The Olton Enterprise

Olton school trustees tackled a smorgasbord of issues during a five-plus hour session Monday night that included two meetings and moved into early Tuesday morning before concluding.

The meetings included:

•A required 15-minute public hearing on one of three federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grants the district could receive;

•Hearing public comments from the parents of a recently promoted first grade student concerned about communication regarding their child’s progress;

•A 30-minute presentation on a roofing analysis the board had commissioned;

•Two closed sessions — one closed session to visit with the district’s attorney regarding legal issues raised regarding the Student Dress and Grooming Code, as well as Policy FNAB-Local, which deals with student expression and use of facilities for non-school purposes, and another closed session to consider personnel issues;

•Discussing the 2021-2022 OISD Student Handbook, which includes language regarding the Student Dress and Grooming Code;

•A 2021-2022 budget discussion that lasted more than two and a half hours;

•Awarding a bid for new flooring at Olton Junior High School, as well as authorizing payment through Superintendent Kevin McCasland;

•Signing off on a couple of bids for surplus properties;

•Approval of the district’s annual contract with the Region 17 Education Service Center;

•Approval of the 2021-2022 OISD Employee Handbook;

•Accepting the resignation of five employees;

•Receiving an enrollment report; and,

•Approving the consent agenda, which included payment of monthly bills, and adoption of minutes of previous meetings.

While not requiring quite as much time as the budget discussion, the hot button issues of the night were the Student Dress and Grooming Code and whether to amend Policy FNAB-Local. Action on the latter issue was saved until the end, even though the board had visited with the school’s attorney much earlier in the evening.

Read the complete story in the June 18, 2021 issue of the Olton Enterprise

It was more than a half-million dollar night for the city’s volunteer emergency services when the Olton City Council met June 10.

Meeting on a Thursday instead of their usual second Monday of the month due to scheduling conflicts, the Council approved purchases for Olton Volunteer Ambulance Association and Olton Volunteer Fire Department under a Texas Community Development Block Grant program designed specifically for fire, ambulance and service truck purchases.

Approving interlocal agreements with OVAA and OVFD, the Council cleared the way for each emergency volunteer group to move forward with equipment and apparatus purchases under the grant program.

The interlocal agreement with OVAA was approved on a motion by Councilman Tracy DeBerry and seconded by Councilman Derek Roberson. Councilman Alan Williams joined them on the favorable vote. Councilmen Steven Rodriquez and Blake Neinast were unable to attend the meeting, therefore did not vote.

The interlocal agreement with OVFD was approved on a motion by Williams that was seconded by DeBerry with Roberson joining for the 3-0 vote. 

City Administrator Keeley Adams explained that the interlocal agreements are basically housekeeping measures to complete the process for the purchases. 

The Type III ambulance approved for purchase by OVAA under Olton EMS is a van-style vehicle much like the one Olton EMS currently operates and OVAA staffs. The city is attempting to beat a June 24 deadline for the purchase a chassis that has already been selected. The ambulance will cost $211,415. The motion to approve the contract for the purchase of the ambulance was made by Roberson and seconded by DeBerry.

OVFD was approved for both a brush truck and seven sets of bunker gear. Volunteer firefighters have been using hand-me-down donated bunker gear for years and have needed the safety gear for a long time.

DeBerry moved to award the contract for the purchase of the brush truck at the cost of $247,124. The motion was seconded by Williams. Roberson joined the duo on the vote.

Read the complete story in the June 18, 2021 issue of the Olton Enterprise

An alligator, iguana and macaw were among the animals that were brought by Brandon Hise of Walter’s World of Pets for the second “Tails & Tales” Summer Reading Program presentation at Olton Area Library on Wednesday, June 9. Dozens of kids and their parents enjoyed the educational show which also included a spider monkey handled by Jared Dale, a python and a rare turtles. The presentations continue at 2 p.m. every Wednesday at the library. Librarian Jocy Mandrell provided the “tales” as she read to the children, while Hise and Dale provided the “tails.”

For drought-plagued Olton, recent rains have turned out to be a mixed blessing.

“It would have been nice to spread this out a little bit, but we will take it because we may not see it again for awhile,” City Administrator Keeley said of the 8.91 inches of precipitation Olton received in May. That rainfall total includes 7.72 inches received from May 24 to May 31, and exceeds Olton’s total for all of 2020.

It’s been a long time since Olton got so much rainfall in a short period of time.

“I’ve never seen the water standing like down there between US 70 and Fourth Street,” Adams said.

Reports of street flooding abounded. Problems spots within the city included the area around 10th Street and Avenue M, which Adams described as “always a problem.”

“I’m just glad we got our pond cleaned out first, because it would have been a really big mess,” he said.

Fifteenth Street from Avenue B to Avenue D also was a trouble spot. “It all washes down to that other lake bottom and made a big mess on 15th Street,” Adams said. 

While houses were endangered along 10th Street, it was a business that got flooded in another problem area — Avenue I from US 70 to Fourth Street.

“It was in the back of O-Town Fitness,” the city administrator said. “It made a mess in their building.”

Just east of Avenue A, but outside the city limits, deep water flowed across US 70 for a couple of days. That caused the intersection of US 70 and Avenue A to flood too.

“It was a long night,” Adams said of the efforts to keep water out of homes, barricade high water areas and rescue stranded motorists. By the next day, Adams, along with city and county workers and some volunteers, had filled close to 200 sandbags for homeowners along 10th Street, as well near the intersection of Fifth Street and Avenue I. 

By Tuesday, the effort had shifted to clean up.

Read the complete story in the June 4, 2021 issue of the Olton Enterprise

The Olton Enterprise plans to cease publication on June 25 after serving the Olton community for more than 96 years.

Publisher Phillip Hamilton, who has owned the newspaper since 2007, announced the closure this week.

“Unless we find a last-minute buyer, the Enterprise will be shuttered,” Hamilton said. “Efforts to find someone interested in publishing the newspaper have not been successful in recent years. We have subsidized the publication for about the last four years to keep it going and simply cannot continue to do so.”

Founded in 1926, the Enterprise is the oldest continuously operating business in Olton and is believed to be the oldest in Lamb County.

“We have a very loyal readership, but those numbers continue to decline as younger readers prefer social media pages and online reading,” Hamilton said. “We have offered both to our readers, but neither of those new-media options generate significant revenue in a small market such as this one.”

The publisher expressed appreciation for local advertisers who have supported the newspaper through the years.

Read the complete story in the June 4, 2021 issue of the Olton Enterprise