V. Hugh Lewis II/Jefferson Jimplecute
Jefferson’s regular City Council meeting held a mix of emotions as Council had not one, but three voting ties requiring Mayor Rob Baker to vote.
The meeting started along normal routine as Council heard quarterly updates from JEDCO, FOJA, and George Otstott on NETMWD, but quickly became divisive when Council took up an offer from Texas Tech’s Office of Professional Education to provide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training for all City employees.
“It’s been mandatory for a lot of state colleges and state employees,” said B.W. Brooks. “It will eventually become mandatory. It really protects a city from a bias case should one arise and gives employees the training on what and what not to say. If an organization has the training, they are less liable if an incident occurs. This is why DEI training has become so popular.”
Alderman Hollis Shadden pointed out that the police department is already doing the training, but wanted to know “how it would benefit a guy emptying trash cans downtown or driving a back hoe.”
“I just want to say whether it’s this training or any diversity training, what you just said Hollis is a prime example of why we need the diversity training. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a person picking up trash or sitting behind a desk. Diversity training is something all of us can use,” Alderman April Taylor Johnson said.
Baker pointed out that the City is currently in the middle of a three-year court case over diversity, and this training might have helped protect the city. He also stated that the City can’t mandate the training at this time because it’s not in the Employee Handbook, but they could offer it as voluntary.
Alderman Robin Moore was concerned over how the training is presented and “some [training] can be more divisive than unifying. I want a better grasp of what the training includes. I want to know exactly what they’re teaching,” she said.
The training was offered to the City at a cost of $59 per employee and is a four-hour course.
Alderman Richard Turner made the motion to deny offering the course, and Moore seconded. The vote ended in a 3-3 tie with Shadden joining Moore and Turner in denying the training. Baker broke the tie and voted to not approve denying the offering.
Johnson then moved to offer the employees the opportunity to take the course if they chose and Alderman Will Thomas seconded. Alderman Jim Finstrom joined Johnson and Thomas in approving the motion, with Moore, Turner, and Shadden voting against. Baker broke the tie by approving offering the course to employees.
Tension remained high as Council next took up a request for reimbursement to Bill Davis for concrete work he had done to help a drainage issue on this property at the end of Houston Street.
Davis has had issues with water running down Houston Street towards the bayou as more construction uphill from him has diverted more water into the street.
The water has caused erosion on his property where Davis has built curbs to try and control the flow of water.
“The issue I have, in large part, is the concentration of water into one spot which caused the erosion was also caused by work done by the property owning in building at the end of the street,” Turner said.
Baker pointed out that Davis had not brought the issue to Council prior to having the work done, “but now you’ve already spent the money and I’m not in favor of paying after the fact.”
The City does not have any right-of-way past the end of Houston Street, so any work would require easement access.
“You can’t keep dumping maintenance issues on the public,” Davis said.
Ultimately Council voted to deny reimbursing Davis the $10,500, causing Davis to leave the meeting and telling Council to “shove it up their a**.”
What appeared as a quick choice on streets to resurface for the 2023 Streets Campaign, ended in tabling the decision until some streets could be added to the list.
Thomas said he had provided two other streets, multiple times, to Public Works Director Alan Whatley and they were not on the list to choose from.
Baker said the list was generated from previous Councils and he was just working through the list.
Jefferson’s proposed Quiet Zone was the last point of contention between members Tuesday night.
In February Council approved creating an application for residents to fill out if they were interested in serving on a Committee to gather the necessary information to see whether or not to move forward with a QZ. Council gave 30 days for submissions. Four applications were received.
“Out of the whole City, and now County, we have four people,” Turner said. “That doesn’t’ show much interest.”
Johnson countered with, “There is a lot of interest. You can’t say there’s no interest. These are just the people brave enough to step forward. They want to do the legwork, so let’s let them do the legwork. Those that are interested will add to it.”
Turner also pointed out that three of the four people were for a QZ and one was undecided, and that Council wanted diversity of opinion on the committee.
“We gave those against a quiet zone the opportunity to come forward too,” Johnson said.
Moore said, “We don’t need to kick the can down the road again. Let the committee do the investigation and figure out what it costs.”
Council again ended in a split vote on the matter with Turner, Finstrom and Moore all voting against forming the committee. Baker again broke the tie, forming the committee.
What to do with City Hall will continue to be undecided as Council received two engineering reports on the building. Both reports indicate the building was suffering from years of neglect and lack of maintenance. They also indicated the “original City Hall building is not worth repairing;” that “the building could be salvaged but the cost will likely warrant complete reconstruction,” and that “the building be vacated until improvements can be made to ensure a safe working environment for City employees.”
City Secretary Melissa Boyd reported she had reached out to the three employees working in the temporary offices on concerns about the temporary location.
Those responses showed a general disapproval and unhappiness about the current situation. Items such as access to a private bathroom and breakroom, echoing, lack of privacy, and enough electrical outlets topped the lists of concerns.
“They’ve let us know,” Baker said. “A good portion of what they noted we can’t fix. Putting them here was safe and clean, but not ideal. We’ve been in City Hall for 70+ years, and now it’s not inhabitable. This has been a discussion for decades and now we’ve got to solve the problem for the City and City employees.”
Turner indicated the City should, “seriously consider looking for some other temporary location that’s suitable for employees.”
As it was a discussion item, no decision was made yet, but Baker said they would continue to look at, and for, options.
Baker ended the meeting calling on Aldermen to step up and take primary responsibility on various City projects so they can be moved forward and not languish.
In other business Council:
• discussed accepting a 1971 designation of a National Historic District at a later meeting
• discussed possibly hiring an annexation attorney to educate Council on needs and process
• approved minutes, financial reports
• approved Battle of Big Cypress Bayou Town Skirmish event
• approved advertising for bids for a survey of city limits, and a new Floodplain survey
• approved $17,500 to SPI for engineering on the sidewalk between JES and JHS grant
• approved selling the JPD 2006 Ford Expedition via sealed bid
• approved the JHS Senior Class Parade, as long as they clean-up the streets afterwards
• approved a building permit for Hugh Lewis for solar power at 113 N. Polk Street.