In 30 seconds
- Sanitation: no vote taken. Council will gather cost data this week to compare running trash collection in-house versus a third-party contract, aiming to review informal bids around July.
- Council adopted Resolution 12, approving the fiscal year budgets for the Airport Commission and the Advertising & Promotion Commission, passing 6-0.
- M2X's landfill methane-extraction proposal was not approved. Council called the proposed 50-year term too long and wants a committee to review terms before any agreement.
- No lease was signed for animal control. Council directed staff to define program scope first; the mayor's near-term plan is to fill a vacant animal-control-agent position housed in the police department rather than commit to the $500/month 613 Oakland Ave. building right away.
- Entergy reported $772,184 in unpaid utility balances across city accounts ($547,249) and water department accounts ($230,958), some dating to 2011. Entergy pledged to forgive $115,954.01 of balances older than 3 years; collection will focus on balances under 3 years old.
- The city closed its Army Corps of Engineers debt with a final $50,000 payment and sent an IRS release form to Rep. Crawford's office seeking help on its IRS balance. The resident scheduled to raise police and water department complaints did not attend.
Recap
Approval of previous minutes
The council approved minutes from the May 5, May 19, and June 2 regular meetings and the June 4 special landfill meeting, as previously emailed to members. The vote passed with St. Columbia, Miller, Etherly, and Mayor Whitfield voting yes; Councilman Davis had not yet arrived for the vote.
Sanitation: third-party vendor conversation (sponsored by Dr. Miller)
Mayor Whitfield opened the item saying he is not opposed to a third-party vendor but prefers to first find the right department head, and distributed a sample RFP used in Mobile County. Councilman St. Columbia recalled that before consolidation the city hired outside help to pick up garbage and it worked, though it cost more. Councilman Etherly said the discussion is premature until the city gets bids, warning the city could lose sanitation employees along with the revenue if it contracts out. City Clerk Ramsey confirmed sanitation rates have not been raised in more than 10 years, holding at $28/month. Etherly later ran the math: at a hypothetical $28/household contractor rate against the current $28.25 charge, the city's $120,000-$130,000 monthly sanitation revenue would effectively disappear. City Attorney Valley noted the city has never collected large commercial/roll-off trash and flagged a recent Arkansas Supreme Court ruling limiting exclusive-contract rights. Mayor Whitfield reaffirmed his intent to fill the vacant sanitation director position rather than outsource. Councilman Dr. Miller, the item's sponsor, said he gets 3-4 calls a week about missed pickups and called trash collection a basic right. The mayor noted the city has spent about $10,000 in contract labor pay this year amid a $60,000-vs-$70,000 salary dispute over the director post. St. Columbia argued the city should pay truck drivers well rather than a $70,000 supervisor. No motion was made; the mayor committed to sharing current sanitation department cost numbers by email this week to support informal bid comparisons, with a possible follow-up meeting in July.
Commission budgets: Airport Commission and A&P Commission
Mayor Whitfield presented Resolution 12, adopting the fiscal year budgets for the Airport Commission and the Advertising & Promotion Commission, needed to stay in compliance with audit requirements. The A&P budget had already been approved by its own commission and required only city council sign-off. The council approved the resolution 6-0 by roll call vote.
M2X landfill methane-extraction proposal
Mayor Whitfield revisited the M2X proposal to build a methane-extraction station at the Helena-West Helena landfill: the city would pay no setup cost, and would be compensated through royalties only after $2 million in sales. Councilwoman Maxine Miller called the proposed 50-year term too long, said the landfill is one of the city's most valuable assets, and asked for a committee to review the deal rather than sign now; other members agreed. The mayor said he will contact the M2X representatives to reconvene a review team rather than move to a vote.
Animal control: 613 Oakland Ave. lease
Mayor Whitfield presented a draft lease for 613 Oakland Ave. at $500/month for an animal control/rescue site, noting an alternative ARDOT-owned site (listed for about $400,000) fell through because ARDOT does not lease property. City Attorney Valley said the council must first define the program's scope, resources, and budget before considering any lease. The mayor's near-term proposal is to fill an existing but unoccupied animal-control-agent position, housed within the police department, and equip that person to handle animals such as tranquilizing dogs. Councilwoman Maxine Miller pushed back, saying she struggles to prioritize a shelter when streets like Springdale Road are collapsing and the city lacks money for gravel, asphalt, or a truck. Mayor Whitfield responded that the two issues are not either/or and that deferred maintenance across many fronts is part of why the city is in its current situation. Councilwoman Miller noted the three street repairs approved two meetings earlier consumed about a third of an original street budget of roughly $50,000. Councilman St. Columbia said potholes are bad citywide and the city risks liability for neglecting them. City Attorney Valley corrected the record, explaining sovereign immunity means the city cannot be sued for pothole damage to vehicles. No lease vote was taken; the council agreed to develop a scope and cost plan first.
Entergy: outstanding utility balances
Mayor Whitfield reported Entergy identified $772,184 in unpaid utility balances , split between $547,249 owed by city of Helena-West Helena accounts and $230,958 owed by water department accounts , with some balances dating to 2011. Entergy has pledged to forgive $115,954.01 of the balances that are older than 3 years; collection efforts will focus on balances under 3 years old, with the city planning to be more aggressive on water department accounts specifically. Final terms are still being finalized with Entergy leadership.
Outstanding balances: Army Corps of Engineers and IRS
Mayor Whitfield reported the city's final annual payment of $50,000 to the Army Corps of Engineers was sent last week, closing an account that had totaled about $300,000. He also reported the city's IRS release form was sent to Representative Crawford's office to request federal assistance on the city's IRS balance; whether that results in forgiveness is not yet known.
Shirley Garner: resident complaint (not addressed)
The agenda listed a resident complaint regarding the Police Department and Water Department, associated with Shirley Garner; on the caption record the mayor referred to the constituent as "Ms. Cornett." The mayor stated the individual was not present at the meeting, and the council moved on without hearing the complaint.
Other business and closing items
The council approved 6-0 an event permit for the Juneteenth Helena Day Field Party/Car Show at River Park on Saturday, June 20, including a school-supply giveaway; the Street Sanitation Department had signed off, with police and fire committing verbally to sign the same day. City Attorney Valley reported no one appeared in response to condemnation-hearing notices sent out, and said several condemnations will appear on the next agenda. Mayor Whitfield announced a water convening meeting for Monday, June 22 at 5:30 p.m., to address billing errors and explain water rate increases to residents. Councilman Etherly said the council needs a dedicated deep-dive meeting on finances and on water infrastructure, arguing that "the math is going to dictate" the answers to many pending decisions. City Attorney Valley confirmed the city has approximately 21 to 22 active lawsuits pending against it.
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Resolution — FY2026 Budgets, Airport Commission and A&P Commission
Packet cover sheet followed by a council resolution approving the Fiscal Year 2026 operating budgets of the Airport Commission and the Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission . The resolution states both budgets were reviewed and found reasonable and appropriately allocated, and authorizes each commission to operate and spend under its approved budget for FY2026, subject to city ordinance, state law, and future council amendments . Takes effect immediately upon passage; signature lines for Mayor and City Clerk are blank in this packet .
Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission — FY2026 Budget Detail
Line-item A&P Commission budget adopted 11/20/25, showing 2024 actual, 2025 budget, and 2026 proposed budget by category: Administrative & Support Services, Advertising & Marketing, Programming/Events/Festivals, A&P Directed Special Projects/Events, and City Parks & Youth Projects . 2026 proposed total expenses are $339,154.21 against projected income from the 2% tax of $340,000.00, leaving income less expense of $845.79 .
| 2026 proposed total expenses | $339,154.21 | |
| 2026 projected income (2% tax) | $340,000.00 | |
| 2026 income less expense | $845.79 | |
| Administrative & Support Services subtotal | $78,554.21 | |
| Advertising & Marketing subtotal | $31,000.00 | |
| Programming/Events/Festivals subtotal | $77,000.00 | |
| A&P Directed Special Projects/Events subtotal | $125,400.00 | |
| City Parks & Youth Projects subtotal | $29,200.00 |
Airport Commission — FY2026 Budget
Helena-West Helena Airport Commission budget for January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026 . Total income of $117,520.00 (farm rent, hangars/buildings, golf course, storage-armory) against total operating expense of $41,575.00 yields income before depreciation of $75,945.00; after a $107,000.00 depreciation expense, net income is a loss of $(31,055.00) . A note states not all income is cash — some is a journal entry reducing prepaid rent .
