In 30 seconds
- The council voted 6-0 to roll water and sewer rates back to the pre-August 1 level through November 1, 2024, while the water department investigates high bills.
- The council adopted Ordinance No. 14, a moratorium ordinance, after members objected that the original draft would let rates snap back automatically once the pause ended.
- Officials said the rates must stay at a certain level for the city to qualify for an $11 million ANRC loan, and the council voted 6-0 for Resolution No. 13 authorizing the mayor to pursue that loan, with a September 6 application deadline for the loan-forgiveness track.
- Water Superintendent Saeed Rose said meters have gone as long as five to six years without calibration and that service techs have spent months logging misreading meters through work orders.
- Rose said the West Helena tank was at 32 feet, with a boil-order threshold at 30 feet, and warned that without a new well online, West Helena is doomed to fail.
- Councilman Don Etherly said the water department can sample high-usage meters for leaks, bad meters, or software problems by November 1, while Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller questioned whether a month is a large enough sample.
Recap
Council rolls rates back to the old level through November 1
The special meeting was called to consider suspending the newly implemented water and sewer rate increases . Councilman Joe St. Columbia objected that the draft ordinance would let billing simply revert to the old ordinance rather than have the council set a new rate . The council set November 1, 2024 as the deadline to resolve the rate question and voted 6-0 to adopt Ordinance No. 14, rolling rates back to the pre-August 1 level until then . Customers who already paid the higher rate will get a credit on next month's bill .
The $11 million loan is the reason rates can't just stay down
An official told the council they would need to approve something before leaving that night because the city is applying for an $11 million loan, and the rates need to be at a certain level to qualify . Councilman Don Etherly said the governor's office demanded a rate study back in January, after the water system nearly failed the summer before .
Rose's meter audit: months of work orders, meters years overdue for calibration
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose said meter calibration is supposed to happen every five to six years, and that a meter can misread because of a bad digital dial, a manual entry error, or a leak on the customer's side of the meter . He said his service techs have spent months on the ground logging misreading meters through work orders as customers came in disputing bills . Rose said the software driving the bills is accurate because it runs on manual reads imported into the system, but he agreed to have a specialist check it on site .
The West Helena tank was at 32 feet
Rose said the West Helena tank was holding at 32 feet, with a boil-order threshold at 30 feet . He said the tank level is dropping because plant flow has dropped and the city badly needs a new well online, warning that without one, West Helena is doomed to fail .
The moratorium work plan: sample high-usage meters by November
Councilman Don Etherly said the water department can start assessing meters for customers with excessive usage and, by November, sample enough of them to report back on which bills trace to undetected leaks, malfunctioning meters, or a software problem . Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller pressed whether a month is really a large enough sample .
Resolution 13: pursue the $11 million loan application
An official told the council the resolution on their desk asks for authority to continue the $11 million loan application process, with a deadline of Friday, September 6 to apply for the loan-forgiveness track that turns it into a grant . Etherly moved to adopt Resolution No. 13, and the council voted 6-0 in favor .
Residents testified to bills that jumped hundreds of dollars
One resident said she was billed for about 177,000 gallons on a meter so old she had to dig it out of the dirt, and that the water department never returned her call to have it checked . Another resident testified her bills rose from $100 to $800, including sanitation . A resident identified only as Renee said a neighbor's bill hit $90 more than hers despite matching plumbing and no leaks, and that a replacement meter still didn't explain the gap .
Transcript
Auto-generated from the meeting video's captions and lightly cleaned for readability — wording is kept as spoken, not corrected, except that caption-garbled names of city officials are normalized against the roster. Speaker names follow the attribution work in our governance record; a ° marks a name our reviewers have not yet verified. Every timestamp plays the city's video from that moment. Watch the full meeting ↗
3:32
Mayor Christopher Franklin afternoon uh we we we announce this if there's any profanity or anything being used we will ask the police to escort you out any profane language or any disrespect would not be tolerated uh we're here to discuss some issues Madam cler will you call the rooll please Miss
3:49
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Miller yeah Miss Harris president Mr St Columbia president Mr etherly here Miss Davis Dr Miller here six presid
4:01
Chief of Staff James Valley Mr Mayor members of the administration and city council uh I read the notice of special meeting uh the unassigned council persons hereby colge special meeting of Helen West hland City Council take place today at 6 o'clock pm. in the council chambers the purpose of the meeting will be to discuss newly implemented Water and Sewer rates possible suspension of implementation of those new rates and any other necessary discussions regarding the H and West Town War the department and that is signed by direct number of council members to have this special call meeting um the City attorney has submitted two ordinances one has a date in it and the other one does not they are otherwise identical um and I don't know if you would like me to start by reading that ordinance into your hearing and then you can have your discussion or how would you prefer we
4:57
Chief of Staff James Valley proceed I read the order is ordinance number blank 2024 an ordinance establishing a moratorium on the implementation of water and sewer rate increases and for other related purposes whereas the city of hel West Hela has recently adopted an ordinance increase in water and sewer rat for customers of the water utility and whereas the city council deems it necessary to further study the issue of water and SE race for the citizens and whereas time is of the essence and the city council desires to act medely due to several concerns regarding the water and sew rates now therefore be it ordained by the city council of the city of Helen West Helen as follows section one moratorium a the city council has previously adopted an ordinance increasing the water and SE rates with an effective date of August 1st 2024 B since implementation of those rates the city council has determined that there is an immediate need for further study of the rates bills and possibly reconsider the rate amounts C the city council hereby issues a moratorium and stay of the implementation of the increase of water and sewer race until October 1st is what's in this one and the other one is a blank date if you want at a different date during the time frame from the adoption of this ordinance and the conclusion of the moratorium the city will further study the issues that are affecting the amount of the bills that customers have a have been asked to pay the water utilities directed to Bill all customers at the previous rate until the end of this