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Gilmer City Council adopts juvenile curfew

The Gilmer City Council reinstalled a curfew on juveniles when it met Tuesday evening (April 22).

The city had a curfew from 1996 to 1999, when it expired under state law, and the then-council did not renew it. The action came after a public hearing at which no one spoke.

“I’ve heard several comments from people that they were so glad we might do this,” said councilwoman Sara Dumas.

Police Chief James Grunden was not at the meeting, but at the last meeting spoke in favor of reinstating the curfew ordinance. He said Gilmer did not have a problem with juveniles out late at night, but the ordinance would give the department some leeway in handling situations that might arise. The curfew will go into effect once it’s published in The Gilmer Mirror, meaning it will start Saturday.

The curfew is from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight to 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The council members present voted unanimously for the ordinance. Councilmen Eric King and David Sowell were absent.

The council voted to terminate a maintenance contract with Johnson Controls which covered the city’s water meters.

Under the contract, which had been in place since 2002, the city paid Johnson Controls $22,000 to $23,000 a year.

“They haven’t done any maintenance since the the first two or three years,” Ellington said. He said the contract was being terminated by mutual agreement.

The council also approved four days in May for spring clean-up.

The spring clean-up will be for curbside items which are bundled and weigh less than 50 pounds. Residents are askd to have their trash out by 8 a.m. on the following days:

• Monday, May 12, and Tuesday, May 13, on the east side of U.S. 271

• Wednesday, May 14, and Thursday, May 15, on the west side of U.S. 271

Residents are asked to follow this collection schedule and to place leaf bags, brush or junk at the curbside. All materials will be collected from the street. Brush must be cut into three to five foot lengths and no more than 12 inches in diameter.

Due to the large area covered, residents will be limited to not more than one truckload of brush or trash per household. Residents may also take one load per household to the old city landfill on May 12, May 14, or May 17. They must show a current City of Gilmer water bill to be able to dispose of trash.

No tires, shingles, paint cans, air conditioners of refrigerators will be picked up.

The council approved allowing fire chief Mike Melton to accept a $5,864 grant from the Texas Commission on Fire Protection to purchase structural firefighting equipment. It is a 100 percent grant.

“This is another of Mike’s success stories,” said City Manager Jeff Ellington. “He’s been really good at finding these grants.”

The council also authorized deannexing two pieces of property on Cherokee Trace that were omitted from the deannexation Dec. 31.

The council also voted to sell surplus city vehicles, equipment and other items. The sale will be conducted through the Internet, which Ellington said had brought larger prices in the past.

Ellington also told the council that the final cost of the annual city audit was $21,300.

“The cost of the audit is a good bit less than it has been,” he said.

He also said that the city Street Department is building a shed on the city maintenance lot off U.S. 271 South. The poles for the shed were donated by Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative.

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