In 30 seconds
- Council took no vote to override Mayor Whitfield's veto of the roughly $27,889 district-court staff raise the council had approved April 7; the veto stands and the raise does not take effect.
- The city's official claims list totals $3,291,279.94, down from $4.5 million when the mayor took office, but that figure excludes an estimated $1.3 million IRS liability and roughly $700,000 owed to Entergy, some of it unpaid since 2022.
- Council adopted Ordinance No. 8-2026 by a 5-0 vote (after suspending the rules for a same-night final reading), setting a $150-per-hour municipal cleanup rate for nuisance/property-abatement enforcement.
- Four properties (620 Plaza, 302 Sebastian, 907 Pecan Street, 516 Perry Street) were named as the city's first summary-abatement/condemnation targets, with a resolution-based process and seasonal deadlines through Labor Day.
- Vehicle quotes presented by Police Chief Sanders total $660,000, versus $455,000 for the last (2021-22) fleet purchase, with the current fleet down to about four working vehicles; council voted 5-0 only to authorize seeking financing, not to buy, and set a special meeting the following Tuesday.
- New curbside-trash rules (barring items like TVs, computers, and monitors from the curb) are posted online, and sanitation service is now being cut off for households behind on water bills, with 15-20 unused cans/dumpsters already pulled.
Recap
Roll Call, Quorum, and Approval of Minutes
At roll call, Councilwoman Maxine Miller and Councilman Joe St. Columbia answered present and Councilman Adrian Messina was marked present, while Councilwoman Monica Davis and Councilman Don Etherly were declared absent and Dr. Kyle Miller had not yet arrived . Mayor Whitfield declared a quorum with those present plus himself . The council then approved the minutes of the March 3 and March 17 meetings, with the clerk announcing four yes votes . Later in the meeting, both Dr. Miller and Mr. Etherly are on record speaking and participating , so more members were present as the meeting went on than were declared present at the top.
Veto of District Court Salary Raises
Mayor Whitfield read his April 10 veto of the district-court staff raises the council had approved April 7, citing the lack of a formal citywide raise system, city salaries below livable wages, a claims list surpassing $3 million, and a plan to raise wages once city finances improve . He described the veto as "not a no, more so a not yet" . District Judge Jason Carter argued that the city no longer pays roughly $20,263 a year toward judicial salaries since an August 2025 law change, and now collects about $4,400 a year from Lake View and Elaine for holding court there, together nearly covering the $27,889 raise he requested . City Attorney Andre Valley advised that overriding the veto would require a two-thirds vote, or four council members .
No Override Vote; Veto Stands
Council members said city finances did not support the raise regardless of Judge Carter's argument; one member said the city was "in a hole we can't dig ourselves out" of . Mayor Whitfield said raises should wait for a formal, evaluation-based pay system rather than one-off increases . Councilwoman Maxine Miller, who had voted yes two weeks earlier, said she now regretted it and apologized to the judge and his staff, saying the earlier vote gave a false impression the city could afford it . No member moved to bring the raise to a new vote, so Mayor Whitfield concluded no motion would be made and the veto stands .
Updated Claims List
The mayor presented an updated claims list against the city totaling $3,291,279.94 , saying the figure has fallen from $4.5 million when he took office and about $4 million as of a December update . Dr. Kyle Miller asked that the claims report be provided monthly , and Councilman Don Etherly noted a roughly $1.3 million IRS liability from the December treasurer's report is not included on the list ; Clerk Ramsey added that the city also probably owes about $1 million to the IRS and another $70,000-$80,000 in unlisted state taxes . Dr. Miller asked about a $21,000 UAMS claim, which Clerk Sandi Ramsey clarified was three years of employee drug testing and physicals the city is obligated to pay , and Mayor Whitfield disclosed Entergy accounts totaling just over $700,000, some unpaid since at least 2022, with a plan for good-faith payments . Councilwoman Maxine Miller summed up that once the IRS and state taxes are counted, the true amount owed is "quite a bit more" than the $3,291,279.94 figure .
Code Enforcement Ordinance: $150/Hour Nuisance-Abatement Fine
The council revisited a code-enforcement ordinance setting a rate for city abatement of nuisance property conditions, after tabling it the prior meeting . Councilman Etherly said he thought $150 was too high, and City Attorney Valley initially agreed, suggesting $100 , before explaining the $150-per-hour rate was set with the mayor, chief of staff, and code enforcement officers specifically to discourage residents from letting the city cut their grass rather than doing it themselves . Mayor Whitfield cited neglected properties causing problems for neighbors, including two homes found stealing city water, as reasons for stronger enforcement . The council suspended the rules for a same-night third and final reading and adopted Ordinance No. 8-2026, amending Ordinance No. 1224-2024, setting a $150-per-hour municipal cleanup rate for nuisance abatement; both votes passed 5-0 .
Summary Abatement of Homes
Code Enforcement Officer Kendrick Smith introduced himself and described his fieldwork identifying properties for summary abatement . He and the mayor named four properties as initial examples: 620 Plaza, 302 Sebastian, 907 Pecan Street, and 516 Perry Street, chosen mainly along the city's main thoroughfares . City Attorney Valley explained that under a 2023 ordinance change, the council can declare a property a public nuisance by resolution rather than a new ordinance, set a hearing date, and give owners a chance to correct the problem before the city acts . Discussed target timeframes were finishing some abatements before Memorial Day, others by the Fourth of July, and others by Labor Day.
Police Department Vehicles
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders presented quotes for new patrol vehicles . Asked for the comparison, Clerk Sandi Ramsey said the last fleet purchase (10 vehicles bought in 2021, delivered in 2022) cost $455,000, while the new quote for vehicles alone totals $660,000, not including financing charges . Asked how many vehicles remain in service, the chief initially declined to give a number ; later, council members confirmed the working fleet is down to about four vehicles, kept running informally by an officer who previously worked as a city mechanic in Mariana. The quotes cover nine outfitted patrol vehicles plus one additional vehicle for a new K9 unit; Chief Sanders said privately raised funds cover K9 training and the dogs, and City Attorney Valley reminded him raised funds are still city funds requiring council appropriation and an accounting to the clerk . The council voted 5-0 only to authorize seeking (not securing) financing for the police vehicles as one package, with fire department equipment financed as a separate package, and set a special meeting for the following Tuesday to review the actual financing numbers .
Curbside Trash Rules and Sanitation Updates
The council reviewed a new curbside-trash policy defining what the Street & Sanitation Department can and cannot pick up ; items such as televisions, computers, and monitors cannot be left at the curb and must instead go to the landfill during announced special drop-off days. The policy is now posted on the city website's street sanitation/landfill page, and the council agreed to also publish it in the newspaper . The mayor separately reported several interviews this week for CDL drivers in the water and street/sanitation departments, said the city's out-of-service trash truck should be repaired by Thursday or Friday, and credited an out-of-town contractor (DWD of Clarksdale) with helping clear a backlog in commercial pickups . The city has also begun cutting sanitation service to households behind on water bills, pulling 15-20 unused trash cans and dumpsters in the two days before the meeting .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Meeting Agenda
The agenda for the April 21, 2026 Helena-West Helena City Council meeting lists six new business items: the mayor's veto of District Court salary raises, an updated citywide claims list, a code enforcement ordinance amendment, summary abatement of properties, police department vehicle quotes, and a curbside trash ordinance. Old business is approval of previous minutes.
