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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-26 MINUTES OF COUNCIL FEBRUARY 26, 2013 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on February 26, at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Building. Mayor Elumbaugh called the meeting to order. Councilmember Insell gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following council answered present; Tommy Bryant, Margarett Henley, Paige Hubbard, Davy Insell, Fred Krug, Douglas Matthews, Chris Poole, and David Shetron. Also present were the City Clerk and the City Attorney. Councilmember Insell moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Henley seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Shetron moved to approve the prepared agenda. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE 2012 BUDGET Councilmember Bryant introduced a resolution to amend the 2012 budget. Mr. Castleberry read the resolution in full. Councilmember Bryant moved to adopt and Councilmember Henley seconded. The roll call count was 8 for and 0 against. The resolution was given #2013-02-03-R. B) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his engineer's report. Mr. Johnson said he didn't have much to report since the last meeting. City street crews are busy clearing brush from the last ice storm and the utility construction department is having to deal with the wet conditions. C) STATE OF THE CITY Tonight I come before you to deliver my State of the City Address.2012 saw its share of challenges for our city but the successes continued moving our community forward. First and foremost,your city operated within its budget constraints and its financial condition is solid.When you elected me as your mayor I promised to end each year of my service with no budget deficit.We have met that goal every year and our departments continue to be frugal with your tax dollars.Though we continue to budget conservatively with only minimal increases in anticipated tax revenue,we are continually faced with increases in costs for everything the city purchases,especially health care.As I promised,we will continue upgrading city equipment and enacting new policies to enable your city to operate more efficiently. The mayor alone cannot solve all the problems, meet all the challenges or take advantage of all the opportunities presented to our city each year. I am thankful that you continue to elect city council members who are team players and who truly want what's best for our city. Each of them brings something unique to the discussion and at times they disagree but without being disagreeable.Their conviction to make a decision and move forward enables the city to continue progression. Highlights of 2012 saw the city wrestle with a railroad right of way extension request from a new sand company and a controversy over a homeless shelter.Three hangars and several airplanes were destroyed in a storm at the airport.The city's alcohol tax purchased bullet resistant vests and new.45 caliber pistols for police officers.A new Inter-local Law Enforcement Agreement with the county was approved.The 1988 fire truck was finally replaced with a new one. Row Lake was drained, cleaned and a new handicap accessible fishing pier added along with drainage and bank improvements.Grant money received by the city allowed Phase 2 of the Greenway Walking/Biking Trail to be completed from Row Lake to Riverside Park and extended to Pioneer Drive.The Community Garden parking lot was curbed and paved.The purchase of over 50 acres for the new soccer complex was completed.The city was approached by individuals about buying the 72 acres of the Batesville Country Club but no action was taken.The city continued its partnership with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce for grant writing services and tourism development.The city expanded the Christmas lights display by partnering with area businesses to purchase several new features.Our Christmas light display is gaining statewide recognition and continues to be one of the best in the state.The Paul H.(Rocky)Willmuth Shooting Sports Complex hosted several tournaments which brought numerous visitors to our city. The city continued to support the White River Water Carnival and Parade,and the 2012 Water Carnival was one of the best Water Carnival weekends in recent memory. December witnessed the largest and best Christmas Parade in many years,largely as a result of mild weather, but just as the year was winding to a close, Mother Nature, as she often does, brought the city to a standstill with the Christmas night blizzard of 2012.With only minimal snow removal capabilities the city worked diligently to clear streets.The majority of our accomplishments could not have been completed without the dedication and hard work of our local Chamber of Commerce,city employees and numerous volunteers. I could continue with where we have been, but I want to use this opportunity to reiterate my vision for the future of our community. Six years ago you put your trust in me as your mayor to lead this community in becoming a progressive, prosperous,vibrant and growing community. I trust we all share a common purpose of making Batesville the best place to work,the best place to play and the best place to get an education and raise a family. To meet these goals my administration adopted a multi-faceted approach of improving infrastructure while simultaneously undertaking a plan of economic and community development. This goal was established in order to improve the quality of life for our citizens and thus improving our chances of attracting new jobs.Tonight I want to report on the progress that has been made in these critical areas. Wastewater Infrastructure In 2009,voters approved a bond issue,financed by a one-cent sales tax,in order to construct a new wastewater treatment plant and repair our wastewater collection system.When we proposed a gravity tunnel under the city golf course to carry wastewater to the treatment plant regulators were impressed by our"thinking outside the box"and awarded us a grant of over 6 million dollars.The low bid on the tunnel project was 5.6 million dollars saving taxpayers even more.Work continues on schedule at the new treatment plant and it is scheduled to go online in late 2014 or early 2015.The city was required to conduct a study of the collection system that took three years to complete.The actual rehabilitation of the collection system finally began a few weeks ago when the first contract was awarded. When the new wastewater treatment plant is completed, our wastewater treatment capacity will increase from 4.3 million gallons per day to approximately 10 million gallons per day. This will provide sufficient excess wastewater treatment capacity to attract new jobs to our community. Water Infrastructure When I took office,our 12 million gallon per day water treatment plant,built in 1967,was struggling to produce 7 million gallons of water per day. My administration immediately undertook repairs and I am happy to report that capacity has been increased to approximately 10 million gallons per day. In addition,some of the 1967 electrical components had become hazardous and the control system required modernizing.The electrical hazards have been corrected and control systems upgrades are in progress. In addition,our engineers are conducting an analysis of our water system in order to determine where increased storage and line capacities are needed to facilitate continued future growth. Street Infrastructure Our community has been fortunate in securing major improvements to Arkansas Highway 69(Harrison Street)and