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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-08-13 MINUTES OF COUNCIL AUGUST 13, 2019 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on August 13, at 5:30 pm at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh presided over the meeting. Utility Office Manager Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following Councilmembers answered present; Tommy Bryant, Scott Fredricks, Julie Hinkle, Fred Krug, Doug Matthews, Pete Musgrave and Chris Poole. Also present were the City Clerk Denise Johnston and City Attorney Tim Meitzen. Councilmember Paige Hubbard was absent. Councilmember Hinkle moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Hinkle moved to approve the prepared agenda. Councilmember Bryant seconded. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the council for his monthly Police Department Report. Chief Cockrill reported that the Public Safety Committee met last Thursday. The committee discussed the issue with the purchasing of the 5 new trucks approved for in the 2019 budget. The Chief said it is complicated but when RAM submitted their bid for the state purchasing price, they bid the wrong transmission, therefore they had to pull that bid and resubmit with the correct transmission. That process put a huge lag in receiving previously ordered trucks. So far, we have received 2 of the 5 trucks that we ordered. The Chief said he is getting on a rotation of buying 5 cars this year and 5 next years, then he will not purchase any for the following 2 years, then trade all 10 for new ones the following year for approximately $60,000.00. The committee recommended to go ahead and order the 5 trucks for next year for hopefully late December, early January delivery. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to order the 5 additional trucks and Councilmember Poole seconded. All voted for. B) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his monthly report. Mr. Johnson said he wanted to make the public aware of the several large water tanks placed strategically throughout Eagle Mountain. The tanks are to ensure water service to the area when the large water tank is taken out of service while it is being re-coated. The re-coating will probably take 4 to 6 months to complete. Mr. Johnson reported that 2 large drainage projects will begin soon, one on Juniper street, which will block the usage of Juniper street and one on the backside of Eagle Mountain. The Water Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment Plant are running well. The new one arm garbage truck is in. There have been a couple of problems that had to be corrected but a crew was testing the truck in a neighborhood this afternoon. C) FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT Fire Chief Brent Gleghorn addressed the council and presented a 6-month report for the Fire Department. The report was a detailed and comparative report for 2017 through 2019. Councilmember Poole said during the Public Safety meeting, they discussed purchasing body armor for the fire department. Chief Gleghorn said most of his employees have been trained for mass casualty incidents, should such an incident happen in our area. However, they need protection with the body armor. He said they will need 19 vest which will cost approximately $14,000.00 and could be paid for out of the Alcohol Tax monies. Councilmember Bryant moved to purchase the vests and pay for them out of the Alcohol Tax monies. Councilmember Krug seconded and all vote for. D) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PARAMETERS FOR THE RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR THE MAYOR Councilmember Bryant introduced an ordinance that would amend the parameters for the retirement benefits for the Mayor of the City of Batesville. Councilmember Bryant moved to read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Fredricks seconded. The electronic roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Bryant said the Mayor and the City Clerk are on a retirement program set by the State of Arkansas and this ordinance will provide retirement benefits for their spouses in the event of Mayor or Clerks death and also provide for a COLA. Mr. Bryant pointed out that the amendments will closer provide for the Mayor and Clerk as our employees receive from APERS and LOPFI retirement programs. Mayor Elumbaugh asked that the ordinance be placed on the next meeting's agenda for the second reading. E) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PARAMETERS FOR THE RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR THE CITY CLERK Councilmember Bryant introduced an ordinance that would amend the parameters for the retirement benefits for the Mayor of the City of Batesville. Councilmember Bryant moved to read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Hinkle seconded. The electronic roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance by title only. Mr. Bryant pointed out that this ordinance is a duplicate of the previous one, only for the City Clerk. This ordinance will also be put on the next meetings agenda for the second reading. F) EXECUTIVE SESSION Councilmember Fredricks moved to go into executive session. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. Upon returning from executive session, Councilmember Bryant moved to reappoint the following to the Tree Board; Larry Morris, Jimmy Wallace and Jonathan Abbott. All terms will expire 09/08/2021. Councilmember Matthews seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Fredricks had to leave the meeting after the executive session due to another obligation. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh asked Cemetery/Landscape Supervisor Mr. Jonathan Abbott to address the council regarding the purchase of a 2019 Mini Excavator. For the last 3 or 4 years, Mr. Abbott has requested a mini excavator for his department during the budget process. During this year's budget talks, the Mayor told Mr. Abbott if he had some equipment he could sell to help with the cost of the excavator, he could possibly purchase one. Mr. Abbott sold two backhoes, two mowers and a hedge trimmer for a total of$33,010.00. Mr. Abbott received 3 bids with the lowest bid of$55,081.34 for a Kubota. That would leave a balance of$22,071.34 which can be paid for out of the Cemetery Maintenance Fund. Councilmember Bryant moved to purchase the mini excavator out of the Cemetery Maintenance Fund. Councilmember Poole seconded and all voted for. Mayor Elumbaugh gave the council an update on the ongoing problem with the smell from our local poultry plants. He said OMP has purchased a new auger that they should be installing it very soon in hopes of improving their waste ponds. PECO recently met with our city engineer Damon Johnson and Mr. Jim Ulmer, Engineer with Olson Engineering to discuss and give ideas and suggestions on helping with the waste problems. The Mayor said he is hopeful that the talks and improvements will help with the smell from the plants but also said it will not happen overnight. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Bryant asked the Mayor to tell about the start up of his monthly meetings. The Mayor said his meeting are starting back up after the summer break on September 5t" at the Community Center. He said this is his "Dream Big" meeting and is hoping for a large turnout with people with big ideas and dreams for Batesville. Councilmember Matthews said there was a street light out on Shade Tree Drive. Police Chief said his department just turned 10 pages of street lights that are out. Dr. Matthews said he would also like to see turn signals at the intersections of College Street and St. Louis which is Hwy 167. Mayor Elumbaugh said anything done at that intersection would have to be studied and approved by the Highway Department. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Matthews moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK