In 30 seconds
- Ordinance 16 (water rates) and Ordinance 17 (sewer rates) both passed on third and final reading, with emergency clauses moving the effective date from November 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025.
- The new water rate is built to reach 1.25% of the state's $26,779 median household income figure for the city, working out to $334.75 a year, or $27.90 a month, for 4,000 gallons.
- Ordinance 17 (sewer) passed 4-2, with Councilman Joe St. Columbia and Dr. Kyle Miller voting no; St. Columbia also voted no on the sewer ordinance's emergency clause.
- The city's engineer, Ken Weiland, said a newly completed well is producing 1,200 gallons a minute, short of the hoped-for 2,000 but double the output of the city's two old wells, while system-wide water loss still runs 56 to 70 percent.
- Weiland also gave a funding update, stating a pending loan and grant package as both "$11 million" and "$16 million with forgiveness" split one way between Helena and West Helena, then the other way, in consecutive sentences -- the transcript does not resolve which city gets which amount.
- A stand-in clerk, not City Clerk Sandi Ramsey, read the roll calls all night; Dr. Kyle Miller was marked absent at the opening roll but arrived later, which is why he shows up voting in the night's later roll calls.
Recap
Attendance: a stand-in clerk, and Dr. Miller's late arrival
A stand-in clerk, not City Clerk Sandi Ramsey, called the roll at the meeting's open . Dr. Kyle Miller was not present for that roll call but arrived later in the meeting, which is why he appears voting in later roll calls, including the engineering-contract vote .
One-item agenda: rates, an $8,724.45 invoice, and the engineer's report
Chief of Staff James Valley told the council the night's agenda was effectively one item, the water and sewer rate ordinances, plus an $8,724.45 water-department radios invoice and a report from the city's engineer . He raised the invoice again later and left the timing, that night or the December 12 meeting, up to the council .
New well: 1,200 gallons a minute, water loss still 56-70%
Engineer Ken Weiland reported the city's newly completed well is producing 1,200 gallons a minute, short of the hoped-for 2,000 but double the output of the city's two old wells . He said system-wide water loss runs 56 to 70 percent, with a long-range target below 30 percent , and recommended a second new well as backup since the two old standby wells can barely produce on their own .
Funding update: $11 million and $16 million, but which city gets which is unresolved
Weiland told the council the city had been approved for "$11 million" and a separate "$16 million with forgiveness," but split the figures between Helena and West Helena two different ways in consecutive sentences: "16 for Helena, 11 for West Helena," then "16 West and 11 for Helena" . The council approved the engineer's overall contract, subject to City Attorney Andre Valley's final review and the mayor's signature, so work can continue on both loan applications .
Radios purchase tabled to November 12
Dr. Kyle Miller made the case for buying radios for the water department, saying they would fix a problem with staff unable to reach each other by cell phone . Chief of Staff James Valley confirmed the order was for four units , Mayor Christopher Franklin asked to table the $8,724.45 purchase for questions , and Valley agreed to move it to the December 12 meeting .
Ordinance 16: rates tied to $26,779 median income, passes
The ordinance sets water rates to reach 1.25% of the state's $26,779 median-household-income figure for the city, working out to $334.75 a year or $27.90 a month for 4,000 gallons, with a new schedule running from $16.74 for a 3/4-inch meter up to $341.26 for an 8-inch meter . Councilman Joe St. Columbia asked whether the administration had read a rate-ordinance email from resident Robert Cheek; Chief of Staff James Valley confirmed he had read it and that the ordinance was not changed in response . On third reading, Maxine Miller moved and Harris seconded ; the emergency clause setting a January 1, 2025 effective date then passed on a split vote after Maxine Miller moved and Etherly seconded .
Public comment and the case for raising rates now
Resident Rich Wyant argued against the ordinance's automatic increases, saying the council should wait for the next required rate study instead of locking one in now . Mayor Christopher Franklin made the case for raising rates immediately, saying the water department is covering its bills with sanitation-fee money, and named the political cost directly: "I know it's election year" . City Treasurer Derrick Turner asked how often the state requires a new rate study; City Attorney Andre Valley answered every two to three years, with the next one due in 2026 .
Ordinance 17 (sewer) passes 4-2; $15 fee removed
Unlike the water ordinance, sewer rates can't be raised automatically; state law requires a public hearing first . Ordinance 17 passed 4-2 on adoption, with St. Columbia and Dr. Miller voting no, after Maxine Miller moved and Davis seconded ; its emergency clause, moving the effective date from November 1 to January 1, 2025, then passed after Etherly moved and Harris seconded, with St. Columbia voting no . Separately, the council voted to zero out a $15 late-billing postcard fee a member had objected to earlier .
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 ↗
2:17
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Latoya Harris. Not recorded present: Maxine Miller, Dr. Kyle Miller, Joe St. Columbia, Don Etherly, Monica Davis (captions incomplete; attendance unverified).
