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On Tuesday, February 2, the Johnson City – City Council met in their regularly monthly meeting. There was a wide range of agenda items to discuss, and the meeting began promptly at 6 pm.

One of the early agenda items that aroused the interest of the local citizenry was a discussion about taking "possible action on a dog problem." Although local resident Mary Salazar asked that this item be added on the agenda, she was unable to attend the meeting due to illness.

However, resident Trudy Steele, an avid walker who lives in town, noticed the agenda item and wanted to speak on the subject. Steele shared with the council how much she enjoys walking in the area, but has some real concerns about a growing dog problem. "This is more than just about a dog problem, this is about public safety," she stated. She outlined how dogs in the area that have aggressively approached her while she was out walking, pose a significant risk to the drivers in the community.

Johnson City – City Manager, David Dockery asked Steele if she had tried contacting the city offices. She informed him that she is new to the community, and wasn’t clear on what the policies and procedures were for handling stray dogs. Steele cited two separate instances where she was approached by dogs during one afternoon walk. The dogs Steele described were in the area of the Johnson City Housing Authority and Avenue F.

Johnson City Police Chief, Randy Holland also spoke on the issue. He informed the council and the residents present that "If you will give [the police department] a call and file a complaint, we will address the issue with the owners…we will cite [the owners]… however, if nobody calls it in – we tend to assume the dog is not bothering anyone."

Dockery informed the council that he would follow up with Mrs. Salazer to try and address any of her issues or complaints about the dog problem. This agenda item did not require any action to be taken by the council.

The council discussed taking action on the water service being provided for Marvin Walters, and after a presentation by Walters, the council agreed to look into his issue more closely to determine what action needed to be taken at a later date, if any.

Gandolf Burrus from the Grant Development Services arrived and presented some progress reports on grants that the city had applied for. He asked the council to pass two separate resolutions. The first resolution asked for authorizing signatories for changes that may need to be made to grants that were applied for, and the other resolution was to accept a grant that were awarded for the purpose of construction improvements to the existing Johnson City wastewater system.

Chief Holland provided the council with his report regarding citations, calls, and incidents. The bottom line was that crime was down for the month of January due to the hard work from the local JCPD and the vigilance by local residents to report suspicious activity.

Dockery discussed a utilities report, which really sounded like a bunch of random facts and figures about water being pumped in and out of the city, as well as other city functions, but there was nothing that was alarming in his report that would attract the attention of local citizenry.

However after Dockery’s standard utilities report he mentioned a new partnership with IESI in regards to the Johnson City Clean Up Days. In years past, the city has held one to two "dump days," where residents could bring their accumulated "junk" to designated dumping areas in Johnson City for free in an effort to clean up the town. The new partnership with IESI would change the face of this program.

Basically, citizens will be given a bright orange "voucher," that will allow residents to bring a certain amount of "junk" to a dump. Dockery outlined the many benefits to such a program. The main benefit being that this would give residents more time to clean up their areas. Residents could utilize their voucher at any time during their assigned month. For residents, who do not own a pickup truck or trailer, they will be permitted to bring a certain amount of junk to the dump, rather than just one "car load." Dockery and IESI are very excited about this joint venture, and feel like it will be beneficial to local residents as well as the city. Read the Johnson City Record Courier in the upcoming weeks for more details about this revised City Beautification program.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P and Z) provided the City Council with the report that they are pleased with a new and improved "Sign Ordinance." The P and Z took a fresh look at the sign ordinance, per the council’s request and revised the ordinance to operate on a "zoning" basis. There are three main zones that the ordinance address’s. Signs for local businesses will be subject to the restrictions of the particular zone where the sign is located. The ordinance is still under review by the City Council and has not been officially adopted as of yet. However, a position is currently open on the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the City Council would be interested to hear from anyone that may be willing to serve on this committee.

The City of Johnson City has agreed to abandon their former health care provider, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas and switch to an Interlocal Agreement with the Texas Municipal League. The city employees prefer the new plan, and the new insurance agreement would actually save the city money, while providing their employees with even more health coverage than what they had before. The motion to accept the change was accepted unanimously.

The City Council formerly passed a resolution ordering that an election be held on May 8 for three Councilmember positions. The council members whose spots are open for election include Councilmember Alyce Duncan, Councilmember Ralph Moss, and Councilmember James Stevenson.

Two raises were actually given at this particular City Council meeting. A 3% pay increase was granted to Johnson City’s Code Enforcement Officer. The council hired a Code Enforcement Officer approximately one year ago.

Also, Gilbert Rios received a pay increase for the janitorial services that he has provided to City Hall.

There were a few other basic housekeeping items that were then taken care of by the council members, such as paying the bills and approving the minutes from the last meeting, before they adjourned for the evening.