The City Council of Monticello, Arkansas met in the council chambers at City Hall on February 18, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. Mayor Joe Rogers, who presided over the meeting, called the meeting to order with the following council members present: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. Councilor Beverly Hudson was absent. City Attorney Bill Daniels, Finance Director Kimberly Fletcher and City Clerk Andrea Chambers were also present.

Bill Horn was present to update the City Council on the county wide siren early warning system. Mr. Horn stated when Twenty for the Future traveled to Washington D.C. in 2009, one of the requests was for help with a warning system. After applying for the grant and conducting research, it was discovered that this is a 75/25 percent grant, so federal share is 75 percent. The grant is a pre-disaster 36 month grant and Drew County was earmarked to receive this grant thru FEMA. Drew County submits a notice of intent and final application is due to the state by September of 2010. Initially, Drew County asked for $366,000.00 and the county’s share is $122,000.00. The county’s share does not have to be an immediate expense and in-kind labor and equipment will count towards share. Mr. Horn provided a map showing possible locations to install the sirens based upon population. The actual study will be conducted by professionals who will come to the county and use portable equipment to determine exact locations to install the sirens based on terrain, population and other factors. The first step that the county has initiated is to form a Local Emergency Planning Committee from volunteers to ensure that the right steps are taken for this grant. Mr. Horn stated that Mayor Rogers and City Clerk Chambers are already on the committee and he would like to have two volunteers from the City Council. The superintendent of the schools, UAM Chancellor Jack Lassiter and other businesses are invited to join the committee. The first meeting will be March 22, 2010 and the meeting will be in the evening with vendor presentations for the committee to consider. The planning committee will decide how to spend the money and what is in the best interest of the citizens of Drew County. Councilor Chase and Councilor Gillespie volunteered to be on the committee. Councilor Brown asked how much of the $122,000.00 match will have to be from the city and Mr. Horn answered that anyone that they can get involved could contribute to the share such as UAM, City of Wilmar, City of Jerome, schools and etc. Councilor Chase inquired about the different size circles on the maps and Mr. Horn stated that depending on the ambient noise level, different sirens are required to compensate for the noise so the siren can carry further and the circles indicate the distance that particular siren can be heard. Mr. Horn also discussed that some siren systems have very little maintenance that an employee can be trained to replace parts to cut down on future costs.

Finance Report – Finance Director Kimberly Fletcher:

Operating Budget

Operating budget is at 8% for January

• January always has the large expense items such as insurance
• Received extra check in turn back money of $20,000.00
• ales Tax budget 2010 receipts are down $5,200.00 from the same month for 2009 compared to last January 2009 and we hope this is not a trend for 2010
• Final payment was made on the lights for the soccer field

Mrs. Fletcher made the City Council aware of the issue that one utility was behind in paying their franchise fees. Cablevision became behind last year when the owner was ill and the city allowed them to wait. Phone calls are not returned and there was no response from certified letters. City Attorney Bill Daniels can not get a response either. Mr. Daniels has been researching several different actions that the city can take. Currently, Cablevision is behind the third and fourth quarter of last year and they owe for another quarter. The amount is approximately $10,000.00 per quarter for a total of approximately $30,000.00 owed to the city. Mr. Daniels stated that they should be given a period of time to respond and a penalty could be imposed of $75.00 per day. He has had no communications with Cablevision so he does not know why the payments have not been made. Mr. Daniels stated that nothing guarantees that the city receives it’s money, Cablevision has been collecting franchise fees from its’ customers every month and the city can undertake several means to collect the fees and the best course would be to wait till the third quarter is delinquent and then send a letter stating that a penalty will be imposed if the payments are not made.

Executive Director Glenda Nichols gave the Chamber of Commerce report.

• Appliance rebate program has begun to stimulate the sales and local retailers will take part in this rebate and dispose of old appliances
Currently working with the Red Cross to initiate a fund drive in Drew County, they are very active and worked with 45 clients in Drew County for 2009
• Working on the Main Street Arkansas Program, MEDC and Twenty for the Future has appropriated $2,000.00 each along with the Chamber to bring a total of $6,000.00 to start the program. This is not the full Main Street Arkansas Program but the Arkansas Downtown Network which is a learning program and does not require a full time director initially. This will allow the community to get started without a huge up front expense. Improvements in downtown such as the Ridgeway Hotel Project will help in the program.
• Four new members have joined the Chamber and one of those is from out of town because people are branching out more and more for marketing efforts

Executive Director Truman Hamilton gave the MEDC report.