Mayor's Veto Letter (District Court Salary Raises)
In an April 10, 2026 letter to the City Clerk, Mayor Joseph Whitfield vetoes the District Court salary raises the council approved on April 7. He gives four reasons: the city has issued raises and bonuses before without a formal system; several city departments have salaries below a livable wage, mostly funded by the general fund; the city is managing a claims list surpassing $3,000,000; and the city intends to implement livable wages once it is on firmer financial footing. He states the veto is not a reflection on employees' value and says he is open to revisiting the issue later. Page 3 of the packet is blank.
| Claims list total cited as reason for veto | surpassing $3,000,000 |
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 ↗
0:55
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Maxine Miller, Dr. Kyle Miller, Adrian Messina, Joe St. Columbia, Don Etherly. Absent: Monica Davis. (Attendance verified in the Workroom review by Robert.)
2:12
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. We do have a quorum including myself. Our first order business will jump right into the old business. We do have minutes for March 3rd through the 17th. Those are ready to be approved. Um, is there a motion?
2:30
Roll call Roll-call vote — Maxine Miller: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Don Etherly: yes. Clerk's count: 4 yes.
2:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yes, I hear. Present. Mr. Etherly, we're approving the minutes of March 3rd and Feb Yes. Dr. Miller and Ms. Davis, so that's Four yes. Thank you. All right, so jumping into our first official new order of business. Um, Number one, we have a veto examination from myself as mayor, veto from Judge Jason Carter. This is in addition to the district court salary raises that were proposed at the last meeting which was April 7th. And so, in your city council meeting packet, this is at the very This is on the back of the first page, so it's printed front and back today. I'll give everybody a moment. In your actual city packet, on the back of the first page find the actual veto memo that was sent. Yep, that's it. So, I want to And Judge, you are able to come come up while I do this part, but the clerk informed me that to make sure that we discussed why the veto happened and what was the rationale. This letter was sent to you all on April 10th. And just for the listeners at home, but also the listeners in the audience, the reason for the the reason for the veto was out of a sound um financial practice, not wanting to pass raises for um a city at this current time. I do and have been on record saying that I I firmly believe that city employees currently for the city of Helena-West Helena are underpaid. And I know that that's um split sentiment with that as it relates to how residents in the city feel versus maybe how some city employees feel, but I am of the mind having seen salaries and thinking about comparable cities our size, our city employees are underpaid and would love to be able to pay them salaries that provide them a better quality of life. Um and that can be done in my opinion on better financial footing. And so, the four reasons on the veto just so that everyone can know what those are at the same time. Whereas the city of Helena-West Helena has previously issued raises and bonuses without a formal system. Whereas the city of Helena-West Helena has multiple departments where salaries fall short of livable wages with most being funded by the general fund. Whereas the city of Helena-West Helena is currently claims list surpassing $3 million. And finally, whereas the city of Helena-West Helena will implement livable wages in accordance for quality of life for all employees upon firm financial footing. So, responsible This is the is the thought behind this. And my position behind this veto is not that the district court employees do not deserve a raise. This is not a no, more so a not yet. And nature of the veto and wanted to give the judge an opportunity to share his thoughts on that as well as this body if there are any extra question or discussion.
6:06
District Judge Jason Carter Let me again Again, I'm Jason Carter. I'm the district court judge. And I was here 2 weeks ago, I believe, when you all voted to approve the salary adjustments that I proposed for the district court personnel. Since that time nothing materially has changed other than the mayor has exercised his right to veto what you approved. Um Now, you as a council have the opportunity to exercise your right to override that veto. I would just like to remind the council I feel that the district court department is is slightly different maybe than the rest of the city given that um up until August of last year, the city was reimbursing the state uh 20,000 dollars per year that went to district court judges' salaries. That was reimbursed to the state. The city is no longer obligated to pay that. They do not have to pay anything towards that salary anymore. Since the last pay raises, Lake View and Elaine are now holding court in Helena-West Helena. That's added work for the clerks. They reimburse the city of Helena-West Helena about $2,200 each, so that's about $4,400. Uh plus the 20,000 that the city no longer has to pay for the judicial salaries. As a reminder, I'm asking for $27,889. We're not talking about much different amount of money, but the city's been keeping more money that it no longer has to pay for judicial salaries and it's getting money in for the courts from Lake View and Elaine. I understand the mayor's position. I respectfully would argue that district court is in a slightly different situation than maybe the rest of the city is. I would ask that you reaffirm your vote from last week and override the mayor's veto. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.
8:19
City Attorney Andre Valley° As it relates to legal posture, the city council has to overturn the vote by 2/3 vote will require four city council members. If the city council so chooses.
8:32
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thank you, attorney. Is there any discussion? Any conversation? I know we voted We're here at this juncture because we have discussed this in the past at the last meeting. And I recognize that five members of the body voted yes with one voting no. But now that you have a formal veto in front of you that was presented by me on April 10th. And you're also hearing from the judge Judge Carter. Are there any additional questions or thoughts
9:05
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2) before a new vote? All I can say is you have done a good job coming up here speaking to a bunch of people that has no money. We have zero. We are in a hole we can't dig ourselves out. And I mean I we would love to give you a raise.
9:23
District Judge Jason Carter Well, I'm I'm I'm not asking for me. I'm just asking for for the people that that work hard to make my job easier. And that's what these clerks do and my court officers do. Court officers are protecting all those who are in court and those around city hall during the day. Like I said, my clerks make my job so much easier. They are great. And I'll say I'm here because they deserve it. And I'm here because I I do understand the city's in the situation that it is, but like I said, the things that I've mentioned I think offset enough for what I'm asking here that I think it's it's reasonable to give them what what I'm asking for here.
10:01
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Well, what you said was right about you have enough to offset what we're asking. It's I mean it like I say, the city was paying up until August of last year, it was $20,263 a year that the city was paying towards uh we're paying back to the state that went to judicial salaries. Right. Um Lakeview and Eel River now contributing $2,200 a piece each year. That's another $4,400. So, that's $20,000 $24,000, almost $25,000. I'm asking for 27 uh 889. So, we're talking about three $3,000 difference what I'm asking for. Well, what do what do we do about this $3 million plus that we're in the hole? How do we rectify that? Uh That's right. We're all shaking our heads back. I understand. sitting here. How do we do it? Uh I wish I had an answer for you. I'm not taking up for the mayor. I'm just stating facts.
11:06
District Judge Jason Carter° I understand. Uh I understand. Um I'm just asking everybody to vote the same way they did 2 weeks ago.
11:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield May I I do want to just add this um because as I mentioned this um I think in the email that I sent to the judge and the district court um clerk, but it it's my it's my assessment that um and I understand this is not necessary this is a bonus because um it's been a while since the department has seen any salary increases. It this is I think a raise to try to compensate for a salary that provides a quality of living that's more in line with today's date 2026 and I understand that. But, what I want us to make sure that we are establishing as a city is um I want us to make sure that we are establishing a value in the valuation system where bonuses and raises are tied to evaluations. Um again, the first line of this official veto was that we need to have a formal raise system. Um I do believe that city employees are underpaid. I believe that. And I don't want us to get in the habit of um piecemealing um raises to try to compensate for a quality of life raises. Um we should be able to pay uh a 1% 2% um cost of living increase that a lot of um places of employment do every year. Um I've through talking with different department heads and city employees, that hasn't happened in years. And so, I do believe this year in 20 at the end of 2026 we'll be in a place to do that um as well as a much stronger financial footing towards the end of this year to um be a little bit closer to offering deserved raises for people that have um kept this city afloat. So, um I just wanted to add that um and say that so that everyone can hear that on record.
13:02
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) I'd like to say that uh this we received tonight uh this statement here about our what we owed. First time I've seen this in almost a year. But And I appreciate that. And that that that tells me a lot now that I've seen it. Uh According to what you provided for us, we owe $3,291,000 We'll say claims. $279.94. Those are claims. Sure. Those are claims against the city. Claims. Yeah. How much more do we owe? We'll say claims. We're not using language owed. Many Many of these are in litigation and ongoing. People trying to sue us. But I actually refer to them as claims, please. We need to get this city out of debt. And That's I think we're working on that. That's an absolute. And I thank you very much for this information. It makes a big difference. Thank you.
14:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Judge Carter,
14:18[clears throat]
14:18
District Judge Jason Carter° I just want to share something with you.
14:19
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) It's my honor. I voted yes. And I did so because I believe that when you have a department that is functional, efficient, doing their job, and holding themselves to a a high standard, it's always our wish to be able to um I don't want to say a reward, but compensate. I think what has happened though is that we are when we hear language or we get the impression that things are a little bit better than maybe they really are. And we're saying, you know, we're going to hire for this and we're going to do that. I think that it gives people the impression that maybe we're in a better shape than we are. And so, what has also happened is, you know, when we voted to give you all the raise that y'all deserve or they deserve, the problem is now there is another department that's in our packet or they're making the rounds too because now they want to hire. And the issue becomes we really earnestly and honestly are not in a position. My concern is that you know, if we don't override or if we do override and we do what they deserve, it's going to open the door. And so, I want to apologize to you and I want to apologize to your staff. Because whenever I voted yes, I guess I was like others. You know, you're thinking that maybe things are a little bit better than they really are. And so, you know, I'm Yeah.
16:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I appreciate your comments. Um I would just like to um reiterate though there's money that was previously being used toward the district court that's no longer being used for that purpose. I don't know what it's being used for. Um I know last year the full amount would have been in the budget uh the $20,6263 and when the law became effective in August of last year, the city no longer had to pay that. So, last year they only paid $13,508. So, I don't know where the rest of that money went in last year's budget. Um I don't you know, it it did not have to be budgeted for this year. But, it would be my position the money that was previously being used toward the district court, although it was for the district court salary that was required by law to re to you know, to turn back to the state, I think that should be um redirected to the deserving employees in the department. I don't know if other departments have something like that where they're no longer having money that they have to pay towards other things that could be used for salary increases. And judges, that was my rationale for why I made I voted. That combined with this $24,000 plus the amount that you you all receiving fines. And I and I calculated that to be that okay, this is sustainable and that there's additional revenue to cover the costs of the of the raises. And that was my that was my mindset. So, I didn't look at it outside of anything anything else, but is that department itself sustainable and do they and also they also had other income. Yeah, like I say that that $20,263 plus the $4,400 from Lakeview and Eel River, that in and of itself almost covers the entire amount that I'm asking for. Um the rest, you know, the fines, have if you looked at what we've collected so far this year, it's over half of what we collected all of last year and we're just through April. Uh and a lot of that has to do with um the chief district court clerk sending out letters um you know, making people aware that they owe these fines, getting people to come in and pay. But, I do appreciate all your comments. And I'm I'm very um sensitive to that. Um and just to kind of I mean the the these outstanding claims, the things that have been have been inherited by myself since I've sat in this office have been a stack of um a list of claims that say the city um has an outstanding payment. And in an ideal situation, I do believe it works that way um as the judge has described in where, you know, if you cut costs for a certain department, that's more operational capacity for that department. Um but we're having to look at that reality with a claim number surpassing $3 million um which is it's going down. Um number like that cannot go down fast enough, but um that that's where the priority is right now is making sure that anybody um that says we have something outstanding, we want to make sure that we're not um we're not um entering judgment on those or whatever that amount may be. I know you had your you said you wanted to say something to Mr. Don.
19:58
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) just because we said no tonight next year we might be a lot better shape and if you come back next year we might be able to say yeah we'll take it.
20:09
District Judge Jason Carter Mr. Messina I hope so. Like I said I would I would like for y'all to to reaffirm your vote tonight but I promise you I will be back every opportunity I can for this staff because they are I cannot say enough good things about them. A good a good court staff makes a judge's job a whole lot easier and they do a fantastic job. You ask any of the attorneys around here who have to deal with them on a daily basis and they will tell you the same thing. We've got really good district court clerks in Phillips County.
20:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Without it are there is there any extra discussion any more questions for the judge or or myself is there a motion to entertain or a motion to entertain vote for the district court raises?
21:15
Unidentified I don't want to speak for anybody at the table is it is can we be verbal if we want to move forward with a vote or are we willing to say that this is not the right time? I think Don would remember last year when there was about three or four employees or five came up to the when FoFo was the the mayor wanting raises and I said after I found out how much we owed I said there's not going to be one penny given to any one of y'all or anybody else until this debt is paid off. And that was last year. I mean we're sitting in a hot seat right now. You're in a hot seat. Ours is really boiling right here. It's hot.
22:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think and please correct me if I'm wrong members of the council I think it's safe to assume that at this time judge it doesn't seem like there will be a motion to pass the salaries at this time but I do thank you and I think you're doing the right thing and I do want to say to the members of district court that this is this is not a no this is just a not yet. We have to we have some responsibilities as a city that we have to take care of to make sure we're being responsible. So All right. Thank you council for your time. Thank thank you judge.
22:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you judge. At this time we will be moving on to our next order of business. This is an updated claims list for Helena West Helena and this is an opportunity for you to review two things principle in principle number one the total amount for what the claims amount to or what they total what they total at which is $3,291,279.94 and if you flip through the pages you will see different accounts as well as companies or items that these claims are listed under. So I wanted to open up the floor if there are any questions. I do want to add that the claims amount the the claim amount is going down and that's really important for this body to know that's important for folks at home to know when I stepped into this role we were at 4.5 million in terms of claims. We did have an update for you I want to say early January late December where it was right at 4 million and now we're looking at $3,291,279. So that number is going down obviously it just is not going down fast enough because it's it's a big number. Payments that we have payment plan or options for payment that include payment plans have been done responsibly and kept up to date and conversations around restructuring certain amounts have been had as recently as today. So what you're what you're saying is it was 4.5 million now it's down to 3.2 million. Correct yes.
24:45
Unidentified That's that's good. I'm glad to see that I hadn't seen this before. I will I will
24:52
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) been aware of it. Can we get this monthly? Can we get this regularly like monthly?
25:00
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We can absolutely I think that both this is
25:03
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) There is one of great significance that's not listed here. Okay. And that's the IRS.
25:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And the last treasurer's report the year end report in December had that at 1.3 million. And so in that the IRS is included in the last report that I submitted in October. And so you got to take that into consideration. Yeah. Thank you.
25:34
Unidentified I know they're making they're making monthly payments we're making monthly payments on that. Correct. I thought we were I thought we I know we had paid like 20,000 and then I thought we were supposed to be making There was no payment plan Okay I thought we were making Okay I thought we were making The payment plan was on the library. Got you. The library is $67,000 a month so it should naturally descend just by us maintaining the payment plan. Yeah. But but the IRS doesn't have a payment plan. I understand. So roughly our debt is still 4 million 600 or so thousand. I mean our claims.
26:16[laughter]
26:17
Unidentified I'm sorry Attorney Bell.
26:18
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° I have I have a I have a couple of questions about
26:20
Unidentified Yes sir. Yes sir. Okay so on the on the on the claim
26:27
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) this one for UAMS for 21,000 pre-employment screening is that drug testing or what is that?
26:36
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey The ones that UAMS was drug testing and physicals for those three years. Okay. It's in there. They don't bill us anymore they got tired of billing us but it is in there we are obligated to pay it. Okay. Okay.
26:55
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Where do we stand with the the electric company? Tell us where where we're on it so we'll have some electricity for the city.
27:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So I've had a conversation that's also in here and that's the second to the last page. There are several accounts by with Entergy that the city has that if I'm being candid we we haven't touched as a city since I was wearing a backpack sitting in the desk and I'm I'm 33 now. So um I did speak to the clerk today about making about making sure that we want to do good faith payments to them. There are several if you flip through this document there are several claim amounts that have not been received payment. We have a couple of payment plans. The city's operating expenses obviously are taken into account so the the goal is to make sure that for those bigger for those bigger claims we want to make sure we can pay those down. I did speak with Entergy and I had a good conversation they just want to see good faith payments and I will say that. So
28:02
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2) So where where do we stand right now with the city?
28:06
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° For Entergy in total we're in total We're right above 700,000 in total for Entergy right right above 700,000. Okay.
28:17
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° And then I have And then like on something like these small on some of these smaller ones and I know it might be a it might be a case by case basis but on some of these smaller claims are these in question or in litigation cuz I don't why can't we just pay it like 13 54 to AutoZone is that is that in is that in question? Is that a is that is that in litigation or why can't we just knock that out? I don't see any of the claims that are in litigation on the list. Okay okay yeah some of these smaller ones why can't we just knock these out? AutoZone I mean these these are local people.
29:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And though there have been some that were on the last report that I did in January that have been paid but you'll you'll see I mean you don't get three you don't get multi-million dollar claim list without there being a lot of numbers up there. So that has been part We have Lafayette as our biggest monthly payment in terms of any claim looking at 60,000 a month but there have been other small claims that have been paid off especially to folks that are smaller local vendors that we know have provided services to us. Okay. I like that what we owe Entergy. Okay.
29:33
City Attorney Andre Valley° Gentlemen gentlemen to answer your question is is you all are discussing back and forth and you're overtaking the city council's discussion but there's a page about Entergy that that the mayor pointed out to you it's the second to last page. It shows you each account and what the claim is. It shows a breakdown. It shows uh she shows you whether it's parks and you have North Helena then it shows what the account number is, the monthly amount, and the amount that's that's claimed. And she does that she puts the account number on each one of them. And you ask the question is what what is it total that's what entities you just go through and do a summation of these numbers you would have it.
30:17
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° All right, right here what I'm looking at it says it reads we try to pay some on as we go. Others have not been paid on since at least 2022. This right here some of these people haven't been paid since 2022. That's correct. That would have That's what Madam Clerk has put in the report. I'm not mad at you. I'm just trying to see what we've got. That's correct.
30:44
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° No one said you need to What I said What we just had with Madam Clerk says in the report.
30:51
Unidentified Maybe the judge should have seen this.
30:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Well, for for folks at home if you don't know how to navigate to um if you want to navigate to this particular document it is accessible from the city of Helena-West Helena website. We have a document that list every everything that you see at the on the table in front of you virtually for folks at home. So um So anybody can go on online and look at that. And we update all of our attachments with every meeting. So anything that's coming to this table has already been put into that file. But in short I do agree with you Mr. Messina there are there are responsibilities that we have that we need to make sure we prioritize before we we get into a scenario where we're giving out raises.
31:41
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Yeah, our problem is we just owe a lot. We owe a lot and haven't been paid in years. And I'm embarrassed.
31:50
Unidentified Hey, come on to the Does these body cameras won't won't the cops grant Can't Can't cops have They Cops grants are people not for equipment. Correct.
32:07
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Any other questions or comments as we're looking at this sheet anything at all? And I do want to just add I mean at any time any time for this body if you are wanting to know kind of what negotiations are looking like with certain groups that you see on here feel free to stop into the office on the Monday through Friday. This is essentially the work that's getting done every day. So
32:31
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Well, we we we know when you walked in it's the mayor. You walked into a a bad situation. A bad situation. It's all of your problem. I'm in it It's your problem now but it wasn't your problem [laughter] when you walked in. Or did it became your problem when you walked in.
32:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I appreciate Mr. Messina and we're going to take care of it. I definitely thank you.
32:58
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Okay, so the IRS is not on this list. And our Arkansas state taxes that's not on this list as well.
33:07
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No.
33:08
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Okay, so it's probably a little bit more than we thought. Right. But you probably owe a million to the IRS and 70 or 80,000 to the state taxes.
33:22
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Okay. We owe a million to the IRS?
33:25
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Probably. Okay.
33:28
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° And it grows every month. I still I still don't understand the IRS. I don't I still
33:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° It's not on there. I I used 1.3. That was what was in the last treasurer's report in December. At the close of 2025 it was 1.3. And so that's where I got that number from from his report. And we have Put it in there.
33:46
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° We have to pay those taxes and we have taxes we haven't paid. No, I I understand paying taxes to IRS but that's all up anyway. I'm not going to I don't want to say that on the mic.
33:59
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) So the reality is we're really not at 3,291 in claims. It's more than that. Quite a bit more than that.
