The October meeting of the Allen City Council met Monday night. Members present were Dianna Brannan, Braylee Dickerson, Rhonda Skelton and Melinda Haney. Joshua Marshall was absent. Guest were Police Chief Randy Minyard, Pam Price, Dot Sappenfield and Phil Burke.

Attorney Jack Cadenhead asked for a correction on a prior legal description to be approved and the abandonment of an unopened road to be approved. Right of way rights are still in effect.

There was discussion on amending the golf cart/ATV/UTV ordinance, it was asked that UTV’s that cannot be tagged by the state, be able to be approved for use in city limits. Those vehicles cannot be tagged by the state because it cannot reach the minimum speed limit for highway travel. If approved the vehicle would have to be stickered and inspected by the town of Allen. Other changes that were discussed was raising the age limit of drivers of golf carts/utvs/ atvs. All members thought the changes would probably be a good idea but at this meeting the ordinance wasn’t ready to be approved with the proper wording, so it was tabled until the next meeting.

There was a discussion about when a sales tax increase might be needed. There is always street repair and Dickerson brought up the idea of a full-time firefighter that would be available during the day hours. Most of our volunteer firefighters work out of town which limits calls during the day. It was decided a lot of investigation into the procedure of increasing the sales tax, possible uses and estimates of how much could be collected, and hearings and public meetings that would need to be done.

The police department discussed patrolling hours, increasing visibility and cracking down on loud and speeding vehicles. It was needs to be noted that to contact the police department for a non-emergency event you should call central dispatch at (580)332-4466.

The payment of $8,513 was approved to OMAG for general liability/auto insurance for the year. It was noted that the recent storm did damage some vehicles and office roofs and we are waiting for an adjustor to come and look at the damage.