City Council - Regular Meeting

We have 6 o'clock.

We'll call this regular meeting on June 8th. City Council to order. Terry, please prepare.

Father, we thank you for writing us to send more. We pray for Roxy to not heal her body. Put life back in her. Pray for all the others that have lost loved ones or have been sent out right now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Okay, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Approve the minutes of May 26, 2026.

Make a motion we approve the consent agenda. Second.

Motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? There are no. Regular agenda, public comment. We only have two public. I think they're both here for other reasons.

The only thing I've got is tomorrow, I'll be in in the morning and then probably around lunchtime, Sarah and I are leaving to go to public investments training. We have to have this class every two years and it doesn't end until Thursday afternoon. I won't be back in the office till Friday. So anybody's welcome to take my place. I'll gladly give it up.

That is the most boring, boring training I've ever been to for years and years and years. Every 2 years, and I'm telling you.

That's the same thing.

Well, check the government traders off. It's the same training. And it's a lot better. Hey, we'll move on to item to discuss our act upon groundwater. At least. I mean, city of Dalhart and rest in farms.

Yes, sir. This is the groundwater lease that we've had since it was initially enacted in 2014. It comes up for renewal every two years. They pay just like they're supposed to pay. I believe this is the water lease out there by the airport. I mean, I don't remember how great the well is. So, I mean, I didn't see any reason not to three years of lease for another two years i mean i'll answer any questions he pays nine thousand dollars for it make a motion that we accept the agreement that's been there since 2014. second motion second any further discussion

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Item three, discuss or act upon the monument installation release and agreement.

City Secretary Austin's going to present this one. It is basically over cemetery plots for the city.

Please all come up here and do this officially, I guess. Okay, so good evening mayor and members of city council. Tonight I'm proposing the implementation of a monument release and agreement that will be sent to area monument companies. Recently an issue arose where an individual that did not have ownership rights to a cemetery plot visited a monument company not here in Dalhart. And in that meeting, a monument was designed and purchased by the same individual, not just without the permission of the decedent's family, but against their verbal refuse to allow the individual to purchase the monument. Though this does not happen often here within the City of Dalhart, the need to have this release and agreement adopted is important. The purpose of implementing a monument installation release and authorization agreement is to clearly document approval and responsibility before any monument is placed on cemetery property. While the plot owner has the right to authorize a monument for their lot, the cemetery and city also have an obligation to ensure that all installations comply with cemetery regulations. safety standards, and maintenance requirements. This agreement serves several important functions. One, it documents authorization, provides written confirmation that both the plot owner and city management have approved the monument installation, reducing the risk of future disputes regarding permission or placement. Two, protects the cemetery and city. Monuments can be affected by settling, weather, vandalism, maintenance, activities, or other conditions beyond the cemetery's control. The release helps clarify that the cemetery is not responsible for damages resulting from these circumstances. Three, it establishes responsibility. The agreement identifies who is responsible for the cost of installation, repair, replacement, or removal of the monument if needed in the future. Four, ensures compliance with standards. By requiring approval before installation, the cemetery can verify that monument dimensions, materials, foundations, and placement meet established cemetery regulations and do not interfere with neighboring plots, maintenance operations, or public safety. Five, provides consistency and transparency. Having a standard release process ensures all families and monument companies are treated equally and understand the expectations before work begins. Lastly, number six reduces future liability and misunderstandings. Written documentation protects all parties by clearly defining approvals, responsibilities, and expectations at the time of installation rather than relying on verbal discussions or assumptions years later. In short, the release is not intended to create additional obstacles for these families as it's hard enough dealing with the loss, grieving, adjusting to a new normal. Or rather, it provides a clear, consistent process that protects the interests of the plot owner, the cemetery and the city while helping ensure monuments are installed safely, appropriately and in accordance with cemetery policies.

Can't believe somebody go through the expense for something that's not even there. Did they have it placed and everything?

Made for it and family came and found it and.

it's a it's a family dispute that's what we've been to this place and so with this sheet we correctify that everybody will come here and sign off on everything and make sure that everybody's in agreement that that's where that monument will go and brian did review this and he approved so my only thing i guess is so if you were saying you own the plot right yep

You own the plot, it's yours. Well, if you're the deceased and you own the plot, then who can put a monument on it if you did?

Well, I think next of kin.

But then how do you split that whenever it's like four or five kids that are fighting over the monument? That's their problem. That's their problem.

See what I'm saying? That's their problem. Yeah. This is, I mean. They'll have to go to a judge for a probate at a will anyway. That'd be part of the property.

And then my other one is number four on the release and hold harmless. removal of relocation required for cemetery operation safety regulatory compliance so if we're having to move it and we damage it it says same for the city if we removal and relocation required for cemetery operations yeah if we had if we for some reason moved it yeah we damage it that holds them us not liable if we move it for our operations i don't like that because if we're moving it to make sure that we we're digging and we have to move monument we damage it we need to be honest but this is saying no so we need to fix that number four needs to be fixed to make it where we are we are moving for cemetery operations we are negligent yes but yes and we need to be held responsible because we need to be careful when we do those things it can't just be and i don't know

Actually, we don't move them.

We don't move them. We hire Wallace or whoever the monument company is.

It's still on us, isn't it?

That's why we hire somebody else.

We're not responsible. Whoever is doing it needs to be held responsible for moving that monument. If they mess it up, they need to pay for it.

But since I've been here, I don't think there's ever been a monument that's been moved for maintenance purposes. Just removed because it wasn't authorized to be placed there because it's purchased by somebody who didn't even know.

And I get that, but I'm just saying, I want to make sure we're going to do this. We're going to pass this that it's correct.

And if somebody else is going to do it, make sure they have the insurance liability to cover that.

Yeah, that's one of the walls. It's 1 of the monument companies that are the ones that are. That's why we always use them.

Well, we have, we have Osgoode-Lagrone, we have InSquare Monuments, we have Legacy Monument, we have Sterling.

Wallace.

Wallace, which I haven't seen a whole lot from Wallace lately. It's mainly InSquare, which is what they use here for Dalhart Funeral Home. And then Osgoode-Lagrone, those are our two. And Legacy Monuments starting to come up quite a bit, which they have their own insurance to cover. their liabilities.

I mean, we just need to make sure they do, I guess. Just, you know. Yeah.

And this form does give her authorization to sign off on the whole setting too, which I think is great because, and I'll be honest, I don't know the layout. If somebody told me, come in and where's this green man, I'd go.

Oh, Wendy told me she had already talked to and she said that most of them all already have this agreement in place. Yes.

Because they, they want it for this reason right here. Okay.

Make a motion that we pass this regulatory compliance with the. Interrogation on item 4. 2nd.

motion second any further discussion all in favor aye any opposed no or no item four discuss our act one recommendation from hotel oxygen tax committee to provide funding an amount of fifty thousand for the big rig roundup event uh yes sir um huck tax met a couple weeks ago uh and a representative from the big rig roundup uh

came and met with them and requested money to help fund their event. I think this is the third year for this event and over the last couple years it's kept growing. I did personally meet with josh josh is here josh is here josh is here yeah he went here a minute ago when i looked back there and uh i met with josh kind of gave him the ins and outs and so i gave him a recommendation of somebody to help him with all the paperwork and stuff like that he was in agreeance uh everybody thought it was a great idea and we want to support them in any way we can yeah definitely anything now josh

Make a motion we approve the 15,000 for the big rig roundup event. Second.

Motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? All right. Item five, discuss or act upon a request from Dallin-Marley County Amateur Radio Club to place an antenna and repeater on 12th Street water tower.

uh yes sir tom's here yeah to kind of go over this they they came to me and uh and wanted to place an antenna and a repeater on on the water tower and i will say when we met There are some facts that I didn't know about. And if y'all do approve this tonight, I would like for the motion to be 12th Street or one of the other water towers in the city to reflect this. But you can kind of use the ins and outs for this radio. Yeah.

