Plains Council approves ordinances at July meeting

Plains Councilman Chad Cantrell thanked Mayor Chris Allen last week for the shortest council meeting since he joined the council five-and-a-half years ago.

The Plains Town Council spent only 41 minutes at last Monday's meeting but approved three ordinances and went through reports from the mayor, the police chief and committees. Members present included Cantrell, Connie Foust, Joel Banham, John Sheridan and John Roesler, with Garrett Boon present via Webex. Only a handful of community members were present.

The first reading of Ordinance 23-3 – Camping in Dedicated Parks – was tabled last month but was unanimously approved last week. The purpose of the ordinance was to clarify the stopping, parking and use of city-owned property, including parks and rights-of-way, for overnight camping. The mayor said that without the ordinance, the town's police have nothing legal to enforce to keep people from using town property overnight. He added that the council wanted to be proactive. According to the ordinance, the council had determined that there was a "significant amount of confusion" existing about overnight camping in tents or recreational vehicles within the town limits. A man recently was discovered using the gazebo at Fred Young Park for a makeshift home. The ordinance includes fines from $50 for the first offense up to $500 for the third offense. The first reading was unanimously passed, and a second reading will take place at the August council meeting.

The council also unanimously approved the second readings of Ordinance 20-2 and Ordinance 260, which were merely amendments to the already established ordinances. In Ordinance 20-2, the council added an $85 fine for trucks of 26,000 pounds or more traveling between Clayton Street from Kruger Road, not including emergency vehicles or delivery trucks to destinations within that area. Ordinance 260 set a fine of $50 for speeding within the town limits, including the newly established 15 mph on Willis Street between Stanton Street and Oak Street, which had been only seasonal until this year.

In the mayor's report, Allen pointed out the reason one of the metal horses from the greenway was missing. "The missing horse on the greenway had to be put down. The other two horses are not looking great either," Allen said. Public Works Department staff recently hauled the 600-pound steel and concrete horse to the county dump. The late Kenton Pies of Plains built the 9-1/2-foot tall horse in 2018. It was the first of the "Wild Horse Plains" herd, which initially was going to be five horses.

Allen said the other two horses are starting to decay, and the top concrete layer is chipping off. He added that he told Pies' daughter, Trevi Pies, that if they could find someone to do something to preserve the other two horses and keep them from deteriorating, they might be saved. "Otherwise, they'll just keep degrading and like the other one, just rust on the inside and end up being a problem. They'll end up being a liability if they're not taken care of properly," he said, adding that had they been constructed of just heavy gauge steel, they wouldn't be an issue.

The mayor also noted that the Plains Beautification Committee has another cleanup day scheduled this year and is making plans to make it more efficient than the first one. "We're excited as a committee to keep it moving and to add an additional day in the fall, and I think it's a very good thing for the town," said Boon, who is on the committee. Boon added that they plan to do more reconnaissance this time in an effort to make sure they better understand what the requested project is from the residents so they can disperse people to the right area and the needs would be met.

Allen said that last month the town pumped 4,237,000 gallons of water and sold 3,258,000 for a 23% loss, which was 2% higher than the previous month. However, some of the loss might be because there is more water use at this time of year, such as lawn watering and the filling of theGlenn Hadley Memorial Wading Pool. There was also a large water leak on Hubbard, which might account for some of the water loss. He also expressed his disappointment over the community pool not opening this year.

"It's just tough, because we had 12 kids that wanted to work, a pile of kids that wanted to use the pool, swim lessons that really we love to see, and we weren't able to accomplish it," said Allen, who added that there are two women willing to get their training credentials so they are available to train lifeguards next year so that it "doesn't fall through the cracks" next season.

Allen also passed on that there were problems with too much traffic traveling through on the access roads to the new sewage lagoon, using it as a "cut across" to get to town. They've put up signage and a gate at the far end of the lagoon. He said the complaints, which were about vehicles speeding and the resulting dust, were from the town's lagoon operator and neighboring landowners.

There will be a public police commission appeal hearing July 24 at City Hall. Officer Chris Reyna was discharged but is appealing the action. The next town council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m.