HUA members hear presentation

HUA members hear presentation

By CRAIG HALL

The Heavener Utilities Authority members got an update from Bachoco representatives on recent improvements on the plant, formerly owned by OK Foods.

Present were Maylor Max Roberts, City Council members Joey Clubb, Chris Bradford, Marvin Meredith and Jim Roll, along with HUA member Peggy Persons.

Bachoco CEO/President Everardo Fernandez and VP of procurement Alan Hollingshead said recent improvements had allowed the company to increase the number of chickens that were processed at the plant each day.

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They said the company has a payroll of around $28 million for the local area and they showed a map with the different areas the company operates in the United States and Mexico. They also showed which companies they do business with such as Whataburger, Cracker Barrel and many more.

The HUA agreed to approve a $13,000 expenditure for the HUA’s part in the new truck for the city manager. It was accidentally left off the prior agenda.

The HUA also approved and adopted the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget as the audits should be up to date soon.

In the city council portion of the meeting, the Council tabled naming another member to the HUA as nobody has agreed to serve yet

They also approved a new Ordinance # 780-24 establishing a plumbing contractors permit fee and rules. Previously, both the plumbers and his crew had to have a permit and pay fees. Now, only the plumber will be responsible.

There was consideration about the confusion about the new dog permit. A dog only has to get licensed for $8 once, not every year. It will help the police officers know who the dog belongs to and for the animal to be returned. If a dog is not licenses, the fee goes up each of the first three times the dog is caught and the fourth time it will be put up for adoption.

They also approved code violations for the following Patrick Smither / Rollaway LLC., for property located at 309 West Avenue. I, 309 ½ West Ave. I, 401 West Ave. I, for untagged vehicles, rank weeds and grass, trash accumulation and harboring mosquitos;  for or Constantino Rodriguez Vasquez and Olga Trejo Rodriguez, for property located at 502 East 3^rd street, for trash accumulation and harboring vermin; and for Peck Select LLC, for property located at the corner of East 3^rd street and Ave. C, for accumulation of trash, rank grass and weeds, and harboring vermin.

Under new business and public comments, it was brought up there were several areas of town that needed cleaned up. City Manager Ty Armstrong said the person responsible for code violations is just back at work following a stay in the hospital.

Dick Roberts complained about how a neighbor dog had been taking items from his front porch and he had trouble getting assistance from the police department and how he had reported an incident on Friday and was told nothing could be done until Monday as the animal control office was off work and wouldn’t be back until Monday.