In 30 seconds
- Council voted 5-1 (Etherly opposed) to waive competitive bidding and spend roughly $14,000 in street-fund money on emergency asphalt repairs for Tulip Circle, Springdale Road, and Old Little Rock Road; a formal bid-waiver ordinance is due at the next meeting.
- The street fund held $303,000 per the agenda; the meeting approved the three emergency repairs against that fund while council debated how much of it was truly spendable.
- Council adopted Ordinance 9-2026, 6-0 (two unanimous votes), authorizing Mayor Whitfield to sign documents letting the Army Corps of Engineers relocate a city sewer line for the floodwall project at no cost to the city.
- Council adopted Resolution No. 11, 6-0, requiring street & sanitation to report to council regularly, after members cited a commercial dumpster unpicked since March and two trucks currently out of service.
- No ordinance change was adopted on code-enforcement affidavits (the city attorney said officers can already file them) or on a proposed base-pay increase for a street & sanitation director candidate requesting $70,000/year; the mayor argued the city had already paid a contractor about $200,000 over roughly three months of actual work.
- Council tabled a vote to accept a donated property at 620 Plaza pending a member's site visit; four condemnation properties (302 Sebastian St., 907 Pecan St., 516 Perry St., 620 Plaza) were read into the record with no vote required that night.
Recap
Code Enforcement: Affidavit Ordinance Not Needed; June 16 Hearing Set
The agenda proposed letting code enforcement officers issue affidavits. City Attorney Andre Valley told council any citizen can already file an affidavit, so the change is unnecessary; only sworn police officers can issue citations, a separate legal step . Valley warned that amending the ordinance could be used against the city in court if a defense attorney argued the prior process was invalid , and said affidavits already approved by his office are awaiting a judge's signature before warrants can issue . Separately, Valley said code enforcement mailed 100 to 200 notice letters to property owners on the city's north side (First to Tenth streets), giving 30 days to comply before a condemnation hearing set for June 16 . No ordinance amendment was adopted.
Street Fund: Balance Confusion, $14,000 in Emergency Repairs Approved 5-1
The mayor opened the item by reading agenda item 2A, which lists the street-fund balance at $303,000 . (The auto-captions render the spoken figure as "$33,000" in three places; the printed agenda and the clerk's June 2 confirmation of a $303,000 balance indicate a caption error, and the transcript below preserves the captions as recorded.) City engineer Ken Weiland presented cost estimates to patch potholes on Tulip Circle, Springdale Road, and Old Little Rock Road, saying the latter two need immediate attention ; the combined repair estimate was about $14,000 . Weiland also described dumping crushed limestone as a cheaper, faster stopgap, at roughly $1,500 to $2,000 per truckload . Council voted 5-1 (Etherly opposed) to approve the asphalt repairs and waive competitive bidding ; a formal bid-waiver ordinance is due at the next meeting.
Council Finance Debate: Surplus, Overtime, and a 2024 Audit Finding
Councilman Don Etherly questioned the street-repair spending, saying the city's finances are tighter than they look: the adopted budget's roughly $1.4 million surplus falls to about $700,000 once committed payments, such as a $67,000-a-month payment plan, are counted . He said police and fire had already exhausted their overtime budgets for the year (about $110,000 and roughly $99,000-$100,000) as of May . Mayor Whitfield called the city's overall financial condition 'dire,' attributing it to inherited mismanagement and past overpayment of employees , and said a 2024-fiscal-year audit had flagged street-fund money as having been used inappropriately for non-street items in the past .
Floodwall Project: Ordinance 9-2026 Adopted 6-0
Engineer Ken Weiland explained that the Army Corps of Engineers' floodwall replacement project requires relocating a city sewer force main near Ryder Street. He said the Corps agreed to relocate the line at no cost to the city , which the mayor confirmed would cost the city nothing when finished . Council voted 6-0 to adopt Ordinance 9-2026, identical to a 2020 ordinance , authorizing Mayor Whitfield to execute the documents the Corps needs .
Sanitation Reporting: Resolution No. 11 Adopted 6-0
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller sponsored a resolution requiring street & sanitation to report to council regularly, citing a commercial customer whose dumpster had not been picked up since March and who had to hire a private contractor . He said an additional truck went down the day before the meeting and the commercial overhead-loader truck was still out of service , down for close to two months . Council adopted the resolution (No. 11) 6-0 .
Street & Sanitation: The $200,000-vs-$70,000 Contracting Dispute
Mayor Whitfield told council that combining department-head positions in street & sanitation was projected to save $163,560 , but the city instead paid a contractor just over $200,000 for roughly three months of actual work, versus the $70,000 annual salary a director would have cost . Councilwoman Maxine Miller countered by raising an earlier decision, during Etherly's tenure, not to use an insurance settlement to buy a replacement garbage truck . Etherly said the chief of staff had publicly blamed council for the trash backlog over a $10,000 pay gap and challenged the premise that raising base pay from $55,000 to $60,000 had failed to attract a qualified local hire .
Street & Sanitation Director Base-Pay Amendment: No Vote Taken
The mayor proposed amending the base-pay ordinance to accommodate a $70,000 salary request from a candidate with prior experience in Houston, Texas, framing it against the roughly $200,000 already paid to a contractor . Etherly questioned why the candidate wanted $70,000 for what he characterized as part-time work; the mayor said the candidate would work full-time, five days a week . The city clerk confirmed the existing base-pay ordinance allows a raise 180 days after hire, if approved . Etherly also noted the general fund held about $105,000 with payroll due that Friday , and after hearing the fleet had one truck down and the commercial loader in Memphis for repairs despite two new CDL drivers hired in the prior week and a half , said he could not accept that no one locally could run the department for $60,000 . No motion or vote on the amendment was recorded.
Condemnation: Four Properties Read Into the Record
The mayor read four properties recommended for condemnation, with no council vote required that night: 302 Sebastian St., where the owner agreed to pay $4,500 toward demolition ; 907 Pecan St., where a local organization offered to donate toward demolition costs ; and 516 Perry St., where a local excavator quoted $500 to remove debris and excavate . City Attorney Valley said code enforcement has a dedicated account, funded by occupational-license fees and fines, to help pay for these projects , but that he cannot move a demolition forward until the citation and full documentation reach his office .
620 Plaza Deed Transfer: Vote Tabled
The owner of the burned house at 620 Plaza, represented by a power of attorney after the owner was located in a nursing home in Marianna, offered to donate the property to the city . City Attorney Valley said the mayor cannot accept property on the city's behalf; council must vote to accept before he can draft a deed . Etherly cautioned that taking on more property adds responsibility for a limited workforce and questioned the benefit of ownership when the city can already act to clear the site . A council member asked to table the vote pending a personal visit to the property, and no vote was taken .
Unresolved: Garbage-Truck Insurance Claim
At the close of the meeting, Etherly asked whether the city had filed a loss-of-use insurance claim on a garbage truck that had been hit, which led to contractor spending . City Attorney Valley said no claim had been filed; he had offered to prepare the paperwork several months earlier, estimating it could be worth $5,000 to $12,000, but the offer had not been acted on . He offered again, and Etherly said he would like to collaborate on it.
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Street Repair Cost Estimates — Tulip Circle, Springdale Road, Old Little Rock Road
Smith & Weiland Surveyors and Engineers letter dated May 18, 2026 to Mayor Whitfield gives planning-level construction cost estimates for repairs at three streets . Tulip Circle has settled over a deteriorated metal culvert; asphalt repair is estimated at $7,650 . Springdale Road and Old Little Rock Road each have a washout extending into the riding surface (about 2 feet and 4 feet respectively) that the engineer calls a significant danger to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, and recommends immediate temporary fill and formal traffic warning signage until permanent repair; permanent repair is estimated at $2,700 for Springdale Road and $3,650 for Old Little Rock Road . Hand-drawn repair diagrams and site photographs for each location follow the letter .
| Tulip Circle asphalt repair estimate | $7,650.00 | |
| Springdale Road asphalt repair estimate | $2,700.00 | |
| Old Little Rock Road asphalt repair estimate | $3,650.00 | |
| Springdale Road washout width | approximately 2 feet | |
| Old Little Rock Road washout width | approximately 4 feet |
Floodwall Project Ordinance and Utility Relocation Affidavit
The packet includes prior Ordinance No. 14-2020, passed October 6, 2020, authorizing the mayor to execute documents relocating city utility lines (water, storm drainage, electrical) that interfere with the Corps of Engineers' new flood wall . A supporting affidavit template would certify city ownership of a water/sewer line at stated coordinates for the relocation process . An engineering drawing shows existing conditions and a demolition plan for the flood wall's north segment . A new, unsigned ordinance is presented for passage at this meeting, updating the 2020 authorization to add sewer, water, and gas lines to the utilities the mayor may negotiate relocation of with the Corps of Engineers and the Helena Levee District .
| Prior ordinance number and passage date | No. 14-2020, passed October 6, 2020 | |
| Affidavit coordinate point (water/sewer line) | latitude 34.526878, longitude -90.584500 |
Street & Sanitation Director Base Pay — Merger Savings Summary
One-page memo on combining the Street and Sanitation Departments and its salary impact . Combined 2025 salaries for the affected positions were: Street Director $55,000, Street Foreman $53,560, and Sanitation Director $55,000, totaling $163,560 saved in salary if merged (not including benefits) . The proposed new combined Street & Sanitation Department salary is $70,000, for total savings of $93,560 . The memo also lists amounts contracted for street and sanitation assistance: $100,062.40 (June 2023–April 2024), $68,112.00 (April–December 2024), and $34,037.00 (all of 2025) .
| Street Department Director 2025 salary | $55,000 | |
| Street Department Foreman 2025 salary | $53,560 | |
| Sanitation Department Director 2025 salary | $55,000 | |
| Total saved in salary (not including benefits) | $163,560 | |
| New proposed salary for Street & Sanitation Department | $70,000 | |
| Total savings | $93,560 | |
| Contracted street/sanitation assistance, June '23–April '24 | $100,062.40 | |
| Contracted street/sanitation assistance, April '24–December '24 | $68,112.00 | |
| Contracted street/sanitation assistance, entirety of 2025 | $34,037.00 |
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 ↗
0:00
City Attorney Andre Valley And then Mr. League, you all know around the table, Mr. League is a risk management group that that handles almost every municipality in the in the state claims by primarily they play 90% of most claims or 50% of some claims. And so it's a civil rights litigation if you take someone's property. So they want to show we have notice. So what they suggested the ordinance says that we in the notice of the ordinance that we send it by certified mail when it comes back uh if they sign for it good. If they hadn't signed for it that we try to get them personally served or we serve it in the paper and we send them letters by regular mail. We try to do every type of mail every type of service that we can to make sure that we've given them notice. Um, one of the things that the code enforcement has done that is not on the agenda, but I want to tell you all on the 16th of next month, be prepared for a long meeting. Uh, we have code enforcement is sent out over every every street between second street to 10th street, first street to 10th street on the north side. They've sent every structure there is somewhere between 100 to 200 letters and many of them have been signed for them. Some hadn't. And in that letter, we tell them they have 30 days to comply. If they don't comply within 30 days, then uh what happens thereafter, the city will move forward. We in that letter, we've told them already, we plan on having a hearing on the 16th of of June if you hadn't complied. And so if they comply, then we can go forward. If they don't comply, then we plan on having a hearing on the 16th of June before the council. Uh and so one of the things I always try to emphasize to people, code enforcement is similar to the police department. I can't write a citation for speeding. I can't write a citation for someone fighting or any of that. That's police department job. I can't do anything about these houses till code enforcement gets something to me. And what has happened lately is code enforcement start getting me a lot of things and we we meet several hours during the week uh weekly. Uh they've been very uh diligent in going forward and as I said everything that they've gotten to me I've processed and it's in the system. Every affidavit is in the system. Um, so every affidavit that I've done today with meeting with Clark Hall and the chief of staff had me affidavit, I approved them, signed them, but we're meeting with Clark Hall on on another issue and all of those in the clerk's office. So, we're moving forward. Whatever is coming, we're moving forward through. I have nothing nothing's on my desk that has not been processed. And so, it's it's all in the clerk's office that that that has been sent to me. Now, as it relates to condemnation, when we get there, we didn't want to pile you up with a bunch of stuff today because we don't know who's going to comply, who's not going to comply, who's going to make an agreement with the mayor's office to to try to uh to eradicate that issue. But on the 16th of next month is when we plan on having numerous hearings on code enforcement. Now, as it relates to affidavit, uh the the the code enforment can do them. they are doing them and we are working with the code enforcement officers every day to make sure we get the affidavit process uh to the to the judge to the clerk's office so that we can get warrants issued for people. Uh we had one individual served this weekend his lawyer called me today uh about a property at a salvage yard and and u that's in the system and we're we're moving forward.
3:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you attorney. Are are there any questions? Code enforcement is a priority and we want to make sure we take an action. Um there will be another piece at towards the end of the agenda, but um I will wait till we get there.
3:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Go ahead.
3:43
Unidentified I when I read this item on the agenda, I saw amendment to allow code enforcement officers to issue affidavit and I think city attorney has answered the question. We're talking about affidavit for warrants, right?
3:56
City Attorney Andre Valley° Correct.
3:56
Unidentified Okay. It's not clear enough. Um, and I think you cleared up there's a whole lot of conversation about a whole lot of different things, but to the issue of affidavit, there's nothing that prevents them from issuing affidavit at the moment. They just can't issue citations.
4:15
City Attorney Andre Valley° Correct. Uh, just
4:18
City Attorney Andre Valley° If I may respond to that.
4:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yes, sir.
4:20
City Attorney Andre Valley Okay. The reason why code for can't issue citations, citations are from law enforcement officers, from law enforcement agencies. You have to be with Arkansas law enforcement training academy standards to be on their roster with the police department to issue citations. And if you are a new recruit, then you have to have someone there to help you until you go to the academy. Uh but affidavit of any person in the city can affidavit. If I Mr. Etherly got the fight and Mr. Etherly could just simply write affidavit for me jumping on him or vice versa. If he jumped on me, I can do citation affidavit for it. And so the code for can do the affidavit. I think when we met last week, we were conflating several issues and that's where how we end up with the on the agenda.
5:07
Unidentified Okay.
5:09
City Attorney Andre Valley° I was trying not to go too far into the legal weeds.
5:11
Unidentified Uhhuh.
5:12
City Attorney Andre Valley But this is how a case gets into the courthouse or into into the courtroom and the rules of criminal procedure determine affidavit and citations and what happens after that. I would just say this as a as a practitioner. If you change the ordinance to allow them to issue affidavit and I represent somebody who gets an affidav or gets a citation, then the first thing I do is tell the judge uh the the ordinance only allows for affidavit.
5:40
City Attorney Andre Valley You see where I'm going to the law already allows them to do affidavit. So I would say we don't have to tinker with the process because anybody a citizen can do an affidavit. And so to the extent that we start tinkering with the process, it may not slide the way and I understand what I think I understand what you're trying to do. You're trying to expressly say they can do this, but they can already do it. And so,
6:04
Unidentified right,
6:04
City Attorney Andre Valley° if you start tinkering with it, you may cause an effect that you didn't intend to cause when it makes it to the courtroom,
6:10
City Attorney Andre Valley right? So, we're waiting the the the group that that uh Kendra Smith did, they've already been approved by me for this public sake. Anytime a citizen does a does an affidavit that go before the district court the process is it goes into the into the to Carlo Spencer the district court clerk on the city docket and then he enters into the system and then it comes to the city attorney's office to approve I think there's probable cause here for the crime and then the judge issues a warrant and then it's served by the police and it goes from there and so what has happened the process is it Spencer has come to me I've approved it and it's waiting on the judge's signature on all those that code enforcement the time. As soon as the judge does signature, the judge is issues the warrant, police officer servant, and we go from there.
6:55
Unidentified No, I mean,
6:56
City Attorney Andre Valley and when we go from there, it's up to the judge whether he will find them, whether he will jail them depending on the series of the circumstance. There are some that going to receive fines and others going to receive some harsher treatment. But, uh, we intend to continue to move forward. And criminal process is an assembly line. Everybody has to play a part in it. The mayor's office had to move to code for code for had to get it done. Had to get the city attorney. City attorney had to get to court. Court had got to get it done. We got to have police department serving them. It's an assembly line. It relies on all of us. And once we get it to court, then we have it and we go from there. And that's we intended to move them all through. Thank you, attorney.
7:45
Mayor Joseph Whitfield All right. Thank you. All right. Moving right along. Um,
7:56
Mayor Joseph Whitfield um, our next order of business is a street fund financial update. Um, this is also this is a review of the balance of the street fund. Currently, the street fund is sitting at $33,000. And this is also a review of pending street projects Hernando Street, Old Little Rock Road, Springdale, and Tulip Circle. So in your packets on PA from pages 2 through 7, I think actually two through uh 10, you will see a review of the cost estimate summaries that were provided by uh Smith and Wallen uh engineering. And I'm going to invite Mr. whileing up to the to the mic to give some um answers and some clarification on these numbers. Uh the reason why I wanted to put the balance on the agenda tonight is so that we can make a decision to move forward with a couple of the projects. The balance is there for you to see. And in your packets is also the cost estimate. So, with um some table discussion today, my hope is that we're able to walk away from this table saying that we've taken action on a couple of uh key problem areas in the city for the potholes and road uh jeopardized road situations.
9:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Go ahead, Mr. M.
9:06
Ken Weiland, P.E. Well, good evening, council. Thank you. And uh uh the report hopefully is pretty much self-explanatory. Uh we looked at three different issues. Now, you know, there's lots of issues around town, but the three that we discussed in the prior meeting was the uh street at the entrance to Tulip Circle and then the holes that have developed in Springdale Road and in O Little Rock Road. And so we went out and and inspected these these holes. My project engineer, Raymond Hill, uh, put together some cost estimates for what he what he feels it would take to patch those holes and and bring them back up with a road surface. And what the estimate shows is asphalt. Now, we have a concrete estimate. I didn't put that in here. Uh, asphalt's a little cheaper if you can get it. Now, if the repair is made while the asphalt plants are running, you can sometimes get a small load of asphalt. If not, then you're going to have to do concrete. And again, that that estimate is not in here. We're hoping maybe we can get asphalt to fill them in and get a little bit of savings there. Uh, one thing if you read the report, we really emphasize in particular on Springdale Road and O Little Rock Road, how serious those two issues are and they need immediate attention. Uh, the other thing that we don't have in here is any type of traffic control, barricades, barrels, things like that, or a temporary measure to make those areas safe in the very near term like tomorrow for motorists. Uh y'all probably all familiar with these holes. If you don't, I'm sorry the pictures are a little grainy on the black and white. I've got better pictures, but again, you can go out and see them. They're really bad. And but so this estimate is what it would take to fill that hole back in and then put a surface of asphalt to restore the street back to its normal edge. One Springdale Roads in about 2 feet and it's growing. If you look at the photos timeline on the photos, Olo Rock Road is also growing. Now, Tulip Circle is the one where the you remember we I brought that in and we discussed it. There's a culvert underneath that entrance to that road and that cover has reached its service life and it's beginning to collapse on one end. But that's can sometimes be a slow process, sometimes it can be a fast process. But you know we have not noticed any significant acceleration of that u uh settlement settlement of that street at that point. And in my report I say that one thing that can be done is to try to get the garbage truck to kind of stay to the left, stay to the east and not drive over that. So it doesn't constitute anything that's a danger to motorist at this time. if it falls in, it's going to isolate those houses back there. They'll have no access. So that's why I think that was the first one that that came to the attention of the chief of staff. And then when we met, the other two were added to it. Uh but again, Tulip Circle does not need any immediate action. It needs action, but the other two do. And uh so you can go and get some traffic control barrels and things like that, cones, and try to get that traffic alerted and and and away from those holes. Another idea could be this is hopefully maybe something that could be done by city forces with the city backhoe, either the street department, the water department. Uh we could get uh a good load of crushed limestone and just dump that in those holes. just gives something that the tire will roll across instead of hitting and falling down into that hole. Uh that can be done quickly, fairly inexpensively done by the city, whoever y'all get. I know y'all buy crushed limestone. Uh so hopefully there's a supplier out there that you already have a contract with. That would not be have to be bid and things like that, but again, I'm going to wait for instructions on that. Um, but that would be that's actually our suggestion for the quickest probably the least expensive manner to treat those two holes to try to get them to where they're safe for motors to pass through. Um, mayor, I don't know. Um, is there anything else I've missed on that or does anybody have any questions on this? It's fairly straightforward patch and hole.
14:17
Unidentified I just came down Springdale Road. I I know where you're talking about that area. That's bad. That's good.
14:24
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Yes, sir.
14:25
Unidentified I noticed in the curve at the bottom uh closer to Helena some potholes that are real real deep and bad there. We can probably put something in them. Uh
14:40
Ken Weiland, P.E.° well, that's if you saw that as you looked at Springdale Road.
14:44
Ken Weiland, P.E.° I No, sir. We limited we limited this to what the task was and that was that hole that has eroded into the street and and Springdale and I mean it obviously and certainly um we know there are other holes and in fact is there probably other holes that warrant this type of action
15:06
Ken Weiland, P.E.° but we limited it to these three that's the ones that were discussed and it can be expanded u I know y'all are working on a street department you At some point you may have a street department that can try to catch these things before they get as bad as they are. Uh but now you've got these two and if the crushed limestone idea works and it may be the thing to do in some of the other areas. Now nobody likes that. It's ugly. It's gravel in your road but a tire won't fall down in it
15:36
Ken Weiland, P.E.° and upset a car is the reason I'm suggesting that. The other the other option is to get formal formal traffic barrels, cones, something that meets manual uniform traffic control to try to steer motorists away from that. Imagine going down Old Rock Road, Springdale tonight in the rain. It's just it's just a black hole in a black asphalt.
16:04
Unidentified Yeah. Mr. Mayor, did you get a copy of uh an email that was sent to me about paving of oak forest?
16:14
Unidentified I get anything on that?
16:16
Unidentified I don't think so.
16:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Uh they sent me an email here uh uh about uh old forest uh the cracks in the street and the road. And uh I'll give you this copy uh that was sent to me. Uh so you might want to look into that. I think Yeah. And I think as Mr. Walling kind of alluded to this um inevitably part of this conversation in taking care of streets is going to be um I think we can we can all brace ourselves to hear my streets more important than this street. I'm not saying that specific because Oak Forest popped up, but these are the four streets that we just have happened to talk about at this particular table so far. There are lots of streets in the city of Helenois Helena that need to be repaved and fixed. Um, and so the balance, as I mentioned, are 300,000 $300,000 um approximately. That's not enough to do all of them at the same time. But I do want to be clear that I want to use street funds to do street fund activities, which is fixing damaged streets and roads. So, this is a start and we get to show the people was telling her that we're going to have um an investment in repairing some places that need to be repaired. So, um as this is over my spending limit, that's that's why it's on the agenda tonight. That's why we asked uh Mr. Wilder to put these numbers
17:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° dangerous. And I think yeah there I think you we can we can definitely I guess compare potholes in terms of depth and in terms of size but I try not to get into the comparison game because as again
17:56
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° there there are high need there are needs all over the city. So I try not to get into the comparison game but um
18:04
Unidentified cuz Rock Road is in bad shape. It's been like that and they've been patching on it and patching on it and putting gravel and stuff in holes and
18:13
Unidentified it's getting worse.
18:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Well, that's why it's on the
18:16
Unidentified need to be fixed before something happens.