4:44
Unidentified there there's a i' I've told the clerk about it she said she GNA see what they can do but none of no work's been done in my area in my w
4:55
Unidentified now what kind of work do you mean the potholes oh we we T some my mosa is your
5:01
Unidentified W is it huh my mosa behind Walmart that's your word am I correct yeah we we we feel a giant p
5:09
Unidentified over there so you need to ride those streets so yes sir we we when when they
5:15
Unidentified call about it we're taking care but I just want just want to Y connect that so if you all have anything y need done feel free to email me or the chief of staff so we can keep this ball rolling U Miss St Columbia I'll take if you tell me if you give me the name of the streets we'll get over there Mr Valley thank you all for your time too
5:34
Chief of Staff James Valley good evening Mr Mayor members of the administration members of the city council uh we basically have a one item agenda tonight and that's the water and sewer rates um you also have minutes that you may or may not want to uh deal with tonight and then there's one invoice that we laid on your desk for 8,724 45 uh that we' like for you to deal with tonight or on the 12th that's uh your next meeting my understanding be on the 12th because election day is on the 5th of November uh but I also see in the audience behind me Mr Ken Wan who's our engineer who's uh led us and getting our well completed and he may intend to make you all report and I certainly ask you all to make the exception so you can hear the report on the whale that's what he's here
6:36
Unidentified oh okay not here I mean legal issu yeah well I'll be glad okay well let me let you get the report while the mayor is checking on whatever check okay
6:59
Engineer Ken Weiland I had taught Bly uh and I apologize I came to work to head to the field today I didn't realize I was going to be coming before the council so I'm sorry about the blue jeans and this is a I really enjoy working for y'all and and I like showing you'all the respect of not coming in blue jeans whenever I can uh the well is complete uh the only thing we're down to now is the well driller will finalize his report his final reports on the well that we will give the city primarily the operator uh he's probably got a little training he needs to do with the operators uh you know to what you do and what you don't do out there uh fortunately we were able to get the fence up quickly uh I was real concerned about having that well not only because of the how you know that that's a very expensive piece of equipment out there that you have but also the voltages are real high and you just don't need anybody out there walking around sticking their hand in it turning switches and whatnot that's that's your water supply for West hland now so uh we got the fence up they put it up over Saturday and Sunday the well ended up I I don't know if I've been here to to give an updated report you know we we in the beginning we had hoped to get 2,000 gallons a minute the strata was not going to support that type of of of production and so we stopped and we assessed what the Str would do and basically came down just statistical odds we had a 5050 shot at 12200 gallons a minute and a 80 plus percent chance shot based on me and all the other experts looking at everything on it at 800 gallons a minute well we end up with 1,200 gallons a minute so we hit the top we hit the top of what that Strat was going to support out there I was I was very pleased with feel like well is doing better than expected well it's it's at the top of what we were hoping for yes sir uh I mean it just it just wasn't going to do 2,000 so it's 1,200 that's uh that's about double what the other two Wells were doing and they they were struggling to do that so uh you know I I don't know if s's not here uh tonight to give a report but my understanding is they're they're the tank they're keeping up with the tank well down so the well is in all the things that went along with it are in and uh it's it's complete uh now one of the things if if uh you know I've submitted basically an overall contract for Engineering Services for which we would that is the overall contract and then we will issue specific task orders and for an example the new new will now we know that since we got 1,200 we need to have another standby well uh once we have the funding in place you know we need to start working on where would we put a second well and I'll be working with Chief of Staff and uh and other department heads but also uh it's time to move forward y'all heard the reports during the Mr C cler's visit they really want us to start moving forward with some plans for work to try to fix the pipe instead of fixing leaks we needed replace that old stuff with with new lines that won't leak there's work to be done in the treatment plants there's work to be done on the tanks there work I mean we all know there's work to be done everywhere but the priority is production and we've already taken a big step on production uh then treatment you got to be able to treat the water that comes out of the ground need to get to treatment plants get the filter media now that we're getting enough flow where they can take one of the filters offline long enough to replace the filter media so they can get more flow through that through those filters uh then distribution of course and they're probably equal actually uh to start with the the worst lines I've asked them to write on a napkin the 12 worst lines out there and that's what we would start on now I doubt there's going to be enough money to do all of it but we're going to try to take it you know the worst lines that we can primarily the smaller two inch lines but there's G there are some larger diameter lines that keep we're we're having chronic issues with and those are the ones that concern me because they'll dump your tank like that okay the 2 in you have to stay on top of it but the ones that can really take a bite out of your tank is when you when you have an 8 inch line or 12inch line break and uh so we'll be addressing those and then of course we need to address the storage we've got tanks that need to be repainted in Helena and maybe one half of one in West Helena so there's a whole schedule of things and that's kind of the long range plan that they're asking for that's that's what it is production treatment distribution storage and then consumption uh there's meters out there that probably need to be replaced um you know and that's that's what this will allow me to now start writing the task orders for those elements of work and as the city homes in on the amount of funding that you're going to be that's available and that you're going to underwrite you know then we'll take we'll assign that amount of funding to those particular projects and I can get to work on them so that's I hope that's a good enough report anybody got any questions or anything I think the well looks good I I
12:43
