In 30 seconds
- Council approved three fall event permits, each 4-0: the 14th annual Legendary Blues Festival (Sept. 5, Cherry Street), the 3rd annual Gospel & Catfish Cookout at River Park, and the 39th King Biscuit Blues Festival (three days, Bobby Rush headlining).
- Council adopted Ordinance 13-2026, 4-0, authorizing up to $5,000 to pay Elizabeth Whitfield -- the mayor's sister, court-appointed by a judge -- as special prosecutor for cases the city attorney is conflicted out of.
- Entergy agreed to forgive roughly $120,000 in old debt, but the water department still owes $146,463.22 and the city $554,757.38; a payment plan would need 25% down, and council tabled the item for the city attorney to review which debts are actually collectible.
- Attorney James Valley asked council to order five towed vehicles returned at no cost, arguing the city towed them a day before its own compliance deadline; council could not vote on the administrative matter and left it to the mayor to resolve before the vehicles' July 25 resale deadline.
- Council reviewed 2024 audit findings (overtime over budget, staff drawing both salary and APERS benefits, undocumented disbursements and credit-card charges) and agreed to hold a special meeting within about a week to finalize a corrective action plan.
- With the water superintendent absent, council heard that a $2.5 million grant for waterline replacement has been awarded and got an update on sanitation-truck purchases needed before leased trucks are due back July 31.
Recap
Event Proposals Approved
Raymond Simes presented the 14th annual Legendary Blues Festival for Labor Day weekend, September 5, on Cherry Street from morning until 11 p.m., headlined by Jeter Jones ; it passed 4-0 . Fay Duncan presented the third annual Gospel & Catfish Cookout at River Park, held that Saturday from sunset to moonrise, which passed 4-0 . A King Biscuit Blues Festival representative (recorded in the verified transcript as West Hornor/Judge Mitchell with KBBF) presented the 39th festival: three days, Bobby Rush headlining, with an expected group of 350 touring bicyclists camping one night . It passed 4-0 .
Overgrown Lots and Grass Maintenance
Councilwoman Monica Davis raised concerns about high grass on vacant lots in her ward, calling some corners unsafe because they block sightlines . Mayor Whitfield described the city's process: code enforcement documents violations, sanitation schedules a cutting, and unpaid summary-abatement work is billed around $150 per hour or later recovered through a property-tax lien . Council members asked about a set mowing schedule and floated part-time or volunteer labor for vacant lots, but the item ended with no formal action -- the city said it would continue the existing abatement and lien process .
Conflict Ordinance and Special Prosecutor
City Attorney Andre Valley explained he cannot prosecute city employees or cases involving his brother, attorney James Valley, and that most local attorneys are conflicted out of city prosecutions . He said state legislative-audit rules require an ordinance disclosing that Elizabeth Whitfield, the mayor's sister, holds a city contract -- court-appointed by a judge, paid up to $5,000 under the mayor's spending authority . Council waived the reading and adopted Ordinance 13-2026 authorizing the arrangement, 4-0 .
Entergy Forgiveness and Repayment Plan
Mayor Whitfield reported Entergy agreed to forgive roughly $120,000 in debt older than three years, but the Helena Municipal Water Company still owes $146,463.22 and the city of Helena-West Helena still owes $554,757.38, with a payment plan requiring 25% down . Councilman Don Etherly asked what triggered the talks and questioned whether "forgiving" debt already barred by the statute of limitations was a real concession . Etherly asked that the city attorney review each account for what is actually collectible before any payment, and the attorney confirmed a three-year statute of limitations applies to the older accounts . No payment was authorized; council said it would examine the list further .
Towing Dispute -- James Valley
Attorney James Valley petitioned on behalf of property owner Laura Bernard and others for the free return of five towed vehicles, saying code enforcement gave a June 11 compliance deadline but towed the vehicles June 10 . Code enforcement officer Kendrick Smith said the property violated maintenance, salvage-yard, and dog-limit ordinances (Bernard kept more than eight dogs where four is the limit) and that towing followed removal of the compliance tags he had placed; he also said he had been harassed and pressured over the case and had reported it to HR . Councilman Etherly said that regardless of the underlying violations, if the notice process was flawed the city should return the vehicles rather than risk litigation . City Attorney Valley said removing a tag is not automatically a crime but could be obstruction "depending on the facts," and Mayor Whitfield said council could not vote on the administrative decision and would resolve it outside the meeting, noting the vehicles' 45-day resale deadline fell July 25 .
2024 Audit Report and Corrective Action Plan
City Attorney Valley noted state law requires the audit be discussed at the first meeting after council receives it, and that only Councilman St. Columbia had received the report before the prior meeting . Mayor Whitfield read out findings including overtime paid beyond budgeted appropriations, staff drawing both a salary and APERS retirement benefits, disbursement testing that found undocumented and improper payments, and missing documentation for some credit-card transactions . Council agreed the audit warranted its own special meeting, to be scheduled within about a week, to build a corrective action plan, with the clerk asked to note in the minutes that the report was presented and discussed.
Water Department and Sanitation Update
Water Superintendent Rose was absent. The update reported a $2.5 million Delta Regional Authority grant awarded for waterline replacement, with ANRC loan funds already committed to engineering fees and excavation expected soon . A Cintas uniform proposal was mentioned but not presented in Rose's absence. On sanitation, staff identified a $30,000 replacement truck in Memphis and continued searching for a second, with an unofficial bid from Republic Services expected the following Monday ; the city's three currently leased trucks are due back by July 31 . A council member asked for a follow-up on a new well reported to be malfunctioning at an earlier presentation .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Packet Cover & July 2, 2026 Special Meeting Minutes
Cover page for the July 21, 2026 council meeting packet . Minutes of a July 2, 2026 special-called meeting held to approve renting three sanitation trucks (two side loaders, one front-end loader) for one month from Big Truck Rentals of Tampa, Florida, because city equipment was down or needed service . Council placed Ordinance 11, waiving competitive bidding for the rental, on third and final reading and adopted it by unanimous vote of the four members present; two members were absent .
| Sanitation truck rental, 3 trucks, 1 month | $31,700/month |
July 7, 2026 Council Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the July 7, 2026 regular meeting. Sanitation staff reported equipment 7-11 years old, only three operational units, and 32,000 tons of garbage processed in eleven days; the council discussed possibly contracting service to Republic, GFL, or Waste Management and heard that Kevin Martin Arnold became Acting Director of Street & Sanitation on July 6 . The Water/Sewer Department presented three invoices for approval and updated the council on pump stations and Delta Catalyst/ARNC funding . The council adopted Resolution 12, waiving the local match for a $4,500,000 EPA water grant for pipe replacement work starting in West Helena . Two residents addressed the council: Shirley Garner on water billing and property-damage complaints, and Laurie Bernard/William Harris on removal of vehicles from a yard, who were told to bring their attorney to a future meeting .
| Ten Carva invoice | $6,248.00 | |
| West Coast Contractors invoice | $4,650.00 | |
| Quattlebaum invoice | $6,250.00 | |
| EPA water grant (local match waived) | $4,500,000 |
Order Appointing Special Prosecutor
District Court order, dated July 8, 2026, appointing Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Whitfield as Special Prosecutor for City of Helena-West Helena criminal and traffic cases from which elected City Attorney Andre Valley has recused due to a conflict of interest . The Special Prosecutor is to be paid by the City with funds appropriated by the City Council, as if appointed by the Mayor; the appointment stands until further order of the court. Signed by District Judge Jason Carter .
Conflict-of-Interest Ordinance (Halbert Legal Services)
An ordinance, dated May 2020, waiving any conflict-of-interest prohibition against the City contracting for legal services with Charles Halbert Jr., an attorney married to then-Mayor's Chief of Staff Helen Halbert . It sets the Mayor's spending authority for such contracts at the same limit that applies to other employees, elected officials, and their family members who contract with the City, and declares an emergency making it effective immediately . Signed by then-Mayor Kevin Smith and City Clerk Sandi Ramsey; included in this packet as background for the current conflict-ordinance discussion .
| Spending limit for related-party contracts | $2,500 |
Legal Services Contract — Special Prosecutor Elizabeth Whitfield
Contract between the City and Attorney Elizabeth Whitfield formalizing her appointment as Special Prosecutor for criminal and traffic cases where City Attorney Andre Valley has recused, per the July 8, 2026 court order and Ark. Code Ann. § 14-58-303 . Her duties include court appearances, plea negotiations, and trials; she is not required to coordinate with City Attorney Valley on prosecutorial strategy . Compensation is $280 per hour, capped at $5,000 per case without the Mayor's prior written authorization, paid within 30 days of an approved itemized invoice . She serves as an independent contractor under Arkansas law until further order of the court; Whitfield signed on July 9, 2026, with the Mayor's and Judge's signature lines left blank in this copy .
| Special Prosecutor hourly fee | $280/hour | |
| Per-case compensation cap | $5,000 per case |
Entergy Forgiveness & Repayment Plan
Account-by-account table of Entergy balances owed by the City and related entities (City of Helena, City of West Helena, water departments, landfill, library, park commission), showing a grand total of $822,827.82 owed, $121,607.22 of it more than three years old, and a remaining balance of $701,220.60 after the approved forgiveness agreement . A follow-up letter splits the remaining debt into a water-accounts balance of $146,463.22 (25% down of $36,615.80 leaves $109,847.42, repayable over up to 36 months) and a city-accounts balance of $554,757.38 (25% down of $138,689.35 leaves $416,068.03, or $11,557.44 added to the bill each month over 36 months) .
