Cleburne residents may have noticed the plastic bags covering city parking meters. Police Chief Terry Powell suggested bagging the meters at Tuesday’s workshop portion of the city council meeting.

Council members previously discussed imposing a two-hour parking limitation in place of meters in an effort to improve downtown parking as part of a comprehensive plan to revitalize the area.

“Since we have no idea what taking them out permanently would do, I think bagging the meters for 60-90 days would give the council a better baseline to make a permanent decision from,” Powell said.

A big concern has been the effect on downtown parking once several county offices, presently housed at the Guinn Justice Center, move back to the Johnson County Courthouse, which is undergoing renovation.

“If those employees are not back at the courthouse yet, how’s bagging the meters now going to help us gauge the problem?” Councilman John Warren asked.

Powell said county employees should return to the courthouse by mid December, which would give the city all of January and, possibly, February to determine how effective temporarily going without meters would be.

“But if we just bag the meters, that’s kind of giving people a license to park all day,” Mayor Ted Reynolds said. “I think if we do this we’re going to have to also put up two-hour-parking signs and enforce that. Otherwise, it won’t do much good.”

Powell received authorization for the trial run.

The decision to bag the meters temporarily is one City Manager Chester Nolen can make without council approval, Councilman Bob Force said. Any decision to permanently remove the meters would, however, require council action, he said.

“And, if it doesn’t work, we can take the bags off in a matter of hours,” Powell said.

Council members made no decision on Powell’s second idea to restrict through traffic in the cemetery on Island Grove Road and Farm-to-Market Road 4 and the nearby Cleburne Sports Complex.

People have been cutting through the cemetery, in part, because of increased traffic caused by the recently opened Adams Elementary School nearby, Powell said.

“I’ve had complaints from people visiting the cemetery and even attending funerals of traffic cutting through there,” Powell said. “I haven’t heard of anyone cutting across graves or markers yet, but it’s only a mater of time.”

Councilman Bob Force said he has heard several reports of such actions.

Powell told council members he’d like to write an ordinance to bring before the council for approval.

“I’d say the sooner the better,” Reynolds said.

Councilman Kyle Boles agreed.

“I’ve been out at the sports complex and seen people cutting through the parking lots and, to me, that’s just an accident waiting to happen,” Boles said.

The 1914 downtown building undergoing renovation to house the Lowell Smith Sr. History Center needs a lot of work, Jeff Cummins, a project manager with ArchiTexas, told council members.

“It’s experienced numerous leaks, deterioration and structural damage throughout the years,” Cummins said. “Many of the building’s historical designs have been stripped through the years.”

The Smith Center is part of a larger project to renovate the adjacent Layland Museum and surrounding grounds. Project leaders estimated the entire project cost at about $2.9 million in an October 2006 council workshop session.

Partial funding for the project will come from donations and fundraising events such as the Cleburne International Christmas Market. Additional funding will come from the city. Council members allocated $500,000 for the project in this year’s budget. Council members called the project worthwhile, but balked at funding the entire cost.

Force asked Cummins for a realistic picture of the Smith building’s condition.

“I’m not going to bend any corners,” Cummins said. “There’s extensive damage that needs to be addressed. There are serious structural problems due to lack of use and maintenance. But, I’ve seen much worse. It’s typical of what we see in a lot of buildings from that period.”

Force suggested another course of action.

“I didn’t know this building was in this bad of shape,” Force said. “Why not just tear it down and build a replica?”

Cummins, and Assistant City Manager Adam Miles, said such decisions would be for the council to make.

“I see your point,” Cummins said, “but there’s also something to say for saving and preserving something. I’ve been disappointed in Dallas’ practice of tearing buildings down to build new ones.”

Cummins also spoke of the need to acquire additional property for the project that Councilman Sonny Russell and others said they were hearing about for the first time.

Force suggested scheduling a workshop session between city leaders, museum-project leaders and ArchiTexas staff to go over project details before the council made any decisions, a suggestion other council members called a good idea.

In other workshop news:

• City Manager Chester Nolen said the city’s latest royalty check from gas-well revenues totaled $476,000. Thanks to an accounting mistake, the city will receive a supplemental check from Chesapeake Energy, bringing the total to between $500,000 and $550,000, Nolen said.

• The Cleburne 4B Economic Development Corporation recently closed the sale on the old Royce’s Pharmacy building downtown and will begin asbestos abatement in early December, Miles said. 4B members plan to use the building for a performing arts center.