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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-03-15 MINUTES OF COUNCIL MARCH 15, 2016 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on March 15, at 5:30 P.M. in the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh called the meeting to order. Councilmember Matthews gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following councilmembers answered present; Chris Beller, Tommy Bryant, Sonya Crafton, Margarett Henley, Paige Hubbard, Doug Matthews, and Chris Poole. Also present were the City Attorney Tim Meitzen and City Clerk Denise Johnston. Councilmember David Shetron was absent. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Beller seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the prepared agenda as amended and Councilmember Henley seconded. All voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) MONTHLY POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the council with his monthly police department report. Chief Cockrill said he had been notified regarding a grant to apply for that will pay for overtime for officers to issue speeding citations only. The Chief said he would visit with the Mayor about the grant. He said he was not sure that this was something the city wanted to do. The council was given a statics report and the Chief said the department is running smoothly. B) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer, Damon Johnson, addressed the council with his monthly report. Mr. Johnson said all departments were running as usual. Utility Construction is doing lots of line replacements and the new Wastewater Treatment Plant is running smooth with a few minor exceptions. C) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING MAXFIELD PARK Mr. Bob Carius with Main Street Batesville and Mr. Danny Dozier addressed the council regarding a resolution to establish Maxfield Park. Mr. Dozier reminded the council that Ms. Anne M. Strahl previously donated to the City lots 3 & 4, between Ozark Furniture Outlet and the Blankenship Law Firm, to be used as a park. Ms. Strahl recently passed away and bequeathed a large amount of money to be used for the upkeep of Maxfield Park. Mr. Dozier said the proposed resolution and time-line is to give to the executor of Ms. Strahl's will, the City's intention for the property. The City will not receive and of the funds for maintenance until the project is completed. Mr. Carius said he spoke today with the County Judge and he has offered to use county equipment and workers to level the property to get ready for the project. Mr. Carius said he was pleased to see the County offer to help with a project located inside the City limits of Batesville. Councilmember Bryant introduced the resolution. Councilmember Matthews moved to read the resolution by title only. Councilmember Beller seconded. The roll call count was 2 for (Beller and Crafton) and 5 against. Mr. Meitzen read the resolution in full. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt the resolution and Councilmember Beller seconded. The roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. The resolution was given #2016-03-01-R. D) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE 2015 BUDGET Councilmember Bryant introduced an ordinance to amend the 2015 budget. Councilmember Bryant moved to suspend the rules and read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Henley seconded and the roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Bryant moved to further suspend the rules and waive the second and third readings. Councilmember Crafton seconded and the roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt the ordinance and Councilmember Beller seconded. The roll call count was 7 for and 0 against. The ordinance was given #2016-03-01. E) EXECUTIVE SESSION Councilmember Beller moved to go into executive session. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. Mayor Elumbaugh asked for Police Chief Alan Cockrill to come into the executive sessions to discuss a personnel issue. Chief Cockrill returned from the sessions and a few minutes later the Mayor and council returned. The Mayor said no decision was made regarding the personnel issue. Councilmember Bryant moved to appoint Mr. Scott Fredricks to the Public Facilities Board. Councilmember Matthews seconded and all voted for. Mr. Fredricks' is replacing Mr. Joe Don Reynolds. His term will expire November 10, 2020. F) PAID BILLS REPORT The council was given a copy of the February, 2015 paid bills report for review. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh gave a brief review of his recent trip to Washington DC for the National League of Cities. The Mayor asked for approval for out of state travel for 4 firefighters. The Mayor said the travel is to the annual FDIC meeting in Indianapolis, IN. Councilmember Matthews moved to approve the travel and Councilmember Bryant seconded. All voted for. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Beller praised the Batesville Police Department for establishing an Internet Purchase Exchange site in the parking lot of the Police Department. With the number of internet sites for selling and purchasing items, this offers our citizens a safe place to make exchanges. The area is marked with a sign and is under 24 hour surveillance. Dr. Beller said the post on the Police Department's Facebook page has had over 10 thousand likes and 780 comments. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to place a street light at the end of the cul- de-sac on Lake Oak Drive. Mr. Bryant said several houses have been construction around the cul-de-sac and the area is extremely dark. Councilmember Beller seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Bryant also said he would still like to consider passing an ordinance allowing for the selling and shooting of fireworks on certain days inside the City limits. Also he said we need to add some "teeth" to our current burn ordinance. Fire Chief Brent Gleghorn said he is currently working on both of those issues. Councilmember Chris Poole brought the council up on the ongoing discussion regarding the City's 911/Dispatching department. Mr. Poole said the county did not attend the last called meeting. He said he feels that the City has come up with a good and fair proposal for the county but has yet to hear anything from them. Councilmember Beller added that these discussion have been going on over 10 months. He said the joint meetings have not been useful, primarily because the county will not produce any firm figures. Dr. Beller said maybe the city should hire a 3rd party arbitrator from outside the city and county to help with a resolution. Dr. Beller said his priority is for the safety of the public and sanity of our employees. Mayor Elumbaugh said we would have a meeting this next week. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Matthews moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Bryant seconded. All voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK