City approves new official logo

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With the advent of social media, Ulysses City Administrator Luke Grimes wants to give the city a unique brand that will be recognizable across social media platforms. Grimes proposed a new logo at last week’s city council meeting that will generally be used Online. The city won’t need to change anything on vehicles or letterhead.

The council members generally liked the new logo, but with a twist.

“If I was going to change it, that’d be the one I’d choose (but) I’ll be a no vote to change just because I continue to like the one we have,” said councilman Ken Warner. “I think it’s simple (and) easy. I’m not opposed to the change but I won’t be voting in favor of the change.”

When asked by mayor Tim McCauley about the logo hanging on the wall in the council chambers, Grimes said there’s no reason to get rid of anything. The sign at city hall was expensive to have made.

“We can still use the  logo we have now for different things,” Grimes said. “I have no doubt some of the department heads will keep putting it on their jackets because they like it. This stuff is very noncommittal.

“I’m not going to dispose of anything, I’ll still keep this in use for certain things,” adding that the design of the new logo is centered around the Internet.

“The one we’ve got is a bar and there’s no context on the Internet that works well,” Grimes said. “That’s why I started our redesign project. It’s kind of just adding to our brand portfolio,” saying also that the different logos can be used for different things but, “This will work so much better on the Facebook profile, (and) on the Website. That’s the idea behind this design.”

Councilman Caleb Woods asked if they even needed a motion to approve it if they were just adding it to what already exists, but Grimes said he was going to try to copyright it.

“If you’re trying to make an official logo it should be done by a motion and if you’re especially going to copyright it I would suggest making an official motion,” said city attorney Lynn Koehn.

The logo includes a wagon modeled after the metal artwork seen entering Ulysses on Highway 160 and Grimes tracked down the descendants of Earl Seger, who made that sign, and they gave permission to use it.

"The City of Ulysses wishes to say a special thanks to Earl Seger and the Seger family," Grimes said in a note shared via email Friday. "Earl is responsible for the design and construction of the iconic Ulysses landmark east of town, depicting the audacious relocation of Ulysses to its current site.

"Earl's family have graciously allowed us to use the landmark's likeness in our new logo. We feel it grounds the logo in our City's history and serves as an encouragement to the community to never stop moving forward."

Grimes said, and Koehn agreed, that the logo should be copywritten.

“By no means does it negate the use of what we’ve currently got," Grimes added.

Mark Diaz moved to make it the city’s official logo, seconded by John Duran, and the item passed by a 4-1 vote with Warner voting no and Terry Maas absent.

•The council discussed a $1 million certificate of deposit that will mature at the end of the year, and was tasked with what to do with it. Grimes said the city received offers from three banks in town, with Dream First Bank and Grant County Bank the most competitive, deciding the best course of action was to go with a 1-year CD, anticipating lower rates in the second half of the year. If the bank reinvests at six months, the Annual Percentage Yield would be 4.29.

The CD is currently at Grant County Bank and Grimes said there’s no difference between Grant County Bank and Dream First Bank.

McCauley said the CD is currently at Grant County Bank and recommended keeping it there, with Warner moving to keep it at GCB and Terry Dimmitt seconding the motion and the motion passed 4-0 with Woods abstaining due to his position at Dream First Bank.

•The council had a lengthy discussion regarding a “Golf Sales Employee Policy,” which Grimes requested be put on the agenda. Bentwood Golf Course pro shop manager Teresa Gutierrez has been selling golf products at the golf course to city employees at wholesale cost, and Grimes said if that was going to be the policy, the council needed to approve it. The council could make it policy, nix it and make employees pay full price, or establish a percentage employee discount.

“Either way I just want you guys to decide what it is, let me know, and I’ll see how everyone’s leaning and put to a vote next meeting,” Grimes said. “That way it’s just official in policy and doesn’t cause a problem for us later.”

Koehn said it would be considered an employee benefit and there’s nothing that says the city can or can’t do it.

“If the employer decides to do that, it really needs to be a policy somewhere that’s written down so that way it’s very clear,” Koehn added.

Diaz said it needs to be nixed and everybody be treated equally.

“I think that we pay our employees well and they get free golf and I don’t think that there should be other benefits added to it,” Diaz said.

Grimes said it was not a disciplinary action against Gutierrez.

“We just need to make sure that we nix it now, be done with it and that it doesn’t go on a continuous basis,” Diaz said. “It’s not fair to them as an employee any different than it is if it was a taxpayer, I mean, we’re all taxpayers, that’s a city place and I think there’s other people that would love to have that same discount so I think everybody needs to be treated fairly.”

Warner sees it as an employee benefit and suggested selling items to employees at a percentage discount.

“Just to nix it and say we’re not going to do that for you anymore I don’t think is the way to go,” Warner said. “We’re not talking about anybody else except our employees who work for us and therefore they’re part of us and that could be an advantage.”

Diaz said that employees already can golf for free, and selling items at such a discount will cause problems with the public later.

The item will be discussed again at a future meeting.