Marfa
The City Council met Tuesday to discuss a variety of issues, from water meters and park improvements to a new contract needed for the EMS medical director. One notable action was a change in the structure of the Planning & Zoning Commission to increase the number of members in hopes of making meeting quorums easier.
“Meeting a quorum with the current composition of five, or actually they’re down a member, so it’s four, so needing three out of four to attend for a meeting has caused some problems over the last year with things getting pushed,” said Councilmember Travis Acreman, who explained that he had crafted a new proposal with P&Z Chair Chick Rabourn to have seven members and two alternates. Acreman said, for example, “A hearing would have been noticed in the paper and then a quorum isn’t possible on the day of.”
Acreman noted that the commission will have more important work ahead next year for a new comprehensive plan. (Those plans are usually done every 10 years and the last was completed in 2017.) “So they’re looking for more support, not just for the regular meetings, but also to start doing community outreach workshop kind of things with the comprehensive plan,” he said.
Council members discussed the pros and cons of an expanded commission at length, trying to decide what make-up would achieve the best possibility of quorums at meetings. Ultimately, members agreed to ensure the commission had five members and two alternates that could fill in when commission members were unavailable to attend meetings. The change passed unanimously.
Park plans get a nod
Michael Camacho, Parks and Recreation Board chair, went through a few of the details of a new design plan for city parks, with focus on recent recommendations for Sunset Park. Council members got a preview of those plans on June 30 when they held a joint meeting/tour with parks board members on June 30.
Camacho said landscape and shade changes would be the most likely additions, whereas a bathroom, while highly desirable to board members, might not make as much sense now. While the costs could be as high as $1.5 million, that’s not an indication of how much will actually be spent, Camacho said. “That’s just a number that was thrown out by the landscape architect’s design,” he said. “Ultimately, the parks board will determine the money we wanna put into it. And of course, we always come to the City Council first for guidance and permission on any of those capital campaign projects that we’ll institute.” The council unanimously approved the plan.
Water tower fixes and possible lease
The council agreed to enter into an agreement with Maguire Iron for $10,000 in repairs to “touch up damage to the roof and sidewalls of the purple and white standpipe caused by loose antenna conduit hanging from the backside of the tank, blowing back and forth and knocking paint off.”
Still in limbo is a proposal from Verizon Wireless to lease that water tower with a one-time payment of $500,000 and to “partner and co-share with MD7 to acquire any future leases on city water towers (excluding the historic silver water tower), subject to case-by-case approval of our water tower maintenance firm Maguire.” Telecommunications firms use the towers for antennas to provide mobile phone service. The council had tabled the item previously awaiting more information from Verizon on lease specifics, and with no new information by Tuesday, the item was tabled again.
Teresa Todd, the city’s legal advisor, told the council she had received word from another firm proposing a lease — 3O7Digital — that it was withdrawing its proposal.
Smart meter costs rise, but project on track
Installation of smart water meters, which use radio frequencies to report water usage back to the city instead of traditional meter readers, is about 35% complete, with about 600 installed and an estimated six more weeks for completion, city officials heard at Tuesday’s meeting.
However, council members were confronted with additional costs that required an infusion of $71,395 into the installation contract. In getting into the actual installations, the contractor and city discovered additional, larger meters needed. The change also provides for the purchase of a working inventory of various-sized meters for future needs.
Medical director agreement revisited
EMS departments are required to have medical directors, licensed physicians, at the helm who provide clinical supervision, protocol development, and credentialing of emergency medical services personnel. Patrick Daley has served that role for Marfa, but the city couldn’t find a written agreement for his role, which became a problem this month as EMS faces a routine state inspection that requires a formal agreement.
Big Bend Sentinel, in a story on the new budget for 2023, reported at the time that Daly would be compensated $400, but apparently that contract was never signed and Daly never was paid and served voluntarily for no compensation. Concerns were raised about trying to back-date a contract, and whether Daly’s partner, then City Councilmember Mark Morrison, created a situation of nepotism. The city’s outside counsel advised that the council could create a new agreement now with no legal risk.
“Daly has been serving since March 20, 2024, as our medical director,” Todd told the council. “But as things sometimes happen, it didn’t get written down. It didn’t get memorialized,” she said. “Marfa EMS has a state inspection on the 22nd, and one of the things on the punch list is that we have to have a written agreement.” Todd noted that in many instances, the directors are paid high salaries but that Daly has volunteered for the role for free.
Councilmember Emily Kolb also raised concerns about a confrontation Daly had with a woman at a council meeting last year in which the police had to separate the two after a heated exchange.
Todd said she could draw up a new contract instead of back-dating one and have it ready by July 22. “ If we don’t have a medical director, we will go under immediate emergency suspension by the state of Texas and won’t have an EMS,” she said. She stressed that the council could take that action now and then discuss putting out a request for proposals, if desired, for a new director and decide on any compensation during the budget process this summer. The council agreed and unanimously voted to proceed with a new contract with Daly.
