Council-Manager Third Plan of Denison City Government

(Denison Herald, June 25, 1972)

City government in Denison today flourishes under the council-manager plan adopted with a new city charter in 1956.

And, coincidentally, this Centennial year finds Denison with its first city manager, David Harner, serving his second stint in the position.

Mayor Bob Cherry was selected by fellow councilmen in the spring of 1971. That's the way the council-manager plan works, with each of the five-man council possessing equal status and a vote, rather than the mayor being elected and given special powers as was the case before 1956, when the city secretary handled many management duties.

Harold Rodgers is mayor pro tem, and other councilmen are Jim Woodruff, Charles Myers, and Jerdy Gary.

Denison began with a ward system, electing two aldermen from each of four wards on June 1, 1873. But in 1907, the city had tired of ward politics and voted a new charter providing a mayor and two commissioners elected at large.

Dr. Alex Acheson, a physician who helped establish Denison, was elected the first mayor under the member commission plan, with John T. Suggs, a lawyer, and Pat. H. Tobin, ice plant owner, as commissioners. [A photo of Suggs, Acheson, and Tobin appears in the Denison Herald, July 4, 1976, entitled “City Fathers.”]

Home rule was inaugurated for larger Texas cities in 1913, and the charter was amended in 1925, 1936, 1944, and 1948 before the full-scale campaign for a complete new government in 1956.

The council-manager change came during the second administration of Harry Glidden, local office supply store operator. Walter Lebrecht, a retired city tax officer head, and C. A. (Hi) Weideman, then Saratoga Cafe co-owner, were the two commissioners who divided water and street responsibilities.

A strong mayor, Glidden served one term, then was beaten by A. C. (Mike) Casey, but returned to win over Casey and was in the second term of his second stint as mayor when the charter election came.

Glidden had lost control of the City Commission when Weideman and Lebrecht teamed up on a number of issues, thereby outvoting the mayor two-to-one. This rift in city harmony assisted the proponents of the new charter in their campaign, with Glidden leading the opposition. Financial difficulties had also beset Glidden's last administration, and an election attempt to raise taxes and make annexation of surrounding areas easier failed on October 6, 1955. The Cotton Mill area was then one of the largest unincorporated residential areas in the state, and Layne was also outside the city limits, which ended at the Katy Railroad tracks to the west.

A 15-member charter commission prepared the new document, which included broader annexation powers and other improvements, and Commissioner Weideman, now employed by Sherrard Motors, and the late Commissioner Lebrecht endorsed it.

A four-to-one majority vote on May 9, 1956, followed an intensive educational campaign by the Herald, and community leaders put the charter commission to work.

The actual election came October 23, 1956, and carried the new charter better than two-to-one at the polls.

Five members of the charter commission were put up as candidates [for the new City Council] and were elected without formal opposition. On December 11, the new council was organized, with E. J. Lilley, department store owner, named mayor. Carl Flanery Sr., general chairman of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, became mayor pro tem. And Ralph Porter, State National Bank executive vice president; Albert Martin, Citizens National Bank president; and B. McDaniel, retired school superintendent, were other councilmen.

Immediately after taking office, the new council employed Harner, who came from Jacksonville, Texas, where he was city manager, and took over duties here January 14, 1957. He held the post until February 1962, leaving to become assistant city manager at San Antonio.

A $3,939,000 bond program worked up by a Citizens Advisory Committee was approved September 10, 1957, and started the city moving on several fronts, allowing funds for extension of utilities in the Cotton Mill and Layne areas, thus making their annexation feasible.

The present charter has been challenged twice and stood up well, winning a 1961 vote by 1,984 to 598 after a spirited opposition campaign and more than equal backing on the charter side.

In 1967, the charter was challenged by a group proposing an eleven-member council, but 2,100 voted no to a change with only 1,200 in favor.

Currently [June 1972], Denison is improving both water and sewer systems under a bond program which met a mixed reaction at the polls May 26, 1970. Tax bond issues for streets, a new municipal garage, youth and civic center, police station, and Denison Public Library improvements all failed.

Revenue bonds of $2 million for water and $1,500,000 for sewer work were both approved, however, by narrow margins. The total bond election was on $5,940,000 for a five-year program.

Construction is currently under way on a new Duck Creek sewage treatment plant, and plans are being drawn for a new water treatment plant at Randell Lake, principal projects in the bond program.

Denison's first sewer system was started December 16, 1889, with issuance of $80,000 in sewerage bonds. Two districts were set up October 16, 1890, after the bonds were sold in December 1889, and the system started. District Number One was north of Main Street to Bond Street from Perry Avenue to the Katy Railroad. District Number Two ran south to Day Street and roughly the same distance to the east and west.

A plumbing code was adopted at the same time, along with an ordinance requiring houses within the sewer districts to tie onto the new city system. Prior to that, Denison had only privies and the “Midnight Local,” a wagon which went up and down the alleys at night cleaning the privies.

In the beginning, raw sewage was simply channeled to Red River, and this practice continued until 1965, when the Paw Paw Creek treatment plant was built. Since then, plants have been added on Iron Ore Creek and Little Shawnee to serve other parts of the city; and the city has even taken over water and sewer facilities at the former Perrin AFB. And today, the city is moving toward new, higher standards of sewage effluent set by the Texas Water Quality Board, chlorination equipment on existing treatment plants, and building the new Duck Creek plant.

The first local water system started in 1886, when the Waterloo Lake project was backed by a private concern which completed the dam in 1887. Before that, water was pumped from wells. In 1908, the city bought the waterworks from the Philadelphia firm, and shortly afterwards, in 1909, started construction of Randell Lake northwest of the city.

In 1915, the city had 600 water meters. Randell Lake's level was raised eight feet in 1940, and a new pump and filter plant built there in 1941. The 1957 bond program saw further expansion of the Randell plant.

The city built a pump station on Lake Texoma, securing water rights in the big lake as part of the 1952 water-sewer bond program, and started supplementing Randell with Texoma water pumped over the hill. A second pump was built in the late 1950s, and a third is planned in the 1970 bond program.

Approval of a one-cent optional city sales tax here in 1967 has provided money for street and many other city programs without the necessity for outside financing.

The council was able to build the new police station from regular funds, utilizing a $115,000 federal grant, absorb operation of an ambulance service into the fire department last January 1 [1972], and carry out a petition paving program for 1972, indicating the financial strength of the present city government.