Pattison City Council cancels May election, reviews annual audit

By R. Hans Miller | News Editor
Posted 3/9/21

Pattison City Council canceled the city’s May 2021 city council election after no opponents stepped forward to oppose incumbents Mayor Pro Tem Seth Stokes and councilmembers Fred Branch and …

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Pattison City Council cancels May election, reviews annual audit

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Pattison City Council canceled the city’s May 2021 city council election after no opponents stepped forward to oppose incumbents Mayor Pro Tem Seth Stokes and councilmembers Fred Branch and Robert MacCallum. The city also heard a variety of reports including the results of the city’s annual audit which came back without any concerns raised by the auditor.

“We issued a clean, unmodified in our opinion,” said Heather Braeuer of Seidel Schroeder, the city’s independent auditing firm. “Basically, this means that, in our opinion, based on the audit procedures that we performed, there were no material deviations, or anything in the financial statement that could lead a financial statement user to come to a different opinion on anything if they were reading this to make a decision on something in their life.”

Braeuer said the city was doing well overall with a few added expenses such as contracted law enforcement with Waller County during the 2020 fiscal year but was otherwise very similar in its financial performance to the 2019 fiscal year. Other significant costs included improvements to Durkin Road and improvements to detention in the area and other minor improvements such as road repairs for a capital improvement expenditure total of about $77,600. The other major new expense was about $47,000 for the contracted law enforcement officer for the city.

Braeuer also said the city had a line item in its budget for grants that it had not had before due to funding from the CARES Act.

Council also heard an update from Chris Browne, a volunteer with relevant experience who is working on the city’s comprehensive plan. Browne said work on the project was moving forward well and that he anticipated a joint workshop between the city council and the Pattison Planning Commission soon to discuss details.

Mayor Joe Garcia said the city was continuing to move forward on preparing to apply for a Community Development Block Grant and Even Humphries of GrantWorks, the city’s CDBG consultant, said she was helping the city prepare for any applications that would be submitted.

The CDBG program is a state program that falls under the Texas Department of Agriculture and works to provide state funding to cities under 50,000 in population and counties with populations less than 200,000 to aid in housing, economic development and other community improvements.

Garcia said specific projects for any potential grant funds had not been specified as yet, but that council would survey the community to find out what projects residents wanted prioritized.

Community input is part of the public participation plan required by the CDBG program, Humphries said.

Garcia also asked the council to remind residents that the city is working to organize a hazardous waste collection event set for May 22. The event will be held at the Pattison Volunteer Fire Department at 2950 FM 359 in Pattison. He added that volunteers are needed to help run the event which will allow residents to turn in hazardous items such as batteries, gasoline, pesticides, paint and other items. Tires will not be collected, he said, due to limited capacity for materials collected. More information will be put out soon, he said.

Pattison City Council