18:18
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah, that it's in. So, it's old Little Rock Road amongst the other three streets are also in your package tonight for that reason. Um, this is above my spending limit. I do believe I do believe with the three that Mr. W and provided cost uh estimate summaries for the total for that is approximately 14,000. Um and I believe we would need to wave what we have to wave bidding for potentially for these if we wanted to have a cost or not cost well yeah cost and time of uh efficient response um waving bidding on this could be potentially uh necessary. So this discuss but I saw you m cut you off.
19:03
Unidentified I have a question. What how much does the uh the limestone field what's the projected cost of that?
19:10
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Well I should I [clears throat] should have had that. You know it if if they just bring it in a truck um I'm sorry Mr. I wish I wish I had that number. I I I would I would hope that would be because price been going up. Uh, I would hope that just the cost of the material in a truck brought to the site and dumped and then one of the city backhoes spread it and kind of pack it into that hole until you can drive over maybe less than a couple thousand. U, I can get you that number quickly.
19:45
Ken Weiland, P.E.° I mean, that gives me an idea in comparison to the whole. I I'm trying to remember we because we were looking at another project and and I've just seen a lot of numbers in the past week, but I I'm thinking I'm thinking delivered to the site was about $1,500 a truck. Truck having 20 tons. I would think that would be sufficient for these two. So that's why I'm thinking about 2,000, maybe less. Again, that's assuming somebody's going to be there to to put there. They're just going to dump it out and then
20:16
Ken Weiland, P.E.° somebody would have to put it in the hole. Now, you can rent a Bobcat and do that or like I said, you got back hoes and things like that that might be able to do it also. Or again, you can hire a contractor to do it and just tack that on to, you know, uh the price. But the the key is it needs to be done in my opinion soon
20:34
Ken Weiland, P.E.° and not after we go through bidding and whatever else.
20:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Are there are there any other questions? Um, is this something that we prepare? Hopefully, we're prepared to take action on it. The balance is there to show that we have the funds. Hernando Street. Um, I have a separate uh handout for that because that was part of a uh bidding process. So, I do want to talk about that next. But for these three, for Tulip Circle, Springdale Road, Olo Rock um road, I'm I'm suggesting that we wave bidding to get the projects going and also use the street funds to fix these three and continue to to move forward around the city.
21:25
Unidentified I mean, it seems reasonable to me. I don't know about anybody else.
21:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So, you just need a motion. And I believe we would have to have uh two separate motions, one for to wave bidding and and one to um approve the funds this to be spent.
21:45
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Mr. B.
21:47
City Attorney Andre Valley Uh oh yeah. Um we we would need an ordinance, but we go ahead and do it. I bring the ordinance back in the next council meeting so that we will keep on moving. We're getting the ordinance to what you're asking to do is to wave competitive bidding and to authorize the mayor to go forward. And while they're mobilizing two weeks from now, we we'll do the ordinance.
22:07
Unidentified Well, I I I got a question, but I can wait and and see if somebody makes a motion or I can ask it now. If somebody makes a motion, I'll do it as part of discussion. If somebody Nobody makes a motion, I'll ask it now.
22:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Go ahead. answer motion.
22:26
Unidentified Is this a motion to
22:27
Unidentified um the repairs on Tulip Circles, Springdale Road, and Old Little Rock Road?
22:34
Unidentified I'll second that motion,
22:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Madam Clerk. Will you call the RO?
22:38
Unidentified Well, I have a question.
22:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay.
22:42
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° What is your assessment of our financial condition right now? And I ask that because we have all of these requests for these different things. They add up at some point. So if we keep nickel and dime and at some point there's going to be a sum total, right?
22:56
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° What is your assessment of our financial condition? Right now
22:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield the our finances are dire. Um I don't understand how the street fund necessarily brings that question up. I mean we so the street fund is money that we get to take care of street uh related expenses. I'm sure you know and this body knows from our state turnbacks. And so we have to use those funds for the things that they're necessary for. So, this is money that's being spent to make sure that we are good stewards of our infrastructure. Um, I don't see this as a frivolous purchase. I don't see this as an unnecessary purchase. This is safety. This is livelihood. But, um, absolutely our our financial situation as a whole is dire because of an inherited situation of misspending, mismanagement, um, overpaying um, employees at certain points where we shouldn't have given bonuses or raises. I mean, I don't want to go into the nitty-gritty, but I guess my question is the relevancy of that as it relates to fixing streets with street fund money that's presently available.
23:59
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I don't diminish the need for this, which is why I asked a question about the limestone.
24:03
Unidentified Mhm.
24:04
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Which is more of a a quick patch, but I for a reason because the numbers that I have in my head, they they don't quite jive, so to speak. That's why I asked what your assessment was. your assessment might be different from my assessment and certainly I don't have a financial report or anything in detail in front of me but I know what we did in January and I know the numbers that I've seen and heard tossed around this table uh particularly the ones that have been provided by you and if your math is the same as my math my feeling is that we need to put the brakes on everything and and let me let me explain because I I said this in late. I guess it was February when I did this. We passed the budget. It's got about $1.4 million in surplus. Probably the biggest surplus that we've had in years. On the surface, it looks great. All of those payment plans and things that we arrange come out of the surplus. The biggest one, of course, is Lafy, which is $67,000 a month. So that's over $700,000 over the calendar year. So the surplus really isn't 1.4 million. It's 700,000. After we adopted the budget, we rearranged base pay for the police department. This is after we adopted the budget. So those things weren't included in the in the budget to make sure that the police payment structure was fair so that people didn't have new officers coming in off the street. But guess what? That diminishes the budget. I don't know what the numbers are. that diminishes the surplus by some more. Um, we're calling in contractors to help pick up garbage. That diminishes the surplus by some more. And what I said in February, so we really got like $6 or $700,000 to last throughout the year for every single thing that we didn't budget or expect or anticipate to happen during this year, which is not very much money at all. And you told us last meeting that police and fire had exhausted their overtime for the year. Police had 100,000. Fire had 99,000 in the bunch. I think
26:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° 110
26:23
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° 110 99 about 100,000.
26:26
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) We're just in May. If we continue on the path that we're on right now, we're going to be underwater before we even make it to the last quarter of this year. And so every single item that comes before us, I think deserves a high level of scrutiny because if we don't have a report, but those numbers just don't gas wasn't $4 a gallon in January. These things are going to be out of kilter on the budget that we pass. And so I'm just thinking every single item that deserves scrutiny until we can get to a point where we can comfortably say spend $14,000 over here. Spend 15,000. I don't think we're at that point right now. Um and so that's why I asked the question about the the limestone. That's within your spending authority. Didn't require us to do anything at all. But without any further numbers, I I just I'm not able to go forward on on projects like this if there's a better way to do it. And the better way to do it that I hear at this point is a couple thousand dollars. Uh so we don't have to worry about people tearing up cars. It'll look ugly. Yeah, it will. Uh it's not a complete fix. No, it's not. These are serious matters that need to be addressed. I just don't think we're there at this point. So that's that's my and that's why I asked you what your assessment was.
27:51
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° And my assessment is based on numbers. I'm calling out numbers. This number, that number, this number in the math just doesn't it's not adding up to me.
28:00
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Are you are you saying you you feel uncomfortable about this project? Not
28:06
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° as an emergency situation, I think we need to fill it in. I don't I don't dispute that.
28:11
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) But a full repair, the difference is about $12,000 that I'm hearing. And I understand he's saying it's come from it comes from street funds, but I don't have a street report either. So I don't know what's all of these things matter. And so for me, I don't feel comfortable going forward if we can do it for cheaper at this point in time.
28:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think uh thank you Mr. Etherly. And so just to just to I guess comment on that um I don't think it's optional for us to maintain our infrastructure. I don't I think we've been doing patchwork for a long time and that's part of the reason why we're in the situation we're in. The infrastructure here is crumbling. Um the city's finances have been what they've been for a long time, not just within the past year, 8 months. Um we've and I'll talk about some of the approaches for overtime we've uh talked about with department heads as far as restructuring overtime allotted to different departments and reallocating that for police and fire as necessary, but also capping that um as well. The spending that we've been doing this year has been pretty uh conservative. Um especially from an ad administrative standpoint, we have not incurred a lot of costs. Our biggest expense um so far, and there's a I have a um there's a page in our packet to talk about that a little bit, but our biggest expense so far as of late has probably been contracting. It's definitely one of them, and I want to get to that point um soon. But we got audited for the 2024 fiscal year this past Thursday and Friday. I sat with an auditor. Um, and one of the things that was flagged for our street fund was that we were using that money or that money had been used inappropriate inappropriately for other items. The street fund finances or street fund money is there for street activities. I I want to make it unequivocally clear that I understand that we're not rolling in money right now, but we do have the money that's intended for a specific purpose to fix potholes, to fix um uh things that have to do with street, whether that's busted up um lanes or lane replacements, what have you. I intend to I intend to bring those to the council so that we can use those. Um I don't think that using street fund money is going to jeopardize using street fund money to fix three streets that are for if if we could fix all of the um streets at one time I would put I this list would have been longer. There are three on this list for a reason and I think in in other words is because I agree that we don't have the funds to fix as many of the streets as possible. I'm very careful when I talk to citizens and residents about um the reality of what we can afford to do. But I don't think that we should be sitting on our hands because we are tied financially in some other areas. The budget right now or not the budget but the balance of our street fund um is $33,000 currently. Us being able to fix tulip circle Springdale or off road is on the that that's on the table. And so um I'm I'm asking the body to approve it because these are just three of many. I mean I just got handed another letter about 04s just now. These are three of many and we can't do them all at once but um we have the funds now. So I think peace milling is going to is dangerous and I think starting with three is responsible considering that we have we have those funds.
31:31
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) I I want to be clear I'm not minimizing infrastructure repairs but I am maximizing our financial condition. Um it wasn't, you know, three weeks ago, four weeks ago that we got the list of claims. And this is what happens when you fly in the blind. It when you add in the things that weren't added in, the total, just the math on what you provided us says that our total claims list is the same as it was back in October of last year, slightly higher. And so I exercise caution. Um and to that end without any reports making decision based making decisions based on what's in that account over there I don't consider to be responsible way to spend money. what are we bringing in and what are we looking at for the remainder of the year and how would this impact that the the projected income that we have and so that's all I'm saying
32:43
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° and there there's there's five other people at this table who may totally disagree with me
32:49
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) but I'll be honest and say I feel the same way I feel today as I feel felt 12 months ago when I look at these numbers And I know you you you you regularly say I this is what I inherited. This is what I brought in. But you're here. You're driving a car and this is where we are. And so as for me, um I just I believe in caution because these things keep coming and they keep cropping up and the the numbers aren't good. They just aren't good. And so um that's my piece. I'll stand down.
33:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We can only use street fund money for street fund um activities. And so
33:36
Unidentified do you feel do you feel that this is an emergency? This project
33:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I think is um emergency. I don't I don't know if I would call it an emergency. Nec necessary necessary. Yes.
33:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I mean it's it's up to this council. I mean, I I don't I brought it to the council because I think that this is necessary. I don't know if I would consider it emergency. Is it necessary? I do think it's necessary. Um, street fund money can only be used for street fund activities and um purposes. So, using street fund money does not take away from our account, our general fund or finances for claims for other equipment purchases and other departments, our police equipment fund. Um, so we're using this money for really the only thing that we can be using it for. And I and that's where I I I'm concerned about a hold up about not um moving forward with this project. So it's ultimately with this body that we make a vote or make a motion to move forward with this project. Um if the if this body does not want to move forward with this solution, the only option that that leaves me with um is to find solutions that are under the SP mayor spending limit which would be um far cheaper than I mean not far cheaper but slightly cheaper than what you see on the paper in front of you. So and that and that's where we are. So, those are the two options that we have to to take action and say we care about our streets um with the money that's there for our streets or I am left to find a solution. Um it wouldn't be the first time I have to craft a creative solution because of in action. So,
35:17
Unidentified well, I'm voting I'm voting for it. I feel like my constituents put me in office and that was one of the main reasons why they put me in office was to fix our streets, pick up our garbage and make and make sure that our streets were safe. So, I'm voting for it. I can't think of a better thing we could spend our money on.
35:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° You think we need to move forward on this?
35:45
Unidentified I do. I I can't think of a better thing we could spend our money on than fixing our streets.
35:50
Unidentified I'm familiar with the pothole that I saw on Springdale Road and I'm I can I can understand the one on uh I haven't seen the one on Tulum Circle, but I have Springdale Road and uh I can understand it's a uh it's eating into the
36:09
Unidentified Yeah. how the road shut if I'm if our funds are if the funds and I'm and I'm familiar I'm familiar what you're saying saying mayor there are certain funds that are allocated for for certain things if it's if that's what it's allocated for then that's what it should be spent on
36:27
Unidentified have we got the funds to do this with
36:29
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° if you look at bullet point 2A um we currently have $33,000 in the street fund
36:36
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° and what you don't know is what your other street obligations are going to be this And that's true. And that's true. But
36:42
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) and I never said don't fix it. I said use the cheapest method possible, which is limestone is what I said. That's true. Until you get out of the woods, use the cheapest method poss possible.
36:54
Unidentified Is there an estimation of when we'll have a financial report? Current I mean a current one.
37:02
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° As in treasury report?
37:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yes. Um I can't I can't say definitively when we will have a treasurer report for you for this last um quarter, but um so as far as the claims list, I have had a conversation with Energy to talk about forgiveness potentially with certain account or certain accounts on that um claims list. So the updated claims list by the next meeting will will include whatever their final say is around what we owe to them in particular. And those are conversations we have with all of the um folks on that balance sheet. Um possible ways to um potentially cancel some debt, restructure some debt, um get forgiveness. So um you will get that again this month or the first month, the first uh meeting in June. You will get that again similar to what you got uh last month. And that will have a list of updated expenses that we've paid. We have made some payments on some of um some of those balances. Um, but as far as a treasury report, um, I can't definitively say when you'll get that treasury report.
38:06
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° In my opinion, you know, I think I'm getting a little weary of this to some degree because it's very difficult to make what I believe are sound decisions when you don't have everything in front of you to look at. You know, and I'm going to be very transparent. It's it's it kind of makes me bristle a little bit when I get the feeling that the head of the table is suggesting that, you know, you're coming in here and you know, you're helping us make these decision decisions because we never made them before. That's the tone. That may have not been the way you meant it, but it's difficult. I mean, it's very difficult. You know, we're expected to make sound decisions about finances and we don't have everything in front of us. I see his point. I see his point. You know, and I'm sitting here, okay, which way do I need to go? Do I need to vote for the fact that we need to hold on because we really don't know what we have, or do I go with the with the point that but we have constituents that we're responsible to? That's a hard decision to make. So being being that we have turnback puns that we get every so often, um that's why the approach is um bit by bit, three streets at a time. I'm not saying consistently three streets at a time, but three streets on this particular proposal I think makes sense. Um the treasury report is not my responsibility. Now I do um talk to the clerk and the treasur to make sure that we're all aligned. Um we will provide you another claims list. Um but I do think I mean as you you kind of touched on the point and I don't want us to get sidetracked. I do think the city's financial situation is not new and I'm I'm not claiming to riding here on a white horse. I'm not claiming here claiming to be the golden boy. That's got all the answers. Um I start off with this by saying the street fund is you is is supposed to be used for street fund purposes. We have the money to fix three streets. Okay. Our residents have told us what they care about. I do not understand the hesitation to fix three streets to start. Um that will not jeopardize our street fund until we get other turnback monies to uh replenish that account. Um I understand Mr. to Etherly's point that you can't predict what comes up in terms of street fund um expenses and equipment and things of that nature. But for this particular proposal um we have those funds and that's why I put that balance there to just simply show that we have those funds. Um this office this office at city hall is open every day of the week and so I encourage everybody um to come in. I encourage folks to come in and ask questions to sit and to meet. That that's not the reality of what happens right now. But this office is open and there's no um there's no necess there's no need to not necessarily have that transparency. That's what we're striving for um while I'm in this seat. So I want to just try and really uh quickly really quickly back to the question at hand. Um, does the body want to move forward with this particular cost estimate summary that was provided by Smith and Wland or are we in favor of using a cheaper um alternative that would potentially be under the mayor's spending limit?
41:44
Unidentified Well, we we still got a motion. We still got motion.
41:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Oh, well, thank you for reminding me. We we do.
41:49
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um, but is there any more discussion before we take a vote on the on the motion? Is there any way that we could possibly I don't know maybe hold off on the motion for right now to at least discuss that we go ahead and do the cheaper option for now. I mean, understanding that when we're capable and able, we'll do a much more expansive program, but I know of a couple of people right now that their names are not on here and their streets are just as bad. Not I anticipate, you know, that we're going to hear from people and I don't want us to say yes to one set of people and then turn around and say, "Hey, we can't do it for y'all." Well, I wish you all would ride over there and look at old rock road. It is horrible. I understand m Mr. Etherly's uh comments that he made, but limestone, you put that limestone in it and you drive across it five, six times, maybe 20 times, maybe 50 times, and it's going to be back out. It's not going to last. So, why waste $2,000 on limestone when we can start somewhere? I agree.
43:12
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Remember, uh, boy, I didn't realize I probably should have thought through this a little bit more. The limestone idea and and and yes, I'm I'm not I'm not saying as a permanent fix. What I'm saying is it may be from a time standpoint the quickest fix because you need to either do that or you need to get these holes very clearly marked which means you got to go buy the barrels, buy the cones, have somebody put them up, have somebody keep them up. The limestone at least gives and she's exactly right. Put limestone fell in and eventually it's going to come out but it gets some time because we're not going to be able to just run out there day after tomorrow with a contractor and start making the permanent fix. It's going to take a little time and quite honestly, you know, I think those holes need to be fixed immediately. So that's why I said that may be something that we do just as a temporary measure, not as a permanent measure to replace the proposed propo the proposal here. Now obviously you can just go out and put crushed limestone in and keep putting crush limestone in it. We've got hold that you're doing that just just like you're saying,
44:20
Ken Weiland, P.E.° but something needs to be done in in the very very near future just to make those places not be so dangerous to the motorist, not as a replacement to the project.
44:38
Ken Weiland, P.E.° If that helps.
44:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thank you, Mr. W. situation.
44:50
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So, um,
44:52
Unidentified we're going have to shut down one lane on Springdale and I guess on if we're going to do it.
45:00
Unidentified It's bad, too. I mean, it's it's scary. You drive,
45:04
Unidentified you may end up in
45:06
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° you're going to get 55,000 street. M madame clerk this point of order was a motion by Miss Davis who did second
45:18
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Miss Davis made a motion Mr. Columbia second it
45:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° okay I was making sure that we were popular to the second
45:29
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° any further discussion
45:31
Unidentified I call for the vote
45:32
Roll call Roll-call vote — Monica Davis: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Don Etherly: no; Maxine Miller: yes.
45:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes.
45:53
City Attorney Andre Valley Now, at the next meeting, we will come back with the ordinance waving competitive bidding. Um, but y'all have authorized a spending while we do that.
46:04
Unidentified I'm sorry.
46:06
City Attorney Andre Valley° I said we'll do an ordinance at the next meeting. Uh they've authorized you to go forward, but we'll do an ordinance to make it complete at the next meeting.
46:13
Unidentified Okay.
46:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thank you, Mr. Wall. Thank you.
46:19
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Would you like me to stay here till next time?
46:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah, you might as well stay here. Um so with our next line, our next item of business, uh flood wall project. Um it this is located in your packets as well. This is an ordinance and affidavit regarding the relocation of city lights and the uh a water man. This is as uh as it relates to if you're not familiar with this project, the Army Corps of Engineers having to repair part of our levy. And so on page on page uh sorry 11, this is a sample of an ordinance that was done in 2020 under Mayor Smith to authorize him to execute such documents that may be necessary for this project. Um and what you will find on page 14 is similar or the same for uh as pro as the project is currently underway. So um I wanted to yield to you Mr. Wild and just explain the project a little more technically if you can.
47:19
Ken Weiland, P.E. Well, I hope this one won't be quite as painful. Uh, as as everyone knows, the core of engineers has a I guess a DoD uh grant to replace the se the float wall behind Bailey Maze along the levey down here um at Ryder in Ohio. Uh they're going to replace the whole thing. Unfortunately, there is a sewer force man that comes and takes a 90° turn and goes into a manhole right at the end of Ryder Street. That sewer force man comes from the pump station up in North Helena. Uh it used to it used to uh discharge at Market Street and I'm not real sure uh exactly why they redid it, but they took that force main and ran it down the levey and then put in a gravity line. They put in that manhole and a gravity line just based on what I'm seeing out there. And the only thing I can figure is they were trying to short circuit the gravity uh flow down. That all being said, that force man is going to be in the way of a short section of the new wall and it needs to be relocated. Now, the core of engineers um is going to to the best that I can determine is going to do this for you at no cost to the city. And so, uh you know, yay for them. That's that that's good. They they know the financial situation of the city and they're going to try to to basically do it with the contractor. And you had really two choices. Either the city could relocate it and they reimburse you or they would just change order of the contractor to do the work do pay you know pay me do the work and the city doesn't have to take the time to go through everything you're going through tonight. It's my understanding that the core of engineers, this is what I was told that uh in this situation, they've got the funding. They've got several million dollars in funding. Uh so any expense that we would have to incur to handle that seaw wall situation, they would reimburse us. That's what I was told.
49:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is that about right?
49:34
Ken Weiland, P.E.° That that's that's correct. This this would be reimburseable to you, but the contractor was supposed to start last week.
49:42
Unidentified Yeah.
49:43
Ken Weiland, P.E.° And I have I have suggested and I've been been corresponding with the mayor, keeping the mayor up to date on this, that if the core does it the way they want to do it, you won't have to go through this. You won't have to go to the next board meeting. You won't have to do any advertisement to get the cont. They're going to take care of it for you, and at their cost and you don't have to be reimbursed or anything else. So, it's a it's a it's it's a gimme. Okay.
50:12
Unidentified Yeah.
50:12
Ken Weiland, P.E.° And it's a good gimme because it could be your uh cost.
50:17
Unidentified Um so,
50:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° financially, it won't cost the city anything when all said and done.
50:22
Ken Weiland, P.E.° That's correct. That's correct. Or make you have to keep meeting about it. You know, if y'all approve this ordinance and and and Mr. roads can sign the affidavit that he that he knows that the line has been there. It's the city's line.
50:35
Unidentified Yeah.
50:36
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Uh I think they're going to, you know, they had postponed it to August. I think they're going to try to move that well forward. Now, if y'all take this action tonight, uh there's absolutely no reason not to. I think the ordinance attorney can tell you I think it's just mainly to allow the new mayor to have the signatory authority to do it.
50:54
Unidentified Standing I have
50:54
City Attorney Andre Valley° That's correct. We previously adopted one in 2020 identical to this that authorized Mayor Kevin Smith to take the similar action.
51:04
Ken Weiland, P.E.° Mr. Wilder, what is what is a force man? I'm sorry. I don't know what that is. Uh that's a good question. Thank you. Uh the force man, most lines in the city are called gravity, which means the gravity is what moves the flow in the line. It's just water running downhill. A force man is actually hooked to a pump and that pump takes energy puts energy into that flow and pushes it as a pressure line. So it's basically a pressure line like your water line that's under pressure. Okay?
51:35
Ken Weiland, P.E.° So that it can be moved uphill or long distances because it won't flow in gravity and you don't have to be uphill and downhill. It you can actually pump it uphill. Uh so a force main is basically I guess they developed that term to say it's it is it is flow that's being forced through that pipe
51:55
Ken Weiland, P.E.° by a an energized pump.