My name is Tom O'Mellon. I'm here on behalf of the Dalham Hartley Amateur Radio Club. We've got members in Dalhart, Hartley, Text Line, Clayton. And one of the things we've been working on for the last couple of years is creating a network of repeaters in strategic locations in order to facilitate radio transmissions, either through walkie talkies or ones in vehicles. A primary driver that is for our memberships that we can talk to other people in our group. But a extra thing that we can do with that is emergency communications and things like that. We have the capability through the internet and internet tunneling. We can tie our network into the greater Amarillo panhandle emergency communication networks as well. um we've currently got towers uh north of town in clayton in stratford a semi-operational one in dumas but one thing we do not have is a central delhart location to kind of tie everything together um as you know we have had cell phone outages in this town before that lasted way too long so the ability to have that extra capability case of emergencies or situations where communication falls down, I think would be a pretty big asset. And the investment on y'all's part is literally a location and a power outlet.

Just thought of something. What about the tower up there behind the furniture fashion?

The really big one? If y'all have the ability to get us access to that, I'd love to put one there. The more elevation we have, The better and the farther that we can get that signal out, then we have redundancy by using that. So if the reason that I've kind of looked at and we scouted out the water towers are they were the highest. most central kind of locations that we could come up with. I had talked privately with the individuals that owned the large grain bins and for insurance reasons and things like that, they passed on that. So that's when I reached out to JJ and we started talking about the water towers. But if we have the access to put it on top of that,

don't want to be on the top of that well anything hired in the water tower it's i don't want having a 400 foot tall or something like that it's a pretty big one i i didn't think about that and then i just just thought about that i don't know who's in whose is that it's on our lease it's on our lease but it's uh who owns the tower uh that's hometown is that five five yeah

If that's somebody that I or somebody else needs to reach out and see if that's a possibility, I can. But the water towers at that point are also, will suffice. But the more height is always better.

I'm sure it would be a lot easier as far as logistics.

So would you ever talk to maybe Coopers about their tower behind John Deere? uh i did not know who owned it so no i haven't that was one that i'd looked at as well but never could figure out who owned it i don't know who's in charge now that jay has passed away i guess colton or one of the girls or that was their tower uh janine i guess would be probably maybe one to talk to and i don't know how they got that all tied up yeah no clue

For the time being, I don't sure we'll have a problem with using a water tower unless you can find something else.

There's going to be a lot of expense to getting a cable up to the top of those, so you don't want to do it once.

Yeah, I mean, we've got some people that are certified to go and run those and all that. So I don't think on our end the cost for that's going to be too crazy. We scouted out the water tower off of, was that Texas Street? 12th, sorry. And that little building underneath can house everything. There's room for our equipment on that. We're providing the antenna. The only thing we need to look into is exactly how it will mount up there. But that's something we're actively researching.

The one on Texas, it's got a V-top where it used to have a light, but it doesn't have a light anymore, so you could actually possibly put it straight on top of it.

I'm open to every option.

It has a power source in the bottom on it as well.

Okay, cool, cool. You know how many times I've heard about when we're going to put a light on that water tunnel?

We don't have to anymore.

How many feet is it?

It used to be the one that had to climb up there because nobody else was afraid to.

if it's under two foot it doesn't have one if it doesn't require what about that water tower out there If you looked at that, I want to say that one's owned by the prison, but I guess I really don't know. It's already in us and it's ours. It'd be ours. And we're getting a little bit outside of town at that point. Whereas if I can, that's what I was wondering about. It's really, it's a little bit better. Then somebody can go and walk out with their handheld in their backyard and jump into it versus the farther away it is from the central population.

I don't know if there are things that are 911 stuff all goes through, PRPC goes through that one. Yeah. I just thought about that one up there. You wouldn't be in conflict with anybody.

no and we realistically should not uh because of our duplexes and other equipment we've got we shouldn't be in interference with any of that that's literally rule number one in the book is don't mess with the guys that need to use those so uh from my understanding there should not be any conflict on the radio band that would cause any issues on that but we can definitely look a little bit deeper into that as well yeah i don't have a problem with that either make motion

that we approve the Delham-Hartley County Amateur Radio Club to be able to place an antenna on any water tower or any other spot available as per yes on JJ.

Second. Do we have a motion?

I'll second.

I'll second. I didn't hear you.

I'll second it.

Terry seconded it too.

Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nine.

Make a motion that we adjourn.

Second.