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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-08 MINUTES OF COUNCIL MARCH 8, 2022 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on March 8th, 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; Brittany Bennett, Tommy Bryant, Scott Fredricks, Julie Hinkle, Fred Krug and Chris Poole. Also present were the City Clerk Denise Johnston and City Attorney Tim Meitzen. Councilmembers Paige Hubbard and Doug Matthews were absent. Councilmember Bennett moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Fredricks seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Hinkle moved to approve the prepared agenda as amended. Councilmember Bennett seconded. All voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) RECOGNITION OF THE BATESVILLE PIONEER SWIM TEAM FOR WINNING THE 5A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Before handing each Batesville Pioneer swim team members a certificate of Achievement, Mayor Elumbaugh gave a timeline of the swim team since the City built the Community Center and Aquatic’s Park. The Mayor said since the new facility opened, the Batesville School District hired Alfredo Aleman-Velasco as their swim coach in 2018. Since then, the swim team has placed Runner-up rd in 4A in 2019, 4A State Champs in 2020, 3 Runner-up in 5A in 2021, and now 2022 5A State Champs. The team also set 3 State records this year in the 200 yard Medley Relay, the 200 yard Free Style Relay and the 400 yard Free Style Relay. The Mayor congratulated all the team members and said it takes a lot of hard work to win a championship. B) POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the council with his monthly report. Chief Cockrill said the accidents were down for the month of February due to the short month. He said he has one officer in the academy, one deployed to the military and one vacancy. The Chief said he has also checked on the status of the new police trucks but was still not given a projected delivery date. C) ENGINEER’S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his monthly report. Mr. Johnson said he didn’t have much to report. The Street Department has been doing extra duty due to bad weather. The Utility Construction has temporarily stopped the new line project on Broad Street to do a few more pressing issues, however, as soon as work is completed on Broad, they will be doing a complete asphalt overlay for the entire length of the West Broad Street. Contract Section III is progressing slowly while trying to complete all of the scheduled bores. D) MR. JUSTIN THOMPSON, AIRPORT MANAGER WITH AN UPDATE ON CURRENT PROJECTS Airport Manager Justin Thompson and Airport Commission Chairperson Kirk Warden addressed the council with current and upcoming airport projects. The current project which is close to completion is the switching of the runway lighting from incandescent to LED. The new lighting will lower the electricity bill as well as maintenance cost. The new projects are 1) A new 6 bay T-Hanger which will be paid for with an ADA 80/20 Grant; 2) new roads for the new hangers, paid for by a 90/10 FAA Grant; and 3) new overlay of the main runway, paid for by a 100% FAA Grant. Mr. Thompson said all of the grants are on a reimbursement basis and in the past the City has loaned the Airport the upfront funds to do the project and pays the City back once the grant funds are received. He said it will be around $976,819.00. Councilmember Bryant moved to advance the Airport, out of Utility reserves, the funds needed to do the projects mentioned by Mr. Thompson. Once the grant reimbursements are received, the Airport will pay the City back for all funds loaned. Councilmember Fredricks seconded and all voted for. E) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE BATESVILLE ZONING CODE Councilmember Bryant introduced an Ordinance to amend various provisions of the Batesville zoning Code. Code Enforcement Officer, Chad McClure, addressed the council with information regarding the amendment. The request is to add a “Low impact cultural and recreational facilities” classification to the Municipal Code. After a discussion, Councilmember Bryant moved to suspend the rules and read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Poole seconded and the electronic roll call count was 5 for and 1(Fredricks) Abstained. The motion failed. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance in full. After further discussion, Councilmember Poole moved to further suspend the rules and waive the second and third readings. Councilmember Bennett seconded and the electronic roll call count was 6 for and 0 against. Motion carried. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt the ordinance and Councilmember Poole seconded. The electronic roll call count was 5 for and 1(Fredricks) abstained. The motion carried and the ordinance was given #2022-03-01. Mr. Meitzen read the emergency clause. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt the emergency clause and Councilmember Poole seconded. The electronic roll call count was 5 for and 1(Fredricks) abstained. The motion carried. F) PAID BILLS REPORT The council was given a copy of the February, 2022 paid bills report for review. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh said he and his wife Margaret and Cemetery/Landscape/Winter Wonderland Supervisor Johnathan Abbott and his wife Dedra went to Fayetteville after being invited by Governor Asa Hutchinson. Batesville’s Winter Wonderland was nominated for Tourism Attraction of the Year award. Our rd Wonderland received 3 place out of 500 Cities in Arkansas. An honor indeed and the Mayor thanked Mr. Abbott and his crew and city departments that work so hard to put on such a wonderful winter display. th The next council meeting will be April 12. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS None ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Bennett moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. The meeting was adjourned at 6:19pm. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK