After a public hearing and a meeting of the Board of Adjustments, the Jourdanton City Council voted unanimously to approve the renewal of the special use permit to Mark Medina for his RV park at 2404 Zanderson. Medina stated that he was bringing the park up to the new regulations, although he would be “grandfathered”. Council also approved a special use permit to Alvin Bailey to use his residence to repair and refurbish firearms and furniture. Bailey is doing only non-mechanical work on the guns.

Finally, the council granted a variance to Wayne Schuchart for 120 BMT Drive for two feet on either side of the La Quinta Inn, so that it can continue to be zoned heavy commercial.

The consent agenda, containing the minutes of June 16 meeting and the monthly bills, was approved unanimously by Donnie Blue, Susan Netardus, Raul Morales, Randy Shearrer, Lewis Lem and Mayor Larry Pryor.

Frank Callahan, architect of the municipal complex, updated the council on the selection of a contractor. He met with the building committee to rate and rank the bids. Most came in near the $2,500,000 range so they would have to do an in-depth qualification analysis to choose. He assured the council that the process would be wrapped up and ready for presentation at the meeting on August 29.

Shearrer moved to pass the ordinance for the water improvements in the amount of $3,037,000. Blue seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

The ordinance to authorize the city to use ad valorem taxes to pay for the city municipal complex, in the amount of $3,160,000 was passed unanimously, as well.

Netardus has a committee that is looking into the rehabilitation of the swimming pool. They are still attempting to find out what the costs would be, so there was no other report.

The ordinance to order the General City Election for Mayor and Places 1 and 2 for November 6, 2012 was approved unanimously.

The proposed affective tax rate has been published in the newspaper, as required. The council approved consideration of the proposed tax rate of .4722, which is more than last year’s .4603. There will be a public hearing at a later date, after which the council will approve or disapprove the rate.

Fire Chief David Prasifka asked the council to consider the restoration of the old retired fire truck. It could be used in funerals of fire fighters and used in parades. There was a question as to whether the hotel/motel tax could be used for this, since it would be advertising for the city. Council directed David to work with City Manager Dan Nick to get the restoration done.

There was lengthy discussion on the rehabilitation of the Senior Citizens’ building located at 506 Terrel Avenue. Netardus shared photos that were provided by one of the clubs members, which showed the deplorable condition of the building. Gae Garwood, speaking for the group, said there is mold, cracks in the walls, bricks falling off the exterior. She called it “an abomination.” Netardus has brought up the maintenance for several years during the budget workshops, but nothing has been done. Lem said that he felt like he needed a tetanus shot after just looking at the pictures. He expressed his view that the building should just be torn down and rebuilt. It was estimated the building was 1,500 square feet. Pryor suggested putting something on the municipal complex when that is completed.

Jeannette Harrison said that with the Community Center being rented out so often, this could serve as a smaller venue for rental, thereby making more money for the city. A motion was made, and passed unanimously, for Nick to look into building a new facility for the Senior Citizens at the current location.

Meeting adjourned at 7:26 p.m.