51:57
Unidentified Okay.
51:58
Unidentified Thank you sir.
51:59
Ken Weiland, P.E.° In this case it's sewer. It's not it's not water.
52:01
Unidentified Yes sir.
52:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Do you need anything from us tonight to move forward with the
52:08
City Attorney Andre Valley Yes. You need to you need to uh make a motion to spend the rules placed on 35 file reading title owner for adoption of of ordinance what's the number madam clerk
52:19
City Attorney Andre Valley° 9 2026 it's identical ordinance to one that was passed as ordinance 14 2020 the only difference is it authorizes mayor Joseph Whitfield to do to take the same action authorized mayor Kevin Smith to do back then so move I'll make a motion I
52:35
Roll call Roll-call vote — Don Etherly: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Adrian Messina: yes.
52:48
City Attorney Andre Valley° An ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute such documents as may be necessary in conjunction with the relocation of utilities to interfere with the construction of a new flood wall by the core of engineers. Needs a motion to adopt.
53:00
Unidentified So move.
53:02
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is there a second?
53:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Second. Madam clerk, we call the rule.
53:06
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes.
53:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wild.
53:17
Ken Weiland, P.E.° I'll emphasize as soon as that's signed or whatever you do to that, if you'll call me, I'll come pick it up. I promise the core as soon as I saw the whites of his eyeballs, I would I would send it to them so they can because they said they just can't practically release the contractor until they have it. Uh, so as soon as y'all have it, please call me. I'll come pick it up.
53:37
Unidentified Thank you.
53:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Moving right along. Um, we have our next item of business, which is a resolution for garbage and trash pickup and status. This is a res resolution for maintain street and sanitation reports. Uh, this is what the item that the chief of staff um, walked around and passed out. And I'm going to yield to Dr. Miller because he wanted to recommend this um this or this resolution I should say um for adoption.
54:11
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) Okay. So I sent this uh out in an email uh to the rest of the the council and to others and basically it's a resolution is just asking that uh street a representative from street and sanitation preferably the director or their designate will give us a weekly report or report whenever we have our meetings and basically this came as a result of I'm sure you guys have been getting the communications as well um uh constituents contacting saying, "Okay, my trash didn't get picked up." Or um even the commercial businesses contacted me saying, "I haven't heard from things." I had one um commercial business that said that um her dumpster hadn't got picked up since March. Um and so she had to go with a private uh contractor to get her her stuff picked up. And so this will just be an opportunity to make sure we're all on the same page. Uh somebody somebody from uh street and sanitation can give a give us a report so we can all know what's going on if if equipment is breaking down which um I did have an opportunity to talk to uh Mr. Stoddard via text this week and he did tell me that I think it's another um truck that's down
55:27
Unidentified as of as of yesterday. Yeah.
55:29
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Yeah. So another another truck is down and the commercial truck is still down.
55:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Correct.
55:34
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Okay. And and the commercial truck is and that's been what almost two months. Correct.
55:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah. So, it's been it's been a while. So, um yeah. So, so we we just kind of need to stay in the loop. Um I know that is probably a frustrating um situation from everyone there, but usually if it's more communication, then that kind of helps, you know, at least then we know what to tell people and everybody can at least say, "Okay, be patient." Um you know, we're trying we're trying to work things out. But it's like um I I at time have reached out to people, haven't been able to connect with them or contact them. Um and then sometimes that just escalates the frustrations. Um and so hopefully this will be a way and I I I know that's been a a a really big buzz topic um the whole trash situation. So I think this would be a good way to get us on a good uh footing that we are exemplifying some form of transparency us as a body. I do want to add and I don't know if this would um satisfy uh Dr. Miller or the body, there is a um a weekly report that goes out from the stream sanit but but that's slightly different.
56:48
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Okay. How how does it how is it disseminated?
56:50
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um he emails that into um the administrative office. So, and it usually entails um maintenance checks that were done in routines that were followed that were a little more technical as it relates to equipment.
57:03
Unidentified Okay.
57:03
Unidentified Um
57:04
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) I mean even if that could be shared um if that could be shar shared with us that would be helpful. And then, you know, in the resolution, I ask, you know, um I mean really until we can kind of I guess get a director and get things kind of running smoothly like a weekly I mean like a daily report cuz it seem like it's like stuff is jumping off every day like every day. Now maybe that's to me that's appearance what it seems like. Maybe that's not factually what's happening, but it appears to me that like every day it's like um um something is you know a neighborhood is not being picked up or uh something is breaking down or you know there's some issue and I think it'd be very helpful for transparency if [music] you know on a website they can just you know just be daily the chief you know chief of staff or somebody could just post you know up uh a daily update so that everybody body can go to the website or the Facebook page and see this is what's going on.
58:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I think it if this is adopted, I do think it would make sense for it to come from the street and sanitation department to be direct. Um and I think that's what you did put in as I read through it in section one. Yeah.
58:20
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° And they might they might need some help because I did talk to um Mr. Stoddard. He you know I think he said that you know they're really low on help right now. I said he said he really needs a secretary. Um, you know, there's a lot going on. I think there, if I understand, um, their long staff, too.
58:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Uh, I I think more so maybe CDL drivers have been a concern. And, um, in the past week and a half, there have been two hires for CDL drivers.
58:52
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Okay, good.
58:53
Unidentified So,
58:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I think even with that, an additional two or three more qualified um, CDL drivers would probably be effective or impactful as well. So, um because that that allows us to have rotations when it comes to the big trucks and um and people that are able to drive them literally. So,
59:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° but but anytime the more information you can disseminate to the public, the more you know that you know that always makes people feel better even if it's not what they want to hear. You know, it just it just helps. Is is this a resolution that the um body wants to adopt? I mean, I don't have a lot of questions or um discussion myself. I
59:36
Unidentified mean, I'm I'm not opposed to to your resolution by any by any stretch. I think we probably we shouldn't need a resolution.
59:44
Unidentified True.
59:45
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° And I I I sent an email on last Wednesday because I had a gentleman call me after six o'clock and say, "My trash hasn't been picked up in a couple weeks." And I told him I would send an email and I told him I said I probably won't get a response and I'm still waiting on a response. And I think that's all Mr. Miller was asking for. People call and they want to know what's going on with the trash. We just want to be
1:00:08
Unidentified we're elected. Yeah. We want to be able to tell these people
1:00:11
Unidentified what's going on with the trash
1:00:13
Unidentified and if we can't get an answer then
1:00:17
Unidentified you know
1:00:18
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° where it goes from there. And so, yeah, I'm not opposed to the resolution, but I think you said your your door is open, but I just sent an email and and I still don't have and he's he's listening now cuz he's watching this meeting. He wants to know about the trash on his street. And so, if you would an update on trash would be appropriate at this moment. I tried to make a call out there today and because someone had called and said that their trash hadn't been uh dumped for two weeks and also about a stop sign, but the number
1:00:53
Unidentified they want you to get on the mic.
1:00:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Call to city hall instead of So is that how it's going to be now? No, that's been a temporary fix um as we have tried to uh find the right person for that role. Um one of one of the changes that we are making and I've been very intentional about this. I don't know how every mayor has treated department heads in the time that they've been mayors. Um the expectation that I have for all department heads and I've been very candid with about this with them as well as the departments. Every department head is not not a manager. You you are you are an administrative figure that is your department to run and that's not to say that I don't know what's going on it's not to say that I'm not involved or invested in what's going on but it is to say personnel personnel matters and we want to make sure and I think that change in terms of how we approach responsibilities matters so
1:01:49
Mayor Joseph Whitfield at the code enforcement meeting that we had which is slightly off topic but related at the code enforcement meeting that we had last Tuesday what was um stated in that meeting was there have been no systems and procedures in place and that's what I've inherited. Um the systems and procedures that we've been putting in place are different from what has existed prior to me being here and that is expecting department heads in part to be more directors not necessarily managers because I think everybody has a different managerial um style. Um, with that being said, I don't I want to just say and I'm I'm fine to support this resolution and I think that this is up to the body to go through. I do want to say without without give without taking away the proper um and due consideration for this, the next item in this the next item in the packet on page 15 speaks to a little bit [snorts] about um an issue that I have as far as why trash is not consistently um p picked up where we are right now. I don't think we needed to be here. I do not think that we needed to be here with our trash circumstances or our trash situation as it as it currently um stands. We showed you all a cost-saving strategy of combining department heads um and for or positions in the street sanitation department. And that savings was going to be $163,560. Not imaginary dollars or error calculations. This is money that was spent. Um, we had someone on, we had someone that was ready to be hired and the requested salary, if we all remember, was $70,000. Even if we agreed to make that salary, uh, pay that salary, the savings would have been $93,560 from June 23rd. So, this is information that has spending time in the office, things come up and things get a little bit clearer. From June 23 to April 24 in contracting services, we spent $100,62.40. 40 on trash pickup and assistance. And this is to one particular vendor. April 24 through December 24. For the remainder of the year, we spent $68,112. For the entirety of 2025, we spent an additional $34,37. This is all to the same person that um we wanted to hire. This is to this is if we add up the amount of time that this person was actually pre present in the city, you're looking at approximately three months on days that were actually worked and time that was actually spent in the city. The math there is a little staggering and I don't think and I don't want to sit in this position to kind of say this is not I told you so, but it is a we did not have to be here. These we spent over 200 thou we spent just over $200,000 for the um amount of time that average that spans out to about three months when annually we could have had a salary for 70,000. I think we I think that um that's that to me I think is a stat is a turning point in how we see this trash um situation currently. And so I do want to bring back up the amendment to a base pay ordinance which is going to be talked about um if the body entertains that. But going back to the resolution that Dr. Miller put in place into the question um about trash. We are going to make the chief of staff myself um and administrative figures in this office. We all take have taken on trash responsibilities because we are making sure that we're making we're trying to make the hires that are best for the city. We have made some especially with CDLs. Like I mentioned, we have two over the last week and a half. Um and we're going to continue to make those hires as they fit into um as they best fit into the team. So the process of making sure city functions is not is not smooth. It's not always um rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes it's undoing some things that um have needed to be undone for a little while. But yeah, so we I think that there is some some subsequent things that have happened that have allowed us to be here where we are. And I do want to say that um just for the sake of clarity that I don't think we needed to be here with how trash pickup has been.
1:06:10
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° Well, as long as we're talking about, you know, inheritances and all of that. So, at the time that Mr. Mr. Etherly was his tenure, we also had a situation with a garbage truck that was hit from behind that we got a settlement. We were geared up, if I, and correct me when I'm wrong, to purchase a new truck and the truck was a good buy for the city. It would have been in our fleet and we would have had at least that. The decision was made to not purchase that truck
1:06:50
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° and so we don't even have that truck. So, as long as we're going to talk about inheritances and all of that, let's talk about all of that. Let's put that on the table. When you start talking about what we're saving and not saving and what we could have done, could not have done, we could have done that as well, but we didn't. And that's a truck that could have been picking up trash.
1:07:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Making sure that personnel is right in the department for street and sanitation has been a priority. And I've said it once, I' I'll say it twice. I do not um take lightly any hires. I don't um micromanage the departments um and they've made hiring decisions respective to their department's needs. But I do think there needs to be a new tone for how we hire. Part of our equip part of our equipment um reality has been because of um lack of systems, lack of procedures, lack of maintenance. And that's clear to me. It didn't take me eight months to figure that out. So before committing, the plan was to have a a department head because I I did not understand the math that we're seeing on the paper. The plan was to let a department head make that decision as best as possible because having someone experienced make that decision um as best fits for the street and sanitation department. That was the approach. And so it's still my hope to follow through with that um to follow through with that um measure of action. So there's no lack of priority for our trash. I don't I don't think we need it to be here. And so I don't want to um that's that's the next item of business, but that I think when uh Councilman Etherly asked the question just about trash and um Miss Dave, Councilman Davis added, I I want I felt like that explains a little bit of my response to that. We didn't have to be here.
