City council updates ordinances; receives national utility award

The City of Comanche adopted a few new or updated ordinances at its meeting last Tuesday.

The first ordinance was an update on the existing burn ban policy. City manager Chuck Ralls said there had been some confusion on what could be burned and what could not be burned. The new ordinance adds clarification to the burn notice.

The ordinance states residents “may only burn clean, dry wood or fuels approved for cooking in the City of Comanche. Refuse (trash), cardboard, paper, construction material and other materials not identified in this ordinance may not be burned. Fire codes do permit fires for cooking and approved outdoor fireplaces.

The ordinance also clarified to what could not be burned including leaves, construction debris, brush pile, etc.

“If the city receives a complaint, they will respond and can, at the discretion of the officer, extinguish the fire for any violation of the following conditions, or, if the fire is creating a hazard or nuisance. The officer will determine if the fire is creating a hazard or nuisance. A citation may be issued for any violation of the following conditions,” the ordinance states.

Ralls said it was important that only clean, dry wood be burned in order to not create a smoke hazard or inconvenience in the area.

The second ordinance allows for the increase in water meter/sewer tap fees. Ralls said the increase was necessary because of the cost of meters going up. The old water meter fee was a $205 fee. The new water meter fee starts at $750 and increases from there depending on the size of the tap. The sewer tap is increasing from $10 to $100.

The final ordinance increases the city manager’s spending limit to $25,000 to make purchases for goods and services. With the increase of costs across the board, the city manager was more limited in what he could do before having to get approval from the council. The new increase will allow the city manager to address any unexpected issues faster.

In other business, Ralls presented an American Public Power Association award to utility supervisor Lester Lehew. The award is a national recognition of utility reliability.

“Only four entities received the award,” Ralls said. “We had 99.9 percent reliability.”

The city also agreed to purchase two police cars from the Mustang Police Department at a cost of $12,500 each through a lease from American Nation Bank for two years at 2.75 percent interest.