The Dublin City Council approved moving delinquent collection services to another company, held public hearings and heard about a collaboration to help a Dublin resident.
Representatives from Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott were on hand Monday, Feb. 10 to answer questions as councilmembers discussed contracting with the firm for the collection of delinquent municipal court fines and fees and delinquent utility fees.
City Manager Bobby Mendez reported administration recently looked into fees owned in both fields revealing more than $600,000 owed in court fines and more than $300,000 in utility fines.
Mendez said they started looking into it when they weren’t receiving any collections from MVBA, the firmtheCouncilunanimously voted to notify of termination of services (ending 30 days after notification). Councilmember Jacob McCullough was absent from the meeting.
Mendez said they had received less than $5,000 of the owed fees in the last three years.
The council present also unanimously approved an Economic Development Corporation grant of $11,920 to the Stephenville/Dublin KOA Campground at 1205 N. FM219 in Dublin following the second reading and public hearing. EDC President Paul Bradberry reminded everyone that EDC operates with its own budget of sales tax dollars to put back into the community and spur business.
Bradberry said the grant is higher than regular grants sought from the EDC but those are usually repaying up to 75% of $10,000 in improvements while KOA has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in development.
“It’s phenomenal what they’ve done,” said Bradberry.
Council also unanimously approved the demolition of two substandard structures at 429 Highland. Mendez reported the hearing was delayed a bit as it was difficult to get in contact with documented owner and a second interested party appeared to have been sold the property but didn’t have the legal deed.
Neither was present for the hearing and there were no comments.
A Board of Adjustments request was also presented for a setback variance for a storage building at 302 N. Patrick and the property was a too shallow for the regular setback. Code enforcement didn’t notice any other issues or violations but Council asked to table the matter for the dimensions of the planned building.
In public comments, Rod McNeal of Revitalize Dublin saidMendezhadapproached them about two weeks ago regarding a house on Camden where the porch had collapsed as emergency crews were transporting the resident outside. McNeal said the work was outside of RD’s scope but the group still wanted to help so he reached out to the Texas Ramp Project, which provides ramp access to Texas residents in need. The group is supposed to be connected with EMS director John Tadlock to find a solution.
James Ballard also presented a proposal for designated parking on one side of Grafton street, noting that traffic is difficult in some spots when cars are parked on both sides.
Dublin Police Chief Cameron Ray presented a trio of requests including the approval of up to $12,500 for the purchase of Ford F-150 in a police auction. The funds are coming through the remaining amount from the sale of an ambulance. The vehicle is intended for code enforcement use and included a lift to help with animal control. The truck is being sold by the city of University Park which automatically retires vehicles at a certain mile cap. Chief Ray also requested the ability to list a 2014 Polaris four wheeler the department got free through a surplus program and has used only a few times and the sale of a ballistic vest purchased for a Dublin officer to Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office where he is moving.