| Total income | $117,520.00 | |
| Total expense | $41,575.00 | |
| Income before depreciation | $75,945.00 | |
| Depreciation expense | $107,000.00 | |
| Net income | $(31,055.00) |
Animal Control Lease — Letter of Intent, 613 Oakland Avenue
Letter of intent dated June 4, 2026 from The CRE Group (representing landlord FOP Properties, LLC) to Mayor Joseph Whitfield and Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold, outlining lease terms for 613 Oakland Avenue, West Helena, AR for use as the city's animal rescue/control office . Term is 24 months starting July 1, 2026, at $500.00/month gross lease, with rent commencing January 1, 2027; tenant (the city) pays its own utilities and provides signage; no security deposit . The letter states it is not legally binding and is for negotiation purposes only, pending a formal lease prepared by an attorney; signature blocks for both parties are unsigned .
| Lease term | 24 months | |
| Lease commencement date | July 1, 2026 | |
| Rental rate | $500.00/mo (gross lease) | |
| Rent commencement date | January 1, 2027 |
Entergy / City Utility Accounts — Outstanding Balance Exhibit
Backup exhibit listing individual city-held utility accounts (water pump/lift stations, library, concession stand, parks, storm-water pump, and street lighting) by account number, holding department, address, and balance owed . Summary lines show total outstanding utility accounts of $772,184, with a Water Department subtotal of $230,958, and a separate Street Lights (West Helena) subtotal of $238,588; some accounts are noted as closed as of 5/6 . This exhibit is the account-level backup for the agenda's Entergy outstanding-balance discussion; the agenda's proposed forgiveness figure of $115,954.01 (for balances under 3 years old) does not itself appear on this page .
| Total of accounts (outstanding) | $772,184 | |
| Water Department subtotal | $230,958 | |
| Street Lights (West Helena) subtotal | $238,588 |
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
Unidentified So, if you had food, we would all be here all day. Maybe barbecue, you know, think about it.
0:26
All present Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
1:08
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Maxine Miller, Dr. Kyle Miller, Adrian Messina, Joe St. Columbia, Don Etherly, Monica Davis. (Attendance verified in the Workroom review by Robert.)
1:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. All right. So, our first order of uh business is old business. This um I'm I'm going to read the minutes. The minutes were sent by uh Madam Clerk and probably you received them in the email. They were for our recent meetings um May 5th, May 19th, June 2nd, and a special uh special meeting uh for the landfill on June 4th. Um do you Assuming folks had a chance to review those, I'll
1:52[snorts]
1:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield entertain a motion to approve them.
1:54
Unidentified I'll I'll that we approve those minutes as they know if you all received them in the email.
1:59
Unidentified Second.
2:00
Roll call Roll-call vote — Joe St. Columbia: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes.
2:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yes.
2:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Mr. Davis has arrived and we were approving the minutes that were emailed to you. I don't know if you've had a chance to read them or not.
2:28
Unidentified Okay.
2:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Motion has been made.
2:30
Unidentified Okay.
2:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Now we'd like to try new business.
2:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Um so, we have the first item that was sponsored by Councilman Dr. Miller. This is a conversation regarding sanitation. The conversation, uh I'm sure you all saw through the email, was an opportunity to talk and discuss third-party vendor services for all municipal trash collection. I did ask Councilman Dr. Miller if he had any material that he wanted to present for this for this particular item. I didn't get that response, but what I did distribute to everyone is an example of an RFP. This is um an example of what's used in Mobile County as an example of what it looks like to have a contract with a third party, and that's been placed on your on your table. So, we wanted to give people an opportunity to navigate that and also share their thoughts about share their thoughts about particularly going with a third-party vendor. And I'll say this, as you all review, I'm not sure where everyone stands as on that. I I don't think contracting with a third-party vendor is something I would never do. Um I don't think it's something I would never do. I've uh had some time to consider it since Dr. Miller since you email, I do believe our trash situation can be remedied through other means, particularly finding the right individual um to um try to put as head person in that department. Um but I'm open to the discussion and I know that I'm sure everybody on the table understands that this would have a ripple effect for how the men and women in the department um may not be employed by the city what can you gain this and Yeah, so
4:24
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) Mr. Pryor, in the city of Helena, uh year before consolidation, uh we got to a point where I I recall um we did hire outside help to pick up the garbage and all and it worked. It cost us a little more, but we didn't have to worry about trucks and we didn't have to worry about the gas or anything. And it uh it did work. It was successful. I think uh my memory uh is correct, uh it was under Dr. Miller was the uh mayor at that time that we did that. Uh I don't know if we did it under Mayor Smith, Joanne Smith, but I remember uh we doing it and it did uh it did work. Uh So, I would uh look at it positively as a possibility. I think it's a good idea.
5:29
Unidentified So, I have a concern for our employees. And if it's hard to push come to shove trying to put people out of a job. I mean, we had to, but
5:44
Unidentified Well, I think what we did what we did at that time, we used those people uh to cut grass and other things. Uh Uh uh well, it's just a to pick up the garbage. Uh I think it was uh and there weren't many employees uh Uh Madam Secretary, you might recall that, too.
6:06
Unidentified Yeah, we just transferred them all to street, parks, and recreation.
6:11
Unidentified one lost their job.
6:12
Unidentified No, well, that was a concern of mine.
6:13
Unidentified We we didn't lose any employees at that time. But it did work and it was very successful. That I recall.
6:24
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Um I think all of this discussion is premature. I said I think all of this discussion is premature because the numbers would dictate whether or not you can even do it or not. You got to get some bids. When we consolidated, we had some groups who came and wanted to put in bids to pick up trash. And the the the the the contractors wanted to make enough money to make a profit to pay their people. Which means you have to have the numbers because we derive a certain amount of income from sanitation. There's no way you can keep the employees because you're going to lose the revenue.
7:04
Unidentified Well, it's costing us more uh than we're taking in really to uh
7:09
City Attorney Andre Valley° Yeah, but but if the contractor wants to make a certain amount of money then our profit comes from the difference that the contractor charges and what we charge our people. It's certainly possible that you have to raise the sanitation fee for the city to maintain its some level of revenue to operate. So, what I'm saying is all this discussion about whether you should or shouldn't do it is premature. We need You need to know what the numbers are and then the math will dictate whether or not it's a workable option or not.
7:40
Unidentified Yes, sir.
7:41
City Attorney Andre Valley° And let me let Mr. Thomas speak to one to to one of your points. Uh the city of Helena isn't as profitable as it should be as relates to sanitation. But in part large part that's due to the to the rates that you currently have. The rates haven't been raised in years. Any contract that we do or any project going forward, there got to be a serious evaluation of what the sanitation rate would be, whether the city chooses to use it and continue to do it or whether you contract third party. To Mr. Etherly's point, any contractor is going to do it for profit.
8:14
Unidentified A profit, sure.
8:15
City Attorney Andre Valley° And so they're going to look at it holistically. Okay, what what is the tonnage that that you have to pay at the landfill? How much are they going to pay employees? What they're going to pay in insurance rates? Uh how much is is the city going to collect? Because in all these contracts, the city is going to say, "We still need to make a profit off of what you're making as well." You're not just going to give it away cuz in the contract with the city of Helena Head, I can't remember the contract with Helena Head, but with West Helena Head Waste Management, Waste Management received a sum and and the city of Helena received a sum cuz it was a franchise agreement.
8:51
Unidentified Did West Helena do it at that time?
8:53
City Attorney Andre Valley° During the boycott, um then Mayor Rodney Porter signed a contract with Waste Management. When Mayor Johnny Weaver became mayor, he terminated their contract. But yes, West Helena did it for about three or four years with Waste Management.
9:09
Unidentified It's something for us to look into. I think it's it's feasible to look into.
9:13
Unidentified I think you all have a duty to look at both ways.
9:16
Unidentified Yeah.
9:17
City Attorney Andre Valley You have a duty to look at it to whether you're going to contract or what's going to be the effective contracting. And also what would be the to properly manage the the um sanitation department. One of the things that beneath the table right now that that is the big elephant in the room, but it's it's here and it's present. It's one of the things that we have not discussed in candor to the citizens of Helena and West Helena is the sanitation department probably is under the underfunded because the rates haven't been raised in so long. But people don't want to have that conversation because the reality is you're saying, "Well, this truck has broke down and this is happening and this is happening." And we hadn't had that discussion. But Mayor Smith uh was the last person to even attempt to raise the rates, but he at the table didn't want to raise the rates. And so we raised water, we raised sewer, but we didn't raise sanitation. It Correct me if I'm wrong, those those who were here, but I don't think we we've raised the rates in years. Madam Clerk, do you recall the last time we raised the sanitation rates?
