“These are items I’ve been called on many, many times,” said Taylor Mayor Fay Hatch, referring to several items placed on the town council’s March 7 agenda at the request of Councilman Shawn Palmer. “As far as I’m concerned, these are items right here that make the citizens happy if it’s happening. I appreciate them being on here.”
The first item was a detention pond, which was brought to Palmer’s attention by an unnamed citizen who had heard in the past that a retention pond near the airport was being considered. Palmer expressed concern for property owners who are required to pay higher insurance premiums because their homes are in a flood plain.
Public Works Director Ron Solomon explained that it would be a detention pond, and gave a brief history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which developed a 100-year flood plain map in 1973 to deal with natural disasters. The banks had to enforce this, causing higher insurance premiums for homes in the floodplain.
Solomon further explained that Taylor had an opportunity to do some things, but they are enforced federally, very costly and it takes time to have the floodplain changed. He noted that the town was negotiating the purchase of more land to expand the airport. “That did not happen,” he said.
“I would like to be clear on that, because there’s people that live in this area that have heard about detention ponds and feel the city is dragging their feet,” said Mayor Hatch.
Duthie clarified the matter, stating that approximately 12½ acres of state land on the east side of the airport runway was being discussed for a detention basin. State officials came, walked the site and met with town staff, and the report from state land called the land “undevelopable,” which meant it could be used as a detention basin. That was in 2007. The economic crash happened in 2008, and the State Land Department downsized and was slow to respond. The town’s goal was to get a 50-year lease for $1 for the purpose of constructing a detention basin. No more has been done on that.
Duthie reported that he continues to contact state land, but each time he deals with a new person and it has gone nowhere.
Solomon said they hired an engineering firm to do a preliminary study and their estimate for completion was $750,000.
“We begged people for proof of damage, because we can get grants, but it has to be a dollar for dollar, spending on the damage,” he said.
Duthie said public meetings were held, staff members, including Duthie, went door to door to get estimates and those they found had minor amounts of damage.
“We have gone that route in trying to find ways to solve this, but, again, our hands are relatively tied in finding ways to solve this,” said Duthie. “We have to do things under the rules that exist.”
“I see two issues,” said Palmer, “the damage caused by the floods and then there’s the high flood insurance issue.”
“Let’s keep working on it,” said Mayor Hatch.
The next item was a pick up broom and street sweeper.
“I propose that we look at spending an enormous amount of money and buy a pick up broom,” said Palmer. “It would be a major pride issue if we could keep our streets clean.”
“I would like to propose that with another little twist,” Palmer continued, noting that he talked to Snowflake Public Works Director Terry Cooper and suggested that if the drivers were kept on the broom and the pothole repair machine, they could share machines.
Duthie said that he has had discussions on cost share and service sharing with Snowflake.
“Administratively, it’s been received well,” said Duthie. “We are in the process already of trying to find a way to share and, quite frankly, there’s a lot of sharing that goes on already. This is just a continuation of that.”
Loretta Whitlow, a Taylor resident, suggested using prisoners and doing away with street sweepers.
Palmer said he liked the suggestion, which was discussed briefly.
“There are many roads that what they look like to me is broken edges need to be picked up, the road needs to be repaired with hot mix,” said the councilman. He suggested road shoulders be repaired and then add AB material to keep it from crumbling, and suggested it be done in-house.
Palmer’s next item was business license fees. He expressed concern that there is a $50 fee to sell a load of wood or sweet corn, to baby sit or to give piano lessons, and suggested they get rid of the fee.
It was noted that Palmer was referring to a temporary use permit, and Duthie said it didn’t include babysitting or piano lessons.
Councilman Jared Hatch said they discussed creating a business license, but the idea met with opposition.
The council agreed they did not want to charge a fee; but it was a state mandate that they would have to charge a $10 fee.
“If we had nothing, it would be no fee,” said Mayor Hatch, who suggested they vote that night.
Use permits are set by ordinance, so it was decided that it should be on the next agenda for discussion.
“I had a lot of people say they get paid on Friday and they want to pay their bills,” said Palmer regarding town hall being closed on Friday. “I strongly believe that we all need to be available for hearing the concerns of people, for addressing things, for being there and being available.”
“We’ve been closed on Friday for about a year now,” said Duthie, explaining that it was designated as a catch up day and some staff’s hours were cut so they take off Friday. “If there’s a huge outcry from the public, I have not heard that.” He noted that citizens can pay their water bills by using the drop off box out front of town hall.
“Wasn’t that in correlation with decisions made by council?” asked Councilman Hatch.
Staff members said that it was.
Town Attorney Sterling Solomon suggested they talk to staff members before making changes.
“We’ve had these discussions with staff. We’ve had that operation in place. That’s micromanaging,” said Duthie, who encouraged council members to talk to staff and let them know rather than coming to council meetings and having a discussion that staff is not prepared for.
“We have these discussions all the time. Part of it is what is the public’s response and if there’s an outcry, obviously we want to address that, but we haven’t heard an outcry,” said Duthie. “This is an administrative decision that can be fixed tomorrow. We have the discussions all the time.”
Mayor Hatch said he had received four calls on the matter, but no other council members said they had received calls complaining about town hall being closed on Fridays.
“I’ve got quite a few people that have talked to me about elm trees growing in the right-of-way,” said Palmer who gave the example of First West north of Willow. The councilman said that they were growing out to the road, creating a hazard and restricting driving.
Duthie asked Palmer if he had looked at it and determined it was a hazard, and requested that if there is a hazard, that the councilman call him immediately and it would be taken care of.
“I wouldn’t say it was a major hazard, but it’s a nuisance,” said Palmer.
The last concern was blading dirt roads. Palmer acknowledged that he was not sure which roads should be maintained at the town’s expense. “I would like to see more maintenance along the lines of a water truck,” said Palmer, suggesting they give it a day to soak and then blade the road.
“This is continual,” said Duthie, explaining that the town doesn’t own every road, that a road will be dedicated to the town, but the town needs to accept it to a certain standard.
“I work in fear around here every day that we’re going to get someone hurt out there working alone,” said Solomon.
Duthie said that Solomon made it very clear that because of layoffs, the level of service expectation has not decreased, but the town does not have the staff that it did. “There’s more work with less people, just keep that in mind,” said Duthie.
“We’re grateful for what has been done. The main reason for bringing these things up tonight is we want to do everything we can to make Taylor a better place,” said Mayor Hatch. “If nothing’s talked about and nothing’s done, the perception is that nothing’s being done.”
