Sparks fly at Lone Star City Council meeting

By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@steelcountrybee.com
 
It was a war of words between a Lone Star resident and the town’s mayor at the March 21 meeting of the Lone Star City Council. Each signed up to speak in the citizens comment portion of the meeting regarding the mayor’s mileage records.
Travis Pool said he wanted Mayor Nick Nichols to talk about reimbursement records for his mileage charged to the city.
“What I am about to say, is as respectfully as I can,” Mr. Pool said. “I am asking the Texas Rangers and Chief Larry Fleet to investigate. I am asking that his mileage sheets be investigated. There are no odometer readings or nothing.  We are paying each month – he is getting a check over $300. Last month he drove over 800 miles in his personal vehicle. The Attorney General said the only way a city mayor can be reimbursed is if he is acting in the city’s business.  In the last two years the checks have added up to more than $7,000. I would like to know if he is provided a credit card by the city, why he doesn’t use the credit card instead of asking for a reimbursement. He says he went 53 miles to Hughes Springs, and we know that is not 53 miles.”
On Aug. 27, 2009, the council unanimously approved mileage reimbursement to the mayor of 50½ cents per mile.
Mayor Nichols had also signed up for public comment.
“I want to talk about comments that are going around town,” Mayor Nichols said. “What I do is - this is how many miles I rode that day. I can’t put down every time I stop in town. If I go out of town, the mileage will be more. I can’t put down every time I stop as if I did that, I would be doing it all the time. I have been taking a brainwashing for quite a while now, but I want you all to see some of the negative stuff that I am putting up with through the stuff he (Mr. Pool) is putting on Facebook.”
Mr. Pool interrupted, saying he had the freedom of speech.
“It is a social media place,” Mr. Pool said.
“Chief Fleet said you asked him what to do—not to investigate,” Mayor Nichols said.
“You had your say; you need to shut up. I am fed up with that stuff and all the crap you put on there.  He doesn’t listen to what he hears. What he is doing is making the city look bad. He will have it all on Facebook before we get out of here.
“I wasn’t going to bring up anything like that until he did. I will be blasted as soon as he gets to the house. He has requested all this stuff. I have nothing to hide.”
City Secretary Ruth Nash said the mileage did not add up to $7,000.
“It has the amounts in the accounts payable when it is submitted and also again in the accounts payable when it is paid,” Ms. Nash said. “The amount will be shown twice.”
Chief Fleet said there was no criminal investigation regarding the mayor’s mileage reimbursement.
Mr. Pool had asked the city to furnish him with information on what happened to pipe the city had in its possession.
“I have complied with the Freedom of Information Act regarding the mayor’s mileage,” Ms. Nash said. “A lot of the other Freedom of Information Act has to do with stuff over 10 years old. On that you can charge $15 an hour plus overhead for labor. I looked through the records, and it was so old you couldn’t find it. In compiling the information, the bill came to over $500. I compiled all the papers, but no one has paid me for it.
“I found out you can require a deposit before you actually start work and I should have done that. I told him (Mr. Pool)  it would be released when the city is paid. He will be disappointed as we did not find anything.”
In other business, Ken Kennedy asked the council to consider passing an ordinance prohibiting smoking in any public place, which is an enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted. The matter was tabled for further information.
“I think this is going to have a lot of legal ramifications,” Mayor Nichols said. “It would mean any area. Anyone can ban their own area.”
Mr. Kennedy said most people think smoking is bad in a public place.
“On the Federal level, smoking has been banned in Federal places.” he said. “Twenty-eight states have bans. Texas is not one of those states. They do have somewhat of a smoking ban. as in 1997 they passed a law prohibiting smoking near public schools, libraries, trains, and other places. It doesn’t include all public places. It has been discussed on the state level, but did not come to a vote. We all know the hazards of smoking. As a matter of fact, once a ban is put in place, as time goes by, more and more people support the ban.
“I am asking that the general public be protected against smoking. Unless they post a no smoking sign, it is legal to smoke.”
Councilwoman Martha Wexler gave her opinion.
“I would like to agree with it, but I think the governments get their nose into things they should not get into,” Mrs. Wexler said. “They want to say what you eat and how much you should eat. I think it is a health hazard, but I think an individual business should put up its own no smoking signs.”
The council approved designating the month of April as spring cleanup in Lone Star. Approval was given to hire a part-time person for the summer at $10 an hour for a maximum of 700 hours. They will be mowing, among other summer jobs.
The council discussed, but took no action on raising water and sewer rates.
“We need to check our rates, and we need to go up on them,” Mayor Nichols said “If we get this loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they will tell us what it takes to operate.”
“We are going to need to allow some time to work on what we think the rates are,” Ms. Nash said. “I already pulled some stats on what other cities charge. We are going to need a work shop down the line and have a rate increase for next year’s budget.”