| Entergy grand total owed (all accounts) | $822,827.82 | |
| Entergy remaining balance after forgiveness | $701,220.60 | |
| Water accounts balance | $146,463.22 | |
| Water accounts 25% down payment | $36,615.80 | |
| Water accounts balance after down payment | $109,847.42 | |
| City accounts balance | $554,757.38 | |
| City accounts 25% down payment | $138,689.35 | |
| City accounts balance after down payment, over 36 months | $416,068.03 total, $11,557.44/month |
2024 Arkansas Legislative Audit — Findings
State Legislative Audit findings for city fiscal year 2024 (engagement LOM111124). Supplemental findings against Mayor Whitfield cite an Airport Commission budget never approved by council ordinance or resolution, meeting minutes that omitted required Treasurer's and Mayor's reports, disbursement records with missing fuel-ticket documentation and errors, and an Attorney General donation used to buy fire equipment items other than the stated Cascade System, without documentation . Reportable findings, listed twice in the packet, describe missed payments on five financed-purchase agreements that led to repossession of police body cameras, two Caterpillar tractors, a Caterpillar excavator, and a truck, new debt with J.A. Riggs, an incomplete fixed-asset listing, and overtime paid beyond budgeted appropriations . A material-weakness finding, issued against both Mayor Whitfield and Treasurer Derrick Turner, states the General Fund and Street Fund exceeded budgeted appropriations, leaving the General Fund, Street Fund, and Landfill Fund with deficit balances at year-end 2024, driven partly by $2,148,000 in General Fund accounts payable including payroll taxes, retirement benefits, county jail housing costs, truck rentals, and a camera lease .
| General Fund expenditures over budgeted appropriations | $407,088 (5%) | |
| Street Fund expenditures over budgeted appropriations | $390,745 (31%) | |
| General Fund year-end deficit, 12/31/2024 | $926,637 | |
| Street Fund year-end deficit, 12/31/2024 | $811,916 | |
| Landfill Fund year-end deficit, 12/31/2024 | $454,140 | |
| Overtime paid beyond budgeted appropriations | $283,780 (Police $168,265, Street $47,639, Fire $46,889 as listed) | |
| General Fund accounts payable total | $2,148,000 | |
| Late fees paid on disbursements | $3,620 |
2024 Audit Corrective Action Plan
The City's corrective action plan responding to the 2024 Legislative Audit findings, repeating each finding with an added "Corrective Action" column. Planned actions include the Finance Department drafting a formal Airport Commission budget ordinance for council approval and the City Clerk's office standardizing meeting-minutes templates to include the Treasurer's report . The Finance Department will implement a formal disbursement-control policy, an invoice tracking log, and quarterly internal reviews to address $3,620 in late fees and a $107 per diem payment made without documentation, and going forward will track any donated or restricted funds in a dedicated account and get written authorization before future debt agreements or asset reallocations, addressing the undocumented Cascade System donation and financing . Signed by Mayor Joseph D. Whitfield .
| Late fees addressed by corrective action | $3,620 | |
| Unsupported per diem payment | $107 |
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 ↗
0:25
Unidentified Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Thank you sir. Thank you.
0:39
Raymond Simes I'm going to try to be be as brief as I can, but hello to everyone.
0:47
Raymond Simes I'm Raymond Sims of Forest Street Radio and organizer. I'm going to 14th annual try to be be festival
0:55
Raymond Simes But hello. I would like to present
0:58
Raymond Simes The lineup for the for legendary blues. I'm going to 14th annual try to be be our headliner will be Jeter Jones.
1:11
Raymond Simes Jeter Jones is one of the top southern soul and blues singers around at this time. So, we're blessed to have him available to headline our show. We have a local guy that's lived in um out of town for an extended period of time, but very popular. His name is Tennyson Price. He's been singing old school and blues for I would say maybe 30 years. And we'll get a chance to honor people who have been a part of our community. I think that's important. There's a guy named Avery, and they call him AD. So, I'm going to say AD. He's a local uh southern soul talent. And one of the things we're going to try to do to this year and in following years is to try to to uh honor some of the entertainers from this area along with national entertainers and hopefully uh together that will be you know something special for us. The festival is scheduled for Saturday, which is Labor Day weekend, September 5th. We'd like to start at about 1:00 p.m. We only want to utilize Cherry Street. I think it's something else may be scheduled for Walnut, but we're going to work with that group, whoever they are. We're going to we're going to basically have uh from Missouri all the way down to I would say First National Bank. That's the area that we're asking for to utilize from uh basically Saturday morning until Saturday night around 11:00 p.m. September 5th. And I'm asking you guys to approve the festival. I think you you you all asked for me to have signatures and uh I did that. It's one that's kind of left. Uh but we're going to take care of that tomorrow. That's it. Any questions?
3:29
Raymond Simes Question. In reference to the 14th annual leg uh legendary blues festival.
3:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield It's not so much a question from me, but I just want to say thank you for investing in some entertainment um in the community. We appreciate that.
3:44
Raymond Simes° I appreciate you guys. I really do. Thank you.
3:48
Councilwoman Monica Davis (Ward 3) I move that we annual festival.
3:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Second. Was that second? Council council Miller was Let's see. She said we call the roll.
4:03
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes.
4:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you.
4:12
Raymond Simes° Thank you. Thank you very much.
4:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Next up, we have uh gospel and catfish cookout that will be happening at the park. And I know we have representative, Miss Fay Duncan.
4:25
Fay Duncan° Good afternoon. Good afternoon. And thank you all for inviting me here tonight to ask you to approve the third annual gospel fest on the river. I want to start by that it's this Saturday from sunset to moonrise and we'd like to invite you the mayor to open the occasion for us. So that's we're just hoping to bring some new economies and new guys on the river. Any questions? Anyone please? Again. I saw how successful this event has grown into. So, I I I look to see well done like that.
5:07
Unidentified Thank you. It's featuring the the local Hughes family. So, I think if you've heard the Hughes family saying, you know, you're in for a treat for the evening.
5:17
Unidentified In fact, at Maryanne is opening up. She's pretty much doing the entire festival for her and her family. So you're to hear some real local talent, some excellent talent that we're happy to present again.
5:29
Unidentified Good. I don't have any questions.
5:32
Unidentified The papers are signed.
5:34
Unidentified I'd like to make a motion that we [snorts] approve the gospel and catfish cook out of the river park this side.
5:41
Unidentified Yes.
5:42
Unidentified Second.
5:44
Roll call Roll-call vote — Maxine Miller: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Adrian Messina: yes.
5:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank Thank you.
5:56
Unidentified Thank you again.
5:57
Unidentified Thank you.
5:59
West Hornor/Judge Mitchell (KBBF) And last up from our list of event proposals this evening, we have a couple representatives from King Biscuit Blues uh Festival. So, we'll come on up at this time. About this time last year, we were trying to find a way to have a festival and we came together in a great fashion and had a great festival. Had a good time, good turnout. The festival's on firm financial footing after that festival and it's great. But before I start talking more about my festival, I'd like to say that the other festivals that came before us on this deal, we fully support them. We need music in this town. We need entertainment in this town. And the more variety, the more we have, the better it is. Our neighbors across the river brag that they have blues and entertainment live every night. And they they use that to to coax us [clears throat] over there. But we we uh we feel like we've got a lot to offer here, too. We feel like our festival this year is a we've got a very strong lineup. We've gone back to three days. Thursday is going to be more of a local day. Friday is going to be a big day and Saturday is going to be the the the biggest day. And so we're we're uh very excited. We we keep our same date that we always have had. We've been working on the security. We've got uh got a lot going on. We're we're so far ahead of last year that it's it's it's almost like we're we're worried we're forgetting something. Judge just when I come in your door, I saw the sign. So, thank you very much for your support. I know you participated last year. You were there. you you did all types of things that helped with us both and really appreciative the mayor being involved and getting out with the people. My major focus has been to try to get more local folks. We truly have an international festival. Our problem is number one, we don't have enough hotels. if he did, you know, just for one time a year, that's not enough. So, you need a whole bunch of festivals. I think over in Clarksdale, every week they got something going. Everybody's doing a festival. I I keep playing with the idea that we juke too. And I remember the ABC and some of them other places when I was a kid out there in West Helman that I really couldn't go into, but I knew a lot about uh the Tropicana over here in Helena. You know, there were a number of cuticles. We need to return and try to encourage people to invest in this community. We have Lonnie Shields who I think I've mentioned he's local and he is going to be the headliner on Thursday night. Uh Friday night we we move along. We have some local folks. We we got folks from high love that are that are known. We got people from Memphis and we got people from Clarkshire. We stayed away from the really heavy hitters. Uh this is a rebuilding year for us. Uh when we started her festival last year, thanks to this gentleman who's crazy like I am with $13. Uh people doubted and I had some board members that showed a lot of trust by resigning. But uh God takes care of those who try to do the right thing and we're trying to keep this thing going in Helen year 39 and we're looking forward to next year which will be 40. We're really going to try to do something good for trying to get more local and what I've done is try to keep the price of tickets. week seem to have drifted into a period where we were doing VIP with the assumption that everybody's got a lot of money. Uh that's not true in this community. Realities are we're dealing with a lot of people that are good people but don't have the financial resources to try to do things. I'm trying to keep ticket prices, you know, down. We haven't opened up the one day yet, but the locals trying to. We have a quite broken where you can keep the ticket down to maybe $20. I think that's what we're trying to get. We're trying to get as many local people to come out. There's no way in the old days when they the rumors are we had, I don't know, 10, 15, 20,000 folks. All of them didn't come over here from Europe.
