Council working on process for getting items on agenda

After some discussion over the last few meetings, Jacksboro city council members are working on a process to get items on their agenda in a timely manner.

City Manager Mike Smith, with council direction, worked on a draft on how to get items on the agenda. Councilmembers are asked to get things in writing via email to Mayor Alton Morris or Smith within five days of a meeting. The five days give city staff an opportunity to research the question if needed, Smith said.

Councilmembers are asked to send an email to Smith who’ll send an email back to make sure it’s what the council member intended.

In other news: council members heard from Smith on a COVID update and why the numbers of cases in the county seem to differ when they’re all supposed to be from the same site. Smith says the notification system used by Faith Community Hospital worked well for the first four cases or so before social media reared its ugly head.

“Cases five and six we had knowledge of but the last six had people on social media saying they knew someone or saw someone that said they had it online,” Smith said. “People had been going into a number of hospitals and testing and it was hard to be confirmed or to verify positive cases.”

Smith said unless the positive case tested at FCH, it can’t be positively identified.

“If a person is being seen by a doctor in Decatur and the doctor is not reporting to FCH, your case could be positive forever,” Smith said. “Right now, we have one positive case and that positive case should be finished by (July 17).”

Alderman Greg Robinson asked if the city could direct people to two websites to get a more accurate reading of what’s going on. Those websites were to be placed on the city’s website. The Texas Department of State Health Services can ben reached at txdshs.maps.arcgis.com.

• Streetwork on W. Belknap Street is going a little ahead of schedule and should be finished in the next few weeks.

Concrete was poured in the middle two lanes recently with the outside lanes being done soon. Smith said asphalt and sealer work on the project still needs to be completed.

Sidewalk work on N. Main should begin soon with five feet being cut to allow for parallel parking on some businesses downtown, Smith said.