Shiner Council discusses chamber repair quotes, approves K-9 for Shiner Police Department

Shiner City Council members discussed building repair quotes for the Shiner Chamber of Commerce building at the July 1st meeting. 
“The worst thing about the building is that there’s no ventilation in the foundation,” Shiner Councilmember Gus Jaehne said. “The floor is also getting bad in there. Exterior wise, it needs a lot of repair work. It needs to be painted because it’s a very old building. There also should be an air conditioner in the bathroom.”
The building is structurally sound according to Jaehne. The Chamber building is owned exclusively by the City of Shiner.
Recently, the Chamber building was broken into when a man threw a brick into the window. That incident was not the cause of the repairs council talked about on Monday night.
A $24,000 expenditure was already budgeted for these types of repairs. Anything over that amount will be looked at come the next budget cycle. 
The council also approved the use of a narcotics detecting K-9 dog for the Shiner Police Department. 
This dog was donated to the department from an anonymous person and an officer has already expressed interest in being its handler. 
“I think this is a good thing,” Police Chief Wayne Denson said. “I was previously a dog handler when I worked for the City of Wharton. Using the dog, I was able to seize 26 vehicles that were smuggling drugs in one year. It could also benefit us financially.”
There will be a cost of one week of training for this K-9. An ongoing expense toward the care of the dog will also be used. 
The dog should be officially certified within 30 days.
Also on the agenda, council tabled the installation of new fans at the Merrem Pavilion. 
“There are eight total fans at the pavilion and only four of them are operational,” City Secretary Natalie Fric said. 
“We have a lot of things other than Half Moon that takes place at the pavilion. One of those things is that we host tennis tournaments there. A lot of other cities come and use that pavilion.”
One of the quotes listed the installation and warranty of the fans at $11,000. However, the council tabled it to come up with more cost effective options. 
Other items on the agenda include:
• Council approved a commercial business proposal application at 303 N. Avenue D. Owner Monique Charo said she aims to set up a stained-glass retail shop at that location. She also requested to host a Market Day event at that same address and that was approved. 
• Action was approved for the Shiner Beer Run 5K and 10K Marathon event on Nov. 16. 
• A new hire was made in the utilities department.
• Police are actively gearing up for Half Moon Holidays this weekend.
• There will be a budget workshop on at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, at the Shiner Public Library. 
• A presentation from Rise Broadband was on the agenda; however, nobody showed to represent them.
• A concerned citizen made public comment urging the council to have the current animal control officer switch from part-time to full-time. Currently, the officer works 22 hours per week. Another person also vouched for this request. 
• Donald Woods made citizen comment requesting a banner for his project called Town Detox. The project is a campaign to get students to limit access on their phones. They will have a meeting in September urging students to trade in their smart phones for a dummy phone that primarily only accepts texts and phone calls. The banner requested was over Highway 90A. Woods needs to get approval from the Texas Department of Transportation. Once that is done, council will highly consider his request.