By LEW K. COHN, Inquirer Publisher

During their regular meeting on Monday, August 19, Nixon City Council members gave Interim City Manager Darryl Becker and Public Works Director Jeremy Bustos authority to solicit bids for a new 500,000-gallon groundwater storage tank.

In addition, they finally passed a new permit and fee schedule for the city by consensus and authorized Becker to take care of the possible acquisition of land for future use.

Becker and Bustos had discussed the need for a new tank at a special meeting on Aug. 5, noting that the city’s storage tank at Holmes Foods was “leaking to the ground.” Bustos said McGuire Iron, which has a contract with the city to maintain the now 13-year-old bolted-on tank, was called in to try to fix it so it would last long enough until the city could look into replacing it.

“We started looking at the project to see when the deadline would be if we were to put one into production,” Becker said. “Now we’re looking at 2025-26. We’re also looking at financing for that. We could offer bonds or conventional financing, or we’re looking at whether we can shift the sales tax and use some of it for that.”

Bustos said a geological study may need to be done to install the new tank, but it’s possible the city still has a study from BEFCO Engineering from when the old tank was installed. However, the tank would still need to be constructed and approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Council members gave Becker and Bustos the green light to take care of the procurement and financing of the new storage tank.

When it came time to discuss the city’s fee and permit plan, Councilman Justin La Fleur initially made a motion to approve the plan as presented, but that motion was denied because there was no second motion. The council called a closed session to discuss the acquisition of the property and consult with City Attorney Eddie Escobar.

They also called in Code Enforcement Officer Rachel Barber for a brief discussion before returning to the public meeting and revisiting the fee and permit schedule item.

Council member Pat Dingler asked for clarification regarding the foundation permit and Barber informed him that there is a $30 fee whether it is re-leveling an existing pier and beam foundation or placing a new concrete slab.

Council Member Patsy Scherrer asked for more information about the dangerous dog fee included in the ordinance.

“We currently have an ordinance in our animal protection ordinance about dangerous dogs and that they have to be registered with the city,” Barber said. “That applies in most places where a dangerous dog is registered with the city, whether it was registered because it bit someone in a previous city or in the current city where it bit someone. If I remember correctly, our ordinance says that it has to have bitten someone in that city once to be registered as a dangerous dog.”

“So if your dog comes to me and bites my daughter in my yard, it would be registered as a dangerous dog under city ordinances, and under that ordinance, there’s supposed to be a registration fee. But that’s not being applied so far. If I have to go out and do the actual inspection, a dangerous dog has to be confined and meet certain requirements. It can’t run free or be on a leash. So (the dangerous dog fee) would mean me actually going out and making sure everything is done and doing all the paperwork as well.”

Barber said dangerous dogs must be “kept behind a fence, kennel or indoors, but they must not be kept on a leash or behind an ‘invisible fence’ or anything similar.”

Dingler asked if the window replacement permit fee should be waived if someone is just repairing or replacing an existing window of the same size. La Fleur asked what should be done if someone is installing a brand new window where there was none before. The council agreed that there should be no fee for someone just replacing or repairing an existing window, but that there should be a $30 permit fee for installing a new window or altering an existing window so that it is no longer the same size and shape.

La Fleur was concerned that only $100 would be charged to move a building within city limits or from outside city limits into the city, especially if that fee were to apply to non-residential buildings as well.

“Basically, you would be opening up to a group of people who would build and buy small buildings where they could do business for $100. That’s already happening to some extent,” La Fleur said.

Barber said the $100 item in question only applies to residential use and she has not yet determined anything for non-residential buildings, but suggested the council could add an item if needed.

She also pointed out that there were people in Nixon who had brought in Morgan Buildings and other small structures as tiny homes, and that the $100 fee gave her a way to document these structures and conduct inspections if necessary.

“They are also currently moving around the city to avoid us,” Barber said. “I know Jeremy and I have both been involved with this. They are currently moving these buildings around the city without permits to avoid inspections.”

“How do they get water and electricity if they live there?” asked La Fleur.

“They don’t have one,” said police chief Miguel Cruz Cantu. “People in the city live without water or electricity.”

“And that’s another regulation that I’m currently trying to change but haven’t gotten around to doing yet,” Barber added.

La Fleur proposed charging a $300 fee to move a non-residential building up to 800 square feet, but adding a per-square-foot fee for any building larger than 800 square feet. The rest of the council agreed to this proposal.

One item the council did not change is the imposition of a permit fee of $225 per month or $2,700 per year for vendors who want to set up food trucks or stalls on a smaller scale than a brick-and-mortar retail business that charges and collects sales tax.

This was discussed in July and council members gave the vendors permission to set up in the parking lot next to the post office on the corner of Second and Main between 2 p.m. and midnight for free.

With the changes discussed above, the Council unanimously approved the permit and fee schedule as amended.