10:16
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey It's been in excess of 10 years or more.
10:20
Unidentified That what I was thinking. It's been a long time since sanitation rates have been even discussed. We've been paying $28
10:25
Unidentified Yep.
10:26
Unidentified uh per month uh for sanitation for years.
10:28
Unidentified Well, problem we're having really is we're charging people a fee to pick up the sani- garbage and all, and we're not picking it up. And you know, maybe once a month we pick up the garbage or have been. Our track record will tell you what the actual numbers are, but uh it's something for us to look into. Certainly.
10:50
Unidentified I
10:51
Unidentified Uh
10:51
City Attorney Andre Valley° Again, I think you have a duty. I think as a practical thing as Mr. Etherly is saying, uh the one thing we have to do is you have to weigh apples with apples. We need to know what's What is the actual cost to maintain the sanitation department?
11:06
Unidentified Yeah.
11:07
Unidentified And what do we need to do to have that cost? Because whether you want to contract with a third party or the city's going to run it, there's coming down the line if we were to be completely candid with the system. There's going to come an increase to sanitation fees. You spent over 10 years. Over that 10 years what has happened the cost of equipment has gone up. Minimum wage went from $7 to $11. Uh you had other things that have that have gone on this caused the department to have to operate on less money. Even though the rates at one point the rates were good, but I think that once we get the financial study, we need to see exactly what is the actual cost
11:47
Unidentified Yeah.
11:48
Unidentified for operating the department. And whether it's feasible for the city to operate it and what would it take for the city to operate it and whether it's more feasible for the city to contract it. And I think
11:57
Unidentified at our track record, you know, in the city operating it. We're not picking up the garbage and we're charging for it and that's what's bad.
12:04
Unidentified let's pause for a second, Mr. Coleman. Our track record, historically the city has always been able to pick up the trash. It's been in in in recently that the city has had the issue with trash.
12:16
Unidentified So, won't the won't the contractor that that won't that be kind of their due diligence and that they're looking part of some of that that
12:24
Unidentified both sides have a due diligence. That's a good point, but both sides have a due diligence.
12:27
Unidentified Yeah.
12:28
Unidentified The city has a due diligence to know what it's going to say for the city to operate and the contractor has a due diligence to know what what's what's reasonable for them, but we can't give them if you don't know what the cost is for us to actually operate it. We can't properly do a contract with them for them to bid on because uh we don't know the actual profitability of it.
12:52
Unidentified We bought two brand new trucks last year if I recall and they both broke down. So, I mean they're constantly uh we're tearing up our equipment and we're not picking up the garbage and we're collecting from the people and that's not good business. I mean
13:10
Unidentified I
13:10
Unidentified That's why we need to look at
13:12
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) I I don't I don't disagree with what you're saying. And I'm not saying I'm for it or against it. What I'm saying is that the numbers will dictate whether or not we can because we still we still have those two trucks that we're paying for. A contractor may come in and decide I need to charge $28 per household. I'm just making up a number.
13:36
Unidentified Hypothetical.
13:37
Unidentified Hypothetical. $28 per household. Well, what does that mean? We already charge $28.25, right? That means we get $0.25 per household. Do you know what that means to our revenue? That means our revenue, which is $120 to $130,000 a month of sanitation, is gone. Now, you got to lose those employees because you can't pay them anymore. You don't
14:02
Unidentified revenue at all.
14:03
Unidentified Yes, it is.
14:05
Unidentified Because we're paying more than that, right? We're paying $30, $35 uh and not picking up the garbage.
14:13
Unidentified But you don't But that revenue helps you to make payroll. Is there Is there going to be a balance and equal balance? And that's what I'm saying, you It's a prudent question to ask, but the math will dictate what the answer should be. The math will dictate what the answer should be. Yeah. And I don't know what that I don't know what that's going to be. I think I know what it is in my head, but you got to actually do it to find out.
14:32
Unidentified I'm recalling history uh many year ago when Helena when West Helena was separated, Helena did it. We hired an outside firm to come in and pick up garbage. I don't know if it was for just 1 year or 2 years uh 5 years. Uh okay, I can't recall how many years it was, but I recall us doing it and it did work uh uh and it balanced out the money at that time. Now, today it's a little different story. Wages are a little higher. So, I mean we're going to have to look at the numbers, and I agree, but it's it's feasible for us to look at. But we're not picking up the garbage now and collecting money from the people, and that's not fair. It's not the right thing to do.
15:19
Unidentified So, what
15:19
Unidentified The mayor can speak more to that issue, but uh the city is picking up the trash. You You may not be picking up as efficiently as we desire.
15:28
Unidentified Yeah.
15:28
Unidentified But, to say with blanket statement we're not picking up the trash is I mean, to to his point, it's unacceptable. That's our current status.
15:38
Unidentified So, what what what do you what do we all think collectively is our next steps then? If we look at this, what do you
15:45
City Attorney Andre Valley° I think from a practical standpoint, your next steps are for you to study what are the actual costs in an ideal sanitation department.
15:53
Unidentified Okay.
15:54
City Attorney Andre Valley Uh we can get the data from all those who are doing it. Uh Wayne picks up their trash, and uh Fort Smith picks up their trash. Uh Part of it part of the issue is the city gets doing trash, and we never got to expand it. And what I mean by that is this. You should not only just have the trucks that operate and the boom trucks that operate, you have to have secondary equipment as well. We never invested in the secondary equipment. So, when the primary equipment fail, it fails, and you don't have the secondary equipment to to uh continue the the routes. And what many municipalities do is is you buy the primary equipment, but you also have secondary equipment for everything to make sure that we're able to to do it. Uh as it relates to a a third-party contractor, they typically ask for 5 years. And one of the things that sit below the table that we have never done in consolidation or in either previous city, we have not addressed the issue commercial trash. The city has not picked up commercial trash. We've allowed people to do it whatever. The city has the first right to all trash. And part of the finance issue with our sanitation department is we as a city have not tried to collect commercial trash. And what I mean commercial, I mean the large commercial. I don't mean the the commercials with the uh I mean the ones that that require the roll-off carts and etc. Not just simply the the the uh 4-yard carts, the other carts and those things. But large large amounts are made by other people coming in and just doing contract. And you see these roll-offs all over the city and uh the city has never collected that. And so, if we're going to bid here, I think we need to look at all of that. Now, there's one caution about this is that the law changed last year when we bid con- when we bid waste out, a person has a right to contract with somebody else. The Arkansas Supreme Court I sent you all a case on that last year when it was decided that allowed someone out of a out of contract and they had their own separate contract. Now, the city still has exclusive rights, but if we contract that right to a third party, they may have a right to say, "Well, I still want to use you contracted person A, I want to use person B." And that was the case that came out of the Arkansas Supreme Court last year on that issue. That I emailed to y'all last year when it first came down. But it wasn't relevant to us cuz we at the time still were picking up our own trash and we are. But those factors are consideration. The fullness of picking up all commercial, whether small commercial, large commercial, industrial, as well as the residential. And we look at that as to what it cost for the city and what it cost for a third party to pick it up.
18:42
Unidentified All right. Mr. Mayor, have have you introduced this thought or idea at some of your town hall meetings that you've had in the past? Have you discussed it with any of the people?
18:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield No. My my intention was to fill the director position, the vacant director position, and that's been my intention. The this example that I put on everybody's desk has been in the city in city hall for probably a month now. So, I didn't just find it today, but it's been there. And I do believe if we Again, this is not something that I I would say I would never contract with a third-party vendor or recommend it. I don't think it's necessary for us to have to go this route. That that's what I do maintain. And so, for very obvious reasons, employment, the ripple effect for employment for our city employees, the level of um the level of income that the city would see and the money that would flow into the city. So, there are some very obvious reasons that that I think may be as well as everything in addition to what the attorney is mentioning, a really concerted effort to find leadership that can can lead the department because I don't think this is a a case that can't be cracked. That's not That's not what this is. This is um as I've said many times, that we have to make some changes internally. So, this is a route This is one route we can go, and I do think that we should do our due diligence to consider it. And I I can work with Madam Clerk and the City Treasurer to put those numbers together and present those to everybody in a formal way. And as well, I think we should also be entertain the conversation. I don't I think I've said this today, but I don't think we need to burn down the house because we we've got an issue in the house. I I don't think that that's the only way to address renovating something. So, I just I leave that there. Were there any other comments or questions or discussion around um
20:49
Unidentified Okay, so, the do we need any type of motion or anything for the mayor to uh begin looking at this option or getting some
20:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Oh, no. I think it'd just be a conversation getting the numbers for what the street sanita- street the sanitation department operates at now and make sure that that's presented to you all. Um, we won't be seeking an RFP yet or trying to get a contract from anybody.
