City partners with Cumby ISD for community service projects
Cumby city council met for their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday July. Items on the agenda included consent agenda, department reports, possibly selling city owned land, entering into a partnership with Cumby ISD for community service projects, confirmation of the Mayor’s appointment of Betty Jo Hartman as the new city secretary and creating a grant committee to find out what grants Cumby may be eligible for, adopting a resolution for a public comment policy. Other business included changing the due date for the monthly water bills, discussion regarding participation in the American Rescue plan and appointing public management INC as the overseers and an update on the city’s finances.
The council shared that they were happy with the work the new head of the maintenance department, Jeff Dudley, has been doing around the city.
“He’s made great strides and done so much work in a short amount of time,” Mayor Doug Simmerman shared.
The first item of business before the council was the consent agenda and department reports. Both were approved without much discussion.
Next the council discussed possibly selling city owned property located at 206 Main Street and 102 Frisco Street.
“Now I am not sure of all the legalities regarding the sale of these plots of land, last I heard there were already plans for both,” Simmerman stated. “I do know that the American Rescue money can be used for public water or sewer and my thinking was we can use it to build a water well and we need a place to put that well, so why not one of these lots?” Simmerman said.
There was a community member present at the meeting interested in purchasing one of the lots sharing that they were new to town.
Mayor Pro Tempore Sheryl Lackey shared that due to being unsure of the legalities involved the best thing to do would be to move this item to executive session at next month’s meeting to discuss with Leigh Thompson, the city attorney, how to move forward.
The council then discussed entering a partnership with Cumby ISD and forming a committee to help students with finding community service projects.
“In the past many of our students have done community service projects. The BETA and FFA student organizations have all done some sort of giving back to the community,” Superintendent Shelley Slaughter shared. “We’ve discussed making these community service projects part of the graduation requirements. We have lots of kids who love doing things to serve their community, whether it be helping out in people’s homes, cleaning up the park, volunteering at food banks, yard work, and helping the elderly. There have even been adults that get involved.”
Slaughter shared that her goal at the meeting was just getting the word out and asking the council if they had any knowledge of any projects the students could get involved in.
“I heard about needing a ramp built for an elderly woman in the community,” Betty McCarter said. “I believe some sort of
“I believe some sort of funding was set up for that and our FFA students were helping out with donating their time and materials,” Slaughter answered.
“A few years ago the school sent forms out to the community for them fill out and send back to us about any work they would like the students to help them with,” Slaughter added.
“Maybe the school could do that again, send out the forms again and the city could help get the word out by sharing on the city’s Facebook and webpage.
A motion was made to form a committee with Amber Roberson as the chairman.
Next the council confirmed the mayor’s appointment of Betty Jo Hartman as the new city secretary.
Simmerman shared that after speaking with Hartman he believes that she has a lot to bring to the table.
“Miss Betty Jo already has experience with writing up agendas and meeting minutes for corporations, and we have already discussed the pressures of the job. She understands the duties and pressures of the job and feels she can handle it. She hasn’t served as a secretary before but seems to be a good fit,” Simmerman shared. “There is even a lot I could learn from her.”
After the council voted unanimously to approve the appointment, Hartman was sworn it at the meeting.
The council next discussed creating a grant committee to help find any grans that the city of Cumby is eligible for to help with improving city infrastructure such as new sidewalks, sewers, wells and sidewalks.
Alderman Wayne Mobley presented the request to the council and shared that all he needs is someone to help with research to find the grants.
Simmerman shared that ATCOG, the Arkansas and Texas Council of Governments might be able to help find the grants but Mobley would have to let them know exactly what he was searching for.
The request was approved and Wayne Mobley was elected the Committee Chairman.
Next the council discussed adopting Resolution 2021-08 concerning the public comment policy, in connection with House Bill 2840. Simmerman shared that this action was mainly updating and defining aspects of the policy in a public forum.
“In a previous meeting the council approved the policy but didn’t make it a resolution so this action will correct that,” Simmerman said. “The policy only covered in the office and did not extend to everybody. Citizens will still have to sign up to make a public comment and write what agenda item is being discussed. This should speed up the meeting process and cut down extraneous speaking.”
Mayor Pro Tempore Sheryl Lackey next presented an action item regarding making the due date for water bills to the fifteenth of the month and late on the sixteenth instead of due on the tenth with a five day grace period and late on the sixteenth. Lackey shared that the date that bills are sent out won’t change only the due date.
The council discussed the issues that the city has been facing with mail services being delayed and bills not being delivered or arriving late being the main cause of the due date being changed at a previous meeting.
“The program used for the water billing system doesn’t recognize the grace period so the water clerks have to go in and manu ally enter a date for each bill,” Lackey said. “This makes too much work for the clerks so a date needs to be set and the grace period taken out.”
The decision was made to change the due date to the fifteenth of the month and removing the grace period that was set in a previous city council meeting.
Simmerman next discussed the city of Cumby participating in the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and appointing Public Management, Inc as the overseers.
Public Management, Inc, is a grant management and consulting company that started in 1982 to offer planning, financing and management services to Texas communities. Their mission statement states their goal is to guide cities on their pursuit of prosperity with integrity, commitment and empowerment.
“With this money, there is a lot of reporting that must be done and the city secretary has enough to do,” Simmerman said. “By using Public Management, we can have someone help with the planning and record keeping. They usually charge 10% on $100 but they are offering us a deal for five percent of $100.”
Lackey shared an update on the city’s finances with the council.
Lackey presented the council with her ‘phone book’ sized report on what bills are being paid, what bills have been paid and the state of the city’s finances.
“All bills for this fiscal year have been paid, but there were outstanding balances that carried over from previous years,” Lackey said. “We have over $189,000 that we still owe on bills. It’s hard to see but headway is being made.”
“I read somewhere recently that there was an emergency relief fund for Texas cities that received outrageous bills from the Winter Storm, I’m not sure if it would apply to Cumby,” Alderman Amber Roberson mentioned. “It’s worth looking into even if we don’t qualify.”
“When talking with Leigh, the city attorney, I think she said that there was a deadline for that funding that we might have missed but you are welcome to try,” Lackey answered.
“If we missed the deadline, that’s okay, but anyone is welcome to look into it and see if we could benefit from it,”Simmerman added.