moratorium and any subsequent moratorium that may be issued by the city council for all customers that have paid pursuant to the current rate the account should be credited for the additional amounts that have been remitted after the conclusion of the moratorium the rate amount shall either return to the amount in the recently adopted ordinance or an ordinance adopted by the subsequent on ordin is adopted by the subsequent to the this moratorium F uh this moratorium shall end immediately upon adoption of a new ordinance amending of the previous ordinance or upon determination date cited here in section two if for any reason any portion of this ordinance is held to be invalid such invalidity shall in no way affect the remaining portions thereof which are valid but such valid portions shall be in remain in full force and effect section three all ordinances are parts of ordinance and conflict here with are hereby repeal and section six the ordinance being necessary to promote the health safety peace and general welfare of the citizen of hel West Hela and emergenc is hereby declared to exist this ordinance shall be in full force and affected immediately and emergency is hereby declared passed signed by the mayor tested by the clerk and that is the ordinance the only difference in those two as I understand it is the date of the uh oos moratory I object to
8:04
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) uh uh section e uh that uh that should uh we should not return to the present uh rate that a new ordinance should be adopted at the decision uh of a board would to supervise that rate that a new rate be set not go back to these rates that we've got do you understand what I said I want
8:42
Unidentified you to say it again because I kind of got lost you see you don't want to go
8:46
Unidentified back to the object to section e paragraph e so what what we need a new ordinance not go back to the original ordinance that was passed two weeks ago a week ago Mr St Columbia a new ordinance would
9:01
Unidentified have to be drafted well we'll draft it
9:03
Unidentified we reach a decision but if we don't place a moratorium on the collection then people still have to pay the new rate if you don't pause it they still have to pay it while you're waiting to draft the new ordinance they still have to pay the current rate this stops the collection and returns them to the stop the collection of this that's that's what that's what this does period that's what this does
9:33
Unidentified okay During the period of time specified in at the date that we set we don't need to go back to the old rate we need to a
9:42
Unidentified new but you have to adopt a new you have to adopt a new ordinance before that
9:47
Unidentified time we can do that yes we can but if you don't vote for this one then they
9:51
Unidentified have to pay the new rate yeah they won't support getting rid of the that's what they want you they want you to pause the new rate that's what they want you to do
9:58
Unidentified I'll support but I don't like the way that's worded yes sir
10:06
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) okay yes sir I I understand you I just received this a few minutes ago me too but I said I understand you I'm I'm I'm uh more in favor for on section c uh on that blank I think it should be until further notice I think that should be until further notice the basically that no no that that no no new increase should be implemented until further notice so they can be more research done so they can be beta tested um so that we can make sure that the uh meters are properly calibrated and all these things now you all know I'm probably not the best person to even be discussing this because I was in favor of the rate increase at all but nevertheless um here here we are so I would say further until further no and that could be that could be October but it might be January or February or whenever what whatever this body decides is what happens understand that I'm just giving you my opinion but what you have to be mindful of is that the rates are going to either go up or the water company is going to go out of business it's going to be one or the
11:22
Unidentified other well I mean Mr Valley nobody can pay these rates so something's gonna have to be changed
11:29
Unidentified nobody can pay When people's When people's bills are triple and quadruple they can't afford it so who's G be here to pay for I don't disagree with that's
11:37
Unidentified what I'm saying so I understand the increase understand the increase I understand your philosophy on the increase but let's take our time and do it right yes sir I get you reported from
11:46
Unidentified the water department most people's rates didn't do as you're describing a lot of them did we need to do a study and find out who did and who didn't well I understand but but part
11:58
Unidentified of y ra i arrest my
12:12
Unidentified case I'm G let the parliamentarian do that we [Music] have so uh Mr Miller yes sir what what
12:23
Unidentified we're finding is a lot of customers with high usage for whatever reason I don't know what that is yet they are trying to ascertain that but people using 30,000 gallons of water uh they going to have a high bill that's that's just what's going to happen our average according to your rate study is 5,485 gallons uh but we we got people posting on Facebook and calling us and texting us and all of that with 17 and 25 and 38 50,000 gallons of water and that there there's no rate stud or anything that's going to help them that there going to have to be either a change of the meter itself if the meter is the problem or repair of the leak yes sir whatever leak they have and many people have leaks in their toilets that we tend to ignore because just become a come yes sir and so I I don't know what any individuals concern no I I
13:16
Unidentified completely understand I'm just saying this's is right let's if if if that's the general consensus of the board let's take our time and do it right that's all
13:26
Unidentified I'm saying now now the final I don't think I'll say on that take your time to do it right I think you've done it right but you don't have a whole lot of time to work with we can't say that Mr valy
13:37
City Attorney Andre Valley° when when you have people's rates U bills that have increased triple and quadruple you can't say we done it right but they were increased because and we're going to need you to approve something before we leave tonight you're applying for $1 million loan understand and in order to qualify for that 11 million loone the race need to be at a certain level understand that but we
13:56
Mayor Christopher Franklin can't gouge the people what you can't get the Lo well I say this maybe the Long's not worth it if just going mean we going to G people I don't know maybe I may be in the minority I I say this uh my water uses was 177,000 gallons of water water is 385 well I tell you what happened there's a toilet in the well I don't care about you laughing but it's 385 that I know what I did and I fix my mother who's on a fixed income and stay across the street ha build is 285 there's a leak at her meter when I cut her grass that's how I found it a lot of citizens people want to say well I don't have a leak I don't have a leak that's what your water department is for let us check and see what's going on with your meter we're not here to try to hurt anybody I think people and we all want Facebook Cloud want to make sure we getting this but what happens when when we didn't have in the water we we we still at those days and I understand people well my bill 5,000 you know I understand it but you know we're here to help with that you don't have to try to make a joke or get a post or get a like this all our community if this community go if the water go down again we all out of here care where you sit where you stand it's it's something we got to fix if your water bill is ridiculously high and you know you're not using that call the water department and I I I think that's some of the things that we have to do I I I I hate it that my my bill is that high but I know I know what's going on and until I fix it until I call a plum R to get it fixed I gotta pay the 385 and I'm prepared to do it my mama who's on the fixed income I it's just one less Coke I'mma drink one less hamburger I'm eat until I figure out how to get get her her her issue fixed because she don't have it I don't I don't want you to be sympathetic to me I'm just telling you that we all got some issues you know that if you a single person living in your house and your water bill is $500 it's just you there you got a leak somewhere or if you if you got high usage there's something going on ain't nobody trying I mean we we need to understand this we had a critical time in Helen West Helen for years we have we not maintained our water system and now is the time the people around this table had to make a tough decision to figure out how to save our water department everybody said they ready to leave but I want to know what you would do if you were facc with some of these issues that these people around the table are face with to try to make sure you can save your water it ain't favorable but it's something we got to do years ago we should have fixed this issue but we're here now everybody want want a ball in their mouth well it's time now hey we got to get up and do what we got to do if you got a leak let's stand hey call the water department Mr Rose Mr valy we'll be happy to go me I'll be happy to come out and help you and see what we can find out stop playing the blame game like you you didn't know that your water system failed before it's going to fail again until we decide that you want a safer hel everybody time they on a fixed income we all got fixed incomes at some point so at some point we got to stop saying oh I can't because the city been the city been caring the low for the longest the water department every year $1.2 million in the red we all know that but I think people don't care about the city they think the city is just got this big pocketbook that they can just
17:32
Mayor Christopher Franklin oh we don't care we do care I mean ma'am I'm I'mma say it again I I keep having nobody outbursting while I'm trying to talk if you want to talk stand up and say what you got to say but right now I'm talking be respectful these are the issues that we got in this community our community this water department on the last leg you saw we were without water for three weeks or better Mr Rose is working hard trying to obtain the license to make sure we can keep our water department open I see people saying at the end of the bill about a license operator we have an operator but guess what we need one of our own I'm we not trying to gou to do something different we're trying to save our water department and that's where we are the people around this table made a decision to raise rates to save your fing water infrastructure and that's where we are I I if we had 20 years ago if we had been maintaining the system we wouldn't be here we have not been maintaining it and that's why we here Mr Valley what you got for me uh Mr St columia was addressing the
18:40
Unidentified ordinance I don't know if he was the form I objected to paragraph e the wording of it and if that is corrected then we can proceed as far as I'm concerned you know there's a right way and a wrong way of doing this thing and the right way is to take a study sure we're pressured to get it done and get it done yesterday but let's don't do it at the backs of the citizens of this community they can't afford this high pric water thank you and some of them have been abused out of it uh so let's do it and do it the right way let's uh look into it let's take our time get it corrected and and let's stop what's going on right now so go back to the old rates immediately so what is so so that's and then we we uh look at the situation and come up with the correct rates that we should have but not do it all at one time we can't have such high increases so so these recommendations came from Ral water sir these are the recommendations we got from rule water yeah I got a copy of that a little while ago so so what what what are how you proposing to go back to the O rate right right now immediately so so so when you water system fail what we going to do then at the old rate if you know if you sit here and one thing about this Administration we giving you all the information that you need you see the water department it's one point Mr Mayor you sat right here in this chair and I and when I sat there
20:14
Unidentified I'm speaking did I get show me some respect will you did I get the
20:18
Unidentified information I'm speaking I have the floor let me talk you had the floor a
20:22
Unidentified moment ago and you rattle the W I listen
20:24
Unidentified to you now you listen to me you sat here for years on this Council and did nothing about the water company now all of a sudden you're getting all excited about
20:36
Unidentified it okay you did no I'm not through yet I objected to paragraph e and uh we need to correct that and we can move forward on this uh ordinance that you're speaking of Mr Mayor may I I want to address Mr you're an attorney corrector
20:53
Unidentified I wanna I wanna I want to address Mr Miller's concern before you do that Mr
20:59
Mayor Christopher Franklin uh I was on this Council for 12 years and I told you about the guy that was at the at the fish lake fishing I I had a podcast while I show water leak Tuesday when I told y'all all this was happening and you y'all sit there and smil like nothing was going on we had a guy that didn't have any license after on the fish bank fishing I wouldn't sleep I've been up I've been telling y'all we got these issues we had all kinds of leaks but we did nothing to fix them and every
21:21
Unidentified time you mention it m Mr Franklin you don't have the floor to speak so yes I
21:25
Unidentified did I want to refresh your memory Mr eth you can go ahead
21:30
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) I asked the City attorney to draft these two ordinances thank you and I asked him to draft one with an October 1st deadline in it asked him to draft the second one with a blank because I didn't know what the body would want to do it's certain that we have perhaps some issues with computer software or maybe with meters or something is wrong we replaced all the meters in town back during Jay's at Jay hollowell's at Administration we move from the old meters to the digital meters uh I spoke to the water superintendent who arrived here shortly after that he does not remember those meters ever being tested and calibrated since he's been here that could explain why people have $330,000 30,000 gallon usage uh it could be a software issue but clearly when people don't see a pool of water and they got 30 30,000 gallons and you something is wrong and so I suggested that we pause where we are we can make adjustments to the old to the ordinance that we just adopted but at the same time Mr St Columbia you've been on the council just as long as I have since consolidation I've been on for 30 years I'm saying a Consolidated city as long as I have and we have done everything that every water director and mayor has asked us to do we have we have not told a single mayor or water director no and the fact is is that we they've been losing money since 2018 and they didn't recognize it in the water department they told us a different story and when the crisis hit last summer we learned that they had been losing