21:13
Unidentified To me that sounds like [clears throat] we need a special meeting. We need that information. Both sides what is currently costing us
21:22[clears throat]
21:22
Unidentified and what it will cost for a contract just to do it and we need a special meeting to sit down and really deliberate and figure out which direction do we need to go. Because where we stand right now, I just it's not working.
21:35
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) Yeah, we I mean we just got we've got to make this trash a priority. I'm I just I don't I mean may- maybe it is, but I just don't feel like it's a priority. I you know, it's like every week I get three or four phone calls about people not getting their trash picked up and I feel as though that's a that's just a basic right as a citizen of Helena is to get your trash picked up. And I don't know what needs to be done to fix it, but it needs to be fixed.
22:05
Unidentified Mhm.
22:07
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° So, if we need to get a if we if it's a a leader then let's sit around the table now and figure that out. If you know, I I sent this email out uh as a request of possibly, you know, I just cuz I remember Joe had mentioned this maybe last year or a couple years ago about getting a contractor to do it, but but however we need to fix it.
22:33
Unidentified I agree. I agree. Um
22:35
Unidentified See, I I don't see Really, I mean, for me I don't think that there's anything that's more important right now.
22:41
Unidentified Mhm.
22:42
Unidentified This is this should be our priority. So, whatever we need to do I think we need to we need to prioritize
22:51
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think I just to that point I want to add that I I really really ask this body to consider looking at the pay and the salary, not necessarily for somebody I brought to the table before, but just look at the pay and salary for potentially trying to recruit a director. Um we've spent for the person that and I'm not advocating to go back down that um that alley, but we've spent that $10,000 that was asked for to be included in the salary and contract labor to date. And that's just through this year. I think the body said $60,000 was going to be um our final stance. That's what we voted on for the base pay ordinance. Um I think the requested salary was 70, and we're sitting here right now in June with a trash um consistency pick up issue um and just stating the fact that we paid that $10,000 and change and through through a few months. So I whether we go through a third party but I I agree with you, Councilman Dr. Miller.
23:57
Unidentified Mhm.
23:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I don't I just want to reiterate and emphasize I do not think that the only way to solve this issue of consistent trash pick up is third party vendors. I don't think that's the only way. If that's that's one way. It's not the only way.
24:11
Unidentified Okay.
24:12
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So but I I I will um and I'll I'll give you a second. I just want to mention that I do think that we can organize a special meeting um to to talk about this particular issue at length.
24:26
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) Well, my issue is that we don't need to pay a supervisor a salary to look at the job. We need to pay a person doing the job. We need to pay the employee that's going to drive the truck and pick up the garbage. That's where we need to put our dollars into, not into supervision supervisors. Uh and that's
24:52
Unidentified I would
24:52
Unidentified We don't need to pay $70,000 for a supervisor when we we need to hire truck drivers and pay them well and and and the people to pick up the garbage, pay them well for the job well done.
25:06
Unidentified I wouldn't I wouldn't dictate
25:08
Unidentified the right place.
25:11
Unidentified I agree I agree I agree. I I agree that we need to pay our city employees. I just I I would push on the idea that um a a I push back on the idea that a director is a supervisor. That's actually just apparent I'm sure that I've been trying to push um through the few months that I've been here, which is department heads are administrative figures. You are leading a department. You are supposed to be tracking the budget. You're supposed to be making executive decisions within your department. That that's more than a supervisor and I and I think that there's been maybe um a history of that kind of being the expectation out of department heads. You're supervising, but that's that's not what a department head is. You have the authority and some autonomy to make those decisions. So, um there you you want somebody that understands and has the experience and knows even I just want to add to this point, even with the two trucks that um or with the salvage value that we got for our damaged truck, that decision around purchasing a truck, I believe was was supposed to be best made by someone with that experience. The the person that ultimately would be supervising and managing that department, um you want somebody that's experienced to be able to make those decisions. So, So, yeah. That that's I agree that we should be paying city employee city employees to make sure that they're doing the um the job well, but also you you want somebody with leadership that's leading a department and we have we have to have that. It's not it's not optional because we're here I mean it's not optional.
26:49
Unidentified One of the things I did while y'all were talking, I looked at being proposal from Pine Bluff. It's 100 and some pages, but it's comprehensive. It covers everything. And so, I sent it to you all in an email while you all have been discussing this.
27:02
Unidentified About rates or about um contracting?
27:06
Unidentified About contracting. It It Everything. Pine Bluff's contract They have They have RFPs online. They did it last year in 2025. And they They have recycling. They have small commercial. They have industrial. All manner of things. Of course, Pine Bluff is larger than us, but it's a template that we can look at. There's parts that we like we can use. Parts we don't like we don't have to use. But, I was just sending it to you just for an example. Morton is a smaller city like us, but uh this is primarily just residential and small commercial. But, I think you need to have the robust conversation about uh all things.
27:45
Unidentified So, what's a good day for a meeting?
27:54
Unidentified Unless we do tomorrow or Friday, um Thursday I will be at Municipal League Conference in Little Rock. So,
28:02
Unidentified Friday is on Juneteenth.
28:05
Unidentified Friday is Juneteenth and uh
28:06
Unidentified Yeah.
28:07
Unidentified I don't know if that I don't know if that matters to anybody, but
28:09
Unidentified What about next Tuesday? What about following Tuesday? I might might I make a suggestion? And somebody tell me if you disagree with what I'm saying. Uh this is the way I see it. You need proposals to weigh against what you currently do.
28:28
Unidentified Mhm.
28:29
Unidentified So, unofficially, you need bids
28:32
Unidentified Mhm.
28:33
Unidentified for people to say, "This is what it would cost for me to pick up your trash."
28:36
Unidentified Mhm.
28:36
Unidentified And then you weigh that against [music] the numbers that we have right now.
28:39
Unidentified Mhm.
28:40
Unidentified Until you have that information, it doesn't make any difference whether we have a meeting now because we're just having the same conversation.
28:46
Unidentified Mhm.
28:46
Unidentified Cuz I think this is a mathematical decision.
28:48
Unidentified Mhm.
28:49
Unidentified Pick up
28:49
Unidentified And without the numbers you can't you don't have anything to to bounce it off of. So. I think I think we need some unofficial
28:59
Unidentified Yeah.
28:59
Unidentified bids. Yeah, quotes.
29:01
Unidentified quotes to to to weigh this against. And that's what we did after consolidation. We had about two or three groups who came in and they submitted bids to the city. And we made a decision that we would make more money by picking up trash. And that's how we ended up here because that was the debate about how we picked up his trash I mean West Helena picked up his own trash and Helena had a contractor. Those contractors came in and people submitted bids and said this is what we'll do to pick up your trash. And we chose one.
29:27
Unidentified Mhm.
29:27
Unidentified So without those numbers there's no way to to discuss the topic. We need the numbers first.
29:33
Unidentified So how soon do we start getting numbers?
29:37
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We can we can send um we can have correspondence this week. And I think as well this week we can also see and um share with you all what our sanitation department's doing currently.
29:49
Unidentified I I know
29:50
Unidentified have something before the end of the month and maybe meet in July sometime about this.
29:56
Unidentified I think I think that's a fair timeline.
29:59
Unidentified Don, did you say that or am I being am I being you uh Mr. Valley. Did you say that it's uh 60 or 90 days um for the um that you can do like a salary adjustment after What's the probationary time?
30:19
City Attorney Andre Valley 180 days.
30:20
Unidentified 180?
30:21
City Attorney Andre Valley° Yeah, that's 6 months.
30:22
Unidentified That's 6 months, okay. And I'm just kind of thinking out loud. Can And can it be um wait No, actually actually I'm thinking I'm thinking the opposite. Can it be um performance-based?
30:49
City Attorney Andre Valley° You all can amend the base pay to say what you want it to say. Uh the the intent of the base pay was 180 days that council would [music] know what the salary is to begin and what happens uh at 180 days.
