MW housing dominates city meeting; Council denies Oncor rate hike, applies for COPS grant

Jun. 10—MINERAL WELLS — Downtown apartments and an upper-middle class housing development drew the attention of the Mineral Wells city council on Tuesday.

So did a 4.5 percent rate hike proposed by Oncor Electric Delivery Co. and a grant request to fund four new cops, with emphasis on their impact on a growing downtown.

"It's in a good location on the side of a hill overlooking the city," Economic Development Director David Hawes said of an apartment building on the northeast edge of downtown. "It's another product that we don't have. We've talked about the need for different housing products."

According to agenda backup material, Bryan and Amy Sloan plan to build apartments on a lot bordered by Northeast Sixth and Seventh streets, a block east of North Oak Avenue. Plans depict a four-story, brick structure, with each floor offering a pair of two-bedroom dwellings.

The council unanimously rezoned the downtown property for multifamily residential use. While the apartments will be residences, Hawes said they are designed with an Airbnb element.

"We're targeting people that are coming for festivals," he said after the meeting.

The council on Tuesday also approved a final layout for Phase 1 of The Wells, the city's first planned housing development. Phase 1 will go up on 50.6 acres along Garrett Morris Parkway, where groundbreaking for the 216-lot development was held in November in front of some 80 enthusiastic city business, school and elected officials.

"We'll be awarding the (builder's) contract in the next two weeks," DBC Wells Development co-owner Diane Kessler said after the council OK'd the final plat for the endeavor, which was announced last fall will have four phases. "Phase 1 turned out to be so big, because we had so many people wanting lots. I look to see them pushing dirt, maybe, by the end of July. ... So, we'll have some homes for people to move there by this time next year."

Hawes told the council the project has been in the works for two years.

"I think we're all ready to rock 'n' roll on this as quickly as possible," he said.

Kessler said home prices will range from $220,000 to the "mid-$300,000s."

Not only does Mineral Wells have a dearth of housing options — teachers and others employed in Crazy Town often commute from Granbury, Stephenville and other area communities — city leaders are hopeful that new rooftops will offer bait for efforts underway to lure Bell Helicopter and other blue chip companies to the airport.

"That's still a product we need desperately in Mineral Wells," Hawes said, before applause broke out at the council's approval of the final plat.

The council on Tuesday also denied a proposal by Oncor Electric Delivery Co. to raise its rates by 4.5 percent. City Manager Dean Sullivan laid out three options — accept the hike, suspend its effective date for 90 days or deny it, the latter of which sends the matter to the Texas Public Utility Commission.

Sullivan said Oncor recommends member cities choose the latter option.

"We would concur," Sullivan said. "We don't have the staff or resources to evaluate" the company's technical application.

Sullivan also told the council Oncor benefits in that an eventual PUC ruling will create one rate for all its Texas customers. According to its website, Oncor serves 408 communities in 98 counties, from Palo Pinto County to the far side of Dallas and from the Red River to Round Rock north of Austin, along with a baker's dozen or so counties surrounding Midland/Odessa.

Mineral Wells is the 201st Oncor city to "cede jurisdiction" on the rate hike.

In other action Tuesday, the council agreed that public safety downtown was an emphasis as Police Lt. Darby Thomas successfully pitched an application for a grant to fund four new officers. The federal Community Oriented Policing Services program provides three-quarters of officer pay and benefits during the first three of four-year commitment the city and its new hires are required to make. The city fully funds the fourth year of the COPS agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Thomas said he'd been in discussions with downtown business owners, who anticipate increased customer traffic in coming years in the retail and entertainment district.

"If we can get all four of (the officers), it'll go far toward answering those (downtown) calls," Thomas said.

Sullivan, who also is the city's police chief, echoed the lieutenant and said the city has been "very fortunate" that no major incidents have occurred in the growing business district so far.

"We will need them," he said. "This would be your minimum complement for downtown. It kind of does, maybe at least, help us catch up."

If the city's application wins the U.S. Department of Justice nod, the local match will be $467,000 during the four-year commitment to the COPS program. That includes the city fully funding the officers during the fourth year.

The COPS program will pay $701,904, which is 75 percent of the first three years.

Darby also said the city will continue to recruit through the Weatherford College Law Enforcement Academy.

The COPS program began in 1994 with then-President Bill Clinton's campaign pledge to put 100,000 new police on the beat. It later broadened to fund investigations, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The officer-hiring function revived in 2009 and, in the past seven years, Congress has boosted its funding to $512 million this year.

Council members also:

—Learned from an outside auditor that the city's bookkeeping was accurate during the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2021.

Vicki Dallas, an audit manager for the national firm of Carr, Riggs & Ingram, said accountants had found nothing to correct, including in the finance department's oversight of internal controls. Those are practical controls such as having two people sign off on sensitive movements of the public's money such as accepting fees from residents and recording them, or how many people have keys to cash drawers.

"The items we tested, we noticed no (bad) findings," Dallas said. "So, that's great."

The report indicated the city's total debt is $33.1 million, with $18 million of that from bonds owed by the water fund. Nearly all of the remainder is general fund debt from an $11.4 million street bond the voters approved in 2017, with bonds issued in 2018.

(During the multi-item consent agenda earlier, the council OK'd payments of $178,000 and $146,500 to contractors under the bond program).

Dallas closed by praising Finance Director Jason Breisch, who started in the position the final two months of the fiscal year the report covered.

"I have a fantastic staff," he replied.

—Rezoned a lot at 101 Southeast 17th Avenue to the specific use category to make way for a pawn shop. Applicant Mark Fisher said the Fort Worth-based company, First Cash, has 1,500 outlets across the country and that 60 percent of its revenue is from merchandise sales and 40 percent from small loan fees.

" With the demographics that are in this town, it's not a bad idea to have small loan fees," he said. "They are wanting to go in the former Family Dollar site."

—Accepted an $800 contribution from United Way of Palo Pinto County for training and equipment for emergency management services at the direction of Palo Pinto County Emergency Services Coordinator Mistie Garland.