Council sets date of March 1 for city ordinances

The Yoakum City Council has set a tentative date at the Jan. 9 meeting for several city ordinances that have been in the works. There are five city ordinances set to be implemented beginning March 1.

The first city ordinance was the second and final reading to amend the solid waste collection.

“This comes with some concerns council has about containers being left in the street after trash has been picked up,” City Manager William Linn said. “It also does provide a reference to the penalty section that we have adopted in our code of ordinance as well. There will be a misdemeanor penalty attached to it for anyone caught violating it.”

The container must be inside the curb line which is two feet from the street inside the patch of grass between the sidewalk and the curb.

The second ordinance restricts the discarding of yard waste and grass clippings into streets, ditches, culverts, and curb inlets within the city limits. It is the second reading of this ordinance and council deems this as a safety hazard.

The third ordinance is the first reading regarding utilities to test backflow preventors and crossconnection control. This will now be tested annually, rather than every three years.

The fourth ordinance is a first reading and amends the expiration time period of building permits to be more in compliance with international building codes.

The fifth and final ordinance regards upgrading international building codes, international plumbing codes, international mechanical codes, international fuel codes, international fire codes for commercial buildings, international residential codes for all single family and duplex residential buildings, and national electric codes.

The codes will be upgraded to be more in compliance with the codes being changed from 2015 to 2018. This is the first reading of the codes.

Other items on the agenda included:

• Council also adopted a resolution authorizing the filing of a grant application to the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission for a regional solid waste grant program. The total amount for this grant is $115,000 to be divided over all the districts that are in Golden Crescent. The grant deadline is Jan. 18.

• A request from the Yoakum Little League was presented to council to provide funding for improvements on the restrooms. Council reallocated $10,000 from the Reserve Funds to the Parks Special Funds. This was tabled at the last City Council meeting but has now been approved.

• Council also approved the modification of the fence placement at Softball Field #2 in the Yoakum Little League Complex. This will be a chain-linked fence.

• The Yoakum High School Athletic Department gave a request to council to waive the green fees for a benefit of the Yoakum High School Baseball Golf Tournament. The tournament will be on Feb. 17 and there have been nearly ten teams that have already signed up. The maximum teams the department is hoping to participate is 27 teams. The department will be responsible for cart fees.

• An award of a contract in the amount of $306,900 to Davis Engineering Inc. was made for the Laredo Street Water Tower Rehabilitation Project.

• City Manager William Linn was appointed as the Administrator and Point of Contact to the Texas Local Government Investment Pool.

• Councilmembers Tanya Wenzel and Michael Brandt as well as City Manager William Linn was appointed to the City and School Summer Recreation Board for a one-year term.

• There will be a city-wide clean-up coming this March.

• A joint City Council and EDC meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 20.