31:02
Unidentified That's what I'm thinking.
31:03
City Attorney Andre Valley° The city council approves even if you do it by performance-based, city council approves the the salary. Uh cuz all pay rates have been approved by city council since consolidation.
31:14
Unidentified Yes, sir. Well, I'm actually thinking something a little different. So, [cough] what you know, I'm not I'm not necessarily advocating change in that, but if it's performance-based, I mean cuz we have a lot of issues. So, I'm just thinking out loud. So, cuz I know there are concerns about the that salary. So, let's say um this person they're hired at the base pay. But you tell them you say, "Hey, listen. You you've got 6 months or however long to make these particular types of improvements. We've got all this trash over here. This needs to be fixed. We've got three trucks that are down that we need to make that go away. We got a um you know, it's a a litany list of things that need to be fixed. And you say, "Hey, if you can get these things done within this period of time, you know, then we can possibly come back to the table for the for that for that difference that mayors. I don't know if you Just think about that. We can come back and talk about that later.
32:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think I think the short response to that is I think we can do that, but I think that's the body's decision. If because the salary was only an issue I think for the one candidate that we that I I proposed that we hired from interviews. I have interviewed other people at the base pay ordinance proposed salary of $60,000. Um and I feel like I've shared with you all in meetings since that Yeah, so um that just want to make that clear. Um
33:01
Unidentified Yeah, but if you were trying to make the salary more competitive or you know just something. It may It would definitely be an incentive to um get them to produce. I mean
33:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I'd agree with that. I agree with that much and just for the um for the public and for everybody around the table, the position was posted again within the paper um within the last uh 3 weeks. So, it is running currently amongst some other positions from other departments. So, um still still an active search for that.
33:35
Unidentified For that.
33:40
Mayor Joseph Whitfield All right. Any any other comments, questions, or discussion regarding this uh topic? Yeah, if not, we'll move right along. And so, I will commit to making sure that um this week we get some numbers that we can share with you all through email.
33:56
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah. Okay. And that will take us into being able to get some unofficial compare some unofficial bids. Um moving right along, our next order of new business is commission budgets. This is an item for City Council adoption of budgets for the Airport Commission and the AMP Commission. This is on page two through pages two through four of your packet.
34:17
Unidentified Mhm.
34:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Uh page two is the proposed resolution with page three being the budget the for this fiscal year for AMP and page four being the fiscal budget this year or the budget this year for the fiscal year um for the Helena Airport. Helena was Helena Airport Commission. So,
34:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Mhm. uh this is a measure for the city to adopt these budgets so that we're in compliance with audit audit measures and want to give everyone a chance to review these for for approval or formal adoption through a resolution by the city council.
34:52
Unidentified We just moved adopt her.
34:55
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yes. If you're satisfied with the budgets, it's just a matter of you approving them.
35:04
Unidentified You You sent us this on email, didn't you? I thought I got
35:08
Unidentified I sent the air
35:09
Unidentified Same thing.
35:09
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I sent the Airport Commission the AMP Commission is in the packet. That wasn't part of the email.
35:21
Unidentified Mr. Etherly, Mr. Davis, the AMP has already approved the budget in the commission. Is that correct? It just needs to be approved by the city council.
35:30
Unidentified That's right. Oh, that's right. Y'all can't make that motion. Yeah, okay. Um do we do them separately or we do them all?
35:38
Unidentified It's one.
35:40
Unidentified Yes, you can do them separately.
35:44
Unidentified Can we do them Can we do them both?
35:45
Unidentified It's one resolution.
35:46
Unidentified It's one Yeah, it's one resolution.
35:47
Unidentified Oh, it's one resolution It's one resolution.
35:50
Unidentified So, do them together.
35:52
Unidentified I would like to accept um
35:55
Unidentified What resolution number is this, ma'am clerk?
35:57
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey 12.
35:58
Unidentified 12 2016.
36:00
Unidentified Yes, sir.
36:01
Unidentified So, do I Do I say I'm accepting the resolution or the budget?
36:05
Unidentified The resolution.
36:06
Unidentified Resolution.
36:06
Unidentified Okay, I'm I'm accepting uh resolution 12, which is the budget for AMP Commission and for the Airport Commission.
36:19
Unidentified Second.
36:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll, please?
36:24
Unidentified Yeah.
36:24
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Fuller.
36:26
Roll call Roll-call vote — Don Etherly: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Monica Davis: yes.
36:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you all. Moving right along to our next order of business. Um, this is item number three. This is M2X Helena West Helena Landfill. This is a chance and opportunity to revisit the proposal from um our rep that was here two meetings ago. A proposal for M2X to set up methane extraction and methane extraction station at Helena West Helena Landfill. The um I didn't put that in the packet again because that would have been a lot of paper and I didn't want to waste the paper. But, this was an opportunity for us to have to enter an agreement with M2X. Our our landfills' trash and um objects that we bury in the in the landfill break They all break down. They produce methane gas. This is an opportunity for us to partner with um M2X to to be able to sell that. We would not, according to the deal as it was constructed and proposed, the city would not pay any of the cost to set up this uh establishment or operation. We would be compensated through royalties and only after we've only after $2 million in sales of our royalties will we start to um see those funds. So, I don't know if people had an opportunity to go home and reconsider and think about that proposal, but I was wanted to revisit that to see if there was any extra discussion.
38:00
Unidentified I definitely think
38:02[clears throat]
38:02
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) when we start talking about putting together committees, this would be something to put a committee together for. Because as I was doing my reading, this is something I've been interested in for a while. I was glad to see it. I'm all for it. But, the first thing is 50 years is too long.
38:19
Unidentified Yeah, 50 years is too long.
38:20
Unidentified And if this is a potential revenue stream, we may not be healthy enough to do this right now on our own, but possibly in the next 10 years or so, we may be healthy enough to do it. I don't want us to start signing over gas rights and all of that, and then we have no no real uh skin in the game. I mean, we do, but we don't. Uh the landfill is one of our prizes in my opinion. And I want us to be very careful about just signing stuff over to people. I think this is something that we need a committee for. And I personally would like to be on that committee.
39:07
Unidentified I totally agree.
39:08
Unidentified I agree with you.
39:09
Unidentified Yeah. The landfill is actually the most valuable um
39:14
Unidentified asset.
39:15
Unidentified asset for the city. It's far more valuable than any of us any of us could really discuss openly here today. But, it was
39:21
Unidentified Exactly.
39:22
Unidentified largest per acre landfill in the state.
39:26
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° And you know, Fort Smith, I think, and it's another one that's escapes me right now. They've been doing it for years. And it's been profitable for them. And I know that they're And I'm not saying this company is not the partner we should have. I don't know that yet. But, there's certainly other companies that do the same thing. And I just want to make sure that we're healthy before we make that decision.
39:55
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Seems like that was a consensus from the body as well. Okay. So, what I'm going to do with that, thank you, Councilman Miller. I'll make sure that my contact Mr. Wilson and Tammy at the landfill, and we'll get a team put together to revisit that potential proposal and see which which terms make best sense for us. So, I'll make sure to CC Ms. by on that email.
40:18
Unidentified Thank you.
40:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Uh, any other discussion on that or anyone in Russia nobody? We have not. Our next order of business, this is page five and page six in your packet. This is an animal control update. This is a lease agreement for 613 Oakland Avenue for use as a animal control or rescue site.
40:39
Unidentified Okay.
