City of Gainesville passes ordinance involving school’s ballfield well issue

Editor’s note: The Gainesville City Council meets at 6 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at City Hall on the Gainesville square. The meetings are open to the public. The next city council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. The public is invited to attend.

In the ongoing discussion between the City of Gainesville and the Gainesville School about water to the school’s new baseball and softball fields, a new ordinance was proposed concerning sewer and water services to the property during the Sept. 12 meeting the of the Gainesville City Council.

City Clerk Lisa Goodnight informed the council that the new ordinance included the three things members of the council asked for: a waiver of liability from any damage that’s done from any work that has to be done in the years to come; a perpetual easement acknowledgment; and to make it clear that providing water to that side of the road would negate any conversation of drilling a well now or in the future.

According to ordinance number 201, the city would provide water to the school’s new ballfields for the purpose of irrigation as part of the normal terms of service for water supply. The ordinance also stated that there would be no sewer charge unless bathrooms, concession stands or other improvements required that other water and sewer be added to the property.  

The ordinance also stated that the council adopted the ordinance “upon the understanding and in consideration of the fact that the School has expressly agreed to not drill a water-well upon the Property for irrigation or other purposes, and it will not otherwise supply water for purposes of irrigating the property from a source other than the City.”

The ordinance was unanimously approved by the city council and sent to the Gainesville School Board for consideration and approval. 

Gainesville Superintendent Justin Gilmore said he received the ordinance late last week, and the school board read over the ordinance Monday morning. 

“This was not agreed to by the school,” he said. “As of right now, we are not signing anything.”

Gilmore said the school board will have the Ozark County Surveyor survey the property and provide the city with an easement for sewer, not including a water easement.

In other business

Water specialist Jessi Price informed the council that water loss in the city is down. “The center is down about 10 percent and the west about 6 percent,” she said. “We’ve got a new leak found in the center area that we plan to fix when we have time.”

Maintenance Supervisor Mike Davis said they are still working on improvements to the wastewater treatment facility. He told the council that he and one other employee went to Houston, Missouri, to look at their treatment plant and different ways to do things. “Jerry Jackson (City of Houston Sewer Department Supervisor) said [our] sewer treatment plant looks the best that it has since it’s been in service.”

He also told the council that they were still waiting on companies to bid for fence construction around the facility.

City Clerk Lisa Goodnight updated the council on the Main Street sidewalk project. She told them the handrails were fabricated and they were to be installed before Hootin an Hollarin. (The handrails were installed Sept. 15.)

The council also approved a request by Darrell White and his daughterDusty Wrinkles for an exception to the city’s fireworks ordinance in order to have a short fireworks show at the end of the celebration of life for late Diane White. She died July 19, 2023, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.