• Preparing for the Washington D.C. trip
• Ridgeway Project is slow because they are waiting on environmental assessments
• Have had no luck in getting sidewalks around parks and library, however, we are still on the list for sidewalks on Hwy 425 South from Hwy 278
• Working on grants for training module that could start at $175,000.00 and attempting to make it a regional effort to push the grant through
• Fire Station grant is still pending, have not received an answer yet
• Oakland Street has had work done, Shelton Street has had a lot of work done, nothing on Hyatt Street and nothing on Wood Street, have sent out letters on more burned out property and have not received any word yet expect for one business that is in the process of cleaning up the building
• Attended a meeting in Little Rock about receiving USDA funds for libraries for populations of 20,000 or less and it will work well with proposed increase of sales tax ¼ cent for 20 years to fund a new library
• Biotech company has discovered a way to make fuel for less than $2.00 a gallon and will create 1.2 million jobs in the United States
• USDA has a new program on housing and need they families to qualify
• Google is going to try to hook up a fiber to home connection and they need sample cities to test the project and Mr. Hamilton has applied for the city to become a tester in this experiment

Benji Ryburn was present to elaborate on the Ridgeway Project, more applications had to be filled out and they asked for more appraisals. The bids came in under funds set aside for construction and they are moving forward to purchase some more properties. Mr. Ryburn also discussed the office being built at the airport. John Knight came down and looked at the building and considered it a viable project. Mr. Ryburn is in the process of getting bids and grants to pay for the new office. They also received a little over $69,000.00 from FAA funds to purchase additional properties around the airport.

The Chair called for any corrections to the minutes from the regular meeting held November 19, 2009. There being no corrections, and upon a motion by Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Bond, and unanimously accepted, the minutes were approved as written.

The Chair called for any corrections to the minutes from the Clean-up Property Committee meeting held December 03, 2009. There being no corrections, and upon a motion by Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Brown, and unanimously accepted, the minutes were approved as written.

Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Gillespie, moved to suspend the rules requiring a resolution to be read in full. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion passed unanimously.

Councilor Peer introduced the following proposed resolution which the City Attorney read the title distinctly and aloud in the hearing of the council as follows:

Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Gillespie, moved to approve said resolution. Councilor Hubbard asked how soon repairs can begin and Mayor Rogers read the letter from Arkansas Department of Emergency Management that stated the city should have approval any day to begin work. Mayor Rogers stated that we must have their approval before starting the project. Councilor Chase asked if the city was aware of any other work that the contactors with the lowest bid has done and Mayor Rogers stated that they are working on the Intermodal Facility now and the owner of the company is Tracy Rawls. There have been no complaints from the facility other than weather delays. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion was passed unanimously; the same approved asNo.10-6.

Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Brown, moved to suspend the rules requiring a resolution to be read in full. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion passed unanimously.

Councilor Brown introduced the following proposed resolution which the City Attorney read the title distinctly and aloud in the hearing of the council as follows:

Councilor Hubbard, seconded by Councilor Bond, moved to approve said resolution. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion was passed unanimously; the same approved as No. 10-7.

Councilor Bond, seconded by Councilor Chase, moved to suspend the rules requiring a resolution to be read in full. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion passed unanimously.

Councilor Hubbard introduced the following proposed resolution which the City Attorney read the title distinctly and aloud in the hearing of the council as follows:

Councilor Bond, seconded by Councilor Peer, moved to approve said resolution. Councilor Chase asked if this included only the previously paved streets and Mr. Daniels responded yes. Mr. Daniels stated that the city engineer measured the streets. Councilor Gillespie asked if the one street not paved was included and Mr. Daniels responded that it was not included in the dedication. After discussion, the Chair put the question and the following councilors voted “yes”: Clifton Bond, Sherrie Gillespie, Raymond Hubbard, Al Peer, Carolyn Brown, Tim Chase and Claudia White. The Chair declared said motion was passed unanimously; the same approved as No. 10-8.

Mayor’s Report:

On January 20th, Mayor Rogers attended the Intermodal meeting in Warren, Arkansas. Mayor Rogers attended the Lions Club meeting in Monticello on January 21st. On January 26th, Mayor Rogers attended the bid opening for two culverts at City Hall in Monticello. On February 2nd, Mayor Rogers met with FEMA concerning the flooding in October of 2009. On February 3rd, Mayor Rogers attended the MEDC meeting held at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Mayor Rogers met with FEMA and attended the bid opening for the restrooms at McCloy Park on February 4th.

In addition:

• Repaired water leaks on Hwy 425 North, Bellview Street, Faye Lane
• Repaired manhole on Bowser Road and on North Main Street
• Repaired traffic lights on Hwy 425 North/Hyatt Street and Hwy 278 West/Hwy 425 North
• Cleaned limbs in McCloy Park
• Repaired lift station at Cash’s
• Removed stumps from parks
• Removed concrete from McCloy Park
• Removed pavilion at Western Pines Park
• Installed cold mix on culverts at Cash and East Jackson Street
• Installed water tap at Hwy 425 South and University Drive
• Greased and washed the backhoes and dump trucks, cleaned the trucks and the warehouse
• Patched streets throughout the city
• Put bleachers together at Burlington Fields
• Removed fence at Jordan Park and McCloy Park
• Replaced culvert and added SB2 to Western Pines Park
• Picked up trash on Bell Street, Vinegar Hill, Edgewood Street, West College Street, Borchardt Street, West Conrad Street, front of Annswood, Westgate, Mill Street, and on South Hyatt Street to East Jackson Street
• Repaired sewer line at Locust Circle, East Jackson Street, Scogin Drive and South Maple Street

All business having been discussed, and upon a motion by Councilor Bond the meeting was adjourned.

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