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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-12 MINUTES OF COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on September 12th at 5:30 pm at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh presided over the meeting. Utility Billing Manager Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following Councilmembers answered present; Chris Beller, Tommy Bryant, Sonya Crafton, Margaret Henley, Paige Hubbard, Doug Matthews, Chris Poole, and David Shetron. Also present were Admin Assistant Jennifer Corter and City Attorney Tim Meitzen. City Clerk Denise Johnston was absent. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Hubbard seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the prepared agenda. Councilmember Beller seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS A) SECOND READING OF A REVISED ORDINANCE CREATING A PERPETUAL MAINTENANCE FUND FOR THE BATESVILLE COMMUNITY CENTER AND AQUATICS PARK AND OUTDOOR TENNIS COURTS Councilmember Bryant made a motion to read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Beller seconded and the electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. City Attorney Tim Meitzen read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Bryant moved to wave the third reading since this is the third time it has been read, (corrections were made after the first original reading). Councilmember Beller seconded and the electronic vote was 8 for and 0 against. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt the ordinance and Councilmember Beller seconded. The electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. The ordinance was given #2017-09-01 NEW BUSINESS A) RECOGNITION OF EAST LAB STUDENTS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BATESVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT Fire Chief Brent Gleghorn and Mr. Trey Thompson, an 11th grade student at Batesville High School, came forward to address the Council regarding Mr. Thompson's project through the East Lab. He began the project in the 9th grade and has competed in a National Service Project Contest. Over the past two years he has worked to GPS map all of the fire hydrants in the City of Batesville. Not only does this project help with location of the hydrants, it also gives valuable information about the amount of flow for each hydrant. This is something that was impressive to the ISO representatives who were here recently to update the rating for Batesville. Councilmember Beller expressed his appreciation to Trey and to his teachers for their dedication and hard work on the project and noted how valuable this information is in the event of an emergency. Mayor Elumbaugh presented Mr. Thompson with a plaque of appreciation. Mayor Elumbaugh also presented Mr. Efrin Perez with a certificate of appreciation for his contributions of putting together a Spanish-English flip card book to bridge the language gap during an emergency situation. B) POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the Council with his monthly report. He provided the monthly stats on accidents and arrest. He also reported that he currently has four officers attending the academy and two part-time officers helping fill the vacancies. The department has logged over 4500 hours of volunteer service this year. C) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the Council with his monthly report. He said the sewer line replacement on Westside is almost complete, except for what will be contracted out. Most of the focus will be moving to East Batesville and hopefully that area will be completed in approximately a year. We are on schedule with both of these projects. Both the Water and Wastewater plants are operating good. Wastewater is pushing to complete all of the warranty issues. The Street Department is working on the the for the Fitzhugh Street extension. Mr. Johnson also reported on the fuel system. He passed out some numbers and discussed the pros and cons of replacing our old system or doing away with it and entering into an agreement with Littlefield Oil Company to purchase fuel at any of their locations. After a discussion, Councilmember Beller asked Mr. Johnson to get some hard numbers on replacing the system and they would look more closely at the options during the budget process. Councilmember Bryant asked how close we are to letting bids for the project on Westside and Mr. Johnson said they are still working on easements. D) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE RENEWING A FRANCHISE TO OPERATE AN AMBULANCE BUSINESS WITHIN THE CITY OF BATESVILLE Mayor Elumbaugh asked Ms. Karen Ryan and Ms. Kathy Lanier, with Vital Link to address the Council to provide an update on Vital Link. Ms. Ryan said that Vital Link has been providing EMS services for 33 years (franchised in 1992). They are one of 4 EMS providers that are accredited in the state of Arkansas, and the only service of its size that has been accredited nationally. Councilmember Beller conveyed his appreciation for all the hard work and dedication that has been put in to obtaining these accreditations and introduced an ordinance granting a franchise to operate an ambulance business within the City of Batesville. Mayor Elumbaugh asked City Attorney Meitzen to read the ordinance in full. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to suspend the rules and waive the second and third readings. Councilmember Beller seconded and the electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to adopt the ordinance and Councilmember Beller seconded. The electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. The ordinance was given #2017-09-02. E) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE CITY OF BATESVILLE MASTER BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN PLAN Mayor Elumbaugh asked Mr. Jeff Owens, Ms. Julie Luther, landscape architect with Crafton-Tull and Ms. Leeisa Frazier, with Arkansas Department of Health, to come forward and address the Council. This plan has been in the works for approximately a year and a half. It is part of the strategic plan for the Department of Health and is part of a CDC grant which was in two phases of funding. They presented the Council with hard copies of the plan and did a PowerPoint overview of the plan. Councilmember Bryant introduced the ordinance and City Attorney Meitzen read the ordinance in full. Councilmember Matthews made a motion to suspend the rules and waive the second and third readings. Councilmember Bryant seconded and the electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to adopt the ordinance and Councilmember Henley seconded. The electronic roll call was 8 for and 0 against. The ordinance was given #2017-09-03. F) REVIEW PAID BILLS The Council was given a copy of the August paid bills report for review. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh ask Mr. Owens to discuss the bids for new restrooms at the T-Ball field. Five bids were received and all came in more than expected. Mr. Owens applied for a grant totaling $175,000.00 but the low bid came in at $256,000.00. Some value engineering has been done to lower that cost to $251,000.00 but that still leaves a $76,000.00 difference. Mayor Elumbaugh reported that the O&M in in good shape as of now. Councilmember Beller made a motion to move forward on the contract and Councilmember Matthews seconded. The motion passed 8 for and 0 against. Mayor Elumbaugh announced that the first Mayor's Meeting of the season will be held on Thursday, September 14th at the Community Center, from 5:00-6:30 p.m. The community is invited to come out for an update on city projects and the community center. The community center is running smooth. Schedules for October- March events and classes will be available soon. As of 9/11 there were 5,077 members and the outdoor pools will remain open on Saturday and Sunday until October 1St. The parking lot will be restriped on 9/13 to allow for more handicapped parking. Mayor Elumbaugh also announced the upcoming White River Water Carnival on Sept 16th at Riverside Park. The Fire Pension Board met recently and voted to have an actuary started. The LOPFI deadline for this is October 1, 2017. Mayor Elumbaugh said he has a scheduling conflict with the next meeting date and asked that the meeting be moved to Monday, September 25th if there is business for an agenda. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Bryant noted that lights are being installed at the community center parking lot to allow for additional parking. ADJOURNMENT There being no more business, Councilmember Bryant moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Henley seconded and all voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR JENNIFER CORTER, ADMIN. ASSISTANT