Engineer Ken Weiland° I I like I like the fence we we went with a black polymer coated galvaniz instead of the shiny and and I mean it just it just disappears out there in my opinion so thank you any questions or and like I said attorney Valley will have the contract if he he's going to bring it up tonight I'm here to answer your questions I I don't know what I can answer that's a legal document how much
13:11
Unidentified how much water do you as an engineer feel that we're losing in the community guessing I know you don't know well uh the only thing I can rely on are
13:25
Kenneth L. Weiland the reports I think Rural Water uh last time had it had it back up above about 56% I think it was running between 56 and 70 it kind of depends they get caught up and then you get more leaks yeah you know we' really need we really need to get those leaks down you know well well below 30 on the long range and what they also suggested we won't have many Leakes if we replace these lines so that's what we're trying to get funed that should be our main concern now trying to get these lines replaced so we can stop the leaks course when you put pressure on these old pipes you're going to have a new one spring up and start leaking well you have that you know in the operations you get a little jiggle in the system if somebody shuts a hydrant too fast you know that that can cause it this extreme dry weather that we've been having uh you know some of the clay soils you know those big cracks you can step down in and as as as it starts raining and that soil starts move so so now you got that soil moving and some of these pipes uh you you can just almost crush it with your hand I mean it's just it's just G you know it's um and so they're they're real susceptible to any you know shakes in the system uh shakes in the ground uh the normal expansion and contraction of of these our clay soils our plastic soils they'll tend to break it but like you said uh the the get the new lines will hopefully eliminate if you're getting two or three or 5% on this line here is is is in your average of 56 or so percent for every line we can replace we try to bring those percentages down yeah you know not only not only does that bring the percentage down it's just that's one line that they can concentrate on something else and focus you know they can get stay ahead of the leaks a little faster by replacing the worst leaking lines so that they they're not trying to cover 10 15 20 leaks at a time right you and and I I know that's obvious to everybody but the main thing we want to start trying to do is now working on replacing these these lines and that that'll cut down a lot of your leaks uh if you put new lines in Imagine everybody the room when Summit took over from Center Point if you didn't have any gas they ran new lines to cut gas leaks out so that's some of the things we need to try to do is focus on running new lines so we can stop with Jord of our leaks if put a new line you don't have a problem yes sir I know there's been some talk probably need I got some ideas I have some ideas you know as you know it's it's not just anywhere there's a lot of there's a lot of boundary conditions and criteria that have to be met yes sir U and then you know I've got I've got some ideas is that that I was using actually when we began on on this well um you know you need to try to stay as close as possible to the existing treatment plant with the raw water line the existing raw water lines because the further out you get uh that that raw water line was just that 300 foot was about 148,000 so you know it's expensive I mean everybody say we'll put it out at Washington Park well don't know if the stradle was supported out there but that's a long ways a lot of streets and a lot of that's a long way to pump it you know and then and then of course you got to have a motor you know a pump that's that's strong enough to pump that extra distance so you start you know you're trying you're limited not limited but you need to try to stay from practical fin economic standpoint is close to the existing treatment plant or a raw water line now remember you can't be you can't be within 100 foot of of a ditch a sewer anything at all that could be a Poss contaminant you can't you've got to have 100 foot all the way around that well so that starts limiting what you have and and we're not out in the country we're you know you're you're an urban area so you know you don't have a lot of places with that kind of openness um so we'll be we'll be working on that we have we do have some ideas though yes sir we sir what's the
17:53
Unidentified recommendation again I forgot was it two more or three more I'm sorry well on the whale what was the recommendation for how many more whals would how many more whals yes sir oh I think one more would
18:04
Kenneth L. Weiland give you a standby I don't I don't see running both of these Wells together but it would give you a standby right now your standby are those two old Wells and we already know that that's that's you know they can they can barely do it now you know five years down the road if we've got the the loss rate down 15 18% you know they probably could hold their own a lot better but while we're sitting up at 50 to 60% if the new well struck by lightning or something for instance you know they'll be available now one of the things that that this Council has approved chemically treating uh at least one of those o Wells maybe both I can't remember to try to increase their production you know sum uh and and it will but it we I think they found out on one of the others they treated that's not a real long-term solution and it's not you know you don't you don't double the rate you just get more so it would be good to go ahead and chemically treat them so that they if they ever do get brought into into play into you know if we ever do have to turn them back on for some reason which I hope we don't have to see quite honestly but if you do then they'll have a little more capacity to hold the system while whatever repairs need to be made to the to the new well but now you you talking about something pretty catastrophic you know lightning strike runaway bulldozer I don't know you know uh this it hopefully is is pretty secure I hope okay thank
19:35
Unidentified you so tell the C what do you need what are you need needing from us tonight oh uh uh attorney Valley has
19:45
