Dateline: July 21, 2005

City combines top jobs due to budget concerns

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The City of Clarendon will combine the positions of the city administrator and city superintendent following a called meeting of the Board of Aldermen Monday night.

Mayor Pro-Tem Mark White told the Enterprise Tuesday that finances drove the board’s decision.

“The main reason for doing this is budgetary,” White said. “We just don’t have the money in the budget to keep two salaries of that capacity.”

Under the current budget, the administrator and superintendent have salaries of $35,000 and $33,000 respectively, and each position has benefits.

The aldermen also directed City Administrator Sean Pate to begin advertising through the Texas Municipal League this week. The combined position will take effect October 1, 2005, which is the beginning of the city’s fiscal year.

Monday’s unanimous decision came after aldermen met in closed session for 40 minutes that night and for nearly an hour and half during their regular meeting last Tuesday.

White said the new administrator, whoever that turns out to be, will have to take on more of the responsibilities of the city superintendent, who is the director of public works.

“[The new person] has definitely got to be out in the field,” White said. “We can’t pin him down and say this much time in the office and this much time in the field, but he will have to have all the criteria and certifications for public works.”

Last Tuesday, the board formally voted, with regrets, to accept Pate’s resignation as city administrator. He will be taking a similar position with the City of Poteet, south of San Antonio, with the promise of better benefits and an increase in salary of about $20,000 per year.

The city will hold a budget workshop next Monday at 10 a.m.

In other city business last week, aldermen approved a proposal by Municipal Judge Jimmy Johnson to employ a private attorney to collect past due fines and fees.

Under the proposal, the city would pay 30 percent of the collected fines and fees to the attorney, but the 30 percent would be added to the amount owed by a defendant that is more than 60 days past due.

The contract would become effective August 1 and would apply only to criminal cases in municipal court.

“This is just another tool we can use to get our money,” Judge Johnson told the board.

The board approved the measure 3-0 with Alderman Michael Tibbets abstaining because he said he had objected to a similar measure employed by the appraisal district.

The board also considered a resolution which would adopt the National Incident Management System. The NIMS would provide a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, local, and tribal governments to work together more effectively and efficiently to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of the their size, cause, or complexity.

City Administrator Sean Pate said NIMS is being mandated by the federal government, and adopting the system could open the door to grant opportunities.

The board approved the resolution 3-0 with Alderman Tibbets abstaining because he said he didn’t understand it.