more recently,the ongoing highway widening projects between Batesville and Cave City on US Highway 167(N. St. Louis Street). The Arkansas Highway&Transportation Department has invested tens of millions of dollars in these road infrastructure projects without a requirement from local tax contributions. Overlaying of local streets has become very expensive and making sure taxpayer dollars are well spent is more essential than ever.Often drainage issues,such as culvert replacement, require correction before money can be spent on overlays. Many of our water and sewer lines lie under our streets and ongoing line repair and rehabilitation necessitate those repairs being completed before any street overlays are done.As part of the 2012 Community Development Initiative passed by voters, 1/3 of the permanent one half cent sales tax for operations and maintenance is allocated to the street department. In addition,voters in the recent 2012 general election approved a new, 10 year, State Highway Improvement Sales Tax that is estimated to return an additional$182,538.00 dollars to our city for street work. Using a penny of the existing state fuel tax, the state also created a permanent$20 million dollar per year State Street Aid Fund to provide additional funding for city street improvement projects on a competitive basis. Airport Infrastructure The Batesville Regional Airport continues to be an important hub of activity for North Central Arkansas.The airport,with its 6002 ft runway,continues to provide a great first impression to business prospects visiting our community.The airport continues to grow and provide new hangar space to companies and individuals desiring to base aircraft here. Hanger space is rented as fast as airport commissioners can find the resources to construct it,and the airport is now home to several jet aircraft.The FAA,along with the Arkansas Aeronautical Commission, recently awarded the city a multi-million dollar grant to improve the runway safety area at the airport. This will provide funding for completion of the chain link fence around the airport property reducing the likelihood of deer and other animals wandering onto the runway.The airport is essential to economic growth and the need for continued community support is critical. Economic Development The county has the responsibility for recruiting new jobs and protecting existing jobs in all of Independence County. In 2008, county voters enacted a temporary,five year, 1/4 cent sales tax to fund economic development.The county created an Economic Development Commission to review funding requests and make recommendations to the Quorum Court. In mid 2012,the county hired a new Economic Development Director.The County Economic Development Sales Tax expires in April 2014, and its future is currently uncertain.Though the city does not have any direct representation on the County Economic Development Commission,it continues to fully support the county's economic development efforts. Economic Development through Community Development Over the last six years our city has made the water and sewer infrastructure decisions necessary to bring our infrastructure into the 21"century and put Batesville on a path to future prosperity. Once these infrastructure issues were addressed my administration began looking at the other requirements AEDC said we needed to attract new jobs and to be successful. I realized that our community excelled in the majority of the quality of place factors when compared to most of the cities we compete with.The one quality of place area in which our community was most lacking involved recreation.While we are blessed with outdoor recreational opportunities such as hunting,fishing, hiking and rock climbing,our recreational opportunities for families, especially those with young children,are limited.The old Mickey Mouse Municipal Pool turns 60 this year, most of our ballparks were built in 1982,and we do not have indoor aquatic opportunities or sufficient space for meetings and large gatherings.As I began to share my concerns with business and community leaders I found they too understood what AEDC said were important considerations to be able to attract new jobs.They agreed that our community needed new recreational opportunities and available meeting space.As a result,the 2012 Community Development Initiative was created and a majority(58%)of the voters agreed in March 2012 that it was time to make this important investment in the future of our community.Construction is underway at the new soccer complex and the contracts for seven new ball fields and an additional concession/restroom facility at the North Recreation Complex will be awarded soon.City officials are meeting with the architects and engineers every two weeks on the design of the future Batesville Community Center and the indoor/outdoor aquatics facility that is scheduled to go to bid in late July or early August of this year with construction to begin soon thereafter. This year I want to challenge each of you to join myself and the council members in moving Batesville forward with a focus on becoming part of the solution to our challenges and making the most of our opportunities. It is critical that we be ready and committed to embrace whatever regional economic opportunities arise. In 1870, Fayetteville was chosen over Batesville as a site for the University of Arkansas. Batesville was considered because of its accessibility by train; however,an abundance of land was offered by a generous family in Fayetteville as the deciding factor. An additional example was in 1949,when entrepreneur Sam Walton lost his lease in Newport and relocated to Bentonville. Consider the major economic impact of our community had both of these established in our region. We have to be prepared by assuring the availability of land to possible new prospects for industry or funding for economic development. The passing of the economic development tax has definitely given our county an advantage over other communities. In 2007,when the Emerson Corporation attempted to establish a new compressor manufacturing plant,they requested funding that unfortunately we were unable to provide because this sales tax was not in place. My hope is that the citizens will keep this in mind if this crucial tax resurfaces for a renewal vote.Although, as I mentioned previously,Judge Robert Griffin and the Independence County Quorum Court will determine if it will be placed on the ballot in the future. I will not lead this community with a mindset of negativity and fear for our future. Instead,we will continue moving forward with confidence knowing that we have focused first on providing the needed infrastructure for sustained economic growth and prosperity for our community.We must be confident that the quality of life and quality of place investments currently being made will enhance the economic development opportunities of our citizens for decades to come.We will continue to provide community resources to enable our citizens to be healthy, happy and productive. As quoted by Sam Walton,"High expectations are the key to everything". MAYOR COMMENTS None LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Krug told the council that he attended the Mayor's Department Head meeting this morning and was very impressed with our City Supervisors and how they all work together. He encouraged the council to try and attend one of the meetings which are held every Tuesday at 9:00 AM. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Bryant moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Insell seconded and all voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK