Council approves city ordinances

The City of Yoakum approved a couple of city ordinances at the Nov. 14 council meeting to keep Yoakum clean.

“The first ordinance deals with the solid waste containers that the city utilizes,” City Clerk Theresa Bowe said. “The council has expressed the desire for people to bring that in off of the street away from the curb so that it beautifies the community a little bit, it cleans up our curb lines, and it establishes an aesthetically pleasing community.”

The second ordinance deals with prohibiting traffic and vehicles eliminating yard waste in roadways, ditches, and curb lines.

“We’ve got to start somewhere to start cleaning up this town and little steps make big steps,” Mayor Pro-Tem Councilmember Tanya Wenzel said.

The council is still researching fines for violations of these city ordinances. Anything considered to be a hazard for health and safety in the community can result in fines from $1 to $2,000. The council will set the official fines in December.

Council also heard from a presentation from Goliad County Sheriff, Roy Boyd, on the Operation Lone Star Task Force.

“The Yoakum Police Department is an instrumental agency within the task force,” Boyd said. “We work on large scale cartel cases and go after smuggling organizations that come into our region. Between the police department being able to supply intelligence and personnel to assist in operations, Yoakum has been very gracious for the task force.”

The Lone Star Task Force conducted a two-year investigation into a criminal organization that controlled the smuggling throughout the region. They were able to run search warrants on their houses in Houston and federally indict those individuals.

“In our county, we have not had a bail out this year because of taking down that organization and Yoakum was a key partner in making that happen,” Boyd said. “These folks were bringing about 100,000 illegal aliens smuggled throughout our community every single year.”

As a token of their appreciation, the Task Force gave $5,000 from the money they seized to the Yoakum Police Department.