11:32
Unidentified All of them come from Japan or Spain. They came I don't know where we went wrong, but we're trying to get more people locally to participate and enjoy one of the best festivals by reputation in the world and it's world worldwide known the King Bisby Blues Festival in Helen, Arkansas. and we'd like to keep it going. We want to get more local participate participation in terms of people that would like to come might not have resources. I still will try to work with them best we can to try to get them where they can come. there. Anybody have any questions about where we are passed out of one chain? Put them on side. Yeah, we do have a group that we know of that are on a bike tour, bicycle tour, and that bicycle tour is that we have been told to expect 350 bicyclists that are going to be camping in the area. It kind of goes back from Thursday night to Friday night that they're going to be at the festival. They'll only only be at the festival one night. But we know of a group of 350 that's going to be there one of those two nights. And and their request to be here was a big part of our decision to go back with a Thursday night limited lineup. And um we're looking we're excited to be three days. Three days seems to be like the formula for a better attended festival and we're we're very excited. Chalk was talking about our lineup and and we don't have that big national punch name that we've had in the past, but we have extremely solid acts top to bottom. More so than last year, more so than the year before. And we'll have Bobby Rush. I mean, doesn't get that name. No, it doesn't get any bigger than than that one. And uh we're we're really excited.
13:47
Unidentified And John probably don't get any better than that either.
13:50
Unidentified He's he's pretty uh
13:51
Unidentified He's Yeah, he's got the the backup spot, but he's actually in its own right one of the better known and famous people in the world.
14:04
Unidentified Well, we're excited to do it as a group. We're excited to work on it. We love it and we feel like it's the identity of our town and we want to keep that identity very positive and we want to uh keep it going.
14:19
Unidentified Thanks. Thank you. Are there any questions?
14:22
Unidentified Thank you.
14:25
Mayor Joseph Whitfield There are no questions. Is there a motion to uh formally approve and accept this uh proposal for this event?
14:33
Unidentified So move.
14:34
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So move. Is there a second?
14:36
Unidentified Second.
14:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. Madam clerk, will you call the role, please?
14:40
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Miss Davis.
14:43
Councilwoman Monica Davis (Ward 3) Yes.
14:44
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Bum.
14:46
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° Adrien.
14:48
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Anthony.
14:49
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Yes.
14:51
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Miss Miller.
14:52
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° Yes. Motion. Motion passes. Thank Thank you. Thank you.
15:02
Unidentified Thank you all. and everybody have a good
15:04
Unidentified You as well as we will be there.
15:08
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Um our next line item for the business this uh our next line item of business this evening is for overgrown lots um and thus grass maintenance or discussion regarding overgrown properties requiring grass maintenance including cleanup efforts and code enforcement. Uh, I do want to yield the floor um to Councilwoman Davis um to briefly explain what your perspective was on this matter and then we can engage in that discussion.
15:37
Councilwoman Monica Davis (Ward 3) Uh I have a major concern for the city as a whole but especially in my ward because we have a lot of lots that are vacant and the grass is extremely high. Uh we have a lot of um old homes that just sit with high grass and also corners uh that are so bad that you can't see around. You can't see around the south side and I don't want anything to happen. But I want I know you said that we're not in the grass pieces but I want the people to hear again what the options are for the grass and what are we going to do?
16:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Of course. So, uh, thank you for and for the audience. Um, everyone that's here, if you want to follow along in the packet, that table that's out there has packets that are for you if you want to follow along. If you're online, there is a uh there is a link on the homepage of uh the hello.gov website that takes you directly to um our city council package. So just so that our audience can follow along. Um in regards to this matter, grass cutting, I do believe in some ways in the past has been done by request whenever the city's um street and sanitation department was requested to cut a lot. Um in some cases certain cemeteries and where what we're faced with right now is a very real issue around manpower. and and by manpower, not necessarily in the sense that we can't get done the things that are supposed to be taken care of on the city side, but when we start to divert that attention into other projects, um something falls something falls through. So, we did I did have a um a virtual engagement questions with the mayor through the official city of Helena was telling the Facebook page where I explained to someone that asked this question, what does the city do about high grass? And part of that answer is um there's a process. So anytime a resident sees high grass, what you would do is you would call code enforcement to come and make a note of the pro the issue on that particular property that you're referencing. Um if it's trash in the yard or in this particular case being of the summer, if it's high grass, um and it's unsightly or just hot, code enforcement comes out, they document what they see via pictures, um a full report, and they make a file for that particular property. At that point they call um the sanitation department to make a appointment for that uh property property property to be cut and upon completion of that property then after a follow-up picture is taken to document the before and after process. So um we have had three appointments that went just like that on Friday. In some cases owners will pay because that's a that's essentially a fine. When it comes to the point that we have to summary abate the issue, that's a fine for the resident whose whose grass we're having to cut. And if we can all remember the ordinance that we pass um move that rate to about $150 per hour. If um if we've had residents that don't want to bait or are absent, um what we have been doing is going the route of seeking leans. And so when it comes time for property taxes to be filed, um the m the city is going to recoup that money and ought to make sure that we're exploring those avenues. And so the lean process, I'm not sure how often that's been used in the past and it probably has. Um but that's going to be done in such a way that we can recoup some of those monies for the labor um that gets done. So, we I've bottom line is I've told folks we want to help and we will make sure that the department can extend itself into that um into that area of need. And you've seen I've gotten a call today about some corners that were pretty bad. I think over on Panama um throughout the city of Helena um some of those were have been cut over the week since last Thursday, last Friday. And so we want to make sure that we maintain that. Um, so we will help with high m or high grass maintenance. It's just it looks a little different. We can't use our stream sanitation department by demand because it also sends in my estimation it sends a message that we we want to that we kind of enable um the property ownership that's not that's not active, that's not responsive. So,
20:07
Unidentified I commend the code enforcement uh department. Uh I know that they've been working on uh lots and trying to get some of the grass cut on a little uh vehicle. Uh but I am more concerned not with the residents because most people get their yards cut or cut their yards within a reasonable amount of time. I'm talking about the ones the lots that no one's there. There's not a house there in most cases or maybe it is and no one's live there. So something to that effect
20:47
Unidentified Send the people that live there.
20:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And we've we've seen a mixture. Um, I'm not with code enforcement 247, but u we had a meeting today and when I talked to them or with the chief of staff who's now in the interim position for street sanitation, um, we get a little bit of everything. Some vacant some owners where where you don't have someone currently living. Sometimes you do have someone that's kind of a power of attorney for whoever last owned the property and and they're responsible and make calls. sometimes it's you're not going to get an answer or you don't have a a clear line of ownership to follow. Um and so that is that is a process where we're still trying to refine what does that look like. Um that's not going to be Can we spare all of our city employee or can we spare our city employees to do that and let things that um like the river park or our city parks our um places that that are around public infrastructure fall through. I don't think we want that. Um but it is a question I mean that's a I think a very valid concern because we see that not just in Helena but West Helena on both sides and um that's going to be a big solution. I'm curious to know if there's other thoughts about that um addressing vacant properties especially with Ezra.