40:40
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Uh, in your packet, I think I already said it pages five and six. This is the drafted lease agreement that was sent to the city earlier this month. In short, 613 as some of you may know or remember used to be the site of a veterinarian clinic vet clinic that helped serve animals and residents in the community that had pets. Uh, it's the site that the current vet Hope Pittman his father used to operate. It's owned by the group that you see listed here, the sire group out of [clears throat] Jonesboro. Uh, the owner has agreed to be willing to lease the building for $500 a month to the city of Helena West Helena to establish an operation. While that figure is low, there are some things to consider and I I didn't put this in the packet to ask you all to make a vote on it at this very moment, but I did want your input on potentially considering ways to make this happen. The alternative for this site because I've been made aware that there are some structural items in this building or structural issues in this building that could make an animal operation risk not risky, but tricky. We also considered we reached out to ARDOT because they are owners of the old visitor center on the highway. That old visitor center as many of you know is no longer in use is on the highway is out of sight and in terms of space It would fit to be able to be a bigger um animal shelter / rescue site. I had the phone call with Art with Ardot representative that uh Arkansas Department of Transportation does not lease or rent property um at all. They do sell property, but they do not rent it. This property was listed um within the last few years for about $400,000. Currently, it's um not in good shape anyway. So, that lead fell through through Ardot um because for location and also for size, that could have been a good alternative. But, being that this is an opportunity currently where we could work as a group to make something happen, whether this includes volunteers, um but also maybe the personnel listed in the base pay ordinance for city employees, wanted to know if there were thoughts about is this a potential conversation that we can continue to have and that this body would back in terms of planning um because this is an issue as well. I know I mean I know that uh trash is hot right now. Water will always uh will be here for the foreseeable future. Our deficit will be here for the foreseeable future. I don't want us to lose sight of this particular issue as well, um animal control, because we need to have it. Um I've had my own personal experiences over the last week, and I'm sure many other residents would say the same. Um so, being that this is a potential lease, and as you can see uh the if we enter into this agreement, they would prorate though some of those costs where the city wouldn't even pay until 2027, giving us some time to put an official and formal plan together. Um
43:51
City Attorney Andre Valley Before you can consider a lease, I think you first have to define scope. [cough] What is it that the city wants to do? What type of animal control the city's going to be involved in? Uh what's the nature of the animals What animals you're to have there? I know primarily we tend to look at dogs. Uh, but animal control, you have to be concerned about noise, smell, all those things in in in in particular areas. But the city first had to have be in agreement cuz many times what happen city will have one policy and then uh, other entities would have other policies. Uh, but the question is you need to define what your scope is going to be as to what is it that the city is trying to do at this particular location and what resources what budgeting are you going to put to it? I think
44:43
Unidentified That's that's the conversation.
44:45
Unidentified Yeah.
44:46
Unidentified I think the thing about it is before you get to the the facility
44:49
City Attorney Andre Valley° Yeah.
44:49
Unidentified you got to know what you want to do.
44:51
Unidentified I I know I know Mayor you actually um, you had brought a um, a ordinance. Um, and it kind of had a a good scope of you know, different rules and policies and stuff. I don't know if you got that from another city or if that was a former one we had. Um, I think that's a good starting place. Um, I actually got a copy of uh, Marianna's uh, from the gentleman who's uh, uh, animal control person there. Um, I think we just need to really adopt a solid, you know, a solid uh, policy and then and then and then move from there. Like you said as to what the build if it's going to be a building cuz we got to determine how long we're going to keep them. I know that's a conversation that we have not some have not wanted to have but you know, Marianna's there's a you know, there's a a term limit, you know, they keep them for a certain amount of days and afterwards they go to
46:00
City Attorney Andre Valley° In In addition to those consideration Dr. Miller, there's also considerations of employees, equipment, trucks, catching them.
46:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield And just before as we list those things, I mean that's the conversation I'm asking if this body is that that's the conversation. So I didn't again I didn't put this on the table right now to ask us to enter a lease without a plan. That's the conversation. We have to do something. I firmly believe that the fact that the lease is at this particular address I think could potentially work and that obviously comes with planning and and laying out the scope. Um but the policy that I and I I forget which meeting it was but I know it was a couple months ago. I know it detailed lease laws as well as loose pets or runaway pets. This space this particular address 613 Oakland is not terribly huge so I know that that would impact um especially if we were to outfit it to contain animals as the attorney said not just dogs because there are lots of loose animals around. How long could we keep those and so I I'm before I'm willing to I didn't get ahead of myself with this particular real estate agency but I do and I am willing to go back and ask for some time for us to consider making a plan but just want to make sure is this something that we are willing to commit to um the the scope this like defining that scope. Are we willing as a body to take this issue on to eventually get us to get to this point where we can sign maybe not this lease but a lease similar to this.
47:49
Unidentified I mean I I think we should. I think we need to start you know having those conversations. I mean I think that um you know, in getting, you know, our um you know, our our policies and whatever um solid, you know, and then, you know, building and mov- and moving from there. I mean, we got to have We've got to develop something and at least build I think it's the same premises um Attorney Ashley was saying uh related to garbage. So, this We've got to find out what we got first and then and then and then work from there. So, this you know, de- develop a strong policy, then figure out how much it's going to cost, and then, you know, build it build it from there. But, I don't think we can just say, "Oh, it's going to cost too much. We can't do anything." I think we got to at least figure out what it's going to cost and if if you know, and move and move from there, develop our perfect world uh and then if and then maybe scale back from there, but I think we need to at least figure something out. At least working towards what we want it to be. One thing I will say um um I think we have in our favor in this situation is that, you know, a lot of the animal rights people are extremely passionate. Um and some of them tend to be generous donors. But, before we can go and start asking for money, we need to have our stuff together. You know, but I think if we have if we had a strong plan of what we're doing and how what what we're doing to um you know, preserve the dignity of the animals, we might could possibly solicit some help.
49:32
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, and that I I agree um with many points, Dr. Miller. Thank you. Um What I've considered as of this week, um we have a position in the base pay ordinance that's not occupied. It's not in the budget. Um Bringing forth a plan before this uh body to fill that position, um an animal control agent, and equipping that person to at the very least be able to, um, maybe tranquilize dogs as necessary or cats, um, and we can start somewhere. I think that's a plan. We have a few vehicles that I believe we could, um, appropriate for said person, said city employee, and um, start to really take the issues, um, seriously in the sense that we're we're we're putting some some teeth behind it.
50:21
Unidentified Mhm.
50:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um, so that's what I've considered as of this weekend, um, just curious about other thoughts as well as as to because there are some examples or models, um, not just around the state, I mean, not just around the country but also around the state where volunteer presence is something that have a heavily that makes these things work even if we can't fully staff them, um, or even if, um, I don't know if anybody has pets in here but, um, pet food is not not cheap. So, um, uh, other thoughts or comments about how this could potentially
50:58
Unidentified Now, did I imagine we said that that person was going to be a part of
51:05
Unidentified Police depart- um, police department, I believe.
51:08
Unidentified Yeah.
51:08
Unidentified Okay, good.
51:10
Unidentified We We made that change. We amended the base pay ordinance.
51:14
Unidentified Okay, good. That's how Maryville does it. It works out real good for them.
51:22
Unidentified Any other comments or thoughts or discussion on that?
51:24
Unidentified Okay.
51:27
Unidentified I'm going to say this and I'm
51:29[clears throat]
51:29
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) and I'm just going to step out there. It is so difficult for me to talk about, you know, a dog rental and we're going to get a building and we're going to do all this other stuff when you go down places like uh, Springdale Road and the whole side of the street is caving in. We have so many other things that to me, if you talk about safety, are more important than that. I love dogs. I don't have a dog because I can't take care of a dog. I sympathize with people who they want dogs to be rescued and all that. But, I also sympathize with elderly people who can't see well, who hit potholes and tear up their cars. We don't even have enough money in our budget for gravel, asphalt, a truck to put the I don't To me, I think Yeah.
52:29
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I don't Here's the Here's I don't agree I I I don't disagree with you. However, I don't think it's a it's a in this case it's a either or. Um obviously, um I Well, I I I shouldn't say obviously cuz that might not be your vice priority. But, for me, a pothole and a elderly in the scenario that you give is obviously first priority. But, I do think that my hope, you know, my dream, is that we won't always be in this financial situation. And so, we do have to start eventually getting to the point where we start planning. So, if that's if that's just at the very least looking at the policies, looking at what it's going to take to have an animal, you know, an animal plan. And then we say, "Okay, now this is what we know it's going to cost. This is what we need what we know we'll need." And then move forward. But, I I don't at least in my thoughts, I don't know if I can't speak for anybody else, but in my thoughts, I'm I definitely wasn't um saying that, you know, we're going to uh build a dog facility over uh you know, fixing uh critical potholes. That That was not That was not my mindset at all.
53:46
Unidentified Okay, but Councilman Miller Kyle, here's the thing.
53:48
Unidentified Okay.
53:50
Unidentified I think we only have two meetings a month. And we have a myriad of of things that are so important, so crucial to talk about.
53:58
Unidentified Okay.
53:59
Unidentified It's only been a couple of meetings ago Miss Sandy was talking about not being able to make payroll.
54:03
Unidentified Mhm.
54:05
Unidentified And so
54:06
Unidentified Mhm.
54:06
Unidentified we don't have any real budget information in front of us.
