Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-02-2014 MINUTES OF COUNCIL FEBRUARY 25, 2014 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on February 25, at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Building. Mayor Elumbaugh called the meeting to order. Cemetery Supervisor Jonathan Abbott gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following council answered present; Tommy Bryant, Margarett Henley, Fred Krug, Douglas Matthews, and Chris Poole. Also present were the City Clerk and the City Attorney. Councilmember David Shetron was absent. 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 Matthews seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his Engineer's Report. Mr. Johnson reported that the contractors on all the ongoing construction projects have picked up since the bad weather. Crews are working to finish all the work on Neeley Street and should be ready for paving in a few weeks. He reported that the Water Treatment and Wastewater Treatment Plants are running smooth at this time. B) EXECUTIVE SESSION Councilmember Bryant moved to go into executive session and Councilmember Henley seconded. All voted for. Upon returning from executive session, the council considered the appointment of the two vacant council positions. The first position to consider was Ward 4, Position 1 made vacant by the resignation of Davy Insell. Councilmember Matthews moved to appoint Ms. Paige Hubbard to fill the unexpired term of Davy Insell for Ward 4, Position 1. Councilmember Bryant seconded and the roll call count was 5 for and 0 against. The second position to consider was Ward 3, Position 2 made vacant by Ms. Paige Hubbard. Councilmember Henley moved to appoint Dr. Chris Beller to fill the unexpired term of Ms. Hubbard. Councilmember Bryant seconded and the roll call count was 5 for and 0 against. Both terms will expire on December 31, 2014. C) STATE OF THE CITY Mayor Elumbaugh gave his annual State of the City address. Tonight I come before you to deliver my State of the City Address. When I became your mayor in January of 2007 the challenges confronting our city were much different than I had imagined. Decades of neglect and complacency regarding our water and wastewater infrastructure had crippled our community's ability to compete for new jobs. I tackled those basic problems, one by one, determined to build a solid foundation on which to grow this community. You agreed that it was time for Batesville to be a progressive community and provided approximately 50 million dollars in funding in order to repair the wastewater system. The council members you chose to work with me have been dedicated to working together to find the solutions needed to solve our problems and build a lasting future for our children and grand children. I cannot over emphasize the importance of having a city council who are "all on the same page"when considering a new and improved course for our community. They are always willing to put the best interests of Batesville ahead of any personality conflicts and I thank you for your continued confidence in those you have elected to the city council. As I thought back over the events of 2013, 1 was pleasantly surprised to realize that the city is operating smoothly and efficiently. Occasionally, I still get calls from someone about their trash or a pot hole we missed but the daily problems with equipment breakdowns that plagued us when I first took office are largely gone. We are now able to get large fleet discounts when purchasing new vehicles. When the city purchases a new vehicle, often the one it replaces is moved to another department to get a few more years out of it and only the oldest of city vehicles are usually retired. Many of the city vehicles you see every day didn't cost as much as some may think. For example, the new Dodge four wheel drive, double cab, pickups we recently purchased for the Metro Division of the Sheriffs Department cost a little over$23,000.00 each and were cheaper than the cars they replaced! These vehicles are a necessity for our police officers in bad weather. Our leasing of"mission critical"vehicles, such as those who run daily commercial trash routes, has greatly reduced the "downtime"for repairs we used to experience. When the time came to prepare a budget for 2014, using a cautious approach, I budgeted a "zero increase in sales tax revenue" even though historically it increases nearly every year. 2013 revealed numerous successes. The Regional Archery Tournament brought a few thousand people to our community in February. The city's partnership with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce resulted in the securing of a grant in April to extend the Greenway Trail from Riverside Park to Douglas Street. The beginning of the "Movies in the Park" program and the purchase of new firearms for our police officers using monies derived from the alcohol tax were a couple of other successes we saw. The city purchased a used fire truck specifically to improve fire fighting capabilities at the Batesville Regional Airport. Our Airport Commission successfully utilized grant funds to complete a major runway safety project and continues the development of additional hangar space for the growing fleet of aircraft based at our airport. In early 2013, 1 launched the "Mayor's Monthly Community Update Meetings". I felt the need to give our citizens, and especially our busy, business professionals, an opportunity to meet with their mayor and other elected officials in a relaxed and informal setting where they can get to know their elected officials better. Each month I provide updates on important city projects and other events of interest. These public meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month in various locations and have proven themselves worthwhile with over 140 in attendance at the February 2014 meeting in conjunction with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours event. Other"standout events" included the success of our White River Water Carnival at its new time and the overwhelming success of the annual Riverside Park Christmas Lights Display that drew visitors from all across Arkansas and other states to our community. The city's partnership on tourism with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce produced a billboard on the four lane highway below