22:15
Unidentified Is there a schedule? Does that department have a schedule that they you know on a calendar where you know that say a week it's going to be spent on X the next week it's going to be spent on this they rotate the days around I mean you've got 20 days in a month
22:32
Unidentified 20 work days and surely you cut the river park you cut the this that week and a half maybe and so all those other days I mean I I know that there's other things that are going going on. But I'm I'm with Miss Davis on this. Like there's got to be two or three days a month,
22:56
Unidentified three, you know, three or four days a month where you can dedicated to these properties where it's a hazard hazard. I mean, you know, when when you're talking about not being able to see and people potentially having, you know, I I mean, I would like to see a schedule of some sort. and the the uh interm chief of staff does have a schedule. Um I don't know. Um he has a schedule and it's roughly a week. It's roughly a week. So you don't see people cutting. I think one of his first changes that he made was that um every day I think there were there was a grass cutting team and people were cutting every day. Some of these were lots that the city owned. Some of them were not lots that the city owned. So um kind of just dare I say aimlessly cutting. And when you get kind of caught up in the process of cutting like that, there's not a lot of clear direction for or strategic vision for what you're trying to do. I don't and again I don't disagree that the city needs to be a partner in solving this issue. I just want to make sure that we as a group understand that part of this is the conversation around changing the way of thinking around like how we as a community take care of our community. I think that's that that's a layer of this conversation. Um and then the other layer is where the city can get involved which I do agree. I agree that there are ways for us and right now the process that we are the process we're using right now where code enforcement um documents before and after so that we can um justify the subreatement. That that's us getting involved in those lots that we don't own but we recognize this is unsightly, this is unsafe and u it's hazardous. So we we'll we'll we get involved and I just want us to make sure that we keep at the forefront. There's labor involved and sometimes there might be costs and um we have to think about ways that we recoup that or make sure that uh we get reimbursed for for those efforts. So again, it's an ongoing conversation and I've I've seen the uh summary abatement process work um over the last few days and um welcome ideas and uh creative solutions because I think given just just the sheer number of vacant homes and lots that we have here, we're going to have to have something creative. the city with the staff force, the force, the numbers that we have now, that's not going to be sustainable for us to um incorporate x number of blocks over the course of uh like each month. That that doesn't sustain it. I know it's late in the summer and I know we may not have the funds, but maybe in the future we can look into hiring uh maybe part-time workers for the south like we used to do years ago or something to that because we're going to have to do something. It's unsightly and it's also dangerous in some instances and it's really heavy about what it is. I do know that we used to have workforce development um and I know that that used to be a heavy contributor to a lot of local um workforce for city and um private businesses and um with the WEOA funding kind of moving and decreasing not just in Arkansas but other states I know we've all seen a decrease in how that program is looked but I think that that's again that would be I think a step and um even even Um, even high school volunteers I think potentially could be something that could be done in the future as well along with part-time. So they the seniors they got together volunteer hours so it could be but
26:55
Mayor Joseph Whitfield we need to do something. We're going to have to do something. Were were there um other thoughts or comments around that matter for high grass maintenance thoughts or comments? If not, we will continue the process of summary evading um and definitely continue to make sure that we are staying up to date with just the reality of how many lots we have. moving. If there are no further comments on this uh subject matter, we'll move on to our next item of business, which is um in your packets. This is pages 6 through 13 in your packets. This is a conflict ordinance uh for potential conflict prosecutor being attorney Whitfield. Um not my that would not be myself, but my sister. This is a discussion regarding the city's conflict ordinance, uh including the review of legal representation and procedure. So there have been cases where our city attorney has had to be accused of um from those cases for different reasons and in our searches for uh special prosecutors you're hardressed to find a lot of lawyers in the area that um also would not say to the same case if if I may
28:19
City Attorney Andre Valley have we previously passed uh conflict of interest ordinances as you all aware Arkansas code annotated section 1442107B uh uh prohibits the city from doing business with uh fat members of employees and elected officials for the city unless we do so an ordinance. The city uh unless city council approve so by ordinance. City council has previously approved an ordinance but for each such a contract uh the city council has approved the hiring or ratifying the hiring of a particular person. I as city attorney cannot prosecute city employees. There are se various city employees that were on the docket. Also, I can't prosecute cases involving my brother uh James Valley JF Valley and he he has a a practice and he has a lot of people on the docket. So, previously what we've done is hired an attorney. Uh, Mayor Whitfield uh and I have talked about it for six months now and many of your local attorneys are conflicted out from representing the city on this. Are they either suing the city or they had cases on the docket where they were where they were the lawyers on the other case or because of their capacity public defender or federal public defender they could not do it. Uh the law is clear that I can't both represent people and prosecute them at the same time. And so we've previously passed it and uh we searched for other attorneys and Judge Jason Carter because the cases kept getting bumped and we were approaching one year. The city has one year to prosecute cases. He appointed by order uh attorney Elizabeth Whitfield represent the city on several cases uh that we some were disposed of last week and some still are on the docket and there others that may come cuz some city employees get traffic citations and things like that that I cannot prosecute. And so I had prepared an ordinance. I thought I emailed it to you, but I saw when I looked at the email, I didn't did not email it to you, but it's the standard ordinance that we do if you all would like. It's a lengthy ordinance in the pack.
30:24
City Attorney Andre Valley Well, that's the old one from 2020. That was the example when Chuck H was hired, but I didn't I left off the one that's in specific. It talks about Elizabeth Whitfield because what legislative audit wants is an ordinance that clearly shows that you as a body were aware that Elizabeth Whitfield uh has a contract with the city and that she is the mayor's sister and that the city is paying her. Uh it's below the mayor spending limit up to $5,000. He didn't appoint her. Uh District Court Judge Jason William Jason Carter appointed her as a case had to go forward. We've been rocking uh by way example if you look Philip Allen has a lot of practice but he's suing the city car is suing the city. Uh attorney James val cases Mr. Ethlet is city council member and he's prohibited based on his position as a federal officer. Uh he can't do cases. Mr. Sifler is the same way. Uh there are various attorneys that if we look down, you have 23 lawsuits. Many of your local council are suing and some by virtue of their private practice don't do prosecutors cases. So, um after we went through it all, just Carter said, "Well, I just needed somebody to prosecute." So, he appointed Miss Whitfield. Uh and what we would have to do is pass an ordinance authorizing recognizing that the mayor has authorized spend up to $5,000 to pay Miss Whitfield, Elizabeth Whitfield, to do so. Okay. So, you just need a motion.
32:02
City Attorney Andre Valley Well, it's a ordinance. It's ordinance. The stand or number to be I do Do you want me to read it? But it's a standard ordinance. We do it each time.
32:09
Unidentified Ordinance 13. This one.
32:12
Unidentified That's the one from Chuck Ham. Do I have one that said Liz Whitfield?
32:16
Unidentified No.
32:18
City Attorney Andre Valley° That one says Chuck Hamlet. up.
32:21
City Attorney Andre Valley° I didn't include the
32:22
City Attorney Andre Valley° Paragraph at the very end. It says Elizabeth Woodfield.
32:26
Unidentified Is that the contract or ordinance
32:30
Unidentified Order appointing special prosecutor?
32:32
City Attorney Andre Valley° That's Judge Jason Carter did the order.
32:35
Unidentified Oh,
32:36
City Attorney Andre Valley and that's Elizabeth Whitfield did a contract that the court approved and you have the sample copy from when we appointed Chuck Halbert to do so in 2020. But I have a separate ordinance to we can wave wave the reading place on third and final reading and do the title only if you all so like or if you would like me to read it I can read it.
33:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° It's order number 13 2026. Is that a motion miss?
33:11
Unidentified Second.
33:12
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes.
33:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Need a motion to adopt. Is there a motion to uh formally move for adoption?
33:35
Unidentified A second.
33:38
Unidentified Second.
33:40
Mayor Joseph Whitfield M. Call the RO, please.
33:42
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Don Etherly: yes.
33:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank Thank you all. Moving right along. Our next item of business for this evening. Uh this is energy forgiveness and repayment plan. This is in your packets on pages 14 and 15. So what you see on page 14, this is a list of currently outstanding um bills that you that the city of Helena and the city of Helena Municipal Water Department are um said to be responsible for from Energy. And what you see on page 15, this is email correspondence breaking down the total balance of water department uh pay and what would be resp what the city of homeland will be responsible for the total forgiveness for um energy. We did have a conversation with uh um our rep, Miss Katrina Brown, and she was able to talk to her directors at Energy, and what they agreed to forgive was everything older than 3 years um on these accounts, and that totaled right at around $120,000 that would be forgiven from our outstanding energy bills. That's forgiven. But that does still leave as you can see on page 15 for the Helena Municipal Water Company. Uh we still would be we still owe $146,46322 and for the city of Helena West Helena that would be a total of $554,757.38. for um for either account to have a payment plan, there has to be a initial payment. And this is currently as as has been explained to me currently, there would need to be a 25% um payment for them to enact a payment plan or arrangement. And so part of the conversation that I wanted to have tonight is understanding our willingness to move forward with this sooner with our water account with our water department because um those funds through our water department are available. And what we would need to continue um to discuss is how this payment would look like for the city for the general fund for the city of Helena. But I hope that's a brief description of what 14 pages 14 15 look like and um I want to give you some time to digest that to see if there are any question initial questions.
36:35
Unidentified So you said the water department would have their payment but the general fund is not quite ready. We would need we would need to probably negotiate that more at least in terms of paying the 25% um 25% down for the general fund would I think would take some uh some planning some extra planning. We could do that sooner from our water department with the water department. Yes. But the general funds we would need to have some additional planning to figure that out.
37:09
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay. So the Okay. What I'm sort of concerned about is, you know, we have this $30,000, you know, truck rental for big truck rental, right?
37:21
Unidentified Mhm.
37:22
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° And that's running out. We've got how many weeks left on that? One and a half, two weeks.
37:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Roughly two.
37:29
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I mean, it's not long and that's going to be upon us again. So, I mean, are we any closer to getting a truck? I mean, where are we with that? because it just I don't want us to just jump out there. I mean, we need to start having these conversations about this.
37:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Well, that would be from I mean that's and I can answer that, but that would kind of deter us from from this conversation. um the s the interimm director of the chief of staff, he has found a truck in Memphis, one in particular that he's gotten a good report from uh from city mechanics. And so uh that truck is approximately $30,000 where we uh put it out for rental for the three that we currently have. Um and there's still an ongoing process to look for um a second one because I know if we all remember our city mechanics um coming up to the podium I think last meeting saying that ideally two trucks and I and I would agree that if we've all kind of paid attention to the pickup schedule over the last week and a half um three has been the magic number and um has allowed for the knuckle bullet trucks to pick up debris. So, um, that's why they're still looking for a second one as well that would potentially be a good good a good purchase.
38:53
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I have a question. Um, I was asking the city attorney if he had looked at this and he said he's looking at it now. Um, how do we get here? I mean, what what and I don't mean on the on the debt itself. How did we get to the point of of trying to get a payment plan? What events led us to this?
39:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So, this has been this has been an ongoing process. So, Katrina Brown is our local representative from Energy and she's come um like any like any utility provider that hasn't had payment. They're going to come and uh try to collect at some point. So, through a series of conversations and sitting down, this information has been shared as well. not now particularly not this list because I think what's different is the total forgiveness that um the total forgiveness that's being offered um is what's different but simply from simply from having visitation with our account reps those are folks that uh definitely believe we need to make sure you're talking to m still taking the the portion of the franchise fees,
40:07
Unidentified sir.
40:08
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Are they still taking a portion of the franchise fees?
40:11
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Nobody's taking a portion of the franchise fees.
40:14
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay. I remember we first consolidated when Helena was behind and we did an agreement where they were taking a portion of franchise fees.
40:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° They don't they don't touch the franchise fees,
40:23
Unidentified okay,
40:24
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) for their debt. Well, and and that's the reason why I asked if the city attorney had looked at this because there was a period of time where they collected on some of these and and I don't know what the facts I don't know how old these accounts are, but some of these, you know, I appreciate the forgiveness, but forgiveness on de on potential debts for the statute of limitations has expired. It's not really a I don't know if that's a a negotiation at all. uh if you can't collect on it. Um and that was my question is to how do we factually get here? What happened? What triggered what triggered these discussions? Um and I don't know you you you gave me a big broad general answer, but I don't know that I truly understand what what happened.
41:12
Unidentified And is it what happened with with the numbers? What happened with why did we have the spreadsheet? What?
41:17
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° No, no, no, no, no, no, no. some event caused a discussion to ensue about some kind of payment plan. What was the event that happened?
41:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, what I've what I have on my desk that I work off of every day is a list of uh claims that we have that from various accounts um various departments and some of these accounts go back varying to varying dates. Um, Energy being one of our main utility providers, um, like anybody from that list, some of those calls, uh, we've made to try to figure out what is, um, what is claimed that the city owes and then some of those calls come in, we pick up the phone and we figure out what folks say we owe. And so this was no different. Um, our rep here, she comes into the city, I would say if not bi-weekly, once a month. And uh we had a couple of meetings, myself, uh city clerk, uh the chief of staff, and we were able to talk about open accounts, outstanding balances, and um to date this was um this is where we were. So nothing I mean nothing magical other than just a simple conversation with somebody that says, "Hey, can we talk about your account that you currently have that uh may or may not have some outstanding balances?" And my my feeling on this is that I understand that there needs to be discussion around how some of uh some payments would need to be scheduled, how some payments would need to be structured, but and statute of limitations. Yes, that was part of a conversation that we've had. Um but what we owe we we I'm a firm believer that we need to pay. I mean, we've been sitting around this table saying we need to pay. We need to pay. And that's that's what moves this conversation with the spreadsheet. So, u what that looks like, I think that obviously this this body makes that decision, but um all driven just by the spirit that the debt's important and we need to make sure that we are looking at everything that's considered outstanding. And so what I'm asking tonight is with this and I don't want to brush any questions aside, but what I'm asking tonight is um looking at the numbers, looking at these open accounts and looking at what proposed forgiveness is, are we willing and ready to take next steps in terms of structuring a repayment? myself. Here's here's what my thought process is. We have utilities and we approve certain amounts in the budget every year to pay what we think the utilities will be for all departments. So to the extent that there are unpaid and open accounts uh that are collectible or uncollectible, the appropriation was made either last year, the year before, or I don't know how far these go back, 5 years, 6 years, the appropriations were already made. So anything that's outstanding on a utility just kind of goes in that basket of of things that we may owe. So those in and of themselves don't require council approval to make payment on. What would require council approval is the the contractual agreement.
44:53
Unidentified Do you understand the difference? You
44:56
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I'm not Yeah. I I didn't come tonight to ask I'm These are big numbers and I don't want you all to look at a financial report and see a super huge payment out of the water department and have never heard where that money went. So I we talk about debt every meeting and this is just a very concrete example. So I'm aware I'm aware that yeah like this is um something that if we if we owe if we owe we can pay but being that these numbers we I think even with the forgiveness the water department would still potentially owe 146,000. The city would still owe potentially 554,000. Um, those aren't numbers that I want to see deducted from any city account without a public just without a public conversation.
45:40
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Yes, sir. But I there's an end to that statement that I was making and that would have was going to be to the extent that any of these individual accounts are are addressed. My preference would be that the city attorney is is at least looped into the conversation so that he can render a legal opinion as to which ones he believes are collectible and not. He may say all are collectible. He may arrive at the conclusion that some are not collectible. Uh there may be further research that needs to happen, but and of course we appreciate anybody who wants to cut us a deal on anything they claim we owe. And if we legitimately owe it, then those are things that we should take care of. That's not what I'm saying. But if it's not collectible, it shouldn't be a part of the discussion. And so to the extent that he had if he's just seeing it, my preference is that he see it and that he take a look at it. Obviously, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. If you just wanted to pay them, you could. I believe that because they're passed to debts, they can come out of any surplus funds or any available funds to pay it. So, I don't think it requires council approval. I'm just saying I would prefer that the city attorney have some input on this.
46:40
City Attorney Andre Valley Okay. What I said I was just saying what to be clear with what what you said in the public. What I was saying is I haven't seen this detailed breakdown on what it is. That's that's what I was saying. I hadn't seen. Uh the mayor has told me that he has been speaking with the entity and uh he's been trying to see what exactly is owed. I talked to him about statute of limitations in three years that nothing past 3 years is even collectible at this point. And uh but I haven't seen this detail cuz what this does this goes from the origin account and the actual account number for each account and how much is owed per each account. Uh and so we that's what that's what you'all have. We'll have the detailed uh spreadsheet of every account like for the city of Helena, city of landfield for the city of Westa uh city of West Hel another account the community center hela water and the park commission and library and water company and and another water company but you have all the various accounts where you have different meters each meter has an has an account and so I had seen it broken down in this way is what I was saying was Yes.
47:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So, what we can and what we can do, I don't think there's going to be a check out tomorrow. Um, this is a meeting that we can definitely have uh with city attorney offline, but I do want to just get initial thoughts, comments, concerns about what you're seeing on on this sheet. Any any consideration? I the only thing I I'm sorry turn.
48:17
Unidentified No, I was only thing that I am concerned about is because like you said, you know, we're looking at big numbers and I'm just thinking about other commitments that we have. I just want to make sure that we are keeping all of that in play when we start uh making decisions. I don't know if this necessitates another budget meeting. I mean, do we need to talk about this a little bit more? I don't know. I'm just that was just my thought. That's what went through my head.
48:50
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° Well, well, that was the reason why I asked the question, what triggered this? What was the triggering event? Because I didn't know if there was some pressure coming from somebody like we're going if if you don't do this, we're going to do that. or if this is just a random reaching out to to to try to set up a payment plan, which of course I those things have to have some priority to them and and there's some things that have greater priority at this moment in time. But all that being said, um these are old accounts. I would I would like the city attorney to take a look understand how old the accounts are each one and and which debts may be further negotiable because some of them if they're uncollectible they're further negotiable and I think think about it too as it relates to the as it relates to paying the water uh account we also had to have a delicate balance and paying the water and because we still have to deal with try to get out the pumps and deal with the certific the uh consent administrative orders, both of them from the department of health. Uh we have to have that balance. Yes, we need to pay energy. Uh as Eth was talking, what I was hearing is we we budgeted money for utilities and wasn't paying the utilities is what what it appears. City budget money for utilities and the utility wasn't getting paid. Any other uh any other additional comments and questions on this? If there are none, then like I said, we will move with uh more examination on this list and uh keep you all updated. Our next item of business for this evening, uh number five, we have uh James Valley and this is regarding towing issues in the city, tolling complaints of potential legal concerns, um including a review of current procedures and compliance. So, at this time, if you you can come on up and we're ready for you. Got these more paper. I was going to well she that's to wait till Miss Miller was in the room but since she's here um we submitted a petition on behalf of uh Laurenard Don Harris and Calvin uh Woodless and I have Laura Bernard with me as well as William Harris. I believe he may have spoken to the council at the last setting. And just so the record is clear, I did not appear at the last setting of this council because I wasn't on the agenda and I wanted to do this thing in order. And so until I was placed on the agenda, I wasn't coming. And so I was placed on the agenda and this morning the mayor sent an email confirming that. And so we're here now. The petition uh was submitted by email to uh mayor and code enforcement city attorney city clerk all of the council members. And because all of you all were included, we also included uh the press because we don't want y'all having unauthorized communication in violation of the Freedom Information Act. Um we did a supplemental request for under the freedom of information act to ascertain what the city had used to confiscate these five vehicles. Um, couple of the facts that ought to jump out at you and it should be in your packet here is that on June, I think it was the 11th, June the 9th, June the 9th is what it was, the city code enforcement people issued this letter, which of course is not on letterhead, but it's in your packet. This is the left. Um, and it's addressed to Bernard Lori and her home address and it's a 7-day notice to clean up a certain parcel and give a treat there. And it's uh says that it's a salvage yard, junk yard, maintenance property. and give you 7 days to do a bait whatever this letter is addressing and and this letter is as clear as mud. Uh but that's second day to why we're here. On that same day, I believe it was the 9th of June, this violation notice, a orange sticker was placed on several drips at that address on College Street in Harlem. He gave these citizens until the 11th, which I say is in violation of the ordinance, but we won't we'll just stay with the 11th. They gave him until the 11th to come into compliance with the notice. However, on the 10th, these vehicles were removed from this property, including one where they had to physically move a side by side or some device that was blocking the truck. So they pick up something that didn't belong to the city, move it out of the way as they were called to pull a vehicle. I believe that vehicle was antique with antique tags. And so all of these vehicles have been removed. Um, no notice has been given to the owners or to the address where they took them from in terms of how you can get them back. Um, we've submitted our freedom information request to get the specifics on what the city used to do this. And basically, uh, all I've gotten that I can see is a letter from 2025 that has nothing to do with what happened in June of 2026. And so what we're asking the council to do is [snorts] to direct these vehicles be returned to where they were taken from at no cost to these uh citizens because the code enforcement or whomever handled this code enforcement, police, uh the mayor, I don't know who did, but whomever did this didn't follow the code section didn't follow the law. And of course, we're asking the council to direct this action be taken such that we don't have to follow any other steps that would be required in the process of trying to rectify what we consider a constitutional and statutory wrong in taking a property without due process. And that's basically the gist of what we uh are here to present. Um well certainly what jumps out initially is that you gave him a two-day notice on the vehicles and you towed the car before the even the two days were up. Uh, let him get into all of the other facts like who can tow on a non-consent and a non-consent is where the owner does not call the toll customer that is the police that's calling code enforcement of some third party is designated to be towed on a nonconsent toll. Arkansas is very strict as a towing and recovery board set of rules and regulations as to who can tow those vehicles and the towing company must use a vehicle registered with the Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board to tow those vehicles. Right? So, as you sit here at the council table, you should be able to answer the question, did they follow that? And I can guarantee you, you don't know because they haven't told us. [snorts] They haven't shown us the records. And I bet you haven't gotten the records showing. We told it with this vehicle. This vehicle was licensed by the Arkansas Tour to Recovery Board. And we told it for this reason, whatever that reason is. And I don't think the reason necessarily good. And as an aside, you see a letter addressed to James and Elizabeth Valley where my vehicle was told as well. And I point out that letter not for you to do anything tonight cuz it ain't on the agenda, but to show that the vehicle that's told and the first notice that goes to the owners of the vehicle is after the towing bill is $1,350. Now, if you can sit there and you think that's okay or that's right, then you know you got some judgment to question. [snorts] So, that letter is there is illustrative. Um, I'll be back on that one. They gave me 45 days to do something. But if I were the owner, I just return that vehicle. I wouldn't cost the city or the owner because the fight's going to be the fight is going to cost more than the vehicles worth profit. But sometimes we we do fight with principal and here you got five vehicles and if we in state court it's state court but in federal court I think you have to pay $3,000 for each case as a deductible. I think that's something you ought to consider seriously. And I think that code enforcement while well intentioned need to be redirected such that they get it right. So Li and William were here. They were going to correct me if I got anything wrong and certainly they can answer any questions you may have, but it's my understanding they met with the mayor and the mayor can speak for himself. But they met with him before these vehicles were to
1:00:46
Unidentified and before
1:00:48
Unidentified it's after it's told be that it may you know the vehicle still gone from this place and they should go back.