54:10
Unidentified Mhm.
54:10
Unidentified But we keep coming up with all these things we need to be doing, we could be doing all that.
54:15
Unidentified Mhm.
54:15
Unidentified We need to streamline.
54:17
Unidentified Mhm.
54:18
Unidentified You know what I'm saying? It's like we don't have a whole lot of time anyway. But we need to streamline what we're going to look at first. And then I'm like you, down the line, we're planning, that's a possibility, that's a great thing, but for right now I feel like sometimes we're majoring on the minor and minoring on the major. That's just my opinion. So I'm not I'm not against what you're saying, [music] I'm just saying you know, sometimes I think we need to reel it in.
54:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think um I just respectfully disagree um and and I'm not going to um go along but I just respectfully disagree. Talking about an issue doesn't mean that there's not an issue in another place. Um we're all city council um city council members and the mayor and the clerk and the and uh city attorney. Um our scope is big. It's big. And plans don't fall out of the sky and they don't happen at the ideal time. Um deferred maintenance I think is part of the reason why we're in the situation we're in. Deferred maintenance, we keep putting it off, we're kicking the can down the road. This is where it's gotten us in in so many ways. Um and I agree with you, Ro. We have a myriad of issues. Potholes were put on the agenda um two meetings ago where I I felt that conversation when I look I mean, that was something I was fighting for two meetings ago. And and now while we got that passed and that those projects are going, I think we also need to talk about dogs. And and I there's going to be other meetings where we talk about youth. And so, our scope is big and I think that talking about one issue doesn't mean that other issues don't exist. Um, and so that I'll keep just putting those items on the agenda so that things can get the due attention that they they need. Um This uh-huh.
56:20
Unidentified Just I mean, in just curiosity. [clears throat] So, where are we with money as it relates to asphalt, gravel? What what are we doing? What do we have in place? Who have we talked to? Have we contracted with anybody? Do we have anybody in streets that, you know, is ready and able and geared up to go? And, you know, is there a timeline? Is there What what is our going forward plan?
56:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, we've only allocated for repairs we've only allocated um the 14,000 that we just passed on I think two meetings ago um for three streets that were listed. It would be talking about potholes and streets uh Springdale Road, Old Little Rock Road, as well as um Tulip Circle. Um, and I don't we're making the progress. One of the last items I've I've left here is some outstanding balance updates. We're making progress on the financial side. And yeah, it's not going to be a clear forgiveness or a clear wiping of the debt in a year or a day or a week. Um, Um, I have an update for that and I want to get to that in just a moment. Um, so I can better answer that question. But I do believe this is an issue that we have to take seriously. And by taking seriously, I think we have to talk about it. And we have to give it its due diligence to talk about. Um, but assuming there's no other comment on this, I can get to the next line item where it's about where we're talking about some balance updates as well as money. Are there any other um, comments at all?
57:59
Unidentified I mean, well
58:00
Unidentified I mean, if it if it if it helps any helps any um, if you need I'd be happy to um, take the um, um, proposal that you presented and then compare that with what I got from Mariana and some other cities and you know, put together something and put together some potential costs and things associated just so people can see what the costs would be. Um, so at least we can have something to look at. And then, you know, it it it would just be something to have.
58:36
Unidentified You recall that at our last meeting we had a $12,000 issue on fixing some potholes in streets uh, that was contracted. And we didn't didn't move on it because we didn't have $12,000 evidently to to put on it and it was
59:00
Unidentified I don't think that was it.
59:01
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) I am a dog lover. I got a dog and a cat. And my German Shepherd got out of the house the other night and I stopped doing everything I was doing to go see about my dog. If the people in this community would look after their own animals each individually, we wouldn't have any problems at all. What if And I got a cat and a dog. And I love animals. I've got But, we need to take care of the streets. We need to take care of these potholes. I just came down Walker Street and at the at the corner of Walker and Holly, there's a 12-in deep pothole that has I I almost lost my tire coming through it. It There are potholes all over this town that are bad, real bad. Uh This city could be sued for neglect for not taking care of what we got. Uh we need to look at the possibility of housing animals. Uh we need to do these things, but we need to take care of the streets that we've got now before we get into some serious real serious problems. So, I I just looked at this uh lease. That's $12,000 a year. Uh $6,000 a year for 2 years. Uh That's $12,000 and we didn't even have the money for that fixed the potholes last week.
1:00:37
Unidentified Mr. Mayor, we if if I I respect you. I thought we did. Didn't we?
1:00:42
Unidentified Come again?
1:00:43
Unidentified The the potholes, didn't we?
1:00:44
Unidentified We didn't approve that.
1:00:45
Unidentified We did We did.
1:00:46
Unidentified We did.
1:00:47
Unidentified We approved that.
1:00:48
Unidentified It was That was what It was three different um It was the circle
1:00:52
Unidentified Springdale and Old Wire Road.
1:00:54
Unidentified And Old Wire Road.
1:00:55
Unidentified Three of them they got.
1:00:56
Unidentified Yeah.
1:00:56
Unidentified Because
1:00:57
Unidentified It was um It was a little contention about it, but we did We did pass it.
1:01:01
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) Yeah, because those three were what? A third of our entire budget. That wasn't our some some figure in here about here?
1:01:09
Unidentified In the third one.
1:01:10
Unidentified It's the third one.
1:01:11
Unidentified Yeah, I think we had what?
1:01:12
Unidentified I mean, we only had $50,000 or so in the original budget.
1:01:16
Unidentified Yeah.
1:01:17
Unidentified And we spent
1:01:18
Unidentified a huge part of our of our
1:01:21
Unidentified of appropriated
1:01:22
Unidentified what I'm saying. Like, we need to go back this start of this new year after
1:01:29
Unidentified Well, that needs to be looked at, too.
1:01:30
Unidentified Yeah, and we need to look at
1:01:31
Unidentified the budget because I think if correct me if I'm wrong, I think there was supposed to be more appropriation. Cuz they put they put they put more in
1:01:41
Unidentified We put more in there from contracting.
1:01:44
Unidentified Yeah.
1:01:44
Unidentified We took some We took money from contracting and put put it in um and put it and put it in streets.
1:01:50
Unidentified Mhm. Okay.
1:01:51
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yeah. Um but absolutely, I do I mean, it was on the agenda at the last meeting because I I agree that potholes are an issue and um it's I think we just have to we just have to We're not going to solve every problem at the same at the same time, but we do have to plan and start to make the and start to prioritize.
1:02:12
Unidentified Let's put our heads together on this plan. And let's see what it looks like.
1:02:16
Unidentified Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
1:02:17
Unidentified Okay.
1:02:18
Unidentified Um
1:02:18
City Attorney Andre Valley One point of correction in West Columbia, uh there's immunity uh sovereign immunity related to the potholes. Uh it's one You said the city could be sued for it, but um the all the citizens own the streets and uh the sovereign immunity principle is you can't sue yourself for it. So, a person who who retired is uh damaged in a pothole can't sue the city. Uh the city would be immune from that. I've had My wife had two two tires bust uh at one time on a pothole. over
1:02:51
Unidentified They're all over town.
1:02:52
Unidentified Yes. Thank you.
1:02:56
Unidentified Have we got any asphalt in inventory?
1:03:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Or I don't know exactly how much we have currently at this moment. I can find that out. I don't know I I don't want to misquote the amount. Um Yeah, but I think um
1:03:12
Unidentified When the last order was purchased, you know?
1:03:16
Unidentified I
1:03:17
Unidentified We have some. I don't have my slip though. Okay.
1:03:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield But we can confirm how much. Um Okay. Moving on to the next order of business, the next new item is uh point number five or item number five um energy. This is an update regarding outstanding balance on unpaid utility usage. In short, uh this is page seven in your packet and what you're looking at is a list of outstanding um balances that energy came and visited with us about um to make sure that they could seek uh collection on these accounts. The total of the amounts is off to the right and total of these add up to $772,184 and they are split between the water department and the city of Helena-West Helena. For the water department, you will see um their amount is $230,958 and for the city city of Helena-West Helena, you will see the amount $547,249. So, these are accounts um some that are basically the culmination of um as energy has explained to us, accounts that just have not been paid. Um some of these go back to 2011. Um one of them at least and they are uh for different uses. If you look at the farthest the fifth the fifth column, the um those are the addresses and locations of where those accounts are. So, while you're looking at the list, one of the conversations that was uh that went pretty well, I had an opportunity to talk to some energy um management and leadership. Um $115,954.01 has been pledged for forgiveness. Um that is a big step towards being able to get some relief from these accounts. And in detail, the collection will be for balances less than 3 years old. Um that this particular amount could change by a little bit, but um in total for balances older than three older than three months or older than three years, I should say, that total is $115,954.01.