water since 20 money since 2018 and the city the west side of town is hanging by a thread right now that's what nobody's saying they could be without water any day the same people who don't want to pay more money will be throwing rocks at us if the water doesn't come on next week the rail is under construction it could be finished they say in a couple of weeks now we have to pay for it we got $100,000 last year to fix leaks we went through it in 30 days fixing leaks because we got these old lines we got $100,000 this year to fix leaks we went through it in 30 days because we have these old galvanized lines they fix them and they leak again they fix them and they leak again the1 million we've not received one dime so we can't fix the lines we can't use it on the well the hospital million that we were going to use out of that deal doesn't look like the hospitals goingon to ever have any money to be honest from what I hear on the street they may never pay the question is what steps are we going to take and you know the water is not turning over all the sanitation fees so when the garbage trucks don't run when the garbage trucks don't run and people wonder why the garbage didn't get picked up what they don't realize is that water is operating at a deficit so sanitation doesn't get us money so it's just the domino effect so I I know what you're about to say I know what everybody said every time somebody calls me I said understand people say it's too much it's too much I hear you I hear everybody's pleased it's too much we can adjust it we can adjust it down but we have to provide some more revenue for the water department I'm not opposed to raising the rates I understand reasonably and I think the people understand but not excessively and I think that's that's we need to look at this closer Mr St that part is to be
25:18
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° discussed from here the problem is in in to address Mr Miller's point I'm not in favor of an open-ended pause because the water department is losing over $100,000 a month we know that already okay and we can't we we have to step in at some point and change the direction in the trajectory of the department okay so we have a we have a consent order that we have to comply with and we only have how many days left where we have to hire a Lo licensed director if that licensed director cost us six figures we're already losing money we have to have two operators at $50,000 each okay so if this stuff doesn't happen then the department doesn't operate and so okay I I I hear you let
26:02
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) me first say thank you for submitting the ordinance I appreciate thank you for that you should be commended for that SEC secondly so how how about this October one or until the issue is resolved and only reason why I'm I'm wanting to put that caveat in there is I don't want us to get to October one the issue is not is not resolved but we feel like we had to pass something or our backs are up against the wall to approve something that's still not right M Mr Miller Mr Miller to your point yes sir
26:32
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) we can set a date in this ordinance and if that date arrives we can extend it the same way the same way we're addressing this and everybody at this table everybody in this community has my pledge that I will continue to Advocate that it stay at the regular rate until we find a suitable rate that allows the department to work that allows us to keep the water on in West Helena we can extend it I'm just saying today I don't want to do it open-ended because we need to address it while this time is passing we need to address it and let us not forget last summer here's the other thing last summer when we had the issue at the treatment plan on the west side of town and water was out for Citizens the governor's office ask us for a rate study the governor's office said you need to do a rate study in January Senator Murdoch came here and he stood right there and he asked rhetorically several times of this Administration the governor's office has been waiting on a race study since August where is the race study where is the race study the race study should have been done long before now we should have taken on all these issues long before now but we're up against the wall right now and we know the water is hanging by a thread we need to get the new well open winter is coming the lines are not going to replace themselves if we don't replace those lines we're going to have days this winter where we don't have water and to get that we need that 11 million loan because the the line replacement is multi-million dollar project that we don't have so all I'm saying is let's move forward let's set deadlines to accomplish task and let's be about accomplishing those tasks if we don't agree on a suitable rate we can extend it but let's get about the business of doing it I just don't let's not leave it open in it and that's my only reest yeah I I
28:35
Unidentified just don't see I mean and I I tend to lean towards being the most optimistic person there is but I I just don't see this issue with the numbers and stuff being ready by October one that's what
28:51
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) well the numbers the numbers are based on the numbers are based on the race study understand that but obviously there's issues because if people if People's bills are tripling and quadrupling but that's for the water department talk to the superintendent understand they will get a they can start assessing these meters for people
29:07
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° who have excessive usage and they can do that within a month to a large enough sample I guess not everybody large
29:14
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° enough sample that's what I'm getting at we can if we go 60 days if we go November 1 at least by November he can sample enough to come back and tell us okay these people had leaks that were undetected these people had meters they were malfunctioning we had a software problem at least we'll have a status and then we can we can respond to whatever status we get and we'll have we'll have a new well in operation by November won we is that right Mr Rose you can do that
29:40
Unidentified we hope to have a new well in operation but do we have do we have the money to pay for the well to open it no sir that's the issue that's one of the
29:50
Unidentified issues Mr St colum we don't have if they finish that well we don't have the money to pay them to to to to turn it on and the people need to understand
30:00
Unidentified that I'm telling them I'm telling them that's what we' been doing because the same people I understand people don't want to pay their rate we can reduce the rate but the department has to have the finances and the resources to operate and if they don't it's not going to be water on the west side so let me ask is November 1st acceptable to allow the water depart Department to assess the software to assess the meters uh for and we can simultaneously examine the rates I think the real issue is going to be the sewer rate but we can simultaneously address those issues we can consider whether we want to have a structured roll out of the rate increase we can talk about all those things in a 60-day period of time and if we don't agree we can extend it some more I mean we can extend it however long we want to
30:54
Unidentified extend so what you're proposing that we uh immediately go back to the old rates until November until November in the meantime we assess all the problems that we're having yes sir and at that time we
31:07
Unidentified will uh create an ordinance for a new rate uh that we need to do we can what you're saying yes sir and I agree with that okay that's what that's Joe
