City Council hears school zone concern

The Yoakum City Council heard a request from a concerned citizen regarding the placement of a school zone area on East Gonzales St. at the Aug. 13 meeting.

Harvey Jenkins argued because the Learning Tree, 124 E. Gonzales St., is located in the area that a school zone sign should be put into place. The Learning Tree is a daycare which offers pre-school and kindergarten programs.

“I live at 202 E. Gonzales St.,” Jenkins said. “Right across the street from me is The Learning Tree. There are small children that attend the daycare and some of the kids are older than toddlers. Right across the street from me, there is a family of young children. The Learning Tree needs to designate the portion of E. Gonzales St. that runs behind my property as a school zone. The speed limit needs to be reduced from 35 miles per hour to about 25 or 20 miles per hour. There are numerous reports of people disobeying the lights and the signs of the school buses and drive around them when they are loading or unloading. People drive up and d ow n t h e s t re e t a t twice and sometimes three times the posted speed limit and that is unacceptable.”

“God forbid one of those little children get out on that street and get struck or killed by a car, you cannot put a dollar figure on that lawsuit that would keep the families of those children from suing Yoakum into oblivion.”

Jenkins also argued that the school busses in Yoakum do not have the cameras that capture the license plates of the violators that pass the school busses, and he stressed the importance of mitigating that. That request, however, is not at the liberty of the council and must be addressed to the Yoakum School Board members.

The council will check the legalities of putting a school zone in place and will investigate the matter further, according to Mayor Carl O’Neill.

The council also heard a presentation from Paleo Oil Company regarding oil and gas lease opportunities on City owned property. The lease will be on the runway strip, the city park land, and the newly acquired 60 acres just north of the airport.

This will be a three-year lease, and the city will get 20% royalties on production. Paleo is not actively drilling in this area now. They drill in South Texas and East Texas.

The council also discussed the Bi-Annual Community Clean-Up Project.

“With the staff issues that we have been having and the lack of community participation, staff has recommended that we not do that this year and re-address with a different program in the coming years,” City Clerk Theresa Bowe said. “We may have a workshop on how we can improve the community appearance and community pride. I would love to see a program that would increase our community pride.”

Other items on the agenda include:

• Council awarded a grant contract for the 2022 Resilient Communities Program Grant to CSRS.

• Council heard a presentation of the Texas Department of Agriculture Form A1024 Community Development Block Grant as related to the CDBG Program and Grant Contract. The City of Yoakum received a $350,000 grant award with a $52,500 grant match commitment.

• Revised job descriptions within the Yoakum Police Department were approved.

• Council approved a request from the Yoakum Area Chamber of Commerce for the closure of certain streets for the following events: The Annual Street Dance on Sept. 21, The Culpepper and Merriweather Circus at the Rodeo Arena on Oct. 17, the Annual Pumpkin Patch Trail on Oct. 31, the Annual Slip and Shop Event on Nov. 21, and Christmas on the Grand for Dec. 6 and Dec. 7.

• Council provided direction for the preliminary 2024 tax rate, preliminary utility rate changes, and preliminary rate changes for solid waste collection and Transfer Station fees.

• An update with the contract of Yoakum ISD’s Student Resource Officer (SRO) was given. Sarah Mendoza is the SRO.

All city council members were present during the meeting held at the City Hall.