Fairfield City Council

The Jan. 30 noon meeting of Fairfield City Council was canceled approximately 20 minutes after it began because no quorum was present. According to the Texas Municipal League (TML), a quorum is three or more members of the council. The council met again Tuesday, Feb. 5, to hire officer Markeisha Cox for the police department. “Due to the flu and other commitments, we were not able to secure a quorum for last Wednesday’s meeting,” City Administrator

Streets, bathrooms, and a new city hall were among the top projects discussed by councilmembers during a workshop Thursday night, Jan. 17. The council is considering taking out an almost $4 million bond for these projects – which comes with a possibility of raising the city’s tax rate.

Bond counsel attended the Tuesday night meeting to discuss the stipulations of a 20-year bond. See that article in the Jan. 31 edition. City Administrator Nate Smith advised the council to “get as much input [from the public] as you can.”

“This is something we’ll be paying for for 20 years,” said Smith.

Projects included:

Fairfield Police Sgt. David Utsey has been named interim police chief as of Tuesday, Dec. 11, at $30 per hour and city council members approved the placing of a formal ad to replace retired police chief Kenny Bulger. There were three items on the new business agenda for the council Tuesday night, yet two of them were removed from the agenda because the individuals referencing these items were unavailable at the time of the meeting.

The third item was a discussion and possible action on a report from Contract Service Innovations LLC regarding the final report on the internal audit of the Fairfield Police Department. Mike Alexander with Contract Service Innovations LLC requested this item.

An idea was sparked this summer during, of all things, a budget meeting at Fairfield City Hall. It began with percentages and statistics (yawn) and ended with an anecdote about using a life-long dream of parachuting to stage a publicity stunt. Although it may have sounded silly at first, the presenter explained that the idea met all the state’s requirements for using hotel/motel funds, as it had the expectation of bringing tourists to town, while at the same time promoting the local hotel/motel industry. This story was followed by the statement that the state requires at least one-seventh of hotel/motel revenues collected by Texas cities to be spent on advertising and promotion – a requirement backed by research that shows, for every

After a lengthy executive session, Fairfield city council added an agenda item to be discussed in private Tuesday, Aug. 21.

The council entered into executive session for an hour and 46 minutes during which the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) discussed matters pertaining to a pending property purchase and the hiring of a police officer.

One agenda item – a request from TABC for the City of Fairfield – slated to originally be discussed during open session was also talked behind closed doors. This item was later added and assigned code 551.076, which pertains to the discussion of security measures.

After many problems with the current air conditioning unit, the Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department will finally feel some cool air in the station. During a short meeting Wednesday, Aug. 1, Fairfield council members officially approved a bid from Wortham A/C for $4,695 to replace the air conditioning unit for the FVFD Fire Station. “Last Saturday the unit went out completely,” FVFD Fire Chief Mike Foree said. “We had a fire and came back to a station house with no air conditioning.”

Fairfield resident Jason Bosley was appointed to the empty seat at the table Tuesday, July 24, by the Fairfield City Council. The council met Tuesday evening in a regular scheduled meeting to take nominations and hear about three bids to replace air conditioning in the Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department. Interested citizens for the position on the council were Gary Toothman, Sissy Ivy, and Bosley. Each individual had an opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions from the council. Toothman, retiree and former council alderman said, “I would like to help make Fairfield the best it can be. We are the county seat and we need to take advantage of that.” He continued with the fact that he has served on the council before and knows just how much work it can be. Ivy introduced herself as a resident rooted in the community. “I love Fairfield and the people,” she said.

Mayor Kenny Hughes, Councilman Place 1 James Tyus, and Councilman Place 2 Randy Johnson were sworn in Tuesday night at the city council meeting by former mayor Roy Hill. The council also canvassed the votes from the city election.

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Dear editor,

Three men recently attended an aviation conference in Galveston to learn more about what it takes to secure an airport grant. City Administrator Jeff Looney and City Councilmen Place 1 Joe Lee Kirgan and Place 4 Landis Bayless spent three days at the 36^th Annual Texas Aviation Conference, hosted by TxDOT and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

The Fairfield Recorder submitted the following questions to Looney who, after clearing it with the city council, returned these answers: