Hawkins City Council
City seeks utilities clerk;
Property in transit tax OK’d
By JOHN SPARKS

 

Meeting in regular session, Monday, November 19, the Hawkins City Council voted to advertise for applications for a full time city employee to serve as utilities secretary. The council also held the required public hearing regarding the issue of taxing “goods in transit.” A special meeting of the council was also held Monday, November 26.

The current utilities clerk, Crystal Powell, has informed the city of her resignation from the post. Council approved of placing advertising seeking applications to fill the position. The job, starting at $9.75 per hour plus insurance and benefits, entails collection of water/sewer bills, administration of accounts, and interfacing with the public regarding permits and service. Current hours of the job are 7 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Resumes should be sent to P.O. Box 329, City of Hawkins, 75765 or dropped off at Hawkins City Hall.
 

At the special meeting, council approved a proposal to hire a temporary replacement to assist with utilities and office duties. Council also approved payment of overtime for City Secretary Janis Smith as well as a resolution changing the carry-forward of comp time to 90-days. The policy had been a carry-forward period of 30-days.
 

Council also approved a measure to tax so-called “goods-in-transit” within the City of Hawkins. Such measures will authorize the appraisal and taxing of property and inventory held within the city by businesses for 175 days. One such business and inventory that could be subjected to property tax under this measure is the tire reclamation business of Foster & Sons, which currently maintains a large inventory of tires within the city limits. Similar tax measures have been passed by the Hawkins Independent School District and the Wood County Commissioners Court.
A contract for engineering services with Wisenbaker, Fix & Associates was also approved by the council. The firm has been providing such services on a project-by-project basis for some time. The contract provides for continuing service continuity.
 

The Wood County Tax Appraisal District would establish a value on such goods and the City of Hawkins would levy the taxes. The ordinance was adopted on a unanimous vote. Other ad-valorem taxing entities, for example; Wood County and the Hawkins Independent School District have adopted similar measures in the past few weeks.
 

Council approved two Interlocal agreements with Wood County. One was to continue to open the Hawkins Public Library and its resources to all county residents. The county will pay $7,000, up $1,000 from last year, for such services. The second Interlocal agreement approved provides for ad-valorem tax collection services and records through the Office of the Wood County Tax Assessor/Collector. The fee for such service is $12,912 for 2008, up $1,000 from 2007.
 

Allen Holley, a city resident, brought to the attention of the council the lax enforcement of ordinances involving the care and appearance of private properties. The council also received at least one letter citing a particularly unsightly and uncared for property on FM-14 upon which demolition has ceased and is incomplete. Council will be encouraging enforcement of appropriate city ordinances in such cases.
 

Al Harris was the unanimous choice to receive the city’s 56 votes for a seat on the Wood County Appraisal District Board of Directors for 2008-2009.
 

Council also tentatively approved locating a mobile home on property owned by Ms Dennis Robertson behind the current home located there, pending approval of the particular MH selected and securing of necessary permits.
 

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Hawkins City Council is scheduled for Monday, December 17 at 6 p.m. A special meeting of the council can be called with 72 hours public notice.