February 19, 2003

Texas City Commission 

A majority of the Texas City Commission voted against an ordinance Wednesday that would have prohibited the use of banner signs within the city, in two 3-2 votes.  However, City Attorney Bobby Gervais said that four affirmative votes are necessary.  Thus, the issue remains unresolved.

The first vote was on a motion to reject the ordinance.  When Gervais ruled that the 3-2 vote was not sufficient to kill it; another vote followed.  It was 2-3 in favor.  Matt Doyle, Dedrick Johnson and Donald Singleton were opposed to the ordinance; Mayor Carlos Garza and Linson Landrum were in favor.

Building inspector Larry Iles had informed the commission that he had received "at least a dozen complaints in the last 6 to 8 months" from citizens who had been struck by banners breaking loose, and that several more man-hours would be needed to "police" hanging banners.

"I move around this city a lot just like the rest of you do, and if it's exploding out there, I haven't noticed," said Doyle.  "The responsible business people in this community are not doing a poor job of that (securing banners properly).  And I don't think we've had a big influx of irresponsible businesses."

The city commission approved the third and final reading of an ordinance limiting truckloads to 80,000 pounds on streets and highways within the city.  The ordinance states that the high volume of truck traffic is causing accelerated pavement deterioration.

The city commission also voted to alter the speed limit on 4^th Avenue South - 14^th Street to 20^th Street and 5^th Avenue South - 20^th Street to FM 1765 from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour.  

"We originally wanted to go from 30 to 20 miles per hour, and we did our traffic study with the number of trucks, road conditions, etc.," said Transportation and Planning Director James McWhorter.  "After further consideration, we feel that 25 miles per hour is sufficient."