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On Tuesday, April 6th, the Johnson City City Council held their monthly meeting. The meeting began promptly at 6:00 pm. Although there were a number of residents in attendance, nobody chose to speak during the public forum at the start of the meeting.

The council first heard from Pedernales Electric Company (PEC) spokesperson, James Crawford. Crawford informed the council that on March 14th, the PEC had successfully converted some old transformers into news ones that could handle a higher voltage in an effort to help keep costs down to PEC members. He also told them that they are starting a new program called "Inside PEC." This new program is intended to allow PEC members the opportunity to see how the company operates from the inside of operations.

Following Crawford’s presentation, Johnson City Little League President, Earl North spoke to the council. North began his speech by telling council members, that he was pleased to announce that the Johnson City Little League (JCLL) is celebrating their 25th year this year. "This is a big milestone, and I’m proud of it…everyone should be," North said. The purpose, however, of North’s presentation dealt with a much less glamorous subject – trash pickup. The JCLL had recently received a bill from the city for garbage pickup services for approximately $820.

"As long as I’ve been on the [JCLL] board – we’ve never been charged for [garbage] service," North said. The league currently runs for three months out of the year, April thru June. They have 1 dumpster, and 8 "green, tote trash cans." North made the claim that the JCLL is different from other surrounding ball leagues in the fact that the JCLL is completely self-sufficient. "We currently pay for all of our utilities, and we pay a mortgage for our property," he said. According to North, "the other leagues have their grounds maintained by the city…[but] we don’t operate that way. The other leagues have city support for water, and electricity...[but] everything we do is maintained by us. This expense becomes rather large. [Furthermore,] our entry fees are some of the lowest in the area."

North concluded his presentation by asking the city to help the JCLL from incurring the $820 trash services bill. "We’d like the city to donate this bill," he said.

City Council Member, Ralph Moss stated, "The problem is that we didn’t budget for this [item]… and our budget was already pretty thin to begin with… I don’t know where we would come up with this $800.

After some further conversation, the council agreed that they would like Johnson City City Manager, David Dockery to call IESI, the area trash service company, to try and negotiate a better deal for the JCLL.

Local business owner, Ray Weeks also spoke to the council this evening. Weeks has been adamantly working towards his dream of opening a free community center where local youth can hang out on the weekends in a safe, drug and alcohol free environment. Weeks, presented two floor plans to the city council for starting a non-profit organization called the Youth Community Assistance Program (YCAP). Weeks has joined forces with local Police Chief, Randy Holland and area pastor, Keburn Rush along with their spouses and children.

According to Weeks, "kids in the community will have opportunities and they will develop relationships. In the absence of positive opportunities and relationships, they will find the alternatives… "I’ve lost too many [students] in even my karate class to drugs and negative relationships." In life, there are dreamers and doers – Ray Weeks is one of those few individuals who embodies both qualities. Since YCAP’s inception, they have hosted two video game tournaments at the ASB Karate Studio in Johnson City. They had 48 high schoolers and 28 middle schoolers attend their most recent event.

Weeks told the City Council about one particular success story from YCAP’s recent activities. "There was a young lady who was having a birthday party. Some kids from [a nearby town] arrived at the party and they brought drugs and alcohol to her party. Ten kids from that party left [that atmosphere] and went to the YCAP event instead." "If these ten kids were the only kids that we had impacted – I’d say we were successful," he stated proudly.

According to Weeks, the YCAP has a dream to expand from Week’s local gym to a larger building. "My small gym just can’t accommodate that many people at one time," he said. "I am here to ask you to support the possibility of building an area for these kids. I am a man of a very strong faith…I operate on that faith…and I believe my Lord and Savior is using me to impact His world in the best way that I can…" he added.

Originally the YCAP was considering leasing the Old Super S Building in town for the youth in the community. However, the owners of this building are asking approximately $8000 a month to rent this property. So, YCAP is exploring the possibility of taking over the lease at the old Cox family dealership building on the corner of Hwy 290 and Nugent Avenue instead.

Weeks believes that this building would be affordable enough, however he is seeking permission from the city to waive the fee required for pulling building permits. David Dockery, presented a plan for finding out the exact cost of doing this and offered to present his findings at the next city council meeting.

The next YCAP event will take place on April 10th, at the ASB Karate studio in Johnson City. The event is intended to take on a "Fear Factor" like theme, complete with games, free food, and guaranteed fun for the youth in Blanco County. Watch the Johnson City Record Courier for more details about the next event.

Following Weeks presentation, a number of residents left – obviously their attendance at the meeting was simply to show support to YCAP and the efforts of Weeks, Rush, and Holland.

The Johnson City Chamber of Commerce presented a report to the City Council informing them that the Chamber is "well within budget."

They stated that the next Chamber event to take place will be the local "Wildflower Days," on April 16th and 17th.

The Council discussed a few other items, such as a wastewater treatment grant, the progress that the Planning and Zoning Committee made towards the Sign Ordinance, and the Johnson City Police Report.

Due to the fact that all three city council candidates are running for re-election unopposed, the city decided to save some money and not hold an election this year.

Following this decision, they approved the minutes and bills, and adjourned for the evening.