Madill council appoints Hale to Place #1 seat

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  • Matt Caban • The Madill Record Mary Ann Hale takes the Oath of Office for the Madill City Council Place # 1 seat at the council’s meeting on Nov. 12. Mayor Travis Williams administered the Oath of Office.
    Matt Caban • The Madill Record Mary Ann Hale takes the Oath of Office for the Madill City Council Place # 1 seat at the council’s meeting on Nov. 12. Mayor Travis Williams administered the Oath of Office.
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The Madill City Council held its regular meeting November 12 in the Fred Stanley Center, Library Room.

Four members of the council were present. They were Mayor Travis Williams, Vice Mayor Bobby Davis, member Terry Rushing and member Shaunda Stanley.

The fifth seat on the council was recently vacated by member Heath Weaver after he moved out of state.

After declaring a quorum was present, Mayor Williams moved on to the third agenda item, which was discussing and appointing Weaver’s successor Mary Ann Hale to the Place # 1 council seat. The council voted 4-0 for the motion.

Williams administered the Oath of Office to Hale. The oath is normally administered by Dustin Rowe, city attorney. However, Rowe was not at the meeting. Williams joked that Hale should pretend he was Rowe.

After taking the Oath of Office, Hale took her seat at the council table.

After the meeting, Stanley spoke about discussing the previously vacant seat with Hale.

“I made an inquiry,” she said. “We had a lot of possibilities, but being on the council is not what everybody wants. So I knew somebody is levelheaded, very educated, smart and a part of the community.”

Stanley said she thought Hale would make a great addition to the council.

“She’s not afraid to speak her mind like me, which the boys may regret,” Stanley said with a laugh. “She has children here. She has a vested interest like the rest of us do to make Madill the best we can.”

Hale, who works as Executive Administrator for the Marshall County Board of Commissioners, said she was excited to be asked to serve.

“I feel like I’ve been a part of the community here in Madill for at least 10 years when my youngest was old enough,” she said. “I love just being active in the community and helping out as much as I can. It was a good feeling.”

Due to her work with the county commissioners, Hale said she is used to being around public meetings.

“Working at the county, I’m used to the process there,” she said.

Order of events

The council then voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda which included the following items:Minutes of October 8, 2019, October General Fund Purchase Orders, October One Cent Purchase Orders, and October Capital Project Purchase Orders.

As no items were removed from the consent agenda, the council moved ahead.

The council listened as City Manager James Fullingim explained a change of language to City Ordinance #960 to OMRF Plan.

Williams asked Fullingim if this change was meant to keep the City of Madill compliant with state law.

Fullingim answered in the affirmative.

“That’s what we’re doing,” he said. “We have to do this. If I’m not mistaken it’s something that if you are found guilty, plead guilty or no contest to briery, corruption, perjury, or any crime related to the duties of his or her office you forfeit your [position].”

Both the agenda items related to its change and immediate implementation through an emergency clause were approved 5-0 by the council.

The council skipped a portion of the agenda until a representative from SODA arrived.

This month’s financial report was brief. Fullingim reported the sales tax for the last month at $214,807.85 with use tax $18,27.63 in that same period.

However, Fullingim had two items to cover in his monthly city manager’s report.

He said there is a new emergency project coming up on South 5th avenue. “Parts of bridge are coming apart,” Fullingim said. “One big flooding rain will close that road down. I’ve hired Overland to look at how much that will cost.”

Fullingim said the contract will have to dig out sides. ““We didn’t build this ourselves,” he said. “We did the one on Smiley Road.”

He said each side of the bridge will cost $27,500 to fix. He added that the total cost of the project will be $55,000.

“There is a cone there,” he said. “We’ll do the asphalt work ourselves.”

Second, Fullingim mentioned a conversation with Stanley about replacing the convection ovens at the Stanley Center for Seniors.

“Apparently, the builder built the building around the ovens,” he said. “We’ve had the ovens for a while. They’re 38” convection ovens and there are 36” doors.”

Two council members spoke during the allotted time for council member comments.

Stanley said she also talked to Fullingim about replacing four treadmills near the door of the City Gym.

“I have a proposal with a friend who sets up gyms for a living,” she said.

Stanley said she sent the proposal to Fullingim.

Stanley said her friend is currently working on the gym in the new Texas Rangers stadium.

“These are what’s in the Gold’s Gyms right now,” she said. “He can get those to me at cost. Normally they are $15,000. At cost is $7,400.

She added that the existing treadmills could be sold to recoup some of the money spent on them.

Williams agreed with Stanley’s assessment.

“We should look into it,” he said.

Williams also praised Madill’s fire chief for putting on a recent retirement party for three firefighters.

Upon seeing SODA’s Pat Jones enter the meeting, Williams returned to a set of agenda items dealing with closing a grant, CDBG 17259 CDBG 18.

Jones, SODA’s community economic development director, said the original attendee, Michelle Powell, had another meeting that evening.

She said the construction on West Lille Blvd. was scheduled to cost $74,999 but the City of Madill only used $53,999.

“It came in under the cost estimate,” Jones said. “Now everything’s been done. We’re ready to close it out. Maybe you can do another one in January. They open in January.”

A motion to close public hearing for the grant was made by Stanley. Rushing seconded the motion. The council voted 5-0 in favor of the motion.

Likewise, the council voted 5-0 in favor approving all close out documents. This time Stanley made the motion while Davis seconded it.

Jones said she had several different documents needing the council members’ signatures. Jones said all invoices from Overland have been received. She said a final invoice was added to the state’s People Soft system on November 6.

“We look for about 5 days before we can get your money to pay Overland,” Jones.

The motion was made by Stanley with Hale seconding the motion. All members voted 5-0 in favor of the motion.

Then the council also voted to resolve #701 and accepted CDBG Project 17259 CDBG 18.

Stanley made both motions with Hale seconding the motions.

As there were not unscheduled public appearances, the meeting was adjourned at 5:24 p.m.