Engineer Ken Weiland that I don't know if he's ready to to present it or not I I just told him I would come over to Ina in case in case he wanted to what what I'm proposing is that the council uh my suggestion to attorney B was at the council uh approve it subject approve the mayor to sign it subject to his final review of this main of this main document which is 64 Pages um and then we can do individual projects and you know it's got more than just water we still got we still got the bridge down here that's got lines need to be relocated and that's not going to be any of the nrcs I don't think now that new that new loan may may cover it but we're really really getting t on time that bridge is supposed to let in March or February or something like that so we are really getting tight on time on that so I mean we've got other things that i' probably need to be doing besides what everybody's focused on that water you know issue out in West Hela we've got issues in Hela we got Wastewater issues we've got you know relocation issues uh you know so but what that document allows is is instead of having to do this big long document every time we have a project that allows hey we'll write a quick Tas or we need you to go down and and do whatever is necessary for relocation of the line U down here so they can put in that new bridge which is desperately needed that that bridge needs to be replaced we don't want to stand in the way of it in my opinion well on a on a on a good note uh with funding we did get approved for the $1 million and we just got approv for the $16 million good with forgiveness so for 16 for Helen 11 for West Helen so we kind of need to start trying to figure out other around 16 West and 11 for Helen so we need to start trying to figure out let's Crunch and get moving on that while we have this money to do the thing some of the things that we can do so I asked the councel for what's your plans that you want us to do so we can get to moving on this we got this we got this money and we start figure out what plans which way which way we need to
22:04
Unidentified go if I man um what um Mr W was discussing is when Mr clo cler M Sternberg was here coer said one of the things we need two things that you need is a contractor engineer and a bun Council you can move forward on the loans and so you can do a scope of the work and Country that I'm reviewing now is a large scale uh that covers all facets of things relating to this and what it anticipates is that uh he would do smaller projects from this sub counil approval but what he was asking is the council approve this subject to to to my review and the mayor's signature so we can move forward because time is ticking uh I'm still reviewing he gave it to me one day last last week and it gave a digital copy last week and gave back printed copy today is that correct K close and so uh 64 pages but uh it's it's a standard Engineers contract because it's it's based on the engineers joint contract documents committee standard contract and I'm reviewing it but uh I don't see any outliers uh one of the things from a financial standpoint you want to know well how much he's paid uh typically in these type of contracts he his his fees are uh 10% of the overall project is that correct well uh
23:37
Engineer Ken Weiland° for instance the well project was a percent of the construction cost but since this is going to be funded a lot of these are going to be funded by anrc they won't allow that they don't they don't do the you know rural development that's all they used to do now they they want you to do either a lump sum which is very difficult we don't really know we don't have a definition of just what we're going to be doing or fee schedule the fee schedule is basically that we have in that contract a list of all the fees for all the different categories of Engineers and project representativ and things like that so we keep our time just like an attorney would when you hire an attorney and we get paid by the hour of on that fee schedule that's what anrc will allow because you're going to be going to them for reimbursement for the engineering through the loan uh so we've got to do something that they're going to accept and and I I think fee schedule is about the only way to go uh with this one being you know we're going to be flexing left right and you know as we as the funds come in we decide what we're going to do it's hard to put a lump th on that so we just do it by fee scod just like an attorney would charge you I think and that what attorneys did yes IDE circumstan yes about the pound of paper yeah
25:18
City Attorney Andre Valley he's presented a umbrella contract with with task ERS addition that would come with uh and what he was seeking is approved for the council for this subject to mind final review in the mayor's so we continue to move forward and apply for both the 11 million and the 16 million and he can develop the the scope of work that U we're for project is there motion some M
25:44
Unidentified mov second Miss Harris second the motion any
25:50
Unidentified discussion M CL call rooll please Davis yes Mr St Columbia yes Mr Miller yes Miss Harris yes Mr E yes and yes did you need gu sir need gu us no no sir fact I
26:28
Unidentified wasn't expecting to take this much of y'all's time I feel bad all right um one quick item or two
26:40
Chief of Staff James Valley quick items this that's laying on your desk you want to consider approving this tonight or on the 12th and it's uh for radios look like in the water department and the amount is U 8,724 45 uh and the accounts payable clerk uh submitted this I told her that we may not consider it tonight because we were trying to do this one item and so that's kind of up to you and the other item is the collective uh sets of minutes if you to deal with those wait till the 12 Mr Valle this is this is um for some CV
27:36
Chief of Staff James Valley radios yes that's my understanding radios for the water department
28:00
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) this this will U fix a challenger we had with phones and people's not able to communicate via cell phone and not able to get in contact with each other and all sort of stuff right that's my understanding I hadn't spent a lot of time with this but my understanding this gives a secondary way of communicating and it's you know on the challeng just
28:22
Unidentified with our guys okay and would they would they have these at home or just dur time
28:28
Chief of Staff James Valley they work in or I'm believing these are going to be in the in the utility trucks because I'm seeing it's just four of them at this point yes
28:38
Mayor Christopher Franklin sir can we table out ask some questions about
28:44
Chief of Staff James Valley okay that's fine all right we put it on the agenda for the 12 that's with the body no that's fine I just I mean on
28:52
Chief of Staff James Valley° Surface probably good I just question all right was that put off to the 12 on the minutes do yall want to deal with those collectively tonight you want to put that out to the 12 may they ready to deal with the minutes okay we have um minutes of previous meetings we have August 1 on pages 8 and9 August 27th Pages 11 and 12 September 4th meeting uh Pages 14 and 15 September 24th meeting Pages 17 and 18 October 2nd Pages 20 and 21 and the ones for October 22nd have not been included so you have one two three four five
29:58
Chief of Staff James Valley° six sets of meeting minutes so you want do five we actually have seven October was not in October 22nd was not included but we have my understanding they want to approve those inol so you just need a [Music] motion no I was just about the 27
30:28
Unidentified so that that she the clerk hadn't put them together that's our last meeting we had okay and the clerk was it 22nd that's what she on we wait to
30:38
