Council tables sign removal request
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

Amid lingering questions about a citizen petition, the Lampasas City Council on Monday tabled a proposal to remove a stone monument from the entrance of Diamond Ridge Drive.

Bill Gadsby, who lives at 1913 Diamond Ridge Dr., turned in to Public Works Director Randy Clark a petition with 28 signatures in favor of removing the sign and two opposed.

Gadsby said the nine-foot-wide sign creates a safety hazard by narrowing Diamond Ridge Drive. Large delivery trucks also slam on their brakes and try to turn too sharply onto the street when they see the sign, he added.

The resident also said he believes removing the sign and resloping Diamond Ridge Drive would solve a drainage problem at his driveway.

Neighbor Don Ralph, however, said he does not see evidence of a drainage problem and does not believe removing the sign would resolve the issue even if a drainage problem did exist. Ralph signed the petition in favor of the sign removal, but he told the council he was confused about what he had been asked to sign and that he opposes removal of the monument.

Ralph said he and Valerie Dickens, another homeowner who opposes the sign removal, understood the monument was part of the original design of the subdivision.

Councilman Les Gerhardt also said he thought the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plat for Diamond Ridge with the stone monument included.

Mayor Pro Tem John Cole, however, said he did not recall Planning and Zoning approving a sign as wide as nine feet.

Mayor Judy Hetherly said she expects traffic to increase on Diamond Ridge Drive if city crews remove the structure from the middle of the street.

The council tabled the matter to review the Planning and Zoning vote, and to clarify which citizens favor and which oppose removal of the sign.

Council members also tabled discussion of raising the franchise fee charged to Atmos Energy. The city collects about $60,000 from the 3 percent fee it charges Atmos, but it can raise the fee to as high as 5 percent, which would equal the cable and waste management franchise fees.

A 5 percent fee would generate about $40,000 in additional annual revenue for Lampasas, but Atmos would charge utility customers more to cover the company's increased cost.

The city must give Atmos written notice at least 60 days before a fee increase would take effect.

In other business, the council voted 7-0 to purchase two mobile notebook computers at $4,292 apiece for the Lampasas Police Department.

The computers would allow patrol officers to perform license plate and driver's license checks from the patrol car and to com- plete incident reports without having to return to the police station.

Police Chief Tim Angermann said the computers also would reduce the workload for dispatchers and give them more time to handle calls to the police station.

"It's a very good tool for the officers to have," said Angermann.

Funds for the equipment come from the seized-funds account, which the police chief said contains slightly more than $17,000.

Angermann's official request called for just one notebook computer, but City Manager Michael Stoldt told the council the chief hoped to get two. Stoldt said he did not oppose purchasing a second computer and did not mind Angermann asking the council for another unit.

The city manager did say, however, he thought it might be wiser to buy one computer now and wait until budget hearings later this year to allocate funds for the second.

"It is very easy to spend money now when there's nothing competing with it," Stoldt said, "but come October you might wish you had that $4,000 you just voted to spend."

In other matters, the council voted to waive $15,500 in building permit fees for renovation work the Lampasas Independent School District will perform at the existing high school campus and at Kline Whitis Elementary.

Building permit fees are $5 per $1,000 of renovation costs. Bids for the two school projects total $3.1 million.

Stoldt said the city has been working to improve relations with the school district, and the waiver might help the two entities cooperate.

Ms. Hetherly added that because the agreement is between two taxing entities, she is not concerned about establishing a precedent that would cause private citizens to call for more waivers.

In other business Monday, the council:

• approved first reading of an ordinance to abandon a portion of an alley between Race and Park streets, to set the fair-market value at $1,357 and to authorize the mayor to execute a quitclaim deed.

• approved first reading of an ordinance to abandon a 56-by-60- foot parcel in the unopened, southernmost portion of Park Street and to authorize the mayor to execute a quitclaim deed.

• voted unanimously to award L.A. Porter Construction Inc. a $54,000 bid for 8,000 tons of flexible crushed limestone base material to be used for the city's 2008 paving and maintenance program.

• voted 7-0 to award a $15,515 contract to Dublin-based Bradberry Builders Supply for a shop/garage building at Oak Hill Cemetery.

• voted unanimously to award Computer Discount Warehouse- Government a $5,227 quote for a replacement server for the City Administration Building.