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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-24 MINUTES OF COUNCIL JUNE 24, 2014 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on June 24, at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Building. Mayor Elumbaugh called the meeting to order. Utility Office manager Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following council answered present; Chris Beller, Tommy Bryant, Margarett Henley, Paige Hubbard, Fred Krug, Douglas Matthews, Chris Poole, and David Shetron. Also present were the City Clerk and the City Attorney. 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. Councilmember Beller seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS Ms. Donetta Hubbard who resides on Boswell Street addressed the council with concerns of the proposed utility rate ordinance. Ms. Hubbard said she understands that periodically the utilities have to increase rates; however, it is the proposed 3% annual increase that she is concerned about. OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO MODIFY THE FEES AND RATES CHARGED BY BATESVILLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITIES City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council to discuss the proposed utility fee and rate increase ordinance. Mr. Johnson said he recently attended a meeting at White River Planning and Development and one of the main topics was the importance of having our water, sewer and roads in good condition in order to bring in new industry. With Batesville being the oldest existing City in Arkansas that also means our infrastructure is also the oldest. Mr. Johnson went over several recent projects the utilities have completed and the current and planned projects. He said the age of our system is not the only large expense but the never ending regulations passed down by the Federal Government. He said he did a comparison and the last three rate increases, which were substantial, averaged about a 3% annual increase. He said the citizens could manage a small annual increase of 3% instead of a very large increase every 5 plus years. Mr. Johnson also said after visiting with some councilmembers, he will be putting before the council at the next meeting a resolution that will require the City to evaluate the annual increase every year and every 3 to 5 years have an independent firm do an analysis. If the 3% is too much or not enough, the Council can simply change the rate with an ordinance. Councilmember Bryant moved to suspend the rules and read the ordinance for the second reading by title only. Councilmember Shetron seconded and the roll call count was 8 for and 0 against. Mr. Castleberry read the ordinance by title only. The ordinance will be placed on the next meeting's agenda for the third and final reading. B) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION TO APPLY FOR AN OUTDOOR RECREATION GRANT FROM THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND TOURISM Councilmember Shetron introduced a resolution to authorize the Mayor to apply for a Parks and Tourism grant for new playground equipment and lighting at the north complex. Councilmember Matthews moved to read the resolution by title only. Councilmember Henley seconded and the roll call count was 8 for and 0 against. Mr. Castleberry read the resolution by title only. Councilmember Matthews moved to adopt the resolution and Councilmember Henley seconded and the roll call count was 8 for and 0 against. The resolution was given #2014- 06-02R. C) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his engineer's report. He said that the past week was very productive due to the sunshine. He updated the council on several projects and said they hope to have the Chaney Drive bridge repaired by the 4t" of July Holiday. D) EXECUTIVE SESSION Councilmember Bryant moved to go into executive session and Councilmember Matthews seconded. All voted for. Upon returning from executive session, Councilmember Beller moved to appoint Mr. Thomas Bryant to the Industrial Development Corporation. Councilmember Shetron seconded and all voted for except for Councilmember Bryant who abstained. MAYOR'S COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh introduced Mr. Danny Tripp who is the current President of the Batesville High School Youth Council. The Mayor congratulated Mr. Tripp for his position on the council and encouraged him in the building of a great Youth Council. The Mayor also said the Youth Council is looking for local support to help in the endeavor. The Mayor reminded the public that this season's first Movies in the Park is this coming Friday at Riverside Park. He said a good family movie will be playing and urged citizens to bring their families for a nice evening in our parks. Mayor Elumbaugh said he would like to congratulate our City Clerk for being chosen the 2014 Arkansas City Clerks, Recorders and Treasurer's Association's, City Clerk of the Year. Ms. Johnston received the honor at the 80th Arkansas Municipal League's Convention. The Mayor asked Councilmember Chris Poole to give the council an update on the recent softball committee meeting. Mr. Poole said the committee had their second meeting this past Monday night at the North Complex. Mr. Poole said he has done some research to see how we got to the place we are regarding softball fields. He had a set of minutes from ICYAA, which he read a passage of, said that the Mayor had attended an ICYAA meeting and explained how the ball fields were going to be constructed including the multipurpose fields. The minutes said the Mayor's talk was very informative and answered all their questions. Mr. Poole also referred to the architectural drawing behind him that has been displayed for over two years at City Hall. Therefore, Mr. Poole said "everyone has ownership in this. Now we need to figure out how to fix it". How long it will take and how much money are two main concerns. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Bryant said there are several street lights out around town that need to be repaired. Mr. Bryant also gave a brief history of the utility water rates to try to reassure and explain to the citizens why they were considering an annual rate increase. The City Clerk said she would like to take a moment and congratulate the Mayor on his recent appointment as First Vice President of the Arkansas Municipal League. The Mayor will take his position as President of the League next June at the annual convention. Ms. Johnston said the honor is very deserving and she is sure he will give the same vigor and compassion as President of the Municipal League as he does to the Citizens of Batesville as their Mayor. 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