Unidentified approve huh should we wait to approve those until we get the 22nd is not being approved oh okay we're not approving the
30:44
Unidentified 22nd cuz she hadn't included got so you're just approving the second
30:48
Unidentified backward to the 13 okay okay yes sir yes any more
30:53
Unidentified discussion please Miss Miller yes Miss Harris yes Mr St Columbia Mr eth yes Miss Davis Dr Miller yes motion carries all right our final two items is
31:09
Chief of Staff James Valley uh the Water rate and the sewer rate as amended um I know we have over the years uh put them on the third and final read reading the title only U but because this matter is as sensitive as it is I think it' be good if you would kind of read it and decide there's some things I know you have received Communications about uh perhaps changing or delaying or some of that uh so this been put together basically the same way it was on the 22nd without any changes but certainly the council can change any this um so what I'll do is read the water ordinance and the water and sewer ordinances are almost identical and then I suggest you just go through paragraph by paragraph to decide what you want to do on them uh but it's an ordinance and the the clerk left us a number I believe this is ordinance number 16 the next ordinance is 16 yes so this will be ordinance number 16 I'm on page 24 if anybody's reading the LA 2432 an ordinance to amend the water rat for the city of hel West Hela as established July 23rd 2024 whereas the city of hel West T implemented the finance for adjustment of the current water rat for the city and all of its utility customers and whereas the implementation is in need of change and whereas the city council met on October the 2nd with Mr Chris coasia of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and Mr Dennis Sternberg of Arkansas Rural Water Association whereas Mr Sternberg agreed to amend the rate study which had been provided on July the 2nd to include the considerations and conditions discussed in the October 2nd 2024 meeting with Mr Co cleria and the city council and whereas Mr Sternberg tended the amended rate study findings in two separate spreadsheets one for water and one for sewer on October 14th 2024 and whereas the rates needed whereas the rates need to reach 1.25% of the median household income mhi number used by the state of rockkansas Department of Agriculture for 4,000 gallons of water usage and whereas the mhi provided by the state of Arkansas for hel West Hela is 26,7 se9 per year and 1.25% of that equals $334 75 per year or $27.90 Cent per month now therefore be it ordained by the city council the city of hel West hel Arkansas Article One the water rates for users of the city of H West Arkansas water utility at those sites within the city limits and outside the city limits are as follows um the initial meter charge for 3/4 or smaller meter $16.74 a 1 in meter $27 47 a 2 in meter $65. 32 a 3in meter $84 86 a 4in meter is $170 a 6 6 in meter 26 $1.75 and the 8 in meter $341 126 and then on page 25 each uh th000 gallons is charged from zero to 5,000 5,000 15, 15,000 and over in essence each th000 gallons is charged $56 uh prospectively after the initial meter charge is charged on the SE rate uh it's a flat rate of $13 irrespective of the meter size for the initial uh charge and then $5 per th000 for each gallon each thousand gallons used and then outside of the city limits the numbers are there but it increases by 25% on uh uh users outside of the city limits for water and sewer rates uh individually then the wholesale rate which some pay 26 wholesale rate shall be $56 per th gallons until July 1st 2025 Billing at which time the wholesale rate shall increase to $758 per thousand gallon article two the water rates for those sites outside the city limits and service by the city of hel West Helma would be at least 25% higher than those rates paid by those within the city limits article three the water rate shall be subject to an autom atic annual increase of 3% to account for periodic inflation beginning January the 1st 2025 and on January the 1 each following year the water rates and based fixed charges may be adjusted based on increased Revenue requirement percentages calculated by using the US consumer price index for water sewer and trash collection Services CPI hyen wst as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis in increase from the previous 12 month period provided that the city council at its discretion May adjust the increase to a lower percentage than the CPI wst water volume rates and base fixed charges will be adjusted by updating the current city of H and West T the water rate study pursuant to Arkansas code annotated section 14- 234 sub chapter 8 requirements article four water rates may be adjusted without a public hearing the rate shall be adjusted and reflected on the January or next practical billing each year billing in this instance means the bill as presented to the customer via mail not the billing period referenced on the statement itself Article Five the customer fees on on page 27 the customer fees is adopted on July the 23rd 2024 ordinance which is label as ordinance number eight shall remain and fourth effect shall remain in effect without alteration article six the medium household income for the city of H West H according to the most recent census data provided by the US Census Bureau is $31,800 of the median household income based upon 4,000 gallons of water however the Arkansas Department of Agriculture uses three-year average of the mhi which is $267 se9 this ordinance and the charges rat and fees meet the meet that requirement such that our community can and will qualify for future loan forgiveness or grants these rates must be in effect by the closing date of the loan article seven rates established in this ordinance are part of a phase in of the new rates and the minimum residential inside the city limits charge will increase in the number two uh on the billing for July the 21st July the 1st of 2025 all ordinances are parts of ordinance in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repeal if any portion of this ordinance held to be invalid such invalidity shall not affect the other portions of the ordinance and to that end the Clauses of dis ordinance are declared to be severable emergency Clause the city council fines that said charges rates and fees are reasonable and necessary to provide adequate funds for the operation maintenance and financing of city of held the public water and to utilities as set forth here and above and the same same shall be charged for services reflected on the bill dated November 1st 2024 these charges rates and fees are necessary such that if they are not charged the fiscal sustainability and operations of the city of hel West hel public water SE utilities are in Jeopardy putting the health safety and Welfare of citizens of West Helen West hel ad such that an emergency is hereby declared passed on the 29th day of October 2024 signed by the mayor attested by the clerk and that is the ordinance the one of the dates that jump out immediately is that November the 1st 2024 date needs to be changed because it's a practical matter because we are at the 20 9th we can't get the billing done by the 1st so we're already looking at December the 1st there's been a question as to whether we can move to January the 1st and certainly that's up to the city council what date you choose to implement but it will not be November the 1st because this is the 29 we can't get it done with with that um then what what about article three the
