KINGWOOD — Following an executive session, Kingwood City Council voted unanimously this week to hire two police officers.
Council accepted the resignations of Police Chief Todd Nestor and Officer Felix Thorn in April. Jim Fields was appointed temporary chief. Mayor Jean Manuel Guillot declined comment again Tuesday about the resignations.
Applications will be taken for the positions.
Council also voted to have the recycling building’s roof tested for asbestos before accepting bids to do work on the building. Recorder Bill Robertson said there is a question as to whether or not the shingles contained asbestos.
Council received two bids, one from State of the Art Roofing and one from Shield Roofing.
“If it comes back with asbestos it’s probably more than we can afford with our grant,” Robertson said.
City Clerk Mary Howell told council it could ask for a grant revision if asbestos is found. Council voted to postpone accepting bids until after testing.
In other business, council voted to let the Kingwood Water Board submit a grant application for $533,600 to purchase new generators. The grant would be administered by the city.
Safety was also discussed. Howell ask council for permission to have an enclosure constructed for the front office of city hall.
She said “a very loud and irate customer recently upset the staff. We were fortunate Jim [Fields] was in his office and came in and helped calm him down. The girls were very upset,” Howell said.
She said the front office needs a door that could be locked and windows made of security glass that customers can’t come across.
In an update on sidewalk repair, Howell said the city has sent out five letters about sidewalks in need of repair. She received two calls from people asking how soon the repairs have to be completed. She said an elderly lady told her that her son would not be in until August and wanted to know if she could wait until then to begin repairs.
Howell said another individual told her he was, “not going to fix it and said now what are you going to do?” Councilman Michael Lipscomb said the city could fix the sidewalk after 90 days and send him a bill.
When a question about a building permit arose, city attorney Sheila Williams said a building permit is not needed for sidewalk repair. She said it is not necessarily the homeowner’s property because some sidewalks belong to the state and some to the city.
A discussion about an ordinance that addresses transient vendor licenses and licenses for other one-time events like street fairs was tabled.
Council voted to remove discussions about city entrance signs, the uniform criminal code and fracking from the agenda.
