San Jacinto News-Times - Local News
Stories Added - August 2010
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Community center demolition discussed;
Construction of emergency shelter considered
San Jacinto News- Times
SHEPHERD – Plans for an emergency shelter and reallocation of library budget funds were among agenda items of Monday night’s Shepherd City Council meeting. Project Engineer Jimmy Owens of Goodwin-Lasiter, Inc., Lufkin, heard requirements from council members about the construction of a new emergency shelter for the City of Shepherd and the demolition of the old Shepherd Community Center owned by the city. An architectural drawing of the new facility was to be presented to the council, however, the wrong paperwork was accidently brought, giving councilmen a chance to make changes and get their design wishes included in the plans. According to discussions, the old Shepherd Community Center will be demolished around Sept. 30, when hurricane season is over, according to City Councilman Sherry Roberts. Roberts said she would like to see the old building demolished at that time so the new emergency NEW HOME -- Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will soon move into its new facility on Hwy. 150 East, further out of Shepherd from its current location. Details of the newly constructed site are not known yet but the move is anticipated to be completed by Sept. 1, followed by an open house in October. shelter can be constructed in its location. The city has been awarded a $500,000 FEMA grant to construct the new facility which will have an exterior built from stone blocks. The air conditioned building will contain a kitchen, ceramic tile restrooms and handicap equipped showers. Goodwin-Lasiter engineers are to make the changes requested by councilmen and come back at a later time to go over the fi nal drawings. In order to keep its accreditation with Houston Area Library System (HALS), Shepherd Public Library Director Diana Wilkinson asked council members to approve the reallocation of library budget funds totaling about $8,200. The money is already in the library’s budget, it just needs to be reallocated, Wilkinson said. “As an accredited library with the State of Texas there are certain rules and requirements that our library must meet each year to maintain that accreditation. One of those requirements is something known as maintenance of effort or maintaining the same level of fi nancial support that has been previously provided by its governing body which is the City of Shepherd. The number is determined by the city’s population,” Wilkinson said. “Our maintenance of effort number for this year will be $81,908. That means the City of Shepherd must spend $81,908 this year to maintain its spending effort for the library. We have less than two months until the end of fi scal year 2010. Currently, the city has spent $63,906.54. The library’s budget is $82,550. It is absolutely necessary that the library spend every available penny of its budget before September 2010 in order to keep its accreditation for the year,” Wilkinson said. “As an accredited library we receive many benefi ts by being a system member,” Wilkinson said. Explaining, she said, our governing system is known as HALS. The benefi ts we receive as part of our accreditation and system membership are: • Eligibility for the Loan Star Library Grant which was $5,405 this year. • Eligibility for the Tex- Share Program and internet databases. • Eligibility for extra programs presented by HALS. • Eligibility to apply for state funded grants. • Eligibility to apply for other private grants not governmentally funded. “If we do not meet the spending requirements for the current fi scal year and our library loses its accreditation it will mean rather large losses for our library. We utilize many of the programs offered by HALS that are very vital to our continuing operation,” Wilkinson said. According to Wilkinson, benefi ts the library stands to lose are: • Loss of vital equipment within the library that totals $10,410 that would need replacing. • Loss of the computer technician that services our computers and operational software. • Loss of free continuing education classes for the library director and staff. • Loss of publishing and supply discounts of 41 percent to 45 percent on books and DVDs that would decrease the amount of books we are able to buy. • Loss of grant money and grant eligibility. Wilkinson presented a list of library budget categories that currently have a surplus and will likely stay that way by the end of the year totaling $1,530. “It is my proposal to move these surplus funds into the equipment and repair fund so that I may purchase several upgraded computers for the library. That would give us an extra $1,530 for a total of $2,384.15 in the equipment budget to make upgrades in our technology,” Wilkinson said. Wilkinson proposes purchasing a new workstation for the circulation desk; a new laptop computer to serve as the card catalog for the library; and the addition of a computer for the children’s section. “This computer would only be accessible to those children under the age of 12 and no internet access would be allowed. This would also provide something for the children to do so that they are not disruptive to other library patrons,” Wilkinson said. “It is my belief that if we take these measures, I will be able to meet the maintenance of effort requirement as set by Texas Library Association for this current fi scal year. However, all these numbers will change for the following fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2010. This is a census year and our population numbers are going to increase. We must take that into consideration when planning next year’s budget for the library. Our spending must increase based on these population increases if we are going to retain our accreditation and meet the maintenance of effort requirement in the future,” Wilkinson said. Wilkinson said there is an average of 100 people daily visiting the library and 45 new patrons added monthly. Councilmen voted to allow the reallocation of $8,200 in order to meet requirements and stay accredited. In other business, Councilman Bill Rudolph volunteered to be responsible for studying the city’s sewer facilities. Lilley Fence of Cleveland was awarded a bid to relocate a fence for the emergency exit route at a rate of $9.11 per foot. A motion was passed to hire a licensed water and sewer operator with a minimum B license with 5-6 years experience. Following a discussion on the pros and cons of moving the city’s election date to November, councilmen voted to keep it the same.
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