31:18
Unidentified actually that's what e says it says either we could keep the keep the one we have or we can we can change it or we can do something different that's really what it's saying yeah so it's it's a so my qu my question was what what
31:42
Unidentified happens to the revenue because as you all just heard that you know we got to get this well up and operating so what happens to the revenue so you you you do this and it's time to get the well online and we already don't have the money we didn't cash in all the CDs we can catch in so what happens from here I
32:03
Unidentified mean I mean I'm in favor of the people who have the issues let's let's check their issues out if they need to be calibrated whatever but I'm in favor of taking care of the customer seeing where these issues are fix those issues but we need to keep rolling forward if you got an issue Mr Rose and the water department will get out there handle those issues if your water been excessive hey make making a date get out there we assess it but right now we just can't go back because if if we do if your water system fail you going to blame me you blame me for everything
32:32
Unidentified else but wait wait a minute we it's time now to say what can we do different if you if you if you pause or stop this and the water start working tomorrow what do we do we we we're at a critical time that we got to do something I understand if you know you a use 30 gallons of water 30,000 gallons of water then you need to see somebody if you if you know that's you in the house using 10 10,000 G of water you need to see somebody I mean the people who have the excessive am Bills should see us so we can take care of that but if we stop this and we have a crisis what
33:10
Unidentified happens I think it works the same way we don't have to wait until November 1st to address it we don't have to um yeah November 1st is the deadline but we don't have to wait until November 1st to address it if we get the answers to our questions before November 1st but then answer your question if some if we don't have the additional Revenue uh the Water Department will continue to take sanitation fund uh we we will continue to be underfunded in the rest of the Departments for the city that's what's going to happen there's going there's going to be consequences either way all right but we don't have to wait until November 1st to address this we can do it beforehand we can have special meetings I make myself available we can talk about this we can come up with some something that's acceptable and move forward
34:00
Unidentified whenever that was just my one of my concerns whatever the will of the body is I just I just want y to realize this we at a critical time I just got one question for clarity
34:18
Unidentified during this intervening time what is the body expecting the water company to do in terms of complying with this moratorium what reports are you looking for what what is it that they need to do how do they hit the marks okay well first determine do we
34:39
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° have serious water leaks so I'm sure there several people here maybe they can be used as part of the sample who who have complained about rates we can look at them and maybe use them as part of a s a sample pool to check to see if it's if it's a if it's a leakage thing um secondly uh as as Mr E has discussed uh let's let's check the computer system I don't know what that means I don't know if that means we bring in an IT person I don't know if that I don't know what that consists of but look look at from a a technological standpoint is is it technically uh sound um and I think those are calibration of the meters calibration calibration of meters and also the uh um leage leage issues leakage issues I'd also like to hear from the actual water manager you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to share yeah sure
35:46
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose sure okay um i' I'm fully understanding to everyone concerns with this and uh thank you mayor and the council for uh really sharing the importance of this rate increase and uh why it's needed but now um I just want to share the reality of when it comes to these various High usage bills that I know is frightening and we do need to investigate so when it comes to calibration of meters this has to happen over at least a five six year period meters that we have in the ground is for um I think about 15 year lifespan uh before we want to actually look and replace that meter and have a new meter put in the ground okay okay so when we're looking at a faulty meter that is possibly misreading um digital dial is not reading correctly U maybe information was input to the system uh manually wrong um maybe there was a leak on the customer side but it was running through the meter and it was actually still on the copper Setter that could cause high usage and actually be our fault if we take this meter out we have to send it off for it to get properly um for it to get actually checked out properly so for it to get recalibrated we we do not do that ourselves we send that to Badger meter for them to do it and actually they have a service that's going to send out it Specialists to help us check these meters out okay and so this go ahead so I mean there's no on the ground people I mean because usually even with computer stuff now they can hook up a USD or a Wi-Fi thing do it electronically on and so that's what I was mentioning when it comes to a meter that is not meeting right we'll want to there's two options we have we can send them off or we can actually have an IT specialist come in and actually look at that meter and see what's going on on the ground and so that's a little faster that is a cost um you know that I feel is is worthy to pay because it happens faster than me sitting sending off maybe a 100 meters or you know 200 meters hope when we're not hopefully it's not that many meters that we have to get recalibrated but it's a faster turnaround on getting these meters and now another thing when we're actually looking at a faulty meter um that's misreading we will put in a temporary meter that we know is calibrated right to get a better reading okay and so the these are things that um has to happen and we do have this is Case by case there's a lot of variables that come into play with high usage or usage that's incorrect now now what about the software update now the software um now to be honest the the software is from my understanding it's pretty accurate because we have manual reads it goes into a system we literally import the information into the system and that's how that's how it works and that's how the rates come out on your bill okay and so yes we do need to have that check to um and we'll also have the specialist come in and look at that as well and they can do that on site okay so that that was my biggest point I want to make uh this is this is something that's already been in play uh my service texts have been on the ground U making lists and getting every meter that they see are misreading through work orders we have all this verified and we're getting this information together but it is time consuming this process has been happening for months now because we have to when customers are coming in and letting us know hey this don't look right we get on it right away and so it's really Case by case but uh it's going to take time to make sure that we go through all of the meters in Helena and West Helena to make sure they working properly okay any questions while I'm
39:31
Unidentified here I got one question yes sir uh you your West H tank yes what is it
39:41
