Paper of Record Discussed by Crockett Council
Animal Control Matters Brought Up
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – The Crockett City Council met in an early morning meeting on Tuesday, July 6, highlighted by a discussion pertaining to the city’s official newspaper.
Readers may recall that during last month’s city council session, The Messenger Newspaper was designated as the paper of record by a vote of 2-1. Council members Marquita Beasley and Ernest Jackson were not present at said meeting.
After the June meeting, however, it was discovered the vote did not follow the by-laws of the city charter. As a result, the item was placed back on the July 6 agenda for re-consideration.
“This is back on the agenda because of the bylaws governing our charter,” Crockett Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher said to those in attendance.
Kelly Nicol, owner of The Messenger, was present at the meeting and addressed the council concerning the matter.
“My family has owned this business for the last 20 years. About three years ago, my wife (Toni Nicol) and I purchased it from my family. We are local. We live in Crockett, actually Latexo. We shop here, we do our business here and we bank here. We cover all the meetings. We are at local events. We are at Little League baseball, cake auctions, the Houston County Fair – we support this community. As owners, we are here,” Nicol said.
“When you look at The (Houston County) Courier, the owners are never here. I would venture a guess that no one on the council even knows who the owner of The Courier is. It is a man named Alvin Holley. He lives in Livingston. He doesn’t come to Crockett, Texas. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the room,” he said.
Nicol went on to say his wife worked for CISD and that he was on the Latexo ISD Board of Trustees, which helped give them insight into the budgetary process for governmental entities.
“The bottom line is our cost is cheaper. We want the city to be able to run efficiently and get their things done in a timely manner. We are printed twice a week, so if you guys have a notice out and it has to run twice, it will take The Courier two weeks. It takes us one. You guys have all seen me around town. You know who I am and we care enough to be here. We would love for you to consider us to be your paper,” Nicol concluded.
Before The Messenger owner could gather his notes, Councilman Darrell Jones made a motion to name The Courier as the official newspaper of Crockett. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ernest Jackson. It should be noted Jones cast the dissenting vote in the June meeting.
Before a vote was taken, Dr. Fisher explained why the matter was on the council’s agenda for the second consecutive month.
“Due to the charter, when you have only three members of the council present, not including the mayor, it constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business. An affirmative vote of the three members of the council shall be necessary to pass or repeal any ordinance or taking official action in the name of the city, except as otherwise provided for in this charter. What happened, the three members who were here, if they didn’t vote altogether on the issue, we need to open it back up because it violated the charter. It wasn’t that we re-thought it. It just came back up because we violated procedure. We wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t personal, it was just something that was brought to our attention,” she said.
The mayor then asked if there was any further discussion and Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Marsh indicated he would like to weigh in on the subject.
“The Messenger is cheaper,” he said. “We are supposed to be looking after the taxpayers’ money. You say the Houston County Courier is local, but all the money is going to Livingston.”
Dr. Fisher asked if there were any further comments and Councilman Gene Caldwell asked, “What was the price difference?”
City Administrator John Angerstein indicated the Courier gave the city a non-profit rate of $8.50 per column inch while The Messenger’s rate was $5.75 per column inch.
“For legal notices, The Courier is 35 cents per word and The Messenger is 23 cents for the first 25 (words) and 27.5 cents for each additional word,” Angerstein said.
Marsh added, “What I’m saying is just switch it up. One year this one, the next year the other one. We have a whole family here (referring to the Nicol’s) that have a newspaper in Houston County. It is not called the Crockett Courier. It is called the Houston County Courier.”
“I agree with that,” Caldwell said. “I think we should switch it up, myself. Have a little balance. The Messenger is printed twice per week, isn’t that right?”
With no more comments, a vote was taken which showed Jackson and Jones in favor of The Courier while Caldwell and Marsh voted against the motion. Council member Marquita Beasley abstained.
“In terms of – I guess it’s up to me to make the decision. Not to say I don’t appreciate both newspapers, but for convenience’s sake, it just seems like it is easier to walk over to The Courier and to send things in. Right now, I am in favor of The Courier as our paper of choice.”
With the mayoral vote, the Houston County Courier was selected as the official newspaper of Crockett.
Prior to the newspaper discussion, Police Chief Clayton Smith was asked to provide an update on animal control.
“When we first started with Animal Control Officer (Perry) Shaw, in the first month and a half, he had 30 plus dogs caged up. It overran our local vets, at which point they said ‘No more.’ Then, we had nowhere to take them. If we pick them up, we assume responsibility for them. That means we incur boarding fees while they are there. That can run up to $2,000 or $3,000. If we pick up every animal and the vets take them in, then we are incurring boarding fees and we don’t have that in our budget. So, until we get some type of shelter to hold these dogs and cats – and until Houston finishes their location – all we can do is respond to calls and try to find the owner,” the police chief explained.
“One thing I want to clarify,” Smith continued, “I think there may have been some confusion from the last meeting. I got a few phone calls and I believe the general consensus was we were already taking dogs to Houston. We are not. Houston is completing another shelter and they (city of Houston officials) have agreed – once they complete that shelter – they will enter into an agreement with us to start taking our animals, up to 30 a month. Currently, we are not there yet – until they complete that shelter and we complete the agreement. Right now, we have nowhere to take dogs or cats. In certain situations, where the dog or animal is injured, the vet may take them in.”
Smith added Shaw had submitted his letter of resignation last week and depending on the budgetary process, the police department will begin to advertise for a new animal control officer.
Following his monthly report to the council, Fire Chief Jason Frizzell addressed the council concerning an agreement between the city of Crockett and Emergency Services District (ESD) 2.
“What has changed is since 2008, they (ESD 2) have been paying us a subsidy of $50,000 a year. Now, it has been bumped up to $70,000 per year. Also, our rescue truck has been decommissioned. I could not come to you and ask you for a new one because 95 percent of the time it goes out into the county. The ESD has agreed to these terms here. They have bought a new rescue truck which we should take ownership of towards the end of this month. Also, the reason for a new contract was to clarify a lot of gray areas about who is responsible for what,” Frizzell said.
The agreement was unanimously approved.
In other matters brought before the council:
- The minutes from the June 7 meeting were approved
- Crockett Police Chief Clayton Smith reported the police department received 374 calls for service during the month of May which resulted in 20 arrests. There were 292 traffic citations issued and 73 police reports filed.
- Crockett Fire Chief Jason Frizzell reported the fire department responded to 38 total calls during the month of May. Of the 38 calls, Frizzell reported 24 were in the city of Crockett while 14 were in the county. There were no structure fires.
- A public hearing for a specific use permit for a mobile home was held and after the hearing was closed, the council approved the permit.
- A second public hearing was held for a specific use permit to erect a communications tower was held and after the hearing was closed, the council declined to approve the permit, based on the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Committee.
- A third public hearing was held for a specific use permit to erect two off-premises signs and after the hearing was closed, the council approved the permit.
- A proposal from Waterscape Consultants, Inc. to provide engineering services for the proposed municipal aquatics facility (including a swimming pool) was approved by the council.
- The council approved a resolution approving an engagement agreement relating to bond counsel services.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