40:23
Chief of Staff James Valley 3% um increase yes sir the automatic 3% is recommended
40:31
Chief of Staff James Valley° by um rural war and he explained that in that meeting on the second he had previously explained it um so certainly what they want you to do at a minimum is have a CPI increase he said use a flat 3% uh the city treasurer sent you a memo saying he didn't like the 3% because sometimes it's higher and that you should just follow CPI so there's reason to for debate on either one but the automatic increase is recommended by the race study and it's kind of the standard practice as I understand it of the utilities uh in Arkansas they're doing the some increase every year what's our current increase I know we have an increase now uh we got it in one of
41:15
Unidentified those packets try can probably tell you what the last one was I think it was somewhere around 3% yeah I me we have an increased uh scale it's it's supposed to go up every year but right it's based on CPI whatever that number is okay so so
41:32
Unidentified this this is all I'm asking so let's say we we V this in today let's say practicality December January the um it takes effect then you got the 3% cost of living increase that probably needs to
41:46
Unidentified be changed to 2016 wouldn't that's that's that's perfectly that makes sense
41:51
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) yes okay okay I have a question did you get a copy of this sent
41:57
Chief of Staff James Valley by Mr Robert Chek this email I've seen it I I believe I've seen that yes sir that's part of what I referenced when I said you should read it and go through the various paragraphs did you look at this EMA and put this in
42:15
Chief of Staff James Valley° consideration yeah I've looked at the email the ordinance has not been changed to reflect what the email request uh Mr Chek talked to me about it and that's why I was telling you at the beginning why I suggested you read it and go through it in case you wanted to implement some of those uh suggestions it brings out some pretty good points
42:34
Chief of Staff James Valley° why I ask yes sir Mr CH and Mr medal have made pres made very very good points that you can consider and that's again why I said go through the ordinance so you can decide dates percentage whatever you want to do as relates to the uh the
42:55
Unidentified scale did you have another question do
42:58
Unidentified no sir okay I'm sorry
43:02
Unidentified follow if I may once Chief yes yes sir I mean from a practical standpoint if I had my brothers I would say implemented stting December the 1st and the 3% begin in 2026
43:19
Unidentified okay that's as my opinion well the the January 2025 CPI increase had anticipated we would have raise the rates back in July and that's how that came about since we're going to be raising in December or January uh that makes sense to move it to another point right we do the increase in January instead of
43:46
Unidentified De whatever you all decide yeah that's what I guess that's what the the question is uh you know from a money standpoint we need to increase as soon as possible but you know the difference in January and December it's not much from that standpoint but because each each month that we don't raise the water race the water department is uses sanitation
44:25
Unidentified Fe I don't want to do something than be the wrong thing to do and I know you feel the same way we need to take a great deal of consideration to these rates because once we make this decision it's important and I have no objection to going as far as January yes sir I'm fine with to do okay I ain't got an ink pen but um so article three we change that to January
45:04
Unidentified of 20126 that day right Dr Miller yes sir and then on article
45:14
Unidentified s um well no that's a that's a different discussion the emergency Clause is the one January of 20125 it's a
45:24
Unidentified date huh seven oh on seven uh the the race study recommended and certainly we can change the date on seven but the race study recommend you do 506 uh initially and then at some point you go up to $7.39 so the question is at what date do you go up to that and you're likely at this point to have another rate study before you go up to the
45:52
Unidentified $739 anyway got question huh that study to do
46:12
Unidentified anothere well we're not required to to wait on the next race study but I said that as a practical matter because you want so we're going to raise the race now and you need to do a race study next year at some point to figure out kind of high is working but we could still operate on the rate study we have which say you can raise it to the 739 and as a practical matter the 739 is what they recommended as a base to break he so we still would be working to some degree in soling uh as long as we're below 739 per th gallons so that' be the reason to go to that number at at this point what we believe is the 506 as struct here will get us out of the red and then you see you know we'll see what the race study brings in terms of numbers but and that's in part because the SE rate
47:10
Unidentified going you understand what I'm saying yeah because the sewer rat is going up this6 may bring us to where you need to be because you can charge it looks like what we've done is charge like 80 or 90% of our fees or expenses to water and less to se so we need to recalibrate how we charge expense it out and then expense some of those charges to sewer and then the water rate may not need to go up I don't know but that's what the rate study would reflect yeah I think that the rate study showed that
47:41
Unidentified you had two years excuse me will you have will you come to the
47:46
Rich Wyant mic so the benefit the people on I was just thinking that the rate study showed that you had two years is $7 and something cents right and it is likely like you said that we would have another rate study in place before that two years has expired so it to me it would make sense to reassess everything based on that new rate study rather than have an automatic increase in the ordinance that's just what I'm thinking that makes sense
48:26