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose holding at okay all right uh good question man uh the West hell in the tank right now is at 32 feet okay and so yes we are can you explain that to them
39:54
Unidentified yes what do you mean by 35 well it's it's ultimately low we we're at a low point this is why uh what Hing the customers are experiencing pressure issues uh that's why we do have reverse flow on meters um these are all variables that you know affects usage at this point in time and so what's what's happening is that we need this new well um every point that was made today by the May and council is accurate we have to get this well online or we're going to be in bad shape and I'm doing everything in my power um all of the staff are Arkansas R water everyone is pitching in to help to make sure that we do not experience what we experienced earlier this year and so the main reason right now to this tank level is we're just not producing enough water our plant flow has dropped down tremendously and it's continuing to drop down and we're doing around work on leak detection to stop water loss which is maintaining the level that it's at right now but this fight we've been fighting for a long time a long hot summer and it ain't too much more fight we're going to have without water coming into the system from the new well that's just the reality so if you you at 35 ft what if it get below what is a boil order um 30
41:04
Mayor Christopher Franklin feet would be boil order precautionary B order and so we're we're fighting real hard to keep us from that and uh we're going to continue to do that and my goal being optimistic as you are Dr Miller is that we do not see a precautionary Bard order um but that is not promised that's just the reality we're at and so we're we're working pretty hard to make sure that doesn't happen if what what what is happening is if if we don't do something West H is doomed to fail that's it
41:31
Unidentified that's it that's what we I mean we've trying to warn you all when you all talking about that the increases and people talking about tough decision the people who voted for this made a tough decision to make sure that we can save this community is this has been a long battle with decline in the infrastructure no one maintaining the systems when I campaigned for this job I knew that there was issues that's why I kept saying we need to fix this we need to fix this but we W provided with information every time somebody brought something to us we voted on it we passed it Tred to make sure now we're here about to lose everything that we're trying to work for if we if we lose this the $1 million is gone who's going to help us we first got to help ourselves yes this pin hurt I'm saying ouch too my mom other older people than in this community I've gotten calls from we're all in the same thing but we got to do something because when it fail you going to keep on same up so I just want to R to let you all know that so now you so if you didn't know now you know you have Mr Ro I try to say these things as
42:41
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose° clearly and as best I can and I try to not misse so I thank you for saying that this is all accurate I don't want to say anything that's inaccurate my other understanding is that if we lose this tank this time nobody can come in Patchwork save us we'll be down until the new well comes on yeah and um and and that's just the um that's the again I say the reality of it every time we lose the tank or it drops below a significant level where we're going in the ball order it's going to take longer and longer for it to build back and so that's my my whole goal especially since I've been appoint of superintendent is be proactive versus reactive and we've been proactive this whole entire years since our last crisis in January and so uh the ideal is this we're we're out of time we have out of time we've really been out of time and we've bought Time by working very hard around the clock and trying every strategy that we possibly can to maintain the system that is old and decrepitate and we just we have to have the funding to fix this stuff completely I mean there's no way around it but right now I I think it's also opportunity for us all to show with the mayor just we got to help ourselves and this this is what it looks like a rate increase folks paying their bill um us coming to solutions for it to happen and and this Al all helping each other that's I mean that's the only way we can do it right now because as we help ourselves we will be able to get this funding to get this fixed so this is not the end I know it's it's not something we want to hear it's scary but it's not the end of the road we just got to push through and I really think we can last one for you how long how long do you think this will last um this this water right right now right how long you think can we go a day um I'm I'm pushing for it to last as long as possible there's there's no other option folks deserve water um I do not want to see what happened earlier this year happen again and so that's that's my take on that but we need this well as soon as possible if I could pull water from the ground myself I would right now to get us out the situation so so when when R when R water came in they actually told you it's from all this is due to lack of vness on these on this system well it's um over time over years yeah and and I know um they they' shared it and um I shared it a bit as well but this this is the time issue these Wells that we've had in West Helena been outlive their life 20 30 years ago a well is supposed to last 40 years and we've been using these Wells for 60 to almost 70 years and so this is just something that needed to be done some time ago but we're here now this is where we're at and we're still a long road ahead of getting really to where we need to be we need multiple Wells not just one well and so this this is a a uphill fight but the reality is just we we we have a lot that wasn't done on the distribution system um I mean we're not the only city dealing with this in the state but at the end of the day we have to make sure that we're taking the right steps to get these lines replaced to get what the treatment plant needs to get new wells online and to have all of the things that we need to do to get this job done I I'm not going to go into details I be here the whole night but there's a lot of factors and the fact is is things should have been done a long time ago that right now with the infrastructure that we have if we don't make the Right Moves right now we will this system will
46:14
Unidentified fall any more question for Mr Rose
46:21
Unidentified yes okay you made a statement mayor that if a person have a water leak and that's what I had I'm using like 177,000 okay and I'm citizen on the fixed income like everybody else and I know I'm not using that much water so I check my meter and the meter is so old that I literally had to dig the dirt up from around but my point is I called the water company to can they send some Mone out to check my Meer and right this moment no one haven't returned my call no one has came out to check out my problem so if you think there's a leap with the meters why don't we just uh you know go from house to house for the person or persons that might have a high leak go around and check and and another thing I understand that we are in a situation right now but there's no money really uh if my water bill is $500 and my mortgage is 500 what about my medical my uh light me what about that see I know that uh you can't drive people pay Paul because Paul is not GNA get paid see it got it must be another way that we can go around this
48:07
