by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — Wellington’s new City Council with newly elected Rick Roitman and reelected Kevin Dodds and Joe Soria met for the first time as a group on Tuesday to quickly knock out some end-of-the-year tasks before the holidays.

They started with some financial matters. The Council awarded nine local businesses with a combined $136,000 in funds as part of the CDBG-CV3 grant. The grant was designed to assist local communities like Wellington to keep open local businesses during the pandemic.

They kept up the spirit of giving by amending the 2021 budget to cover the added expenses in two City funds. Namely, the Airport and Sanitation funds. For separate reasons, both funds underperformed in revenue than anticipated so the City wants to amend the code to ensure they won’t overdraw their allocated funds.

On the other side of the spectrum, the golf course actually overperformed in 2021 and needs its budget amended to include the unexpected profit. The city entity made $28,000 above target and whether a fund has too much or too little revenue, it requires a change before year-end.

The Council approved all measures unanimously.

The key topic for the ordinance and resolutions of the evening concerned rural water districts. These are the districts outside the city limits that still receive City utilities but at an increased rate.

The City’s agreement with Rural Water Districts 1 and 2 expired earlier in September and went into discussions with the City afterward to discuss a rate reduction. They had been paying 1.25 times the in-town rate since 2015, which they saw as too steep.

The City agreed and reduced the rate to 1.15 times the in-town amount in exchange for some territory. The City believes the territory gained from these districts is good for Wellington’s long-term growth when it expands in coming years. The Council approved the resolution unanimously.

The only ordinance of the night made a change to section 38-125 of the City Code to allow each rural water district to have a separate rate.

After the water had been sorted out, the Council approved a $35,000 purchase order for a “critter guard,” a wildlife protection fence. It’s designed to keep animals away from any surface you’d like them not to climb by keeping them from getting two points of contact on the surface.

The purchase will be used to cover the exterior of the power plant substation that animals caused to catch on fire recently. By restricting their access to the electrical wiring, the City hopes to curb critters’ ability to start fires.

The final resolution of the night replated 20 acres of Ledesma’s Ranch. They separated 20 from their 72-acre property in anticipation of sale later this year. The Council approved the re-plat unanimously.

The meeting adjourned after an hour and 15 minutes.