1:05:35
Unidentified Could you repeat that mail? You went kind of fast.
1:05:37
Mayor Joseph Whitfield $115,954.01.
1:05:42
Unidentified Thank you.
1:05:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield That is the amount of um the balances or the total of the balances that are older than 3 years old. And so um that is what the city of Helena-West Helena would be forgiven for uh being that those are out um 3 years older than 3 years.
1:05:57
Unidentified Okay.
1:05:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Any and [clears throat] whether that will be a mix of water department accounts or Helena City of Helena-West Helena accounts, which typically is um street department, that is to be determined, but that amount is um pretty solid.
1:06:13
Unidentified So we would owe 150,000?
1:06:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We would owe the the total amount owed from the water department and the City of Helena-West Helena would be um $115,954 less than that $772,000.
1:06:31
Unidentified And we're being forgiven 150,000?
1:06:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° 115.
1:06:35
Unidentified Correct. Okay.
1:06:38
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So that is an update for this account um and that that conversation to finalize that agreement will be had soon. Um leadership is still deliberating. Um and so just wanted to ask if anybody had questions about that. These are One of the pieces of information that I did share with the leadership was that um obviously the City of Helena-West Helena's financial position is a little bit different from the water department's position, and I do believe um that as a city, we can afford to be, uh, slightly more aggressive with the water department accounts being that, um, they have they have the funds to, I think, more aggressively tackle that that balance.
1:07:20
Unidentified Okay.
1:07:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Any questions about that? Comments or discussion? If not, uh, moving right along, uh, this is our I think second to last item of business. Outstanding balances. So, just a couple other updates, um, this week our last annual payment was also sent off from the city clerk to pay the Army Corps of Engineers. This was, I believe, the total balance was three [snorts] 300,000. Um, 300,000, so $50,000 the $50,000 payment that was made last week, um, allows us to close that account and that balance that we owe to Army Corps of Engineers. And another update was that correspondence has been had with Representative Crawford's office, um, for IRS assistance and, um, the city's IRS release form was sent out so that they could have access to our tax information for, uh, for assistance. Whether that ends up in forgiveness or not, I cannot say. That's pretty premature, but, um, the the opportunity is support and help, and so, um, that is pending currently.
1:08:26
Unidentified Keep going.
1:08:27
Unidentified Yeah, I'll pray it across.
1:08:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Any any questions or, um, comments on that?
1:08:35
Unidentified No, that's good.
1:08:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield That's good. Moving along, I don't believe this, um, individual is here. Surely, but we had, uh, um, constituent that wanted to address the council tonight, but I So, we'll move right along. Um, Ms. Cornett wanted to address the council regarding police department and water department complaints. Um, before we adjourn, and I know that the city attorney has one thing I'm going to do this one, but the city attorney has one thing that we'll end on. There is an event permit form uh that was submitted to us today for approval. This is the Juneteenth Helena Day Field Party {slash} Car Show. If approved, this would be um held this Saturday, June 20th, 2026. And it would be a gathering at the River Park, um field party combined with uh
1:09:26
Unidentified Do we have any paperwork on that?
1:09:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I have it I have it currently.
1:09:30
Unidentified You just got that one sheet?
1:09:31
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° got it today. They brought it in today. Um all the department heads, all four Come again?
1:09:39
Unidentified It's not going to clash with Ms. Hughes' event, is it? She's got an event, too, doesn't she?
1:09:45
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° They're two different places, sir.
1:09:47
Unidentified They're two different places? Okay, good. Okay. She'll be on stage. Okay, okay. Okay.
1:09:54
Unidentified Um I'm just making sure I'm not violating anything.
1:09:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Is there And there will be a school supply giveaway as well as part of the car show {slash} field party. Is there a um are there questions or is there a motion to uh
1:10:11
Unidentified We've got all the signatures and all all of them.
1:10:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield They have the approval. So, it was brought in today. This person called uh Chief of Police and the Fire Department. Um the Street Sanitation Department did sign it, but the police the police and fire department have committed um verbally that they will come in and sign it today.
1:10:31
Unidentified Okay, good. Are they doing a street blockage back
1:10:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No, they they wouldn't need street blockage being that they would be at the River Park. And they didn't they didn't um check that for their list of criteria. I did. Come again? A Yeah, yes, ma'am. Is there a second?
1:10:58
Unidentified I'll second. Mhm.
1:11:00
Roll call Roll-call vote — Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Monica Davis: yes. Clerk's count: 6 yes.
1:11:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you. And before we adjourn, um City Attorney has uh an item that he wants to
1:11:21
City Attorney Andre Valley I have a couple things. One for just for y'all's review, you have a resolution on your desk for you to consider for next City Council meeting. I would ask that you all read that for the next City Council meeting. I'll hand to you the tonight.
1:11:31
Unidentified This resolution here?
1:11:32
City Attorney Andre Valley Yes, sir. We already have the policy. We were just defining procedure as to how we go about the policy. Uh one other thing I wanted to do was sound the audience. Is there anyone here tonight who received a notice about condemnation of their property hearing for tonight? Condemnation property. Today it is the 16th and we sent out several letters. I don't have the information from the code enforcement, but we had sent letters of the hearings. I'll just make sure Madam Clerk, would you reflect that Uh did somebody close the door? in the sound of the hallway? We reflect that no one responded relating to uh any condemnation hearings that were set for tonight.
1:12:20
Unidentified I heard anything.
1:12:23
City Attorney Andre Valley We reflect in the minutes that we we asked and there was no one here. And we we will have several condemnations on the next agenda.
1:12:32
Unidentified I saw I saw an announcement for uh is it a water meeting? Is that Is that next week?
1:12:38
Unidentified That's next week at 5:30 in here.
1:12:39
Unidentified Like Monday.
1:12:41
Unidentified Next Monday.
1:12:43
Unidentified The 22nd to be more precise.
1:12:46
Unidentified And what's the goal? Is that just an annual
1:12:50
Mayor Joseph Whitfield No, so that's a meeting so the water convening meeting um for folks out there, I'm happy you asked because I'm sure not everybody's on Facebook or is going to listen to the radio. I've asked for the water department to present um essentially to the community on solutions for incorrect billing, explanation of water rate increases, why those are where they are, as well as um contact information because we have similar to trash, we have citizens that have questions and and I think if citizens are paying for a service, we ought to be able to give them that service. So, that meeting is to make sure that people get clear answers with solutions as well as access to the folks that they need to
1:13:35
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Can I throw in two cents on that? Um I think it's fine for the the citizens to be able to come in and ask questions. But, last meeting and let me say I agree with a lot of comments that have been made about the thing that I'm hyper-sensitive about, which is finances. We need to have a meeting where we deal with finances and what our current situation is. I think a lot of these proposals would be dictated I say by the math. A lot of these proposals would be dictated by the math. So, we can talk about everything under the sun, but the math is going to dictate what the answer to a lot of these issues are. And I think we have we need to have a deep dive on finances. And I think we need to have a deep dive on water. Water is one of the most crucial things that we have in terms of the current situation and fragility. And that's fine for the people, but I'm saying for the council, we need to have a meeting where we focus on water, where we are in terms of our repairs and infrastructure and the department and what direction we need to go in. So. And that's in line with the trash situation also. So, all of those things should be things that I think we should be focusing on at this time.
1:14:41
Unidentified I I I'd like to see a current list of bills we owe that are still on the books that we still owe. The current list of and that way we can compare it to what we had it 6 months ago or back sometime ago. So, if we can get a list for this body to look at of what we still owe. And how many lawsuits do we have against the city?
1:15:10
City Attorney Andre Valley I will send you a list of them, but they're approximately 21 to 22.
1:15:14
Unidentified How many?
1:15:15
City Attorney Andre Valley 21 to 22.
1:15:17
Unidentified 21 to 22?
1:15:19
City Attorney Andre Valley Mhm. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I I provided a list for the auditors and gave a letter to the auditors.
1:15:26
Unidentified Okay. I knew there were several.
1:15:29
Unidentified Yes, sir.
1:15:31
Unidentified Okay. If there's no other business, I move we adjourn.
1:15:35
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Second. Meeting adjourned.
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.