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City council ponders best way to study water
By Charles Richards
The Paris News
Published January 29, 2008
Paris City Council plans to reach out to the education community for long-range strategic planning and in creating a water study committee on Pat Mayse Lake.
Sandra Strom, coach of Paris High School's highly successful Future Problem Solvers program, which has produced several state championships, will be brought in next month to meet with the council on problem solving techniques that could be used in a lake study.
“I asked her if she would be willing to do a workshop session to give us direction on problem solving and what direction we need to take (in picking the citizens committee)” Mayor Jesse Freelen said at Monday’s regular council meeting.
“This is a huge burden for the council, and I’d like to do it right,” Freelen said of the selection of a water study committee.
The council agreed two weeks ago to enter into exclusive negotiations with the City of Irving for the possible sale of surplus water from Pat Mayse Lake.
The workshop session with Strom will be scheduled for Feb. 12 or Feb. 14, and the council will be prepared to appoint the members of the water study committee at its Feb. 25 meeting, the mayor said.
In response to a question from Councilman Bill Strathern, City Manager Kevin Carruth said Paris Junior College President Pam Anglin has agreed to meet with the council on Feb. 25 regarding the strategic planning process.
Strathern, who campaigned last year about the need for long-term goals and objectives, had asked the city manager to solicit Anglin's assistance in jump-starting the planning process.
The council put off for two weeks the discussion and action that was scheduled for Monday night on restoration of vehicle allowances for department heads, reclassification of certain city positions, and establishment of a unified non-Civil Service pay plan.
Councilman Kevin Gray was absent, and several members of the council said they had not studied a staff analysis of the three issues. They asked that the items be put back on the agenda for the council’s next regular meeting on Feb. 11.
Interim City Manager Ernie Clark had recommended last fall that car allowances stricken two years ago in a cost-cutting move be restored. The council last September struck the first three months of funding from the budget and asked that Carruth bring the recommendations back in January.
Freelen pushed for immediate action.
“We’ve put the employees off and put them off, and I don’t think to wait until next meeting is timely,” Freelen said.
The mayor suggested a special workshop for next week to allow council members to receive a full-blown report on the matters and make sure their questions are answered.
But Strathern said he would be out of the city next week, so Freelen then suggested that council members set aside an hour between now and the next meeting so the council would be prepared to act at its next regular meeting on Feb. 11.
“After you get your packet (containing the staff analysis), if you have questions, come visit (Finance Director) Gene Anderson and the city manager at City Hall and have them answer your questions.”
A representative of The Paris News asked from the audience if the media would be allowed to sit in on those discussions.
The council decided instead to have a special workshop from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 11, in advance of the meeting already scheduled.
Because money is in the budget for car allowances and higher pay classifications as of the end of December, the council said any decisions made on Feb. 11 will be made retroactive to Jan. 1.
The council adopted a new “Outside Storage” ordinance recommended by the Code Enforcement Task Force. Councilman Don Wilson, who chairs the committee, said the task force spent six hours over a six-week period on ways to alleviate junky front yards.
The council went along with Freelen’s desire to adjust a restriction against allowing firewood in the front yard, unless screened from public view.
Freelen said during the colder months of the year, elderly citizens should be allowed to have the firewood where it is more accessible to them. The ordinance will require firewood to be kept in side or back yards from May through September.
The council emphasized that one provision in the ordinance that mentions toys and playground equipment is part of a reference to a ban on broken or inoperable appliances and other items.
“Toys are OK in the front yard as long as they’re operable, right?” Freelen asked.
“Yes,” Wilson replied.
Among other business, the council:
• recognized Bobby Myers, who recently stepped down from the Planning & Zoning Commission, for his years of service to the board;
• appointed John Fuston and Jerry Rose to citizen vacancies on the 17-member Code Enforcement Task Force;
• decided to set a two-term limit on people serving on city boards and commissions, to publicize openings as they occur, and to actively seek out candidates, who (Freelen’s request) will be appointed by the entire council, rather than by the mayor;
• set the date for the municipal election for Saturday, May 10, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., for qualified voters in Districts 1, 2, 3 and 6 to elect council members for two-year terms, with early voting conducted at the City Hall Annex from April 28 through May 6;
• issued a proclamation recognizing and acknowledging support of a year-long project by fifth grade students at Justiss and Aikin elementary schools on childhood obesity and healthy eating habits.
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