Rate changes, new officers introduced at council meeting

The Commerce City Council covered a wide range of topics at their monthly meeting Jan.18.

Police Chief Kerry Crews was the first to speak at the meeting. He introduced two new Commerce police officers.

Mayor Quay Throgmorton continued the meeting with presentations to Bobby Hill and Larry Chaloupka. Both received commendations for volunteer work they did in 2010.

Following the presentation, an ordinance was passed by the council to set May 14, 2011, as the general election date. Throgmorton, who is currently under investigation, explained the election is simply a formality.

"We vote on this every year," he said.

Next on the agenda was the suspending of the Feb. 14 effective date of Oncor Electric Delivery Company's requested rate change. A representative was on hand to discuss the potential change.

He said the council should deny or suspend the rate change because Oncor will be coming up with a unified cost for all 401 Texas cities the company serves. Approving the rate change would give Commerce a higher rate than the rest of the cities in Texas that the company serves.

The council voted unanimously to suspend the rate change.

The meeting continued with Public Affairs Manager for the Greenville branch of Atmos energy Jeanette Mosier talking about the franchise fee in the city becoming part of gross revenues. She said an approval of this nature would allow Atmos to pay the city $10,000. However, Throgmorton said he had some concerns.

"Even if you give the city this money, we still have to collect it from the citizens,"

he said.

Despite the possibility for a quick revenue jump, the council decided to table the discussion until the February meeting, so everyone could gather more information on the topic.

A motion that authorized the continuance of the Commerce Certified Retirement Community project was also introduced in the meeting.

The Council voted unanimously to approve the application, which, if accepted, will cost the city $5,000 every five years to keep the city listed as a certified retirement city.

The final motion on the docket was the consideration of a motion authorizing the appointment of a new employee to the Parks and Recreation Board. The council voted unanimously for the candidate.

Crews announced the appointment of a third officer to the Commerce Police Department at the end of the meeting.

The meeting concluded with the City Manager's monthly report.