34:16
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Are there any other questions comments? At this point we're going to move on to number three on our new business list which is code enforcement ordinance. This is a chance to revisit the ordinance where we did not move forward with this last at the last meeting. It is a chance to try to reestablish an understanding around the need for good code enforcement measures in the city. I did want to put this back on here because later in the meeting we will have a a representative from from the code enforcement team come up and detail to us just what they've been busy doing. From driving around the city I try to get out into the field as much as I can. There are several areas in all corners of the city that need attention and this is I think a good measure to say we want to make sure that we are holding folks accountable for keeping helping us keep the city clean as as this code has already suggested. So I wanted to open up the floor for discussion to see if there were any new thoughts any new ideas.
35:32
Unidentified Any new discussion. I'm glad we did this.
35:36
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° I got a lot from people. They were like well why didn't y'all pass that? And I was like well we first had to determine what exactly was allowable to be picked up first. And this is helpful cuz like for instance tele- televisions computers and monitors I would I didn't was unallowable picked up by them. They do and they do take those items but they have a special um pickup center for for those if you take those to the landfill on certain days and they announce that through their through their media channel. So so for so for items like that people can or cannot leave that on the street for pickup? Cannot. What are you talking about? So then how do they dispose of it?
36:24
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Depending on the size you are able to Depending on the size you're able to take them to the landfill directly. They have a mobile unit that does accept small electronics and they announce when that's open and when they're taking those on their media channel. Later on as well there is another one it's towards the end of the packet that does list out the fee amounts for anyone that dumps. So literally getting with a contractor or getting with somebody that can help you haul a specific item to the landfill that's an option but this um when we met with Mr. Wilson after last week's meeting or after the last meeting we went over this list talked about it and these are these are just standard items around the state that you they we can't accept if they're piled outside if they are left on the curb.
37:21
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° So is this going to be posted on our city website so the people can see this?
37:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yep.
37:42
Unidentified That's in the above looking I got you. Got you. Exactly. Yes. Not to put in your garden outside.
37:52
Unidentified Yeah. Well, I see a lot of this out there and I just wonder See now why Yeah.
37:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And so part of this will need to be just public education through making sure residents know that. So making sure that this information is accessible in places like our website our Facebook page. Make sure we talk about it in official meetings as we're doing now. And so and and that's that's what we'll have to do to make sure that folks are aware of this.
38:25
Unidentified Mayor we're still short CDL drivers for our trucks.
38:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We'll get We'll get to that point. I'll open up the floor for that at the end but I definitely have some updates for you on that if if we have time at the end. So right now
38:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield wanted to wanted to open up the floor for this is page 12 in your city council packet by the way. Um wanting to see if we are open to re-examining a motion to pass a code enforcement measure that will allow us to have a fine set at $150 um for summary abatement and nuisance property conditions. We want to make sure that we can't just talk about the city being clean and and it didn't miraculously happen. We can't just talk about it and it it happened out of nowhere. There there has to be some momentum and our code enforcement department right now has a lot of positive momentum. They're in the field daily. They're having conversations with residents explaining to them what can and cannot be done. And so we are working with residents to let them know that we want to help and there are time there is a time there's a time amount that we can give you to make sure that your situation is remedied and fixed. Um however, that's we also I think we all around the table understand that not everyone is going to want to be cooperative. And so, um this code is not This is code is not new. This is This is just a a new amount to make sure that there's a little teeth and um my expectation for uh accountability.
40:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield And I do ask if there if there's no discussion for a motion, I do ask that this body share its reservations for uh why we don't want to engage in this motion.
40:24
Unidentified I'm in.
40:25
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Y'all have a If there Y'all have a problem putting together a motion? I mean, are y'all still looking? I know I know
40:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We talked about it in the last meeting. I know that Mr. St. Columbia was a little bit against it, but are y'all in? I'm not against it. I don't have any Do you have any reservations, Don? I think $150 is too high. Andre, you think $150 is too high? Yeah. For a fine? I'm saying $100 would be a good fine. I don't I don't know. They can pay $150 for a fine, they can pay they can get their own yard cut. That's the point. I think that was the point. I think that was the point. That's the point. To discourage people from just saying, "I'll get the city to cut my grass."
41:07
City Attorney Andre Valley° The The issue with the $150 for the city to cut the grass was a deterrent for people when they say, "They're going to charge me $150 per hour, then I can pay somebody else to get it done." And the city that would uh be less uh taxing on the city's personnel to have to cut all these yards over the summer. And the city have to abate the issue themselves. So, when discussion with the mayor, chief of staff, the both of the code enforcement officers, that's the the number that they arrived at and that's the number we put in the ordinance to encourage people to want to cut their own grass, do things because if the city has stepped in, it's going to cost $150 an hour. at the minimum. What ordinance number would this be? $150 an hour or $150 to get the grass cut for that piece of property?
41:55
Unidentified An hour.
41:58
Unidentified What ordinance number would this be? So, it would vary. Some yards would eight. Some yards are smaller, so it wouldn't take a full hours. Some are very large and they would take hours.
42:11
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And I'll I'll explain just I mean I think if we drive around the city of Helena West Helena, um and I'll um allow the code enforcement officer to explain and expound on this a little in a little bit. Um you you're going to have folks in the community that want to work with the city because they understand this is an issue. I want to take care of it. Uh thank you for contacting me. Thank you for letting me know how much time we have and what my options are. And that's a conversation that we always start with, no matter what the issue is, um who the person is, what side of town they're on. That's always the conversation. I do believe there is all there's an alternative reality to that as well where um the city in some in some ways has been held hostage by action and lack of enforcement of code. You don't get Helena West Helena does not get into the condition that it's in literally um from top to bottom without some negligence. And negligence sometimes has to be changed with with some some enforcement. And that's what code is. It's a muscle to say, "We care about our community and we need you to look out for your residents, your neighbors. Um it's not okay to have a yard that creates problematic situations for your neighbor, whether that's um wild animals, snakes, um odor, water spillage. I went to a house today where we had um went to two houses today where we had residents that were um stealing water from the city. And and we have we're having to handle that. And that's causing issues for the people that are next to them. And so, there has to be an enforcement. And the enforcement is already We're not creating the enforcement. We're just saying that this this needs to be done and I want to make sure this administration shows that we're going to enforce this because we care about this place we all call home. Um so, I I do want to just explain that so that we don't want to We don't want to I don't want to collect $150 from any resident. I don't want to. I want you to cut your own grass. I want you to find somebody to do it yourself. But in certain cases where we're being held hostage, that's why you have code.
44:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. Uh the motion would be to suspend the rules, place it on third and final reading, reading the title only. I'll make that motion. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll?
44:33
Roll call Roll-call vote — Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Adrian Messina: yes. Clerk's count: 5 yes.
44:44
City Attorney Andre Valley That's five yes. Okay, the ordinance number 8 2026 an ordinance amend ordinance number 1224 2024 of the city of Helena West Helena, Arkansas to establish a cleanup rate of $150 per hour and municipal abatement of a nuisance condition declaring a state statutory authority and for other related purposes. Needs to have a motion to adopt.