Mayor Christopher Franklin Well it Well I'm G say this Mr Ro their staff at the water department we all know short but I guarantee you since you just address that to us Mr Rose will get somebody out to check your meter to make sure now as you heard we just put those digital Meers down in the holw ad ministration so they can just ride around and get your number they don't have to dig yourm out so what he will what we will do Mr Rose get her information we will get somebody to check it for you and that's what I've been trying to tell everybody if you got this High usage called the water department we are short staff but we're going to get to you and address your needs we're not trying to say oh you a single person and you but if it's coming through the me and it's a leak leak somewhere let them handle that and if it is true we'll adjust you we don't you know Mr Rose am I correct
49:00
Unidentified yeah so uh mayor you you are accurate with that because uh what we have to do is right now it's been Case by case and it's been an influx and so my service texts are short and I've been pulling everybody else to fix leaks and leak detection and other things but what we have to do with this rate increase is check every Meer yes they are electronic but we still have manual readers and we have issues and so truly that's got to be the approach moving forward is to make sure every leader is working right so we will be doing that we'll take care thank you for the so can you make sure
49:36
Unidentified you you give him your address so we can M Rose we get her address so we can get it checked
49:44
Unidentified out okay my concerns have been addressed by all of you including Pearl and I know something will be done but I disag agree with the mayor tonight councilman Don tonight I agree with Joe St columia and Cal mil and what you're saying is that we do need money to move forward which is true we need money to correct the water problem but what I got on my brother's Bill what Pearl has and what so many has you still going about the wrong way let's do what Columbia Columbia just said because otherwise people like me will move out of the city and you will lose even more tax revenue haven't thought about that you're just thinking about increasing to pay the water bill but you will lose tax revenue because some of my friends here will move outside the city okay so I say this I say this you you say that people will move will move away well we got business that will move that are dep about to leave if they're garbage is not being picked
51:06
Unidentified up so so wait wait wait because it's a two it's a twofold now you just heard us say that the businesses are not getting that garbage picked up okay so tell me you know it's it's okay it's okay for us to say well if your if your brother if your bill is high we just told you what we we could do everybody in this room has a high Bill get Mr Rose is limited on workers we get folks out there to read your meter to make sure if you got a leak we'll adjust it but going backwards does nothing to help us going back has would do nothing guess what people are leaving because they're scared that your water system gonna collapse it did before so when it collaps the first time folks start getting their stuff getting out of hell them because you know what that the your hospital won't run the business the chemical plant so so when you saying all
52:01
Unidentified of this I agree with what you're saying that's what I said first but I'm saying his way is better do not do it today and it's unfair okay I mean it's just my brother and he's just a okay the bill is 800% higher went from 100 to 800 and that includes sanitation the whole bill clear sanation clearly clearly there there's a leak somewhere clearly clearly there's a leak somewhere that's what you're saying so
52:33
Unidentified so I'm constantly tell I mean a leak would not do this you know where I live it's 25 by 25 the same thing I'm tell you it out okay the same thing I'm telling you it went through the meter so let me the same thing I'm trying to tell you is my mama has a high water bill nobody's there for her she's getting disabilit so her water bill is 285 who else get a 800 Bill wait
53:07
Unidentified wait so so we we're done with questions come on we're done with questions no so so if if there if there is if there is somebody would like to speak we need to do some order so I think Renee was in so we're gonna let people speak but but you
53:53
Renee know oh it's I'm okay it's me I'm a little nervous but I just felt like I had to say something I had to say something because I see what you're saying oh you can't hear me I can talk louder I don't want Mr s is saying and I can hear what Donley was saying and mostly everybody probably in the state I mean in the city of hel West Hela and when you said you told me when I came by your how you said of the tank and I looked at the bill and I'm like and I'm going with you saying like o the tanks no water don't nobody want to be putting no boards on their house saying they because I enjoy this little town this little small town I want to be here so to put boards on your house and say just you know I feel like this just the easy way out to do that and you letting every everybody down if you do it you know what I'm saying and the amount of money that y'all need how I'm just trying to figure out how that much money you're going to need and Y and get the then CU y' saying by November what time frame y'all gotta have all this money in that if we pay these bills and do like y'all tell us to do the well would be here in a couple of weeks because we got to pay that bill by 15 so what I mean I hear what everybody saying like yeah we gonna get this money up y'all y'all ain't gonna have no water and that's bad they already be talking about us about the water anyway but they have a two $2500 Bill 8,000 like like you said it may be a leak but last year we got our leak the little d drop that was coming in the tub and we got that little drop fixed because it was irritating me to hear it steady dripping got that fixed ain't nothing else it's dries on don't all out get out but my bill when I look at my bill I said only 400 it only went up 200 but when I look at other people and I'm like it just almost it B me in tears yesterday because I'm like wow they really went up on you really and some people got6 seven do I don't understand why certain people got $90 bills my neighbor I ain't hating on on nothing and I share my bill with her and mine is higher than hers and we got two bathrooms she got the exact same thing I got and there's no leaks nowhere around my house the meter where I call him earlier but they supposed to come out and check it out but they put me a new meter down and I still don't understand what happened but how y'all gonna get all that money up like that that fast it look like it's gonna go down anyway and that's gonna hurt us anyway even if y'all get it's it's gonna hurt I know you trying to trying but how you going to get all that money up like that how you going to do that and still say hey we we still short we still short just supposed all us hit this little jackpot or something tonight all us come to pay our water bill tomorrow the 1525 are y'all still gonna have enough money to get that tank or is it gonna be another excuse while we can't get the tank because they probably ain't gonna want to give it to y'all because y'all ain't paying what they want but why do they feel that we don't need it he said 30 he said 35 that thing gonna be dry by what this September it gonna be dry before Thanksgiving get here ain't that water going out that's why you don't want people washing cars doing a garden or anything do what they ask you drop money down hey I can pay this so I think what people are saying uh we we just can't say give me a whole $1 million there's steps there's reports there are things we have to do to show that hey we we we met this deadline okay so natural resources was like okay y'all met this we'll pay this but what's the deadline for us because by the 15 from the W ladies they told me and we don't have it by the what's what's goingon to be the outcome of that part do we really have