Searcy that helped bring visitors to Batesville to view our magnificent display. I want to thank the citizens for the abundance of compliments and support for our display and the hugely popular horse drawn carriage rides through Riverside Park. This would certainly not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our landscape supervisor, Johnny Abbott and his crew. Our business community continues to provide support for additional lighting displays. Last, as 2013 drew to a close we witnessed new interest by individuals and new commitments by the Main Street Batesville Organization to bring new life and re-vitalization to our Historic Downtown. The construction of the new soccer complex and the new ball parks at the North Complex have been plagued with setbacks from bad weather, but they will soon be completed and the first baseball tournament, one of at least four tournaments already booked, is scheduled for the first weekend in May. There are 106 teams currently registered! This event will showcase our progressive community to an estimated 5,000 people that weekend from all over Arkansas and several states! The revitalized complex will also have a huge impact on area restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and other businesses in our community. Last week we awarded the bid for the construction of the new Batesville Community Center and Aquatics Facility.We have already had several inquiries wanting to reserve the facility for events even though completion is still 16-17 months away. Our ground breaking for the new facility is scheduled for March 3, at 2P.M. As far back as the very early 1900's, the City of Batesville recognized the need for a community center for the citizens of our community and now finally, over 100 years later, the dream is coming to fruition. The new center will be able to host six volleyball games at once on three, side by side, basketball courts, be a venue for RV, boat, gun and car shows, as well as many other community events including weddings, graduations, and parties of all sizes and types. The indoor walking track, exercise facilities and year round swimming and heated therapy pool facilities will greatly improve the quality of life for all our citizens. The children's indoor play pool will be a year round birthday favorite for the youngest of our citizens! Warm weather will see our young moms with little ones enjoying the zero entry pool while older kids will find the play structures and water slide fascinating! We older folks may have to settle for a laid back trip around the lazy river! The City of Batesville's Community Center and Aquatics Facility, along with the new soccer and ball park facilities, will substantially lift the bar in quality of life opportunities offered by cities, not only in Arkansas, but in our region. Today's millennial generation places a much greater value on the quality of life afforded to their families when deciding where to settle down than did past generations and often place greater importance on the value of community than on the job. These quality of life improvements will also enhance area employer's ability to attract and retain the best and brightest to continue growing their businesses as well as attracting new businesses to our community. I am confident that our city has made the correct decisions to ensure a prosperous economic future for this community by first improving our water, sewer and road infrastructure. Independence County's economy is based on the poultry industry. If our city had not made the difficult decisions to repair our water and wastewater infrastructure first, what company would have been willing to purchase the Townsend's Poultry Facility when it went bankrupt knowing they couldn't expand it?What company would have been willing to purchase the Pilgrim's Pride facility when closure had already been announced if they had not been able to expand the plant and grow their business? Because we put infrastructure improvements first, because we made the right decisions, our core industry now has a prosperous future. It is now time to refocus our efforts at growing existing businesses and attracting new industries to our community. Having funds to encourage existing businesses to hire additional workers and funds to entice new businesses to locate here is critical to the continued success of this community. I must admit I was disappointed by the recent county-wide vote to discontinue the quarter cent sales tax for economic development. I never will forget the time Governor Beebe remarked that communities who have "skin in the game" (economic development money)were the ones most likely to receive help from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. As the County Economic Development efforts wind down and as the remaining economic development monies are spent, the City of Batesville stands ready to work with all involved to explore another alternative in order to support of economic development in our community. In the next few months the city will see one of the most aggressive overlay projects that it has had in many years. There will be over a half million dollars spent comparable to approximately seventy five thousand dollars spent in previous years. This was made possible by the recent tax increases passed by the voters. There were also two additional firemen hired from the passing of the 2012 Community Development Initiative. I will continue leading this community with the goals of sustaining a safe and vibrant economic community for all citizens for decades to come. I feel extremely honored to continue my job as your mayor. My passion to improve this city is as strong today as it was when I was first elected. Before closing, I want to give my sincere, heartfelt thanks to all my employees who help this city run smoothly on a daily basis. My hope is that the City of Batesville will continue providing the community resources and leadership to enable all citizens to be proud of the place they call home. Thank you and God bless. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh said he would be out of town on the next scheduled council meeting. Councilmember Bryant moved to cancel the meeting scheduled for March 11th and only have one meeting on March 25th. Councilmember Matthews seconded and all voted for. 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