Mayor Christopher Franklin I I understand that no no one wants to do an increase at this time but I say this when it comes to trying to pay things water finances to pay their bills be here be here in a day-to-day basis when you get your sanitation fees in to the water department and they try to fure do we send all this money over or do we need we have to pay our bills CU they they using sanitation bills money to pay their bills because they don't have and I know everybody like oh I don't know but the water department needs to help and raised fees and did none of this for years and we have raised a little bit but when you look at it people are trying to help us with grants Loy to make sure we can help ourselves it's like point we we need to wait we need to do something sooner later because the city came all sanitation fees need to be to the city so the trash garbage truck that we paying for the knuckle and she doing the best she can on that side here we are getting less money to do we to operate Sanitation Department and Water we can get water where it needs to be and if you want us to show you I can show you the young lady that does it in the water department has a list of everything she can break it down and show you every step by step on what they got and at some point I I said you all this you know we got we got a $16 million Grant that's being reviewed that we won't have to pay back so at some point we we got to try to figure out how we going we see our C St crumbling in front of us just we just waiting I think I mean I know it's it's election year I mean I'm say I I just do think that at some point we got to do what's best for help mean we did it before and people want have to learn this I got to pay a high water we all got to pay something but if it's going to be better for industry coming in here be better for number reason be better for not just not just for money reason we just need
51:18
Mayor Christopher Franklin° water the city treas and Dr Miller was trying to be recognized understand tell I saw both of them and I didn't me interrupt you question I want to ask was how
51:34
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° how what does the state require how many years do you need does the state tell you you need the r study I I can't hear
51:42
City Attorney Andre Valley° you how many years they tell you what we
51:46
City Treasurer Derrick Turner° have to implement it within two years of the pre no but how often do how often do you have to get it we get on we get on the calendar in
51:56
City Attorney Andre Valley° 26 but we have to do it every two or three years depend on the size of our the number of customers we have so we're going to have to do another one in 2026 anyway uh but I'm what I'm suggesting is you do one toward the end of 2025 so you can make an assessment of where you are based on the $56 per thousand uh and one of the ways you can do as Mr uh Richard has asked is you can move this D the July 2025 let's say uh uh January 2026 and you can take action before that to to raise or lower depending on what your race study show or or as he's asked you can take it out where it's not automatic U but but what you don't need is to take several months to do whatever you're going to do next time so that's why you spend all this energy this time kind of be a to do it and keep it
52:59
City Attorney Andre Valley moving Mr Ste City attorney I prefer you leave a datting in because if we take it out we made on a file in the 24mth period that we're required to by law to increase the rate so if you want to move to 2026 January 1st 2026 that'll be fine but I don't think we need to remove it I think we need to have it in that so it can automatically Tri be triggered without having go through uh all of this that we're going through because we already know at this point that the race study already shows to the $56 per gallon and the 739 per gallon U and you we're already taking considerations people's finances uh if you don't want to do it July 1st 2025 then January 1st 2026 is still within that window uh but also it causes automatically it gives you time to act and it won't be no one will drop the ball per se and what I mean by drop the ball per se is many times what happens is when you have the energy in the room to get things done things happen but sometimes you don't have the energy in the room to get things done and people don't care about the consequences I'm not saying that would happen in this room but I'm saying while you have the Synergy let's get this done and we won't have to come back and and go through all of this is already in in writing yes
54:27
Unidentified Mr I think I I think I may got I think I got the answer to my question so the so article three we mentions the 3% that that's taken in account the five is it 506 or 536 to 7 s 739 that no that's
54:45
Unidentified just that's just 3% on top of whatever your rate is okay so so let's say it's 1674 okay it' be 3% of that and the 506 it' be 3% of that too okay so then the because we know we're we're it looks like we're going in a two-year two-year phase in so when does the 739 kick in the next year right now it
55:10
Unidentified said July 1st 2025 but what they're talking about around the table is July the 1st 2026 okay which was also the same year so like six months six months
55:23
Unidentified later right okay so a year from now basically 12 14 months okay okay
56:07
Unidentified is there any other questions or any other changes oh
56:27
Unidentified and and this is just food for thought for now on the sewer Ordinance one of the things that is that's different is you can't raise sewer rates without a public hearing so it won't be an automatic increase on the sewer you got to have a public hearing to to address though and of course you can do a public hearing before your meeting let's say in December of the next year and adjust your rates at this point the recommendation would be just for uh the CPI at that time not now
57:33
Unidentified no me
57:35
Unidentified just why why don't we why don't we do this um delay the the the second increase until January of 2026 and then remove the CPI well change the CPI increase from January 26 until January of 27 yes and that way you don't have a double M yeah two FL H up I can go with
58:10
Unidentified that what about the effective date what's their current date that be
58:17
Unidentified January December January oh January J
58:24
Unidentified January I mean there is one building cycle so okay I can go with that so sum
58:30
Chief of Staff James Valley up what you're saying you have three januaries right the be the the $5 the 1674 plus the $5 January 25 January 1st 2025 right that's the effective date of the ordinance right then the next increase to $739 will be January 2026 then the 3% would be January 2027 that's when that kicks in right yeah I
58:56
Unidentified can I can I I can go yeah that was my
59:12
Unidentified sticking so motion suspended rules place on third and final reading reading the title only what read with those three adjustments as Lee Coro would say not so
59:23
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) fast my friend okay Article Five I'm not crazy about um I'm on page 27 all right the fees adopted on July 23rd 2024 um I just got to tell you I I don't like that that charge to to send a a postcard all the $15 yeah put on post
1:00:03
Unidentified I mean I presume we included all of our cost in the actual late fee I think it should be included whatever it cost to send a late fee should be included in the late Fe so I mean I'm that's just me I