45:05
Unidentified So moved. Second.
45:08
Roll call Roll-call vote — Joe St. Columbia: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes. Clerk's count: 5 yes.
45:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you all. All right. Uh moving uh moving right along, we are jumping down to number four, uh summary abatement of problems reviewed by code enforcement. Um at this time, um this is the information that you'll find in your um manila folders. I'm going to ask our representative for code enforcement to come up. Um he's going to give you all just a brief introduction um to himself and also the work that he's been doing. A little bit about the information you'll see in your uh folder.
46:13
Code Enforcement Officer Kendrick Smith How you all doing? I'm Kendrick Smith with um code enforcement. And I'll be answering you all questions.
46:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, and I'll preface what you have in your folder is um these are four local addresses and properties that um having worked with code, we've wanted to highlight a couple examples where we believe a summary abatement is necessary, it's possible, and we're wanting to move forward with um creating plans to make sure these situations get addressed. And so, uh these properties um listed are 620 Plaza, 302 Sebastian, 907 Pecan Street, and 516 Perry Street. Um as it relates to our conversation around code enforcement, um Mr. Smith has been in the field as well as Ms. Witt. And I don't know um observant anyone at the table has been, but you should have seen an increase in orange stickers around the city. You should have seen maybe some movement with tow trucks that um are happening in Helena West Helena and in between. Um there is a presence that's um being established right now with code enforcement. And we understand that you you can only eat the elephant one bite at a time and code here in the city is a big It's It's a big issue to tackle and you're not going to tackle it in one These properties are examples of what a lot of residents complain about and dare I say even what some people around the table have brought in to talk about as issues. Um the In the process to condemn these properties is what we're making sure we build a case to um we we build we build a case to to justify and to move forward because we want to show again we do care about our city and we don't want um these idle properties just growing out of hand. So, um I do wanted to I did want to give you all a chance to look at these and ask questions of Mr. Smith of his time in the field, of what he's seen, and what he's been doing, um anything that you might think is pertinent right now. This is hunting with Super Cat. How's it been going for you so far? And have you been getting cooperation from the public?
48:40[snorts]
48:40
Code Enforcement Officer Kendrick Smith Um it's been going expected, if I can say. Um You got some that's cooperating and you know, some of our good citizens that are stuck in their ways, but um time changes and we should also. You can't stay in the same predicament forever. I'm not pinpointing a finger at anyone. I just think that we all can have a good place to live in, a nice place, clean place to live in, and that's my goal. So, Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That's pretty much it.
49:17
City Attorney Andre Valley At the next council meeting, what we need to do is establish these uh public nuisances so that we can start moving forward trying to get this done. At the same time, we did have to declare hearing. In 2023, we changed our ordinances uh to adopt the municipal league ordinance. We've had one in in place for for a while. In 2023, we don't have to have a ordinance anymore. We can do it by resolution. City Council can declare public nuisance, set a hearing date, tell the people that that we're going to move forward to try to get this this abated. Give them an opportunity to correct it. Uh There also the mayor keeps addressing summary abatement, there also some summary abatement same summary abatement things that that the city can do. Uh The issue is you still have to If you don't have the equipment, you have to bid it. And so, those are the issues that we have to look at as well. Uh but I think that we need to actively pursue uh these issues. Uh the mayor and uh the chief of staff and both of the code enforcement have met about time frames, trying to get some things done before Memorial Day, some things done by uh 4th of July, some things done by by Labor Day. So, that we can keep moving forward and we're going to need the City Council's uh cooperation and coordination uh to get a lot of this done. And so, that's that was the plan and I yield to either one of the mayor or uh Mr. Smith, the code enforcement, to further explain anything they want to Uh that's that's what I said. Thank you.
50:50
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um that I wanted to give you a a visual representation. Thank you uh thanks to Mr. Smith's hard work to see what what he's looking at, what he's working on, and what will be brought before you.
51:03
Unidentified I'm there. If there are no How's it going with your two staff members? Or do you I mean, are y'all able to get it done with two staff members? Or I know that was a conversation I was considering another
51:17
Code Enforcement Officer Kendrick Smith° With a good timely manner and understanding that things can't be done I understand we're playing catch up and that's the biggest thing of it all that we can understand that and move forward with the time that we do have. Um and the staff we do have um Some days going to be challenging, some are going to be you know, cake and ice cream, you know. Um Well, I feel like we're getting it done. We're getting it done. We have an understanding and you must have an understanding. Without that, you won't have anything. So, um like I said, we're getting it done in a timely manner and having two staff members is it could be challenging, but we're tackling it, you know. We're not afraid to We're not afraid of challenges and that's what I can say about me and my staff. So, um communicating is the biggest key. My favorite word, so we're getting it done.
52:12
Unidentified what's the need permission from us to do
52:14
Unidentified No, not not yet. Not yet. We We'd have to declare as the attorney said it's ready to go.
52:18
Unidentified Is it too late to add another property line? No, we're going to have several. The mayor and the chief of staff and the code enforcement have several properties that they want you all to look at. The way it works we're going to declare public nuisance 2 weeks. Uh give them opportunity to correct it and set a hearing date for the following month cuz we'll be going forward the same time. We'll ask you all to if they don't comply the appropriate funds and and or contract to get these torn down. Okay. All of these are on uh primarily on on the main thoroughfares.
52:51
Unidentified I got you. And uh that's part of the emphasis that that the mayor requested this That makes try to go through the the main thoroughfares
53:00
Unidentified Yeah, exactly. That makes sense.
53:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Still work on the other ones, but but That makes sense. Uh as it relates to code enforcement, there has to be some strategy that to do the We can't do them all at one time. Yeah. And so, let's let's move forward and we're trying to move do do diligently uh through it all. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you. All right, we're moving right along. We only have a couple more items before um we get to the end of the meeting. Uh next up we have Chief Sanders. This issue or item is in relation to police department vehicles. And as he walks up, I do want to just make the announcement that it is his birthday. So, feel feel free to tell him happy birthday. Happy birthday. Y'all can give me a birthday gift on my Xbox.
53:49[laughter]
53:50
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders My Stevie Wonder boy. Happy birthday to you. I gave y'all a handout. I don't know if you have it or not.
53:58
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Yes, sir. Uh I heard Mr. Messina say something about a hot seat. We're approaching that hot seat with a our fleet right now. We have four officers graduate the academy last Friday. Congratulations.
54:15
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° The job that uh y'all asked me to do, I'm doing. Yeah, congrats.
54:19
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° So, I'm asking you all to give us the equipment to do even better job. Okay. Uh the number on that paper is big. It's costly. But I'm ask you all what's the cost of being unprepared?
54:34
Unidentified Yeah. We got to give them the necessary equipment and things to do the job that we ask them to do.
54:44
Unidentified May I ask you? As a practical matter, Madam Clerk, Yes, sir. the city was paying for vehicles. We completed paying for that fleet. Yes, sir. Uh what are the two num What's the comparison between the two numbers for the sake of the council? What were we paying and what would what would this contract amount be?
55:05
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey The con The last contract amount uh for the vehicles we received was $455,000. Uh just the total for these vehicles is 660 and that's not including any finance charges but cuz we have not put it out for financial uh to see who's going to finance it and what they're going to charge us and we have to motion from y'all to do that tonight. If you If you decide to buy them.
55:38
Unidentified How many were in the were in the last fleet? How many vehicles were in the last fleet?
55:42
Unidentified 10. You bought 10 uh back 2021. We got them in 2022. I believe that's right, Chief.
55:49
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yes.
55:52
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey How many are you down to now?
55:57
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Aren't you rather not say? I I'd rather not say, but uh I put the number in red on the paper and let's just do minus one. Okay. And Chief, this is according to the state contract, is that correct?
56:11
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yes. I did go on the state contract. Those would be the best prices. For the outfitting of them, you can see that the quote is different. Uh I did find that $25,000 cheaper Yeah. than the original one under uh where we would get the vehicles from. I think this the department where I don't think I need We stopped thinking, we're doing now. Our department can do much more than what we're doing now. We're just limited with uh our wheels. Uh we're going to unlock much more. We just need the things to do it with. Hey, Chief, what's the section the second section from diesel? Say that again. The The Okay, like in the second section, so you got the quote, then you got the second section, then you got the uh the fleet the fleet
57:09
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° So, we have to separate it. Okay. Uh one is completely So, I had to do four different quotes. Okay. The first quote you guys will see will be for nine of the vehicles. Yes, sir. I see that.
57:27
Unidentified one would be for one vehicle and that would be for a a K9 unit. Got you. This is a diesel. That's a K9.
57:36
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° No, it's not a it's not a diesel.
57:37
Unidentified What's the I mean, what's on the title of the invoice it says diesel. What What is that? What is that? Quote 227333. I'm just trying to figure out what that is. It looks like maybe something
57:53
Unidentified Where do you see diesel at? Just at the very top of it. It's a like a emblem EEP. Um Oh, no, that's just that's just the company. That's just just the company. It's not diesel yet. Diesel Power Solutions. Okay. But what is Okay, but what is that part? What is that? Is that like for extra for police to make it police? Yes, yes, that's the outfitting of it. That's what it is. That's the outfitting.
58:14
Unidentified Outfitting. Okay. Outfitting. Okay. Yeah, I cuz I didn't know what that was. Yeah, we have to do the financing of the outfitting I got you. different separate.
58:22
Unidentified To make it a police car.
58:23
Unidentified Yes. I got you. Chief, does outfitting outfitting include the computers and things for the cars?
58:28
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Yes.
58:28
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yeah. Well, everything but the computers. We got the computers on a grant last year that I did. So, it would come with the the docking stations, the printer it would come with the whole setup, but we have the computers already. Okay. The City Council we're discussing most cities have moved to electronic tickets where the officers have computer laptops in their cars and that's what we're discussing when asked about that. They need that. Yes. I mentioned K9. I believe it was months ago when I sent you all the email. I believe Ms. Ramsey replied to it about us wanting to start our K9 division. We have raised funds for it, enough to actually do the training and for the dogs. Okay. Itself. Uh and that's why I did the K9 Okay. unit in this. Uh it'll help us tremendously in our what I like to call our war on drugs. Yes, sir. in our community. The money that you're raising, Chief, is is is city funds. Just just to remind you. correct. None of it could be spent Correct.
59:33
City Attorney Andre Valley° without appropriation of council and make sure that you make keep an account and give the clerk a copy. I know that you are but I'm saying that public record.
59:43
City Attorney Andre Valley Because anytime we raise anytime funds are raised in the name of the city they are city funds and have to be appropriated before they're spent. Yeah. Yes, sir. And just one question for clarity. Um is there the number that's uh you have for units how how many units I guess have uh vehicles that are none that weren't part of the original fleet have you outfitted for current service now? Ask that question one more time.
1:00:13
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Like so vehicles that weren't part of the original fleet that may be being used right now. Uh Two. Two? Two. Okay. I want to give I know I want to give him a a hand to Daniel Lawson one of our officers. Uh he came from Mariana. He was their city mechanic. He's the reason that our fleet right now is we still have a little bit of it. We don't pay him as a mechanic but he offered his services and he's keeping them along the best he can.
1:00:52
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2) So Chief we have what four vehicles that's actually running.
1:00:59
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° That's what you're saying. We have four. We we we got we we got we got a few few this operational right now. It's not where we need to be.
1:01:13
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Mr. Messina Uh just in the interest of public safety will you please ask him that question outside of the council meeting so you can have a direct conversation. All right. If you look at that number in red do minus one. Okay. Are there any additional thoughts or comments? And I will say um the Chief and I have had a conversation. Um there there's been no complete resolution for it yet but um the alternative of potentially looking at addition of um different units maybe if we have motorcycles. Um just thinking about ways to make sure that the number is um as cost friendly towards our budget right now. So that is a conversation that was had um recently as well.
1:02:16
Unidentified And so the number of officers that you have currently now 15 right now.
1:02:22
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° 15 15 uh currently vetting four more that I'll give with the mayor on so that number is steadily increasing.
1:02:41
Unidentified If I may this this is uh uh going to be the collision between two things public safety and and and this list of debt over here. I think it's going to require creative solution that we aren't going to be able to put together here tonight but we probably need to to go about it as quickly as possible. Mhm. Um I have thoughts that I would preferably not share at the table but of ways that we might be able to do it. And perhaps Chief can find cuz I we don't have any I don't know what the financing numbers are on this and we would need that as Right. We would we would need the financing numbers as well to to know what the the payments would be like. But I think we need that in term this in terms of financing as well as any alternatives in terms of financing and so we'll know what it's going to actually cost us when time comes to make the payment. Um but I don't know how long it's going to take to explore alternatives to this. I mean maybe it's fewer cars maybe it's I don't know some solution that we haven't considered yet. Um but but probably we need to think about having a special meeting or two to get this addressed as quickly as possible. Okay. And and get the numbers so that we can crunch those numbers. Right. Now the vehicles themselves do not require bidding cuz it's cuz um the company the state does a bid on behalf of every city and we used to deal with the state that's been given the authorized contract to. Yeah. The equipment you may have to raise wave competitive bidding on all this equipment. And that's part of issue but typically the two are financed. We try to get them financed together. Separately? Separately I'm sorry. Financed at the same time is what I meant to say when I say together. Simultaneously would be the better word not collectively together. Uh so that you will know the numbers and get it all done. Uh but we have you need a financing package for me to review and etc. So you would know the raw numbers. Cuz the main question is okay you were paying X amount. You probably still can pay X amount. And the question is what is the difference between two and how do we remedy that? Chief do you think it'd be too much trouble for you on the on the outfit and if you can just uh uh call or email a couple other companies and get a couple of bids. They don't have to be they don't have to be bidded out but just
1:05:11
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° So I did three already. Okay. And that was the cheapest.
1:05:16
Unidentified And that was the cheapest.
1:05:16
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° That was $25 cheaper than the second highest. Okay. Okay.
1:05:21
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Valley Yes. The payment so the last 10 cars I think you asked about that. It was 10,000 a month for the 10 cars. I was way that but just
1:05:31
Unidentified Yeah. Thank you. I wanted you to be the person to tell the city council. Since you're the finance people.
1:05:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° If there's there are no other comments or discussion I I'll get with the Chief to um uh finalize what he thinks is best and and I do agree that we will have to meet again to make sure that this fits in with that list of claims as smoothly as possible. So
1:06:00
Unidentified You don't have to you don't have to get them outfitted It's going to be you probably a 60 to 90 day turnaround so we're still going to be looking at a time. And when we talk about the raw numbers with the financing do we need their approval even seek financing possibly or do we just You can get a you can get a proposal. Okay. Right. You get a proposal.
1:06:19
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey we need a motion from the council to allow us to seek financing for the for the police cars as one package and the fire goes into the second package. I'd like to make that motion then. I'll I'll second it. Mr. Clerk will you call the roll? Mr. Messina Yes. What is this about? We have to have a motion from the council to seek financing for the police cars. Got you. Mr. Etherly Yes. Ms. Miller Yes.
1:06:52
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Ms. St. Columbia
1:06:53
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Yes. Dr. Miller Yes, ma'am. Five yes. Motion passes. So we have Are y'all going to set a date for the special call meeting? How much time would it take for him to get I'm free whenever you are. I mean I guess it'd be a matter of me when me and Ms. Ramsey could get the numbers together. Yeah. Would a week be sufficient? Next [music] Tuesday. That's fine.
1:07:26
Unidentified Next Tuesday. Probably yeah. Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. I can do next Next next Tuesday.
1:07:32
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I can do next Tuesday. Yes, I can do next Tuesday. Okay. I'll send out correspondence for that. Thank you all. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief. Um Thank you. All right. Uh our last order of business um is and we actually this this was the loose sheet of paper that was already read earlier but curbside trash uh for residents uh for Helena West Helena. This is what we this was the loose sheet that we already discussed. Um this is on the city of Helena West Helena um website now. I just got confirmation from it uh the Chief of Staff that this is posted. So I do encourage if you are resident at home to look on the city of Helena West Helena website um on the street sanitation {slash} landfill page and you'll be able to find these items. So this needs to be published so that people will know what's going on. Absolutely. And we'll also we'll share it through every medium that we can. Absolutely.
1:08:32
Unidentified to put it in the paper. Um I do believe it's it's potential. I think it's worth to put it in the paper. That's what I was going to say. I think it's worth it to put it in the paper.
1:08:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It needs to be. Um I do just want to briefly just add unless there's any last comment or question um Mr. Messina asked where we were where where we would CDL drivers. We've had um several interviews this week for both the water department and the street and sanitation department to look at um new personnel. So we did look at no fewer than I want to say three new drivers uh especially for street and land street and sanitation I should say. And so just wanted to make sure that you all were aware of that. Is that why we we haven't picked up all this trash and stuff? So for trash we have the update for trash is that the actual truck should be ready by Thursday or Friday of this week. Uh we spoke to him today. He said
1:09:26
Unidentified or the rental? The the overhead um truck. The one we had.
1:09:29
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° we fix. The one that we've been having the one that's been being worked on. Okay. Um he says it's possible that we can hear back before Thursday. I did ask is it is that an option? That right now is our saving grace having and by that I should say having DWD from out of Clarksdale, the contracting group that we've been working with. They've come into the city. They've helped us catch up on some of our commercial routes. That process has not been flawless. It has not, but having them has made the difference and I do want to say today um they were able to come earlier than they usually have because they also do dump for Tunica as well and so we were able to get a lot of assistance done today. I do ask for residents at home. I thank you first of all for your patience, but also just want to say that um we will continue to make sure we have a dynamic solution for the trash and uh trash pickup. So,
1:10:27
Unidentified and that does include ours.
1:10:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No, so for the commercial pickup we we made we passed the contract at the last meeting with contractor out of Clarksdale. And so they've been coming over occasionally. That truck has been in circulation as well. That that yeah, that truck's been been used, but our commercial pickup is where there was a lot of the hold up or most of the hold up. So, that work was given to the contractor out of Clarksdale and they and they've helped us. Um it hasn't been flawless. It has not, but they've helped us make sure that we don't have trash spilling over to the streets. And when do we expect the truck our truck to be repaired? Um he said the latest Friday at the latest. Potentially before, but latest Friday.
1:11:10
Unidentified I I have a question from a citizen earlier in the week or last week. And so I'll ask this. I tried to wing out an answer and I don't I don't know if it's correct or not, but it was just my belief at the time. Um I had a gentleman call me and ask me about curbside trash. And they had some limbs in the neighborhood that hadn't been picked up. His his statement was hadn't been by a month. I told him I said I thought the boom truck was helping to clear out the dumpsters at the time. You can correct me if I'm wrong on that. But I told him I thought that the boom truck was in use right now to help clear out the dumpsters. Um but big question for me is how many are we running right now? We running two boom trucks or just one?
1:11:56
Unidentified One. Okay. And and that truck is picking up the garbage out of dumpsters right now. Not anymore. It was.
1:12:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Before last week that truck was picking up trash out of the commercial pickups. That was a messy process. I saw it firsthand coming from West Helena back to the office. It's not the best solution to have boom truck picking up trash out of a commercial dumpster because it's dropping things and it can also be damaged and that's when we came to you all with the solution to get the contractor. So, at one point it was which is why it wasn't in circulation as much as as it could have been, but we did the chief staff and I did communicate with the interim director to make sure we have several areas that we saw in Kentucky in North Carolina along different neighborhoods um that had things that were outside on the curbside that needed to be picked up. So.
1:12:48
Unidentified Is there is there I know we had talked at one time about getting you know new cans and stuff? Is there
1:12:55
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We so we've done yes, we've actually recycled there've been several homes that have not been paying water bills. There hasn't been a clear process for if you're no longer paying the water bill, you're also not getting um sanitation services. So, we've pulled I want to say at least 15 to 20 of those trash cans just today and yesterday alone. Same with some of the dumpsters that we have around the city that just kind of been sitting there. There's no service connected. So, we've actually been able to find that we've been able to recycle a lot of items that have been here in front of us. Tightened up that procedure to make sure if you're if somebody's not paying water bill, they're not getting sanitation services. So, that bin shouldn't be there. And so that's been something that we discovered that's kind of helped alleviate some of some of the need and demand. Okay.
1:13:48
Unidentified I move we adjourn. So moved.
1:13:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Meeting adjourned.
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.