CHESTER – Chester Mayor Robert Poynter swore in new Councilman Keith Mahaffey at their regular meeting Monday evening, Jan. 5, to fill a vacancy. Mahaffey’s name was tendered to the council last month with Poynter’s intention to appoint.
First up, Poynter introduced Gabe Ural with the Langford Community Management Services, from Liberty Hill, Texas, whom Tyler County has contracted to aid in emergency management grants from FEMA. Ural has made the rounds to all the cities and ISDs in the county to aid in assessment of emergency mitigation measures and help make a formal proposal.
Also present was Jim Bean and Ray McKnight of the Chester Water Board. They with the Chester council filled out worksheets, or as Ural coined, “wish lists” of needs. Chester Councilman Byran Davis, who is also a fireman with the Chester Volunteer Fire Department, questioned and mentioned the need for nine vehicle and twelve handheld radios.
Tonya Sheffield, coordinator for Tyler County Emergency Manager John Settlocker, aided Ural in his presentation and gave examples of how a few county entities replied.
Woodville Mayor Amy Bythewood was present and shared what Woodville had requested.
Ural mentioned the importance of getting this done now, hopefully within three weeks, and almost as an aside mentioned that Ivanhoe’s dam repair has been virtually held up waiting for this proposal to get to FEMA.
Bythewood had come to make her office available to Poynter and the council with respect to thwarting the illegal gaming infiltrating the county. Woodville recently passed an ordinance against such and said theirs had 90 days to vacate, which several cities like Fort Worth had passed earlier last year. Chester was concerned about enforcement, which Woodville has.
While there are a constable and the county sheriff, Bythewood offered that the ordinance was a first step. She brought copies of several laws and noted that the Texas Supreme Court (TSC) in “City of Fort Worth v. Rylie” which kicked off in 2014.
The eight-liner owners fought Fort Worth in 2014 and argued in the now nine-year battle that their machines fall under the “fuzzy animal” exemption where coin machines yield a non-monetary prize, such as fuzzy, stuffed animals. In 2022, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled they did not fall under that exemption. The eight-liners took their case to the TSC, which in late 2023 refused to hear anything else, which leaves no doubt, and eight-liners are unconstitutional in Texas.
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. In a sad twist, the gaming is illegal yet hard to enforce. In January of 2024, the Texas Municipal League encouraged cities to seek legal counsel on how to handle these, noting that “Cities will still have to wait for statewide guidance on the constitutionality of eight-liners.” Being ruled “unconstitutional”—it appears—leaves wide open a greater need for perhaps state legislative action on how to tie up eight-liners to the criminal penalties extent on illegal lotteries, making actual enforcement a still yet-to-be determined fuzzy animal.
Chester is still debating the cost of a website which the state is saying all cities must have. Bythewood shared her council’s disgruntlement over those “unfunded mandates,” yet noted there was no penalty for failure. City Secretary Baela Weaver expressed her concern over not having time to make or manage a page. Poynter was concerned over security and having a proper page. The costs offered so far seemed outrageous, and they looking further into that.
