Corrigan continues quest for new city manager

BY LEW VAIL
Special to the Times

CORRIGAN -- Corrigan’s regular City Council meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. July 17 by Mayor Wayne Gee-slin. The fi rst item was a public forum where Leonard Butler addressed council about dete-riorating streets and other infra-structure, specifi cally speaking about a proposal from Pro-Star Waste to handle garbage ser-vice within the City, an item from last month’s meeting (ac-cording to the minutes of the meeting no decision was made, the presentation was informa-tional only). He also questioned the ear-lier discussion regarding a park for children on the MLK prop-erty the city owns, again citing infrastructure needs being more important. The next speaker was Susan Torrez who identifi ed herself as a local business owner, mom and teacher in Corrigan, a 30-year resident. She asked about the status of the investigation of who shot her son Mark.“I began attending council meetings in January when Po-lice Chief Ray Stubbs was be-ing deliberately targeted and his employment was to be terminated.” [Editor’s note: Stubbs was hired by the City of Corrigan in the Fall of 2011].She continued saying that Chief Stubbs and Interim Chief James Riley Sr. leadership was making Corrigan a safer place for individuals and business. She also asked why after the shooting of her son in 2008 and another young person there has not been any one arrested or charged. “It was not the Af-rican-American who went to prison, because he testifi ed he shot a .243 rifl e. Mark was hit by a shotgun blast. Jerrod Bam-burg was hit with a shotgun blast?” She closed repeating her earlier question “Mr. Fortune WHO SHOT MY SON?”(Grimes Fortune was Mayor of Corrrigan during this time).The fi nal public forum speak-er was Luan Tatum the new City Attorney, who just wanted to introduce herself, she explained her Corrigan roots and that she was in practice with her father, John Henry Tatum, in Lufkin.Council heard a presentation from a representative of Center Point Energy regarding a po-tential rate increase in natural gas pricing, he recommended that council take no action on the request, since it is a system wide issue and will under go public hearings in Austin very soon, if there is any changes after the hearing then council can address the issue. Council delayed action for 90 days.A brief discussion regard-ing changing Plant Road to FM 3488 was discussed. The City has brought the road up to TxDOT standards and with that work and the County’s work it now can be accepted by the state and the future main-tenance will be carried out by TxDOT as a FM road. Council passed the resolution.Council discussed advertising for a permanent City Manager, Mayor Geeslin said he feels it should be open for 45 days and then council can review appli-cants and hold interviews. Interim City Manager Grimes Fortune said he antici-pates council having a new city manager by Oct. 1, 2012 the start of the new physical year. Council approved placing ads in the Livingston, Lufkin and state trade magazine for the po-sition. Council reviewed a letter from Belk, Harris, and Pechack Auditors for the 2012-13 audit in the amount of $9,795 just about $100 higher than their last audit. After asking how long they have been auditing the city’s books, (more than fi ve years) council approved signing the letter of agreement.Municipal Judge Leonard Wayne Yankie addressed theiting the use of “Engine Breaks” (or more commonly called “Jake Breaks”) in the city lim-its. He said state laws address ‘noise violations’ which is too vague to apply, thus the city needs the ordinance. Council person Johnnie Ma-rie Brooks asked if this might apply to the extra loud stereos in cars, but the Judge assured her it does not, but that Chief Stubbs had remedies for those violations, Ms. Brooks said she sure hoped so!. Council passed the “engine Breaks” ordinance.Council approved signing the contract for work on Hospital Street on grant DRSO100312 required for work to progress. Then interim City Manager Grimes Fortune explained that paving Hyde Street now will save considerable money since the paving equipment is in place now due to grant funded work on Hospital Street and the bid of $19,952 would likely top $25K if the city waited and the contractor had to bring back the equipment. Council concurred and approved the project.Financial statements were reviewed, Mayor Geeslin said there will be a budget workshop soon, but they are waiting for data from the Central Appraisal District regarding income fig-ures from ad valorem taxes, no date has been discussed yet.During announcements City Manager Fortune reported that a Rudy’s Service Station is be-ing built just south of Sonic and it just took out the largest building permit in Corrigan’s history. It is possibly housing a “What-a-burger” inside the es-tablishment. There is a fence being in-stalled out at the city barn, to ensure safety of the equipment stored nightly there. With no further business the meeting adjourned.