to all the news media to ask the public to coop- erate by reducing consumption of water until Monday. The news media re- sponded very rapidly and did get the word to the public and we do wish to convey our appreciation to the media and also to the public for their co- operative spirit in cutting down on the consumption -- washing of cars, watering of lawns, washing clothes and things of this nature. It was a potentially serious situation in that we were having to rely totally on our sub-surface water supply from our Loeb wells. While normally these wells are able to supply emergency water for a limited period of time, the rate at which it would take to get the electric motors dried out and put the main pump station back into service could have created a serious problem had people not cooperated. I'd like to especially commend Underwood Hill, the Director of Water Util- ities, and Charles Clark, who is the Superintendent of Water Production Plant, for having trained their people and having developed emergency pro- cedures that did keep the situation from getting out of hand. I think special commendation should go to Erwin Hathorn who was the operator on duty at 3 :00 o'clock that morning when this emergency occurred. Had it not been for his training and quick responses, we could have experienced a serious difficulty. He immediately cut off power to the plant which saved probably burning out a lot of our electrical apparatus. In addition to him, A. L. Conway, another of the operators, and Rayburn Davis, an elec- trician in our Building Maintenance Department, performed yeoman service in getting the plant back in operation and I think it would behoove us all to be thankful to all of these people involved. Mayor Ritter: We thank you for the report and Council certainly joins you in your commendation of Underwood Hill and his department. We appre- ciate the cooperation of the news media and the citizens for this potential emergency. -000- -37- March 1, 1977 Mrs. Velta Provo, 4360 Booker Street, addressed Council charging police brutality in an incident involving her 17 year old son. Mrs. Provo stated two police officers stopped her son to search the vehicle he was driving which fit the description of one used in a recent robbery. She stated the officers used abusive language and more force than necessary to make the search. Mrs. Provo was told the staff would investigate the incident. r000- Mr. Chester Slay, 4930 Beaumont Drive, addressed Council to offer the City (as a means of protecting his integrity he said) the opportunity to recon- sider for one week the use of the old Texas Gulf Sulphur property as a pos- sible City landfill site. Mr. Slay said he has leased the property to estab- lish a private industrial landfill. (Recent news articles concerning Mr. Slay's application to the Texas Water Quality Board listed Clarence Cowart, City Solid Waste Department director, as superintendent of the proposed land- fill and an apparent conflict of interest arose concerning Mr. Cowart. ) Mr. McDaniel, City Manager, told Mr. Slay there would be no need for him to delay his business venture since the status of the City's permit application to operate the present landfill is still pending. -000- Ms. Eddie Durham, 1919 Sabine Pass, addressed Council to ask help for citi- zens on fixed incomes with high utility rates. -000- Mr. L. L. McCarley, 985 Harriott, addressed Council to complain about the high natural gas rates. -000- Mrs. Delia Harrington, 815 Willow Street, addressed Council to encourage thrift on the part of citizens in use of utilities. -000- Mrs. Roy Lombardo, 810 19th Street, addressed Council to say she is not on a fixed income but her utilities averaged $475.00 per month. -000- There being no further business, the meeting was recessed before continuing with the City Council workshop session. -000- -, Myrtle Corgey, City Clerk of the City of Beaumont, Texas, certify that the above is a true copy of the minutes of the regular City Council session held March 1, 1977. Myrtle Corgey City Clerk -38- March 1, 1977