1:00:22
Unidentified agree so you suggesting the Article Five
1:00:26
Unidentified well I can't this this this refers to ordinance number eight and ordinance number eight is not in front of us so I don't have a way of making the change right here at this point you can delete Article Five it doesn't solve your problem but it doesn't ratify me you need us uh
1:00:56
Unidentified I guess another document ordinance or resolution or something okay so we can delete five and then we can address that at a different different time and day different
1:01:18
Unidentified space do you want uh the do a resolution tonight that you that that fee be reduced to zero
1:01:30
Unidentified I guess after if this is adopted then I'll make that motion after okay after this is
1:01:39
Unidentified complete okay so there are three changes you you heard me read the state the three changes before does they need to be restated and then the fourth change is Article Five be wants to remove the fees of doed in the what we Article Five all together arle five all
1:02:00
Unidentified together he objected to one feet it's like 30 fees on that see that's why all right with those four changes is
1:02:14
Unidentified there a motion to suspend the rules place on third final read reading the title on
1:02:40
Unidentified motion
1:02:43
Unidentified discuss M Madam cler call the RO please Max Miller yeahor Harris yes Joe St
1:02:53
Unidentified columia Don e yes yes Monica Davis yes
1:02:58
Unidentified and yes order number 16 2024 ordinance to amend the water rate for the city of H W established uh July 23rd 2024 is there a motion to adopt moves to ad is there a
1:03:19
Unidentified second second Mr ether second the motion
1:03:23
Unidentified any discussion Madame cler call please
1:03:27
Unidentified Davis yes Mr St columia Mr
1:03:32
Unidentified Miller come back Miss Harris yes Mr E yes and next yes is there a motion to
1:03:43
Unidentified adopt the emergency Clause as amended I'm
1:03:47
Unidentified sorry you V oh I'm I'm just I'm might have to say no sorry no now is that motion toop mer clauset
1:04:03
Unidentified amended with effect of date of January 1st 2025 m m mov to adop Second this e
1:04:12
Unidentified second the motion any discussion Madam took we call the rooll
1:04:18
Unidentified please Miss Davis yes Mr
1:04:21
Unidentified no Mr Miller no M Harris
1:04:26
Unidentified yes Mr E yes and
1:04:30
Unidentified Max yes motion carries for what you want to do your resolution now want to go on to the Sewer ordinance uh no I'll make the resolution now or
1:04:43
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) the motion now to um remove or that we I guess we'll need an ordinance an amended ordance so I'll make a motion for an amended ordinance to uh move the $15 billing fee
1:05:01
Unidentified Mr makes a motion to remove $15 I said that real I said that real bad um uh ordinance number eight previously adopted has $15 billing ordinance on to make a motion for to have an ordinance prepared that amends that ordinance to remove the $15 billing fee do that clarify makes a motion to have the $15 billing feed to zero Miss have second Motion in
1:05:35
Unidentified discussion Madam CL Miss Miller yes Miss Harris yes Mr St
1:05:43
Unidentified colan Mr E yes Davis and Mr Miller yes
1:05:59
Chief of Staff James Valley all right um ladies and gentlemen the next ordinance is the sewer ordinance and the primary difference in the sewer ordinance and the water ordinance was that um it's it says you have to have a public he um where your rates are not automatically increased sir page 20 n so I I guess what I'm saying is these ordinances are fairly much identical except for that you can't automatically raise F rates it requires a public hearing and so if you are inclined to do the same on this ordinance I don't know that we have to go through each paragraph but I'd be glad to read it and go through it if you want me to the numbers isin
1:07:07
Chief of Staff James Valley° 17 so the Practical question is do you want the uh the same amendments in this ordinance as others with exception of 3% CA is just articulated is that prior to an adjustment the 2027 point will be irrelevant as relates to this one that you have to have a public hearing before you can in increased sewer rates we previously had a public hearing on on this issue relating to this but 2027 the 3% automatic increase wouldn't be applicable to sewer rates because you have to have a public hear before you can adopted we will have the same dates as the one right you have January 20 25 and January 2026 to January 2027 will be irrelevant the you will be striking out tic five as you did in the previous ordinance and you be Chang an emergency Clause identical to they read the same so one water one sewer so then so would that mean that we
1:08:13
Unidentified would strike uh article three then it says the SE rate should be subject to automatic annual increase of 3% what we put the January 2027 dat in there okay um but it's I'm what I'm
1:08:30
Chief of Staff James Valley° saying is it's telling you you you can't automatically do it you got to have the public here so the language can be here but it's not to automatic H automatically happen so it's worded differently at the end it says you're doing it in Conformity with Arkansas code an section 14 that's 234 sub chapter 8 and 14 235 223 and that's basically saying you going to have the public hearing before the rates are adjusted on the sewer it just they're not automatic not even the CPA so that motion to spend rules Place
1:09:26
Unidentified ordinance number 17 2024 on the third and final reading reading high on with the U necessary Corrections that were in the previous
1:09:38
Unidentified ordinance another moves to ordinance number 17 Miss David second the motion any
1:09:46
Unidentified discussion Madam clerk call Ro please M
1:09:50
Unidentified Miller yes M Harris yes Mr S no Mr
1:09:56
Unidentified yes M Davis yes and Mr Mill no ordinance number 17 2024 ordinance to
1:10:05
Unidentified amend sewer rate for the city of hel West hel as established uh July 20th 3 2024 is there a motion to
1:10:15
Unidentified adopt Miss Miller moves to adopt second
1:10:19
Unidentified Mr Seconds the motion in
1:10:21
Unidentified discussion M cler call the RO please
1:10:24
Unidentified Miss Davis yes Mr St columia no Mr Miller
1:10:29
Unidentified no Miss Harris yes Mr E yes and Miss Max
1:10:39
Unidentified yes okay is there a motion to approve the emergency Clause subject to the change in date from November the 1st to January the 1st as to effect January 1st
1:10:48
Unidentified 2025 as effective date so mov second second motion any
1:10:59
Unidentified discussion please David yes Mr S columia
1:11:04
Unidentified no Mr Miller
1:11:06
Unidentified yes Miss Harris yes Mr E yes and next
1:11:22
Unidentified yes Mr T that you just want to present that to them L on the table that you need to
1:11:29
Unidentified okay what mayor that's that's theend for
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.