April 21, 2016 - The Tenaha City Council meeting held on Monday, April 18, 2016 ended with the council wanting to know from the mayor why the Tenaha City Hall was closed early on recent Fridays without the prior knowledge of the council.
Durand Steadman, councilman, made the inquiry of Mayor Orinthia Johnson as he shared he had only just recently been made aware of the early closures. Steadman reported individuals have come to him asking why the office has been being closed on Fridays when they would try and pay their utility bills.
"City hall shouldn't be closed on Fridays. It's Monday through Friday from 8 to 4," said Steadman.
Mayor Johnson stated he was at city hall on the Friday previous to the meeting and asked if he meant two Fridays previous. Cliff Lloyd commented from the audience that Johnson was not there on the recent Friday when three people were waiting to pay their bills.
"I thought it was, you was talking about two weeks ago. I decided to let them go home at 2 o'clock," said Johnson.
Mayor Johnson's contention was he let the employees go home early the past two Fridays and he remained in their place.
Steadman stated that isn't Johnson's job and employees are paid to be at the city hall from 8am to 4pm and not from 8am to 12pm. He then wanted to know who authorized the early days as the council was unaware and had not approved early days off.
"I'm not going to sit here and argue with y'all. I decided if they work hard all week, I let them go home, so let's move on to the next comment," said Johnson.
Although Johnson wanted to end the discussion, Steadman continued to talk about the situation. Johnson questioned if he desired to let employees off on a Friday, is he to call a meeting that day to ask if those employees can be off at 2pm.
"That isn't the point, you can't take it in your hands to close city hall, you can't take it in your hands and close city hall. If we do not approve it, you cannot do it. It don't matter whose feelings you hurt, city hall needs to be open from 8 to 4," said Steadman.
Being one of the employees who was allowed to leave early, Steadman asked City Secretary Sheryl Clark if they were paid for the whole day and she nodded her head to the affirmative. He asked who approved for the employees to be paid for the whole day and Johnson responded, "I did!"
Marie Crawford stated from the audience, "There is no leadership, none." Johnson responded, "I ain't worried about that, I recommend this meeting be adjourned.
Councilman Michael Baker made a motion to adjourn the meeting; however, a second was never heard, nor was there a vote and Johnson stated the meeting was adjourned. This was followed by protest of Natalie Harris, Mayor Pro Tem, who stated he does not have that right.
Regardless of any action by the council to end the meeting, it came to a close at 6:58pm.
It remained unclear by the end of the meeting for how many weeks the city hall had closed early on Friday.
Earlier in the meeting, the council discussed the possibility of buying a new car for the City Marshal's Office at a cost of $39,765. Natalie Harris, councilwoman, felt the monthly payment of $751 for the vehicle is high and she was interested in finding an alternative. She asked City Marshal Jimmy Wagstaff how he felt about the payments being that high and he stated it's the council's decision.
"Tell me, you know because you have a better feel of what you all are taking in as fines and everything.
"I don't know what we're taking in as fines, I don't have any figures," said Marshal Wagstaff.
Harris asked, "You don't have any figures of what you guys take in with your tickets?"
"I don't deal with the money, no ma'am," said Wagstaff.
Tommy Rinkle, councilman, agreed that was probably a good policy.
City Secretary Clark reported the City Marshal's office had accumulated $44,000 in fines; however, a percentage of that total goes to the state and Net Plea. She said she was trying to meet with the city accountant recently about providing a report on those finances, but he was busy with the tax season. Clark asked the council to make a specific request for what they may need so she can meet with the accountant and have what they need ready.
"I can assure you that financially, it won't work. I mean financially, I'm not saying that means that we don't need it I mean I don't know, but the law enforcement department can't carry itself financially it's almost kind of like the water department, it can't carry itself," said Rinkle. "I see and hear a lot about people wanting better law enforcement inside of the community, but I mean it's not just a community problem, it's a countywide problem, probably a statewide problem I mean it's a difficult issue to fix and it costs money to provide it."
A motion was carried to table the item until the next meeting to give the City Secretary time to meet with the accountant.
Agenda items approved
1. Minutes from March 21, 2016 Regular Scheduled Council Meeting.
2. March 2016 Financials.
3. Marshal's Office 2007 Dodge Charger bids extended until May 13, 2016.
4. $1,000 bid received by Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP for city property not sold at Sheriff’s sale.
5. Temporarily close Booker T. Washington Street with more substantial barricades for possible repair in the future.
6. Accept bid of $1,650 for 200 amp service from C&J to erect a service light pole to supply power to standpipe for chemical injection system.
7. Accept $2,300 bid to take down fence at ground storage and replace with new fence.
Tabled
1. Purchase of a new vehicle for the Marshal's office.
2. Replacing light pole at ball park (safety hazard) / transfer service from school to city or disconnect service. The motion carried to table with Tommy Rinkle voting against.
3. Repairing and Cleaning Fence on Field #1 and Removing Fence on Field #2.
4. A mobile home was moved in on a city Street prior to filing a permit and receiving approval from city hall.
City Marshal's Office report for March
141 traffic stops, 165 citations issued, 10 calls for service.
Municipal Court report
Total fines collected $25,313.90 with the city's portion being $16,090.52 and the states portion being $9,223.38
City Department report
Ditch work on Sugar Hill Road, Roberts Road, Williams Street and put limestone base down. Water has been pooling in the road near a standpipe and that is being worked on, water is now moving again.
City Secretary report
Early voting begins Monday, April 25 through Tuesday, May 3. Two days are extended days from 7am to 7pm on Thursday, April 28 and Tuesday, May 3. Two CDs are maturing on April 28 and they will automatically renew as is normal procedure and they will mature again on October 27. According to TML report the city has a very low ratio of incidents having been none in two years. Windstream Ethernet is installed and the phones are working. Records requests are being made to the city and this demonstrates why it is good the city is beginning their record retention program soon.
