City Council Briefs
Moving ahead on water plant The City Council discussed at its Dec. 11 meeting how to move forward with plans for a new water treatment plant after bids for the project came in $2 million over the City’s budget. Mayor Rue Rogers said a working committee of council members and citizens will explore the idea of rebidding the project, and having the City act as the general contractor to shave money off the bids.
The City sold $13.5 million in revenue bonds to fund construction of a new plant to replace the 100-plus-year-old water treatment plant. The plans were drawn up by Corlett Probst & Boyd of Wichita Falls, and approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, but the lowest bid came in at $15.5 million. The Council rejected all bids after working with the low-bidder, Horton Excavations.
City lifts juvenile curfew
The Council also approved a state-mandated repeal of the citywide curfew for people under age 17. The rollback on the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew came with the Texas Legislature’s passage of House Bill 1819, which bans juvenile curfews except for the purposes of emergency management. State Rep. David Spiller, who voted to pass the measure, said it was widely supported by both the House and Senate.
The measure was not supported by the Olney City Council members who viewed it as an encroachment on local control, or by Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck, who said the curfew helped police curb nuisance behavior that could lead to more serious offenses. Olney Police also have struggled to find juvenile facilities to house repeat offenders in recent years.
Since 2014, many cities in Texas, including Waco, Austin and San Antonio, have repealed their curfews for juveniles, all without showing a resulting increase in juvenile crime, Mr. Spiller said in a statement. The intent behind the law is to prevent young people from being subjected to fines, a criminal record, and permanent marks on their record for low-level violations, he said. Research considered by lawmakers showed that juvenile curfew ordinances are an ineffective way to reduce crime and often lead to negative outcomes for youth in school and future interactions with the justice system, he said. Some lawmakers also voiced concerns that citations for curfew violations target minority youth disproportionately.
“Juvenile curfew laws should not affect any available juvenile detention bed spaces for the very simple reason that a curfew violation is not considered delinquent conduct and does not constitute a detainable offense,” Mr. Spiller said. “As far as juvenile offenders that are subject to detention – for either temporary or long term placement – we addressed that issue through the appropriations process and increased funding in the budget by millions of dollars for juvenile bed spaces and resources. Hopefully, those concerns will be mostly remedied in the near future – if not already.”