58:22
Unidentified to pay the bills my time up yes ma'am the mor moreor the said it tonight get Mr they trying to get there they there
58:40
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) oh if I may if I may it it it doesn't really do any good for everybody to hold up their water bill and say mine is x amount of dollars what we're trying to do is go back to the old rate right now so they be races all of that I mean we can we can and we need to vote on the ordinance to take it back to to the old
58:58
Unidentified R okay are you saying that we continue to pay our old Bill like 134 we have to vote on it right now and and while while everybody's saying mine went to 700 mine went to 800 we know people's bills went up we're trying to take it back to the old rate right now okay so if if if what what number would this be Miss R and what date do we want to set for review I November 1 November
59:31
Unidentified okay and for the purposes of our
59:37
Unidentified listeners we're going to place November 1st 2024 November 1st 2024 is our deadline to resolve the rate issue by then we have to uh we we extend it we do a new ordinance whatever we do something by November 1st we have to pass another ordinance in hold on a second it's too can we have order
1:00:03
Unidentified please M can you restate that Miss Miller was trying to hear I can't I
1:00:10
Unidentified can't well I was trying to see if we can have an agreement as November the 1st for the date that we do something as it relates to rates um we'll we'll meet again and I think we need to do it before November 1st but we can meet again we can talk about it we can change uh what we've done we can do all that stuff but we said November 1st is a
1:00:28
Unidentified deadline to take some kind of action as it relates to R what about the sewer and sanitation rat that's all included
1:00:34
Unidentified that's all included not sanitation SE Water and Sewer sanitation didn't change water and sewer it's all in the same
1:00:41
Unidentified thing so is that acceptable yes if that is acceptable then with that with the blank insert I inserted November 1 in the blank what will that ordinance
1:00:52
Unidentified number be 14 yes I move to a ordinance number 14 by placing it on his third and final reading reading the title on it number 14 thir final read there second Miss Harris M Davis second the motion M
1:01:13
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey discussion Miss Viller yes Mr eth yes
1:01:17
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Miss Harris yes Dr Viller yes Mr St
1:01:20
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Columbia yes M Davis yes six yes
1:01:27
Unidentified move to
1:01:36
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey adop Mr St Columbia yes Miss Harris yes
1:01:40
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Dr Miller yes M Davis M Miller yes Mr
1:01:45
Unidentified athle yes
1:01:50
Unidentified sixs Mr Mr col move to Dr Mercy Claus is
1:01:54
Unidentified there a second second m D and Mrs Harris
1:01:56
Unidentified s a motion any discussion
1:01:59
Unidentified Madam
1:02:02
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey mad Miss Harris yes M Davis yes Mr
1:02:06
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey etherly yes Miss Miller yes Mr s columia
1:02:10
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey yes Dr Miller yes pleas six yes so my
1:02:18
Unidentified question so the people are P to water
1:02:21
Mayor Christopher Franklin will receive a credit yes yes so we just want to make sure they they understand that so the rates are at the previous rate the the people who have already paid their bill will receive a credit next month on their bill for if if that's you know since go back to the old rate they'll receive a credit on the on the next mon Bill about these people that have it go back to everything goes back to the old rate okay what about these
1:02:50
Unidentified meters that need rechecked we got to get on for them
1:02:56
Unidentified we that's what they were the process to do
1:02:59
Chief of Staff James Valley it all right so Mr Val all right uh ladies and gentlemen that was one other item and that's a resolution that's been laid on your desk uh basically asking for uh authority to continue with this 11 uh million do application process we got a deadline of Friday September the 6 to apply for uh longan forgiveness which turns it into a grant um and that's going to be a year or two process proc this is the beginning we need the council authority to continue with this uh process if you need me to read it aloud I will but that's basically what the resolution is for
1:03:35
Chief of Staff James Valley° read that loud read that loud a
1:03:37
Chief of Staff James Valley° resolution designating authorizing the mayor Water Project thate of the hel w h the public water system to execute certain documents in connection with the funding administered by the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission whereas the city of Helen West Arkansas owns and operates a system here and after the system in order to provide public water service to meet the needs of the city and its inhabitants and whereas the city council has determined that it's in the best interest of the city and its inhabitants to apply for assistance from the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission the arrc in order to make certain improvements to the system not therefore being resolved by the city council of heling westton Arkansas section one that the mayor of the city as signator agent or successor of said agent is hereby authorized and directed to make application for assistance at administered by anrc and to execute when approved by the city council a bond purchase agreement and instruments issued and made pursuant there to on behalf of the city from time to time section two that the Water Project design of the system as signator agent or success ofs said agent is hereby authorized to execute for and on behalf of the mayor and the city all other documents and Cs and certificates required to move the application for funding forward and section three that the May and the Water Project there near of the system as signator agents or successors of said agents is hereby authorized and directed to make application for any available assistance both current and future administered by anrc and to execute when approved by the city council to submit all documents and certifications as required passed on blank dates signed by the May tested by the clerk is there a motion
1:05:26
Unidentified a resolution to purchase a bond agreement to allow you to make application to AR anrc and then if they approve those applications and provide funding and you approve going forward then you do a bond agreement with anrc that's resolution number what 13 [Music]
1:05:57
Unidentified is that a motion in a
1:06:01
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° second so move move to adopt res number
1:06:06
Unidentified 13 is there a second moot discussion one is not on
1:06:12
Mayor Christopher Franklin letter Madam would you call the road
1:06:15
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey please M Miller yes Mr eely yes M Harris
1:06:20
Unidentified yes Dr
1:06:23
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Miller Mr s Columbia
1:06:26
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Miss Davis yes Dr Miller yes six yes our next meeting is next Tuesday the 10 e
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.