1:08:49
Unidentified We did not.
1:08:50
Unidentified So spending Huh.
1:08:51
Unidentified So So Okay. So, where is our uh status on a director?
1:08:57
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, we've been we've had a couple of interviews. Um there have been a couple of um folks locally that have reached out as well, a couple of interviews from uh hires through the paper or not hires, but advertisements through the paper and advertisements online. Um we don't have we haven't had a good fit yet. I do I brought this up uh for the next bullet point as an amendment to the base pay ordinance because I did happen to have a discussion with the individual who was um under review to be hired not too long ago and he is still interested um if we are willing to make a base pay change uh to accommodate the the requested salary. A requested salary I don't think is I don't think is um abnormal. I don't think it is um wasteful spending. The the I mean I I just have a hard time understanding how the savings that are done by combining a department
1:09:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° and by spending $200,000 when we could have paid an annual salary of 70. I I don't understand that. So
1:10:00
Unidentified Okay. So So let me Okay. So now I'm talking to the colleagues now because we need we need we need leadership. Maxi are we So if you had you have a qualified person.
1:10:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We do.
1:10:18
Unidentified And we we vet we vet this person. Are we I'm not saying I'm not saying you have to obligate yourself to this, but are you are we willing to enter entertain considering paying a little bit more than the than what today's pay was?
1:10:37
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Well, I I guess I have a question. I don't want to get too far down the road. I'm trying to make sure I understand this correctly. What I'm hearing, what you're saying is that the guy that you wanted to hire build us a lot of money and thousands of dollars over the years to help pick up trash as a contractor. And if we had hired him, we would not have paid him as a contractor. That's your position. And that was the savings. Am I understanding that correctly? Um, my my my position was that he's qualif he was qualified for the role, still is. And I don't think our trash roles would be what they are today had we made that decision. That that that's that's what I'm saying.
1:11:22
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° But he's not on the table anymore. He's not even interested, is he?
1:11:25
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Um I I'm I'm I want to understand this because your chief of staff publicly posted
1:11:31
Unidentified Yeah.
1:11:31
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° last week basically that it was the city council's fault.
1:11:34
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Mhm. So, I assume that's your position as well. It's the city council's fault that the trash is not being picked up because you didn't get the extra $10,000 to hire this guy. That's a paraphrase. That's essentially what he said.
1:11:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And the chief of staff is I'm not I'm not aware of what was posted. I'm not aware.
1:11:50
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Is that your position?
1:11:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Can you say that again?
1:11:53
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Is that your position?
1:11:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° The question that you're asking,
1:11:55
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° he publicly stated, I'm paraphrasing, that it's the city council's fault that the trash is not being picked up properly because we didn't give the extra $10,000. Is that your position? Is my position that not hiring this particular individual has impacted our trash situation? Yes.
1:12:12
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) So, you're telling me that because we increased the base pay from 55 to 60, you're telling me there's no qualified person
1:12:20
Unidentified in this county?
1:12:22
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Is that what you're telling me? There's no qualified person in this county to run street and sanitation?
1:12:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Never said there's no qualified person. We've been looking. We've we've put out the advertisements online in the paper, word of mouth. Um made I've had meetings with uh folks that um live in the area to see if there were referrals. We're looking under every single rock that we can think of. I'm I've never said that there is no uh person in the county that's qualified or the area.
1:12:48
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° You're also saying you're also saying I just want to add You're saying two things simultaneously. You're saying I couldn't find a qualified person. You're also saying the people in our department are not qualified. Because you're saying the people in our department can't get the job done. And if you had given us an extra $10,000, then the same people in our department would have been brought up to snuff by this one guy.
1:13:11
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° And that's what I'm hearing.
1:13:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° You and you're not you're you're not entirely wrong. There has to be I I've I've been unashamed in saying we need a culture change throughout throughout throughout our city employees. Not any of these um single department head that you bring in here um will vouch that I've had that conversation with them directly. I I'm unashamed in admitting that there's got to be a different approach to how we expect people to show up and do their jobs. There has to be and I have I'm not I'm I don't think that's a heel that I'm going to be moved from. This uh the city's condition I think has been decades of mismanagement in lots of ways and that's that's to be said without pointing the finger at a single person but I do think we have to be honest and if I look at the math because I want I think numbers numbers take out the bias numbers take out numbers to tell the story we've paid in about three months time in terms of presidents actually spending the city $200,000 to an individual that we thought was dependable because we kept contracting with him, had faith in still, and I think some of us um were impressed by him when he came and did his um when we interviewed him as a body to not pay someone $70,000 annually, but pay them $200,000. If we're talking about math, if we're talking about being good with numbers, if we're talking about savings, that's not saving. That's not making a smart decision in my assessment. So, do I think that I don't and I've said this before and I've also said this to the candidate. I don't think he's the only person that can do the job. I've I feel like I've said that on tape at this table before as well. We have not been sitting on our hands to make sure that this person only gets a job that's reserved for him. That's not the approach. We have been actively looking. We haven't found someone that I think is going to do that the way it needs to be done currently being that we need culture shift. We and we do. So the math the math there I think is staggering. We have savings from uh combining a department. We have a better approach than continually paying contractors. Even as our um even as our trucks have been down recently, he's been one of the contractors that we've used along with a different contractor from out of um Clarksdale. So, back to my original point because you're saying it, but you're not saying it. And the first thing I got to remind you, I I told you in the first 30 days, if you don't buy the garbage truck, you're going to spend money on the contractor. I stopped by twice and I told you, you got to buy the truck. If you don't buy the truck, you're going to spend money on the contract. That was a savings if we had purchased the truck. But what you're saying is that the trash is in the condition that it's in because you couldn't get the guy that you wanted.
1:16:14
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I just I don't I don't I don't think that that's just not acceptable. I mean, we we we we increased the pay and I just cannot believe there's not a qualified person in this county. We had to go all the way over to Mississippi to find someone who can run Senator Street.
1:16:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield People commute for work all the time, Councilman Etherly. Um, and we've looked in I I'm going to maintain we've looked internally around this county. We have I'm going to maintain that.
1:16:43
Unidentified Okay.
1:16:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield $200,000 for three months worth of work when it adds up doesn't make sense. It doesn't when you can pay the person 70,000. It doesn't make sense. So I I just want to backtrack first and if we can the the resolution on the table from Dr. Miller. Um I do want to ask first is there a motion if there's no further discussion on that to have daily reports about um trash pickup and tra the status of trash. Is there um is there a motion to accept that?
1:17:19
Unidentified I'm sorry. What was that?
1:17:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is there a motion for the resolution?
1:17:23
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° The resolution. I'll make the motion.
1:17:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is there a second?
1:17:30
Unidentified Second. What's the motion?
1:17:32
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° This is the resol resolution. Pass the resolution.
1:17:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° This would be resolution. Thank you.
1:17:37
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° This is resolution number 11.
1:17:40
Unidentified 11.
1:17:41
Unidentified Number 11.
1:17:42
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Who seconded it, sir?
1:17:43
Unidentified Okay.
1:17:44
Unidentified Miss Davis.
1:17:45
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Miss Davis. Okay.
1:17:48
Roll call Roll-call vote — Monica Davis: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Maxine Miller: yes.
1:18:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you. So, I will correspond with the um with Mr. Strider to make sure that this is aware that he's aware of this and we will um make sure that that is the expectation as we move forward after today. Thank you all. Uh, next up, we only have a couple more items on the agenda. We've already um spent a little bit of time discussing this, but amendment for the base pay ordinance. Um, I spoke with the c I spoke with the potential candidate that um I thought the br the bridge was burned as of um couple months ago. That is not the that is not the correct understanding that I had. There is still an interest to um work with the city and for the city. um this individual has a passion for this. The requested salary is still the same. Honestly, I do not um I do not think anything um I do not think paying someone for the value of their work is um is ill advised and I do want to just entertain a motion with the or encourage the discussion if there is any more that could potentially lead to a motion to amend the base pay ordinance for this particular position. you want to amend the base pay ordinance. Is that what you're saying?
1:19:25
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, we have a candidate that has a requested salary. Um, the requested salary is 70, which is more than what the base pay ordinance is for for that position. I believe that if we ma if we made that amendment to the base pay ordinance, we would have a um we would have a candidate that I do think could um do leaps and bounds to make sure that our trash department a trash a street and sanitation department um functions functions tightly.
1:19:55
Unidentified Well, first of all, how much is it getting paid to begin with and what does he want
1:20:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° right now? He uh he has his own business. He he doesn't he's not on he doesn't work for the city at any same person.
1:20:08
Unidentified Yes.
1:20:09
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Unless unless he's contracted um with the city. He he doesn't he's not on payroll.
1:20:16
Unidentified I just I don't understand why trash is being held hostage for for this one person.
1:20:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Trash is not being held hostage. It's not I I'm so I just want to be unequivocally clear. I don't make hiring decisions lightly. I don't. And I think that what's at the heart of this might be different standards and different expectations. And I can live with that. I will maintain that I um we've been looking for the right person for the job, whoever that might be. We've interviewed several candidates. We've interviewed most candidates from this area. That's not to say that there's no qualified candidate here. If they're here, we haven't found them yet. That's not to say there is no qualified candidates in Phillips County. I do not think that um someone working from outside of the city is abnormal. It is 2026 and a lot of people commute for work if not work for another place remotely. I do think we have to shift our thinking on that. With that being said, there there's no attempt to hold um street sanitation hostage. I I just maintain that the n the numbers do not make sense. The numbers do not make sense. I maintain that. And we have an opportunity tonight. We have an opportunity tonight to move forward um with a candidate that's pro $200,000 to me has pro has had and paid in contract has proven that we have somebody dependable and consistent.
1:21:38
Unidentified I'm still trying to understand why what is the point of having a base pay ordinance then if every time we have a candidate that we like and we think it's going and I'm not saying they're not qualified. Why not hire at the base pay and then a couple of months later, whatever deemed time afterwards, you decide, hey, I think they really deserve a raise. Then come back to the table to do an adjustment. I don't understand why what because to me it defeats the whole purpose of a base pay. A base pay is a base pay. You don't hire somebody based or you don't adjust the base pay based on the person you want to hire. I don't I don't understand that. And I'm not saying the person's not qualified. I mean, is it not possible? Y'all educate me. Is it not possible to hire somebody at a base pay and then go back later and give them an increase in salary? The base pay says 180 days after the person has been hired they are eligible if approved for a payment that's six months. So yes it is it's possible.
1:22:55
Unidentified And how long has it been since the last time we talked about this issue
1:23:00
Unidentified January
1:23:02
Unidentified February March April May so we would have been four months in
1:23:08
Mayor Joseph Whitfield of that 180 days or whatever. I don't think I think we're just playing a dangerous I don't disagree with the fact that that's what the base pay ordinance is. The base pay ordinance says that you have to come in yes and wait to get a raise. That's what the base pay says. I don't think that um someone requesting a salary that is reasonable when compared to other department heads in the city and also um justified through resume. It's my personal opinion that I don't think the best the base pay ordinance is the greatest option for controlling salaries. I do think a range based on um skill sets and qualifications and credentials is where we need to move to because the base pay ordinance it it's it's a little bit of a trap. And so I I'm fully aware that what the base pay states but I do think that there are some flaws in in this particular case. I mean I think it's about perspective. Um,
1:24:03
Unidentified but mayor, the difference is this. You keep talking about the other department heads.
1:24:09
Unidentified This person wanted 70 for three days. Not a five day week like all the other department heads, but a three-day. Am I right or wrong?
1:24:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield He He would be here every day. He would have been here every and and would be if we decide to amend this uh base payments today. He would be here every day. Not three days. Not three. If if this body does not want to I'm not in the um game of pressuring people to do things that they don't want to do. Um if this body does not want to move to amend the base pay ordinance, we will continue the search for a qualified street and sanitation director. We will continue that search. The opportunity just arose within the last week to potentially get this candidate uh candidate again. I think that we are making a mistake by not hiring somebody that's very qualified. Somebody that's had a very high position in the city of Houston, Texas. Somebody that we've paid $200,000 to that's requesting a salary of 70,000. Someone that can step into a position where we've made savings for $163,560 and paying him7 would still net us $93,560 in terms of what we actually spent um last year for those positions. And what's he asking?
1:25:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° 70.
1:25:26
Unidentified Okay. And that is that before or after the employment taxes and everything else? Is that including all of that?
1:25:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° That that's what Yeah.
1:25:36
Unidentified Well, are you asking like for fringe benefit? Like does that include fringe benefits essentially?
1:25:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No. No. That that's what he's asking for his um salary.
1:25:44
Unidentified So that's before you have to tack on employment taxes and all those,
1:25:49
Unidentified right?
1:25:49
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Yeah. So yeah. So every every salary every base pay salary is that plus all the other costs. But I I I I keep saying this making financial decisions based on what's in the account and based on what we did last year or the year before is a really really shaky way to operate. And and I'm saying this because madam clerk are we flushed with cash right now? you have 105,000 in the general fund and payroll Friday.
1:26:23
Unidentified So that's more than 105,000 off my just general knowledge.
1:26:27
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° That's probably the net. It's not the gross which means we fall farther behind payroll taxes and all those other things. I understand we want to go out and get the very very best person available, but given the financial the numbers that I talked about earlier, we just heard after we had that long conversation earlier, we just heard now we're paying contractors to to pick up garbage. We got trucks that we thought would be back a month ago. They're not back. This is going, it's snowballing. It's going. It's going. And but that's what happens every year in the city. This is not new. This is what happens. And so we cannot afford to willy-nilly make decisions. And I just don't know how you make decisions based on something that happened last year. We're not even in last year's position. This is the exact opposite. And I I'm not going to belabor this point anymore. Um, if the body doesn't want to move on a base pay amendment, um, this is the exact opposite of trying to do what I don't want us to spend $200,000 or excessively any amount in contracting services and we we're we're contracting with people um over the last we've contracted with people over the last two weeks. I'm saying what you're saying, Councilman Anthony, I want to do differently from what what we did a couple years ago, a year ago, within the last year and a half. We paid $200,000 for three months to someone that we could have hired for $70,000. I I have a hard time understanding why that doesn't make sense. I have a very hard time understanding.
1:28:10
Unidentified So he does he does residential, right? If we had purchased the truck, then maybe we don't have to hire him to contract. I mean, there's some decisions that negate the other. There's some decisions that have to be made in order to not make this decision. So, at the time, if we purchase the truck, then maybe we don't need the contractor. I mean, this this just
1:28:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I agree we shouldn't be here, but I agree we shouldn't be here for a different reason.
1:28:39
Unidentified If we hired him, we would need contractors. Is that what you're saying?
1:28:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I think we would need way less. And I believe I I can confidently say that we would be farther along than where our trash have been. I I I can confidently say that. Absolutely.
1:28:56
City Attorney Andre Valley° The the practical question I have both sides of of of you all and I would like both y'all just address it for the public's sake. You are talking about the salary as it relates to the contractors. I think you all are conflating two issues and what I mean conflating two issues. One is the salary uh but hiring him I think you still have to fix equipment cuz the contracting is because of equipment not because of salary. And so I need you all to to address that for clarity.
1:29:25
Unidentified To to that point, I think that's why leadership matters.
1:29:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° To that point, I I've been on the record saying this before. Personnel matters. The trucks we just purchased, the trucks that have been broken breaking down are two years old. That's a new truck. Those are new trucks. I thought we lost truck two trucks last year
1:29:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° even I was approximating two but what I'm trying to say is that they're new they're new trucks
1:29:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield and and we and we've had and we've had issues with those trucks that to that point that is why I say it's not just a matter of equip equipment is going to be as good as the author of it as the sculptor of it as the user of it I do think the intangible in this situation is the right people in the right places. So I'm with that I mean I'm going to I'll open the floor if there's any other discussion but again I'm not in the business of forcing people to do things that they don't want to do. I do think we're making a big mistake having an opportunity to get somebody that's qualified for this role. Um but and this and I will I will own the fact that it is my assessment that that this is the best decision to make. It is my it is my assessment. This is the best decision to make.
1:30:50
Unidentified How many trucks do we actually have?
1:30:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um trucks running right now. One one residential and I believe two uh two boom trucks. One of the boom trucks had a hose or line break on it within the last 3 weeks, but it was fixed shortly after. So,
1:31:06
Unidentified we got one boom truck,
1:31:07
Unidentified two two boom truck, two knuckle boom trucks running.
1:31:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No, two both of them are working as of today and one residential truck.
1:31:16
Unidentified How many?
1:31:18
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Uh, five.
1:31:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, we have one truck that just went down yesterday. Six, I'm sorry, six. I'm forgetting one. But we had one truck that just went down yesterday and the commercial truck, the overhead uh loader that we use for our commercial businesses has been in Memphis and we've been on the phone with them constantly about trying to expedite that process uh to get that truck back to um Helena so we can have it in circulation. So um the CDL drivers, like I mentioned, I do believe that's going to provide some um some relief. We've hired two qualified CDL drivers and I do believe that was going to bring some relief in terms of making sure we have a rotation going. Um but there the the ills and the problems that um have to be addressed are many. And so some of it um I don't we can't we can continue to band-aid or kind of make decisions out of um obscurity or not trying to address something directly. It it's my assessment that we we need the best people for the right places. Um, and I maintain that. So, um,
1:32:22
Unidentified we have anybody on the staff that can make repairs on this truck?
1:32:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We We do have a mechanic. We have a mechanic and they did get the boom truck. Um, I'm not sure. I don't want to give you the wrong technical description of what happened to the knuckle boom truck at the landfield, but I believe they drove over um they drove over something that punctured one of the ho lines or hoses underneath and the truck was back up in a couple of days. Um the commercial truck that's in uh Memphis has a warranty, which is why I had to go to Memphis. And then the second truck yesterday that broke down, that truck has a part um that needed to be ordered. And so we're waiting on a part for that truck. Um so so yeah, that that's the situation of our um of our fleet currently.
1:33:06
Unidentified The the the commercial truck has been being repaired for some time. What are we talking about in terms of cost of repair?
1:33:16
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We we're not sure of that figure yet. We our last conversation with them was Friday. Um the diagnostic, it took them a while to get to the diagnostic. Um I did express my disconcern or my just uh my uh dissatisfaction with how they've handled the process and how long it's taken them. Um but that final figure has not been given to us yet and as soon as it is um we will share that with the body so that you all know.
1:33:42
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay. So we have an unknown repair cost on the on the commercial. We got two people who just came on to the payroll. I'm just pointing out the the moving parts that I keep talking about the money the financial moving parts and how important it is to actually know which we won't be able to know at this point. I understand why we can't know at this point, but I'm understand the importance of having the best information possible before you make these financial decisions. And I guess I I'll say again, uh I hear what you're saying about the department and the people in the department. I just cannot believe there's not a person around here that can't run that department for $60,000. Um sir,
1:34:30
Unidentified he he had in one of my correspondents I think he said that um he he felt as though the warranty was going to cover the majority of cost for the commercial.
1:34:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° That's my impression as well. But and
1:34:43
Unidentified but they were waiting on feedback from the warranty company.
1:34:47
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° He submitted yesterday.
1:34:48
Unidentified Yeah,
1:34:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° he did. He just submitted yesterday.
1:34:50
Unidentified Yeah.
1:34:51
Unidentified Okay. Okay. Good. Okay. Good. Yeah. Okay.
1:34:55
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, with that being said, um I'm going I'm going to just ask the body just for clarity and um transparency. Do we do we want to move forward with a um an amendment to the base pay ordinance for this particular position or do we want to continue the search with the base pay ordinance set as is?
1:35:13
Unidentified When was the last time we advertised this position?
1:35:16
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um within a month ago. Within the within the last month.
1:35:21
Unidentified And where is it advertised?
1:35:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° That one was online. Um, Indeed, not Indeed, but uh, LinkedIn.
1:35:28
Unidentified LinkedIn.
1:35:29
Unidentified Yeah.
1:35:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And I mean, we are more than happy to run it back to the paper. We've also done um, like I said, we're trying to do referrals through the community. So, I mean, we're turning over every stone in Philips County in the nearby area. Absolutely.
1:35:47
Unidentified Can you actually tell me the people that we had working on sanitation department? Um, every day
1:35:54
Unidentified this truck, you have to do their names. If they know what they're doing,
1:35:58
Unidentified we have we have
1:35:58
Unidentified every day we turn around every week trucks break down.
1:36:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Something wrong with this truck. Something wrong with that truck. We don't have enough trucks. Something tells me nobody knows what we're doing properly. We uh we have a u we have a mechanic on staff and like I mentioned the um the knuckle boom truck that went down they were able to get a mechanic
1:36:20
Unidentified um I don't think
1:36:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° no I know the name I just I try not to talk about specific personnel at the table but but we we have a mechanic I I can share that with you afterwards. Um I try not to talk about specific personnel at at the table. Um but yeah
1:36:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield you don't have to we can we can talk more about that. Um I'm So we're moving on. I'm uh moving away from line item number five or business item number five. Um our last and final uh order of business is uh number six, a request to initiate a deed transfer of 620 Plaza. Um the city attorney mentioned this a little bit earlier that we had a success this week in terms of code enforcement being impactful, being effective. There were four properties and you'll see those um listed for new business item number seven. Um there's no action to take on that so I'm just going to read those properties. 302 Sebastian, 907 Pan Street, 516 Perry Street, and 620 Plaza Street. These are four local properties that I want to bring to the body to make sure that um we have a vote and a hearing to condemn these properties. Uh there have been solutions that we can put um that we can make via ordinance as we make those decisions for 302. Sebastian, the owner has agreed to make a $4,500 payment towards um the tear down of that particular property um for 907 Pan Street. There is a um local organization willing to give a donation um for the demolition of that property if we are able to uh move forward into some reabatement for that property. For 516 Perry Street, there is this will consist of a pile pickup and excavation of that land as well. And so because of um that simply being a smaller task, we have a quote from a local excavator to be able to handle that um site for the price of $500 to pick up that uh to pick up the debris and excavate that. And last but not least, 620 Plaza. Um going back to where I started, this is a potential land donation um to the city. This is a house right on the main throughway or yeah main throughway plaza has been a um a problem site for a while and the family was here today um willing to um donate that to us um
1:38:41
Unidentified and I'll use
1:38:41
City Attorney Andre Valley what what occurred with 620 Plaza u when I have been meeting with the code enforcement relating to that and mayor uh we sent certified letters to them and returned and upon them being returned we discovered that the individual that was owner of the property was in Crush Park nursing home.
1:39:00
City Attorney Andre Valley And so what we did in Mariana, so cold forman Kendra Smith and I went to Mariana yesterday, served the administrator with the copy of u all the condemnation paperwork and she told us that the person that owned it was not uh has a power of attorney. So they weren't capable making decisions. So she gave us information to contact the power of attorney and he contacted her this morning and she came in and says listen I would like to give it to the city. Mayor cannot accept the property on behalf of the city. The city council has to make an informed decision and u vote to accept. you all in charge of real property. And so what the mayor put on the agenda tonight for for you all to consider um authorizing them to donate it to the city and the city to take control of the city, tear it down. The city would not get any leans or any of those things. Uh what would happen is if y'all authorized it, uh I would draft a deed from uh her as power of attorney for her mother to the city and the city would would would accept that. And that's how we' execute it. But the city council would have to specifically vote on that before we went forward.
1:40:19
Unidentified But you still would have a structure that's there
1:40:21
City Attorney Andre Valley° except the city would be the owner of it now and the city would could could uh raise it without going through any formal things.
