The Italy City Council approved the repaving of Park Street at a work session held Monday evening.

Teri Murdock, city secretary/administrator, said the city has enough money available to complete the Poplar Street project and pave Park Street as well.

The council approved the refurbishing of the south end of Poplar Street at its regular meeting held in February. They group tabled repairs to Park Street and White Street until the work session.

Mark Souder Sr., council member, said the city needed to hold contractors accountable when they tear up roads.

“In my job, if I mess it up, I fix it,” he said. “We’ll just chalk this up as a lesson learned.”

The council approved an estimate provided by Ellis County to repair the entire length of Park Street damaged when outside contractors laid sewer lines.

They tabled an item to repair White Street in the same manner. The council will revisit the item in June. Murdock said that if city’s sales tax stays up, the city should have the money available to make the needed repairs on White Street.

The council spent two hours in a work session discussing various ordinances.

Jessie Whitten, an engineer with the Brannon Corporation, said he is currently working on a possible stimulus plan.

“I haven’t found anybody that knows how the (stimulus) money is going to be distributed,” Whitten said. Regardless, he is preparing for the possibility that some of the stimulus money will trickle down to the city.

“Our sewer system is in good shape. Our water is not,” he said. He explained that he is going over the city map, marking various areas that need updated water lines. He pointed out that he is including the cost of reworking the pavement if water lines are updated.

Whitten is also pricing the cost of a new fire station with sleep quarters along with an attached civic center.

“We need to have the cost and know what we are going to do when funds become available,” he said.

Edwin Voss Jr., city attorney, was present to discuss various ordinances.

The city has had an area behind city hall surveyed. He said the survey has allowed a title search of 0.3826 acres.

Voss said the county has not taken the time or concern to find out who owns that particular piece of property. He indicated a title search is now underway.

The council discussed ordinances regarding small wind energy systems, sexually oriented businesses and subdivisions. The council took no action on any of the items.

Murdock said the council approved the current Subdivision Ordinance in 1987. She had an updated sample available for the council. She said the city needs stricter standards regarding water lines, streets, concrete, etc.

The council also discussed contracting with Bureau Veritas for building permits and inspections.

Murdock explained that the fire chief will be retiring at the end of April and explained that the city did not have anyone trained to take over the building permits and inspections.

Don Chambers, fire chief, said the City of Maypearl has contracted with Bureau Veritas for their building permits and inspections. “This company is all over the United States,” he added.

Murdock said if the city calls before noon, an inspector would be in town the next day. The city will collect the building permit fee and then pass it on to the firm.

Voss explained, “This is not an item that requires going out for bids, it’s a professional service.”

The council requested Bureau Veritas be at the March council meeting to discuss the item in further detail.

Murdock pointed out that fees for building permits, inspections, zoning requests and various other city fees need to be updated.

“The current charges are pretty low,” Murdock said.

The council took no action regarding the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real estate following an executive session.

Comments

by Keith Roberts on Tuesday, February 17 at 8:52 a.m.

While discussing the raising of building permit and inspection fees during a recession, can someone from the city post how many residential building permits were issued in Italy last year?