Hickman City Commission pays tribute to Clerk’s service

Hickman City Commissioners paid homage to the late Hickman City Clerk Donna Haney for her 41 years of service to the City during their regular Commission meeting Nov. 8, with Commissioners John Wiley Gannon and Robert Griggs meeting in person, and Mayor Heath Carlton meeting via Zoom.

Mayor Carlton said, “We have a flower arrangement for Ms. Donna with her name plate. Nothing that I will say tonight will compare to what she meant to the City the past 41 years, two months, and 11 days, she served the town. Even in her absence, she was still serving and people didn’t see it during her battle with cancer. If she wasn’t in the office, she was on a laptop at home working for the City and the citizens of the City. In the seven years that I have been Commissioner and Mayor, every time I turned around there was a question to be asked. A lot of the time the answer would be ‘That is a Donna question’. The City has really lost a permanent fixture of information with the loss of Ms. Donna. She was the encyclopedia of Hickman when it came to policies and procedures for Hickman, whether it be a water update, sewer update, or any type of information, she was Johnny-on-the-spot with the information.”

“She was knowledgeable and ran the business of the City very well. I wonder how many City Managers she served under? She had her hands full dealing with us all, I know that for sure. This is my second go around and she was just as strict and all business even last week. She had the best interest of the City at heart and showed what a public servant should be. She had a good sense of humor, but most of the time it was all business. You didn’t have to worry about what kind of information you were going to get when you asked for information, you were going to get the best. She didn’t play favorites with anyone. She did a great job. I know she will be missed by a lot of people. It was a pleasure to work with her,” said City Manager David Gallagher.

Commissioner Griggs echoed those sentiments.

“I really didn’t get to know Donna until I joined this Board. Getting to know her and working on the budget and different things, she truly did care about Hickman. She really wanted the town to succeed. I appreciate her for all her years of service and all she has done for the town. With that, something I’m sure she would want us all to do is give the ladies working in the office encouragement. You have a good foundation and are doing a fantastic job and picking up the pieces, Carrie, Kathi, Laura, and new employee Jane Parker. We appreciate you and all you do,” Griggs said.

Michael Apperson, Alliance Water Resources (AWR) representative, reported AWR has created an email chain with John Rudolph, Jody Jarvais, and Jackie Logsdon in regard to moving the fluoride over the HFS (liquid) and will follow-up this week.

Hickman Chief of Police Tony Grogan reported his department had 104 C.A.D and/or call responses, 11 uniform offense reports, four arrests, three citations, three accidents, 78 alcohol checks, 182 call total volume, two code enforcement warnings, one cod investigation, four animal control actions, with 12 dogs re-homed, two euthanized, and attempted five other captures.”

“I thing Halloween Trick-or-Treating went great this year with most of the focus on Pecan Circle and Cottonwood. Seemed to be four times as much as last year. I spent a lot of time with the kids. This might be a good opportunity for vendors next year at the park as parents parked there and walked the community for the youngsters to collect candy,” Grogan said.

Grogan reported one uncertified application for the police officer position has been received.

An invoice from Youngblood was discussed, with Mayor Carlton stating an email he received from Kevin Kell with Youngblood included a 10% discount on the $9,810.25.

“Repair work on a line running through a ditch was repaired and a few months later washed out. The City believes they acted in good faith and the work should have lasted longer than six months,” Gallagher said.

“We want to keep them in the pool for future business,” Carlton said.

The commission decided the City Manager should talk with Kell regarding a plan.

The Zito Media contract was discussed with Gallagher reporting Zito wants a 10 year contract.

“I asked about immediate compensation for when someone’s service goes down. Zito also asked for a $5 or $6 per month increase in service. I don’t think an increase is warranted with the service that is being provided. We need other options. We need to be able to have service for the ones that aren’t able to receive another type of service,” Gallagher said, adding he would reach out to the Housing Authority to see what options might be available for the residents.

Following the discussion it was recommended to have a policy in place for Police and Animal Control calls outside the city, and to follow it. It was determined the Animal Control officer is only there to pick up the animal, and law enforcement needs to be there to control the situation, with City Police not responsible for serving a County resident complaint.

Resolution 21-165 Interim Financing with Rural Water Financing was read and adopted.

The City Manager’s report included working on Hickman Health Department issues.

“Next week the District Health Board, of which I am a member, will meet to discuss the local health department. It is imperative to keep the health department here in Hickman as the needs are great,” Gallagher said.

“The water tank in Brownsville needs to have a float so we can see where the water level is. This will help when the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and the Brownsville tower don’t communicate with each other,” Gallagher said.

He reported the City is filling potholes with the last batch of cold mix and it is time to start looking at the roads to decide which ones to pave next year.

“Young Street has already been turned in to evaluate,” Gallagher said.

The Commission was informed that Evan Romo, AWR representative, and the City Manager will work on the Division of Water’s Agreed Order, the Hickman Chamber of Commerce Dinner will be Nov. 18, at 6 p.m., at West Baptist Church’s We Believe Center, and the Hickman Christmas Parade is scheduled for Dec. 11, at 6 p.m..