1:40:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And for Thank you, city attorney.
1:40:31
Unidentified It's it is 600 block of Plaza.
1:40:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° This is 620 Plaza Street. the house that was burned that's burned a couple of times that's had some um
1:40:40
Unidentified as you go around Richmond Hill where where your family's business used to be and you come around as you come around to the right you'll see between six and seventh street a house to the right
1:40:48
Unidentified yeah cars be sitting there many times and it's uh it's yellow at the top it's red brick at the bottom it's burned
1:40:56
Unidentified uh there have been vagrants there and all all manner of things
1:41:00
Unidentified question why do we want to own it why we want to own it up to
1:41:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield city council it's u I think it's a good idea a to own this lot because um there needs to be something done about the property and this is probably the actually the I think most straightforward less tangled way of handling any one of these four properties a donation um it's a lot that could be improved into something for public use and I actually sent a list of um lots and parcels that are owned by the city to make sure that street and sanitation are using their time wisely. We we've had a history of cutting lots that did not belong to us. I think that they've um not they, but there's been a practice of that. And so we had a conversation within the last week to get that clear. Adding this particular lot does not um does not add too much. It doesn't add a burden to what we already own as a city um as a city of Helen, West Helena. And I do believe that's this is a a really great potential to put something um that's for public use in a in a place that needs some attention and some beautifification
1:42:07
City Attorney Andre Valley° to be responsible. The advantage with you own it. You you don't have to get anybody notice. You can go ahead and raise and tear down contract and get it down. The disadvantage is you lose taxes because you own it. You lose leans for the service and the work that you do you can't recover because it's yours. Well, and my thought process was, okay, so if we if they give us permission to tear it down, we have proper permission, we can still tear it down, clear it off, but we don't have to be responsible for it. They may find somebody who wants to buy it, and then you have somebody who continues to pay the property taxes on it.
1:42:43
Unidentified That's just my thought.
1:42:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° The city the city can we can sell it as well. I mean, if we don't want to go the route of making it up for public use, we we also have the route to sell it, too. I think the fastest way to us taking the donation is the fastest way to take care of 16 Plaza Street though. I mean, they can sell it and slash they can't give us permission. The owner or the power of attorney said that they actually want it off of their hands. So,
1:43:07
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° oh well that that doesn't matter if the person who owns it says you can tear it down. You just get them to sign off on an agreement to tear it down. The speed doesn't there's no relationship to speed. No,
1:43:16
City Attorney Andre Valley° the practical issues that she was saying is when she met with Kendrick Smith and and the chief of staff this morning, what she was saying is that
1:43:24
City Attorney Andre Valley° part of the issue is on the power attorney, the the ward does not have the funds to for a contract and I have no authority to sign a contract.
1:43:36
Unidentified I assume that part. They can't afford to tear it down. So, they want to give it to the city.
1:43:40
City Attorney Andre Valley° That's correct.
1:43:40
Unidentified See, you can just have it. We don't want to maintain it. We don't want to take care of the city. You can have it. It's yours.
1:43:44
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° That's right. We go in, we tear it down, we clear it off. The issue is, and I'm being consistent every time we have these conversations, I go back to money. The more property we acquire, the more responsibility we have to a limited to a limited workforce. And so, I didn't see what the endgame was on us taking on this property when we can clear it all.
1:44:02
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° We take on the permanent responsibility.
1:44:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We've just cleared our street and sanitation department from cutting a lot of parcels that we don't own. adding this particular small lot is not going to overburden their workload. It is not. So, we made it very clear the places that we're supposed to cut because um making sure that they're cut timely is something that I'm invested in and I've noticed that there have been holdups and that was one of the key areas and key problems. Um there are lots that just want ours that for whatever reason we've been cutting um
1:44:35
Unidentified cuz they because they they get overgrown and then we cut them to
1:44:38
Mayor Joseph Whitfield and that's why code enforcement is code enforcement is a priority because we have to as a city it takes it takes accountability and responsibility for a city to thrive and um everybody at the table is has a vote to make to exercise your voice or whether you think it's a proper decision to take a donation or not. There are such things as land banks as well that I do think we need to start to look at in part because we have an issue of folks buying property in the city limits of Helena West Helena without the intention to um sell them or fix them, use them and that's a mechanism we can use to control who gets those properties. Um I do agree with the one point that we that there isn't this isn't the only pathway that we have to take or can take. I think it's the best pathway to take to own this to own this lot potentially have a place where we would like to use it as a public use area and if not we can sell it to someone that we know has um cause for development. So is there any other discussion about this uh accepting this potential donation? Is there is there a motion to move to accept and have the city attorney draft um the deed?
1:45:57
Unidentified Can we work well to next next meeting with this? I thought we I thought we talked in the meeting about having our code enforcement officer was going to give us a report every week or when we met on what's going on with property that they have consulted with people.
1:46:18
Unidentified I thought
1:46:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I mean we can arrange that. I'm not sure I don't recall saying that they would be here weekly but we I mean we can arrange that for the next meeting. our code enforcement. We just had a public forum where they showed their um success stories, before and after pictures. [clears throat] We explained to the public the difference between the stickers. So, I mean, code enforcement has been active. They have been present. They've been visible. And if if we need to have that um presentation made here at this particular body, we can. I do encourage you all that there to to come out to town halls if you see I don't know if you were aware that we had a town hall. This would have been last Tuesday, I believe. But um but those opportunities do happen. That's that's what I'm trying to get at that we are being transparent with what's happening. And the reason why we're having this conversation now is because code enforcement's been active. Um so with that, is there is there a motion to have
1:47:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° good is there a motion to have the city attorney draft a deed for us to accept this donation?
1:47:20
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) I'm not I'm not against it. I just kind of want to think about it and I'd like to go by the property and look at it.
1:47:25
Unidentified Okay.
1:47:26
City Attorney Andre Valley If we could just [clears throat] If you have your packet I just add this to the attorney. If you have your packets from um last meeting, it is in the packet of the houses that we took pictures and photos of. So you are able I mean you can drive by as well, but it's also in your packets. Okay. because of the length of the agenda. I while I was here before my phone died, I emailed all of you all about condemnation. And so when you get home, you could take your emails about condemnation cuz there's two different roads that we travel on condemnation. One is what the city council does. Others will go to a circuit court to do it. And I tried to summarize that for you all and try not to be too verbose to give you too much language in it and um so you can explain it. uh as we go forward again I said we we're trying to move forward diligently this matter it's six in one hand half a dozen other I think the primary thing is the city if you deed it to the city the city would be be the owners of it the city would have to pay to get it torn down and if you're going to accept it you got to have a plan to go ahead and get it torn down because we're in the process of trying to get it torn down
1:48:31
City Attorney Andre Valley u the practical issue that we're going to go forward on condemnation is the expense of tearing the properties down cuz we're going to do everything from the city attorney's office. When it gets to my desk, we're going to move it forward and everything that we're going to do is get it before you, get it to court or whatever we need to do.
1:48:49
City Attorney Andre Valley The practical issue, the wall that we're speeding towards is being able to tear them down. And the issue that that that we have is uh I think part of it is the practical issue that previous administrations have had is uh having a trackhole and having the trailer to get the track from spot to spot and to have those victories. I'm all for it going forward. I've processed everything that's been given to me and I've continue to work with both of the code enforcement officers as they work for the mayor. Again, I deal with what's given to me.
1:49:25
City Attorney Andre Valley And if it's not given to me, I don't have it. I can't write a ticket for a speeding. I can't tear a house down until I get a citation or something else. But as we go forward, we we'll move forward with it. These four properties the mayor wants uh done. He's negotiating trying to get them done. And to this extent, they will get to my desk. We will move forward with them. I've asked them to get these four properties to my desk. When I mean to my desk, I mean the green cards, the notices, everything that we need in order to move the case forward. That's what I mean. The complete packets and we're working on them to try to get the complete packets to go forward. As it relates to this one property, if you all want to table it, fine. I would encourage you if you're table to drive by and look at it. Uh but I also encourage you to look at uh as we go forward and the council needs to be thinking about resources being dedicated to the eradication of some of these structures cuz going through code enforcement, going through city attorney's office, going to court, getting everything done, having hearings and all that. It's it's really frustrating if it's just going to be done and then we just have a list of property we would no action. And so at some point, city council has to appropriate some money and has to look at it. I know what what all of you all are saying. We have some financial problem, but uh we may have to do some public and private partnerships to try to get this done, but we need to do something.
1:50:45
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I want to I want to just take a quick moment to just explain the process that um we we are in out rolling out. uh code enforcement has a dedicated account for their funds and we're making that was done to make sure that the funds that come in from occupational licenses, fines and fees that can be used to bank for all these projects. There are a couple as you as you if you can just recall from the list that I just shared, there are a couple as the city attorney just said, uh there's one private this I guess you could say there are two public uh private partnerships. the potential donation for um the demolition coming from uh coming for 907 Pan Street is an opportunity to do that and 620 Plaza Street um is a potential to do that. Um you eat an elephant one bite at a time. There's a reason why there are only four finances are uh definitely considered as we put these lists together because if we had an everflowing uh source of money, this list would be a lot longer than four residences. There are four for a reason. the city can make change. All be it um bite-sized, we can make change. And so we are being um prudent and frugally um aware of how we put these packets and this information together. And these four properties, as I mentioned about those three streets that we just voted to do, these four properties can be done. Um and three cases, the payments will be done not by the city. Where is this property located? 6 620 620
1:52:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° 620 is the address
1:52:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° is the address and it's also in your packet from last meeting on plaza 620 plaza
1:52:28
Unidentified and I just want to mention when you buy a piece of property [clears throat] down
1:52:33
Unidentified who's going to be responsible keep grass cut
1:52:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° the city
1:52:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° if if we're talking about 620
1:52:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield yeah if we're talking about 620 we'll be respons which was we have the manpower to cut 620 we have the if we took the property we have the manpower and we have the ma'am. We're talking about one lot. We have the man power. Um if there's no extra discussion, um I will entertain a motion to journ.
1:52:57
Unidentified Oh. Oh,
1:53:00
Unidentified I'm sorry. One last thing.
1:53:02
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° What's that?
1:53:03
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Miss Miller kicked my brain when she talked about that garbage truck. Did we ever make the claim for loss of use on that garbage truck?
1:53:12
City Attorney Andre Valley No. Okay. I offered several months ago to do that. I offer my offer was not accepted. I offer again. Would you like for me to work on that loss of use CL?
1:53:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I would love to collaborate. Councilman Leia, you can you can come in. Um some of the decisions and there are some decisions that I believe should be made as we get a more complete department. And I'm not saying that that's um one of them, but I think that's kind of been a trend through conversation. You said that last time and to be honest, I got the impression that you didn't understand what I meant by loss of use.
1:53:47
City Attorney Andre Valley° It's just a property claim.
1:53:51
City Attorney Andre Valley I can't accept it. They won't send it to me. They'll send it to the city, but you the body would have to agree to accept it. Somebody just needs to do the paperwork. And so what I offered to do is to just do the paperwork. It could be any it could be $5,000. It could be $10,000. It could be $12,000. But I told them when we paid the contractor that we would submit a loss of use claim to get reimbursed for monies that we paid the contractor. I did not get to follow up on that, but I offered to do it. You don't need a department. That's something that should be handled administratively. So all I'm saying is I have them I have the claims information already. If you want me to do it, I'll do it. If you don't, I'll leave it alone. If we don't need the money, we'll just leave it there.
1:54:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° If you would like to collaborate, Mr. Etheler, you can stop by the office. It's not by the office.
1:54:38
City Attorney Andre Valley° I'll let you I'll let you approve my communication. You can check it and check the spelling and everything and then I'll get
1:54:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Is there a motion to adjurnn?
1:54:47
Unidentified I move we adjourn.
1:54:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Meeting adjourn. [snorts]
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.