WOODVILLE – Kay Timme, the director of the Allan Shivers Library and Museum, spoke to council about the possibility of the museum’s expenses being paid out of the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax.
Timme commented, “I’m here to get you to reconsider the cut in funding that we experienced this year and to look at maybe reinstating the funding through the hotel Occupancy Tax. We discovered our funding had been reduce by $5,000, and our first concern is that we are $2,500 short on our anticipated revenues for 2025, because of when the fiscal year begins; we built our 2026 budget on the reduced number, and we were able to maintain all our positions, we did some tweaking and managed to make it happen.”
The Allan Shivers Library and Museum is governed by an interlocal agreement between the city, the county and Woodville ISD. The cities funding was cut $5K in the new budget, the other two entities funding remained unchanged.
Woodville mayor Amy Bythewood spoke about the facility, and explained that while the library does not fit in the category under the hotel occupancy tax guidelines, the museum does, and, “if there was an earmarked budget line specific as to the museum, however that works, then that is absolutely something we can have a conversation about, because there is still money in the fund for specific projects, but we would need it to be part of historical restoration. The library doesn’t quite fit that category, but the museum does. Where can that $5k be allocated within the museum so that the city can continue what they have done with the entity,” Bythewood said.
In the end, council decided to table this matter so Timme can amend the budget and present to the governing board the new figures. Timme was invited back to speak at January’s council meeting regarding the funding shortfall.
Woodville police chief Mike McCulley spoke to council about approving an ordinance banning game rooms operating within the city.
“The only game room operating within the city has had four criminal complaints within the last three years, and only one was reported to our agency, which was a robbery. The other three were robberies/vandalism. The obvious reason they were not reported is because they are not running a legal establishment,” McCulley commented.
McCulley added, “Jasper and Orange County have adopted game room ordinances; we modified their ordinances to fit our needs here. It’s a safety issue with the city, they generate a lot of unseen issues … it’s a negative effect on our city. They don’t report the income they make because they are not above board, so therefore the city is not getting any type of income or tax based on the operation of that business.”
Council unanimously passed the ordinance prohibiting the operation of game rooms within the city.
Chester mayor Robert Poynter was in attendance and had the following concerns: “We (the city of Chester) are currently fighting the same problem. Bill Dover sold all the Jiffy Marts in the area, and the people that bought the stores have come in and set up eight-liner machine in our communities. We are trying to stop it and get ahead of the game as well, we don’t want it in our community … I don’t want the drugs and the theft, there are a lot of problems with these eight-liner machines. I know a lot of folks in Chester are not ready to deal with those types of problems.”
In other business, council heard an update on the Beech street construction project from Jacob Tieman, GLS Civil Engineer from Lufkin. Due to the holidays, and depending on the weather, most of the work will concentrate around concrete being poured, then asphalt and driveway tie-ins, not a whole lot more than that will be completed before Christmas and the end of the year. Tieman said the plans are that the project will be completed by March. Tieman will give another update at February’s council meeting.
Alderman place one, and mayor pro-tem Joyce Wilson submitted her resignation at Monday’s meeting, and was approved by council, who will appoint someone to fill the vacancy, and serve until the November 2026 general election.
City Administrator Stephen Ramos was approved as an authorized signer for the Core and Main and Government Capitol finance contracts for the water and gas metering project.
Council also approved selling two vehicles, a 2018 Dodge patrol car, and an inoperable 2013 Ford F150 pickup via the Gov-Deals online auction program.
