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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-25 MINUTES OF COUNCIL NOVEMBER 25, 2014 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on November 25th at 5:30 P.M. at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh called the meeting to order. Utility Billing Manager Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following councilmembers answered present: Chris Beller, Tommy Bryant, Sonya Crafton, Margarett Henley, Paige Hubbard, Doug Matthews, Chris Poole and David Shetron. Also present were the City Attorney Lindsey Castleberry and City Clerk Denise Johnston. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Henley seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the prepared agenda as amended. Councilmember Shetron seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) LEAGUE ATTORNEY MARK HAYES AND CITY ATTORNEY LINDSEY CASTLEBERRY TO DISCUSS THE SOUTHSIDE INCORPORATION City Attorney Lindsey Castleberry and Municipal League Attorney Mark Hayes addressed the council to discuss the options the council has regarding the Incorporation of Southside. At the last council meeting, the council instructed Mr. Castleberry to contact Mr. Martin Bowen, Attorney for the Southside Incorporation group, and try to negotiate the removal of the portion of the City's airport that lies in the proposed incorporated area. If they agreed to remove the airport, the City would not pursue their pending lawsuit in Circuit Court. Both Mr. Castleberry and Mr. Hayes said they contacted Mr. Bowen but he said his clients did not want to release the airport property. Mr. Hayes told the council if they decided to proceed with the lawsuit they need to know that it will be a slow and costly process. He did say he thought we have a good chance to win the case but the council needs to consider their constituents in light of the recent annexation vote. Mr. Hayes talked about the potential of confusion with Government Agencies like the FAA and ADEQ when the airport property lies in two different government agencies and is owned by a third. Mr. Castleberry said the filing deadline to challenge the Incorporation is tomorrow, November 26th. He said one option would be to file a complaint in the form of an injunction in Circuit Court and hope the two sides can come together and work out a settlement. Mr. Hayes said settlements happen more times than not in court, however, he feels they have a strong case that the incorporation was not passed correctly and if it was the council's desire, they are willing to see the matter to the State Supreme Court. Mr. Vince Gay with the Southside Incorporation group asked to speak. He said their attorney advised them not to accept the City's offer to remove the airport from the incorporated area. Mr. Bowen believes that doing so will make the entire incorporation null and void. Mr. Hayes said he respect's Mr. Bowen's interpretation of the law but he and Mr. Castleberry do not believe that it would make the rest of the incorporation null. Councilmember Bryant said he thought the best thing for the City would be to file the lawsuit and try to reach a settlement regarding the airport. Mr. Bryant made a motion as such and Councilmember Shetron seconded. The roll call count was 7 for and 1 (Beller) against. B) DISCUSS EMPLOYEE HEALTH BENEFITS Deputy City Clerk Brenda Riley addressed the council with a recommendation from the Health Insurance Committee. Ms. Riley said the committee met 3 times and discussed many different options. The committee agreed to present the following recommendation; Go to a Class 3 by raising the deductible to $1,200.00, offer a FSA (Flexible Spending Account) which is taxed sheltered to help with medical expenses, start a Section 125 to make insurance premiums paid by our employees tax sheltered. The recommendations will go into effect January 1, 2015. Ms. Riley said the committee also wants the insurance premiums to be budgeted at the Class 4 rate and if our renewal stays at a Class 3 in June, the city will pass the savings along to the employees. In doing this, those who had to meet the $1,200.00 would get a little relief. The committee also discussed educating our employees regarding their health insurance and the importance of wellness checkups which is at no cost to the employee. Ms. Riley said the committee was trying to come up with a plan to reward those employees who get their annual wellness checkup and those who don't will have to pay a higher premium for their health insurance. Councilmember Shetron moved to approve the committee's recommendation and Councilmember Bryant seconded. All voted for. C) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his monthly engineer's report. He said the City crews should finish the left side of the new streetscape on Main Street tomorrow, just in time for the Christmas parade. He said they will finish the right side of the street in a couple of weeks. All other departments are working as usual. MAYOR'S COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh reminded the public that the Christmas Parade and Lighting Ceremony will be Monday night, December 1St. The lighting ceremony will begin at 6:00 PM and the parade will follow at 7:00. The Mayor said the city is proud to announce that we will have a synthetic ice skating rink at Riverside Park beginning 1:00 PM Monday and continuing through December. First Community Bank, with the encouragement of Mr. Dale Cole, donated the synthetic rink and 102 pair of skates to the City. The Mayor said the rink is portable and can even be set up inside the new community center for a "Christmas in July" theme. Mayor Elumbaugh said the skating rink will be a great addition to our already beautifully decorated Riverside Park. Mayor Elumbaugh reminded the council that it was again time to consider year end pay incentives for our City employees. After a brief discussion, no decision was made. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS None 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