1:01:00
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° I'm just curious um and just this is just my own curiosity. So when you have a residence that has five, six, seven vehicles there and one or two of those vehicles are in the street. They're not up in the yard. They're along the sides of the street and it's a relatively narrow street. What is the I mean what is what is the process for that? And and I'm this I'm just curious because I know that I've gone along streets and there have been people that have parked vehicles on the side of the road and you have a car coming and you're trying to go around and it impedes traffic and at what point is that detrimental? I mean I'm just wondering just Yes. And and you asked a good question except it's it's not a code enforcement question. That's a law enforcement question. And so if that vehicle's impeding traffic or blocking the road or whatever it may be, that would be something for law enforcement officers to come to address. And the way they would address that varies depending on whether the vehicle is operational or not and some other circumstances,
1:02:25
Unidentified right?
1:02:26
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° Whether there's a person there to operate the vehicle
1:02:30
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° or they can be told. Miss me, the statue says if it's in the if it's in the roadway or if it's three feet off the roadway, it could be total police officers were there on the night. They were there on the night with code enforcement and they agreed to
1:02:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Miss Bernard. Miss Bernard, can you speak into the mic? Just so for
1:02:52
Laura Bernard° they the police officer was there. The police was there on the 9th with code enforcement and they agreed to what the stipulations that the code enforcement officer had given the two days. So they they agreed to that. They were there when that was issued.
1:03:08
Unidentified M Paul, now we're not here tonight at an administrative hearing. I see you f what did you f what did you what what's this document that you have report to have?
1:03:18
Unidentified I just
1:03:18
Unidentified I'm talking to your your attorney.
1:03:20
Unidentified But this petition we sent
1:03:22
Unidentified Yes. This the petition we had used to get on the agenda that's been sent out 3 four weeks ago. This is what we emailed to all of y'all. The council member was got it. It was sent to your email. I don't know if you got it, but it was sent to you and it's what the mayor responded to.
1:03:40
Unidentified Okay. I would also like to add that when I spoke with the mayor in his office on the 15th of June, um he informed me that him and the code enforcement had spoken and that he had told the code enforcement officer, okay, you know, if it is a hazard, get in touch with her and give her until the end of the day. That was on the 10th. I was at work. I get a call at lunch saying, "Hey, all your vehicles," from my mother saying, "Hey, all your vehicles are getting towed." I was not no one contacted me and it was definitely not the end of the day
1:04:15
Unidentified with four opens this year 11:00.
1:04:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So I wanted to give also um just the code enforcement officer a chance to step up as well. Um so Mr. Smith, could you just come up and explain the process of what happened as well as uh the ordinance? Uh Let me pause for a second. For the record, the statute says that the petition must be filed in the circuit court. The city has no ad administrative review process for this, but go ahead.
1:04:53
Code Enforcement Officer Kendrick Smith Good evening, council. Um, I typed out something. I had a long day, so excuse me. It says, "Good evening, council. First, I would like to state that code enforcement acted within the authority granted by our city ordinances. At at no point did code enforcement act outside of it act outside of its legal responsibilities. The actions taken regarding the property located at 1330 college street owned by Miss Lori Bernard were based on documented ordinance violations. The property was found to be in violation of ordinance 5.12 which requires property owners to properly maintain their property. It was also in violation of ordinance number 26-206 which prohibits salvage yards within the city limits. The accumulation of inoperable vehicles and other materials on the property constituted violation under the ordinance. Additionally, the property violated ordinance number 720 and ordinance number 11:22, which makes it unlawful to keep more than four dogs within the city limits and requires that any person keeping dogs confines them with an adequate fence, garage, or building. Miss Bernard is keeping more than eight dogs on her property. Months before code enforcement became involved, officer Bramble and Lawson advised Miss Bernard to remove the vehicles that were parked in the roadway because they were impeding the flow of traffic. Those concerns were not addressed. Prior to that, in 2025, Mr. Lesha and Cal Woodri also contacted Miss Bernard by mailing notices regarding similar and the same property violation. Despite those previous efforts, the same violations continued. When I, Kendrick Smith, inspected the property, I placed official tags on the vehicle, directing that they be removed because they were obstructing traffic. I also informed Miss Bernard that the tags were not to be removed and explained that based on guidance from the city attorney, removing those tags could constitute a criminal offense. When I returned the following day, all the tags have been removed from the vehicle even though they were remained in the roadway. I contact I contacted Miss Bernard and she explained to her that her boyfriend had removed the tags before leaving for work. despite her telling him not to. When I asked where were the tags, she stated she didn't know. Because the vehicles remained in violation and the official tags have been removed, I requested assistance from the police department. With officers present, towing services were dispatched to Hoots and Bon Towing. Miss Bernard acknowledged that she was in violation and thanked me for the additional time that has already been given. She requested another extension by explaining that the situation was caused by her boyfriend rather than herself, even though she is the property owner. And in a in an effort to be fair and helpful, I ex I exercise this creation under the ordinance and granted her an additional seven days to bring this property into compliance. Despite that extension, the violations remained. Every action taken by code enforcement was based on the applicable ordinance documented violations and repeated opportunity for voluntary compliance with the law and the protection of public safety. As many of you witnessed during the last council meeting, emotions became elevated during this discussion regarding of those circumstances. Code enforcement remained focused on enforcing the ordinance federally consistently and within the authority granted by the city. And I want you all to note that none of these vehicles belong to him or Miss Bernard or her boyfriend Kevin who improperly store a vehicle on a public roadway where cars couldn't come and go due to the violation occurring at 13:30 college. So before I even issued a notice, they were already previous administrations, code enforcement have already discussed this with them. Officers have discussed with them, you all need to remove these vehicles or we're going to have them told. They have completed they have completed a lot of violations at their property whereas Miss Lur's property and um she advised to me that she tells him a thousand times to stop doing that. Stop doing that. Which is none of my concern. I'm here to act on these violations that have occurred. Um so notices were given properly. she was given one in May. Her first notice was in May where she acknowledged that she had received that notice in front of me and the mayor. Um but other than that, I don't I don't understand all the confusion there. It's clear that there are violations there and not acting within my ordinances.
1:09:03
Unidentified So I'm not so I'm not exactly sure what um Turner Valley is. uh requesting the B to do I think and I think you said it earlier return the vehicle at no cost but
1:09:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I think at this point you've heard from both sides and just taking under review we need to make sure that we respond to
1:09:21
Unidentified uh this FOI fully
1:09:24
Unidentified uh with all the the requests that they have here uh mayor and what's
1:09:34
Unidentified I need to
1:09:34
Unidentified I wasn't excused I wasn't told that I could leave and he was trying to take the mic from me Isn't that how it go?
1:09:42
Unidentified So,
1:09:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° the attorney has told us about So, one second, gentlemen. Attorney's told us about the FOI request and and we'll grant both of you um just a chance to finish your statement. So, um uh Mr. Smith, being that you just spoke, just let Mr. B finish and then then you proceed. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I don't know who's training your employees. That's out of order. Now, uh, one thing I want to say, and I'm going to leave it at this. You had a notice from the city given until June the 11th to move the vehicle. They told them on the 10th. That's clear. and and that ends it. That's that's that's that's all that that is that matter. You gave the notice. They're entitled to the benefit of the notice that you gave. And there it is. And all of this talk that the code enforcement gave didn't change any of that. He just said they gave he gave him a bunch of notices before that, but he didn't address that notice. He said somebody took the sticker off the car, so his feelings were hurt, but that's not what the law requires.
1:11:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I uh you come on up to the mic, Mrs. Smith, I do just want to briefly just respond. Um Miss Valley, I understand that you're representing two people, but the city employees, every every effort that we've been putting in u into this city has been to make sure that the city employees are up to par. So, I do want to just take a second to acknowledge that comment. The second thing, um, we we we've heard when we have your question and we've heard and we'll do our due diligence to make sure we go through it. Code enforcement is not fun because it holds people accountable and, um, we want to make sure that we do that fairly and this is um, why we've had a community meeting about this topic um, on one occasion and we'll have another. Um, we have to all be accountable. So I do want to say that but we will give full due diligence to make sure that everything is
1:12:01
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° Mr. Mayor accountability and all that's fine with me. What I addressed that's being out of order is this fell standing here pushing me as I was trying to respond to what he said and I asked you to have him move which you eventually did and I told you he was out of order and I stand by that. see that.
1:12:26
Unidentified Okay.
1:12:26
Kendrick Smith, Code Enforcement Officer Um there were multiple violations at that property which could consist of more than one um notice being sent or given. Um we enacted on the salvage which is ordinance number 26-206. She asked me for additional time. So yes, she received another notice because I plan to be fair. I'm not trying to be an aggressive code enforcer to where people feel bullied. That's not what I'm doing here. I gave her an extension of 7 days to clean up her property and that was ordinance 5.12 fair to maintain property. I enacted on ordinance number 26 which is no savage within the city limits. So that may there may be a confusion between code enforcement and their attorney but no one did anything unlawfully. I acted on ordinance number 26 which no savage yards within the city limits. I sent around a foul that I hope you all tend to enjoy, hard to enjoy, but that is violations that appear to be clear. Um, like I said, we're not trying to be bullies here. Um, even a nice guy came around the corner and started mowing their yard for them. He said, "Hey, I thank you all for what you did." That's not a form of us bullying them or taking things. That's just everybody wants to work together. Like you said, people need to be held accountable. But that's not why we here. Um, we're here because it's deeper than that. This man has harassed me. I have documented documented it with HR. He's come to my office space. He's disrespected me. He's called me to his home where I thought it was over code enforcement reasons, but it was just over how to scam the city out of money. How to knock down pals and get the most from it. That's not what I'm doing here. I reported that immediately when he did that. So, this is not about the unlawfully or lawfully removal of vehicle because we it's clear to see if you all can look in the pal that the vehicles remove were removed lawfully. This is because I won't listen to him. I won't listen to him and an anonymous person from the previous administration that I refuse to listen to. So his vendetta is to make me silence. He's offered to take me out of town to get me away from Mayor Winfield and the chief of staff because I wouldn't listen to him and another anonymous person and I turned all of it down. So now it's just a matter of okay, we're going to make you pay. I was threatened when I first got the job. I was told not to take this job. I was told I was being hard-headed and everything above the sun due to the fact that I wouldn't listen to them. and I still refused to listen to them. So that this is not about the removal of some vehicles. Everything was done correctly. Everything was done correctly and I acted within my ordinance. So he wants to state and my the last thing I'll say, he wants to state that we have to act. We have to act on the or the the the notice she was given. Okay, we have I haven't been back to her property ever since she received her second notice because she asked me for time and I gave it to her. But I did enact on no savage yardage within the city limits. I did enact on that one. But ordinance 5.12 fair to upkeep property. I have not enacted on that one because she asked for more time. She asked for that. I didn't offer it. She asked for that. She thanked me. So the the picture they're trying to paint isn't a good picture. It's not good at all. Um, I reacted within my ordinances.
1:15:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thank you, Mr. Smith. We Thank you. Um, so at this time, um, I just want this body to recognize that we have a an actionable item to proceed to. And I don't foresee in the near f I don't not foresee in the near future that um as code enforcement um continues to be active that there might be um disagreements and we've had these conversations before with residents where they felt that um or that they felt that co and v co infractions have been unfair. Um but every time we talked about a cold and violation we go back to we go back to code. So um are there any questions from the body from I I have a a a comment. Um I think at the gate we need to understand that the council cannot vote to have the vehicle return. That's an administrative action. So we can listen, but we can't make the administration return the vehicle at the gate. What I'm seeing is a dispute not over substance but over process and process is important. Um I hate that we get stuff at the table. I wish that we could get this stuff before we actually came to the table because you have a lot of information that you dumped on the table and that's become kind of the order of the day to just dump things at the table so we don't really get to look at it and go through it. But what I'm looking at here, I I have a problem, and this is separate and apart from anything that's happened. I'm looking at this. It says to remove tags is a criminal offense. In my 20 plus years of practicing law, I've never known it to be a criminal offense to remove a tag that's placed on your vehicle. I think that's absolutely wrong.
1:17:21
Unidentified Right.
1:17:22
City Attorney Andre Valley° I didn't say that, Messa.
1:17:23
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay. So, the city attorney says he didn't say that. Let's stop telling people it's a criminal offense to remove a tag from their vehicle. Understood. I would say this because there's a lot of information here. If the process was not right, and I don't know that it was or wasn't. I see some discrepancies in the process. This is just a comment. If the process was not right, give the vehicles back. We don't have money to give away. If the process was not right, all of the substance about the dogs and the this and the that it it it doesn't matter if the process wasn't right. And so as government, we have to make sure that we provide sufficient and adequate notice to everybody. And if there's a discrepancy in the notice, Mr. Mayor, please don't smile like I'm making this up. This is this is serious. You're smoking as if I'm not making a serious comment here, Mr. Mayor.
1:18:15
Unidentified I'm just smiling because the process has
1:18:18
Unidentified It's not It's not a joke. It's not a joke. It's not a joke. Look, Wait a minute. I'm not here to advocate for either side one way or another. But I'm looking at a notice that says 611. There's a problem in the process. Whether you don't is not up to me or anybody else in this room. It's up to you solely. I'm just saying that the process is not right. And I'm not making a joke, Mr. Man. I know you think this is funny.
1:18:48
Unidentified No.
1:18:48
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Your your your appearance is if you think this is funny. I'm just making a comment about if the process is not right, then just give them back. It's the cheapest and easiest thing for the city to do. It's the cheapest thing. We don't have money to give away. We got some garbage trucks to talk about in just a few minutes, but it's the cheapest thing to do. It's just give them back. If the process was right and you believe it's right, then just stand on that. That's the only comment I had to make before you thought it was funny.
1:19:19
Unidentified It's a bunch of ifs, Mr. Smith.
1:19:21
Unidentified So, if it's ifs, Mr. Smith, but it's the fact.
1:19:25
Unidentified So, let's pause. We We'll just pause here. So, before we lose composure and before we think sit out of hand, Mr. Smith, we I thank you. We're going to um move forward. Um I asked if there was any question or discussion because I do want to make sure um no matter what the disagreement or misunderstanding is, anybody will be able to come to city council and address as long as they get on the agenda. And that is exactly what this group did and that's why they're here. Uh we're in the business of transparency and in the business of doing things the right way. Doing things the right way sometimes was not going to make certain folks happy. U my smile bothering you.
1:20:04
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° You smile every time I talk over. You have a smirk and a smile every time I I speak over here. You've been doing that for months now. It's
1:20:10
Kendrick Smith, Code Enforcement Officer° my natural disposition. Okay. My natural disposition.
1:20:13
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° So Mr. Smith said if there are a lot of ifs. That's the whole point before he interrupted me. There are always ifs and you have to resolve the ifs. Again, I didn't come to advocate for anybody. I just got this stuff at the table. But my point was decide whether you believe it was correct or not. And if it wasn't, just give them back. That's the cheapest thing for the city to do. If not, then stand in your position. There's certainly to be some litigation that follows, but it's just a it's just a statement, Mr. law not meant to rile anybody's feathers or get anybody annoyed or make anybody think it's a joke. Just a statement.
1:20:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is there any other discussion? Discussion.
1:20:57
Unidentified Can I say something please?
1:20:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Go ahead.
1:21:00
Laura Bernard° It seems like there's a lot of other um issues and things that are getting brought into this subject and I I don't know about those. Um, I don't know about anybody's history with someone else, you know, or anything like that. My my thing is the facts is the fact that he came on the 9th, we spoke, police officers were there. He gave me until the 11th. I got up the next morning, went to work. I was at work. We were, we had already talked to people to, you know, get the situation took care of. Ken Woods, um, he's got a flatbed. We have a flatbed. We were in process of getting that took care of. it was going to be took care of that evening once we got off work working on a roof, you know, in Mariana, but then I get a phone call saying, "Oh, hey, they've already picked up your vehicles. If you're going to issue me a time frame, stand by that time frame." That that that was all we've been trying to get this took care of and something done about it since June 15th after I talked to, you know, a few attorneys and and tried to figure out what my what I was, you know, okay to do or what my rights were. We weren't trying to draw this out and turn it into nothing else. We just want our vehicles back. We'll you know that that's it. That's all we've been asking for. We keep getting the runaround, you know, well, we'll call you back. Oh, we'll get back with you. We'll get back with you. No one ever gives back with us ever. That's why we've been coming to all this the city council meetings. The last three meetings that y'all had ever since this happened, we've been coming to the city council meetings trying to get, you know, our voice heard, trying to get something done. We just want our vehicles back. We don't have no problem with, you know, not putting them on the street or I've been, you know, doing everything I can, cleaning up my property, all that stuff. I've been trying my best to be in compliance and to make everybody happy, but I really don't feel like the way things were handled or the ways they that they should have been handled.
1:22:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° M Mr. Ethan, also as it relates to the criminal offense, ma'am, will you have been a quiet? We we can't uh honest we can't
1:23:06
City Attorney Andre Valley but Mr. Smith and I discussed was if people are intentionally removing it Mr. that could potentially be obstruction in government operation depending on the facts. That's what we discuss. Oh, well, it's not.
1:23:19
City Attorney Andre Valley° I hear you, but I said it. I said it could potentially be dependent on the facts. It would be more than just removing the sticker.
1:23:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, at this time, if you're in the audience, we we appreciate that um you're one and a half course, but at this time, we're just asking that we can continue an orderly meeting. Um, so to to just respond to that, I was aware before putting this item on the agenda that um the decision that was sought or hopeful hopefully sought was not going to be able to be decided around this table. As it's been said, um, anybody that goes through the correct procedures to get on the agenda, they're on it and that's why we put you on the agenda. So, um, we have an entire, um, file that we passed around for the city council members to look at. Um, I have my own sentiments that I'll share with you all, but I'll also check in with the city council members, but um, this will be a conversation that we'll have to finish off off away from city council. We can't make that decision. The group won't be able to make that decision.
1:24:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. I was under that understanding that you were able to, you know, issue to say if you felt like the vehicle should be returned that you were able to do that, that you had the power to do that between you and the city attorneys. I I I can and I haven't seen enough to determine that that is necessary. I I can, but I haven't seen enough to determine if that's necessary.
1:24:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And that that can be a conversation that we can have. I don't want to uh we have a couple other items. Um I can make the time and we'll make the time to have that conversation with you all.
1:24:54
James Valley (former mayor, attorney)° We we're running out of time because after 45 days, then they can sell the vehicle. they can get rid of. Well, 45 days is up on the 25th of July.
1:25:04
Unidentified So, and we've steadily been put off and put off and put off, which is another issue. I mean, we just you want everyone else to hold up to their word, what they say.
1:25:16
Unidentified So, why not hold your city officials up to what they say?
1:25:25
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um, I'll have we we will schedule a meeting. I can't. This decision just won't have won't be able to happen at the state. Uh but we will have a conversation and a finalist determination won't be shared. Determination won't be shared.
1:25:38
Unidentified Okay. Do you have an idea when? Because like I said, we're running out of time.
1:25:41
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° If if I if you may, I'll just ask that you stay behind and and we can talk.
1:25:46
Unidentified All right. Thank you.
1:25:47
City Attorney Andre Valley° Well, she's represented by council, so you can't talk.
1:25:53
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you, T. All right. Moving on um to our next line item of business. We are at item number six. This is an audit report from the 2024 fiscal year findings. This is a brief um and sum summarized presentation on the 2024 fiscal year audit report including a review of audit findings, financial observations, and compliance matters as well as um a summarized corrective action plan as it relates to some of these steps. So for the council members in your packets,
1:26:29
Unidentified Mr. discussing what's
1:26:35
Unidentified we move we move to the next item.
1:26:45
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So my audience members uh Mr. Smith and uh I'm not sure the the resident you're speaking to just going to ask that we keep it down a little bit. Mr. Etherly, I'm going to ask that we continue the meeting. We got a couple other business points to to microphone this point in the microphone because
1:27:06
Unidentified say again
1:27:08
Unidentified I didn't want to make this point that I was making to Miss Davis in the microphone.
1:27:13
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So at this time we will continue uh with our 2024 financial finance pages 16 to 23 what you have in front of you in your city packet. this is or your city council uh packet. This is a summary of the findings that you have. These findings are from multiple sources. Uh these are supplemental mayoral findings, reportable mayoral findings as well as uh material weaknesses.
1:27:43
City Attorney Andre Valley I know for this memo, according to Arkansas law, each one of you by now should have received the 2024 legislative audit packet. Have each one of y'all received it? as the law requires that you uh discuss it at the meeting the immediately following your receipt of it. At the last meeting was Mr. St. Columbia only person received it the mayor placed on the agenda and it's for you all to review and and recognize whatever citations that were and to uh take some corrective action.
1:28:13
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank thank you attorney. So on page specifically um on the last uh three pages you will see which are pages uh 20 to 23 or 21 and 23 you'll see a summarized corrective action plan. Um I wanted to engage with you all to understand the findings as well as understand why some of these steps have been recommended. So from looking at previous audits, my assessment is that some of these findings have been um repeat findings that I don't think that these are characteristically new in nature. Some of them we've seen before and I believe that in so many ways uh contribute to the current financial standing and situation uh that we see across the city. So for the folks at home, folks in the room, but also the city council tape the member round table, I'm just going to read a couple of the findings that um that were reported, especially from the mayoral mayoral section. Um some of these were failure for um finance purchase agreements, which I believe we we understand that with the claims list, fixed assets list, um not properly being maintained, paid overtime, exceeding budgeted appropriations. I believe that that's a conversation that we've had um numerous times around how we've seen uh overtime balloon general fund and street fund expenditures exceeded budgeted appropriations. Uh personnel being paid uh APER's benefits while also collecting um a salary check. Government body reviewing the prior year report but not at the first regularly scheduled meeting following receive. So sim very similar to what our attorney just shared. Dispersement testing showing lack of documentation improper payments. Um voided checks deposited and reissued that got deposited implicating um improper clerical errors. Proper documentation was not provided to support some credit card transactions. Um and I summarized some of these findings and and I'll read um from so those were the reportable findings but I'll also read some as well from the supplemental. These findings in nature um I think would take require a lot of structural support internally and these are some of the things that the chief of staff and I have worked on. um budget for the airport commission and other commissions not being um approved by ordinance. Issues regarding minutes were found where minutes didn't reflect the treasurer's report. Mayor's complete report on finances or administration activities. Dispersement testing found issues with certain fuel tickets being maintained, dispersements not being properly coded or incorrect amounts for dispersements. review of revenues. Um, it not being noted that the office of the AG's uh cascade system was used to purchase other equipment than what the funds were for. So, making sure that agreements are made with funds are being distributed. And this is a very very loaded document. I don't know how far the the I don't know how far all of our all of us have been able to get through our mailed copies. um summarizing it down to a few um reportable findings and corrective action plan steps I think was a good start to just show you some of the things that we're focused on. um conversations around sticking with uh moving back to reimbursement versus a perdem or tightening up procedures and capping overtime where um specific departments. We know that our fire and our police departments particular we use a lot more than um some of our other departments but making sure that we cap that where necessary. I wanted to I don't want to take up and um clear all the air from around the table, but I do want to just get initial thoughts or concerns around what you were able to see in the findings and um places where you think we ought to prioritize.
1:32:23
Unidentified I'm a little bit confused because you Okay, this is what we in the past, right? This was like in 2025. This is Wednesday, May 20th, 2025. Right.
1:32:37
Unidentified So, you're just telling us
1:32:39
Unidentified 20 U.
1:32:40
Unidentified Is that 24?
1:32:41
Unidentified Right.
1:32:45
Unidentified Okay. So, Okay, y'all educate me cuz I'm a little bit lost in here. I see different findings. So he just
1:32:56
Unidentified he's somewhat dated. Okay. of these other
1:33:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° that and that that was specifically when so I sat with the auditor and I'm sure I think Sandy did as well and Derek did as well and we get very I guess we get a different view and so I shared that as well because it kind of points out some of the beefier parts that they want us to pay attention to the things that we were cited for that could land us and keep us in trouble that we want to avoid as we continue to um put new systems in place. So, do we need to because I mean do we have enough time to really get into this or you think we need to I mean I know we have to make sure we address it
1:33:41
Unidentified like right after we receive it.
1:33:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I do think I do think that this uh particular document warrants um its own special meeting and I think that it warrants a closer look at a corrective action plan. Um, I do want to make sure that the corrective action plan that's put forth is done with fidelity and not just something to say we won't do it again, but something uh that shows we thought about we we've seen some of our weak points and address that and u are going to pivot. So, I definitely am in favor of having a special meeting for a deeper dive into our uh into our audit. And I think right now apparently they're working on the 2025. So
1:34:31
Unidentified So if I mean what we go do we need to schedule this for early next week or
1:34:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° early next week or um a couple days this week work for me if that works for this body. I can be flexible through early next week and slightly later this week as well.
1:35:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° And if it helps um I know in the past I've also scheduled meetings through um thread of email so I can because we also do have uh two members that aren't present right now. So I can follow in this meeting send out an email to make sure that we get a date locked. Uh ideally I think we should meet within the next week within the next week to take a look at this uh these files.
1:35:24
City Attorney Andre Valley° I think the minutes need to reflect that you all were pres presenting it that you discussed it but you want to come back and make some additional discussion for it so you won't get cited again for not taking any action not doing anything.
1:35:38
Unidentified I agree with some of the recommendations that you have on here. I would like to have another meeting.
1:35:46
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I understand. Definitely. We can definitely make sure it gets cleared up for you. Um, madam cl would you make the minutes reflect that?
1:35:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thank Thank you. Are there before we um move on to a uh water department update, are there any uh comments or um thoughts about this before we um table it?
1:36:14
Unidentified Are y'all going to do a special call meeting or Oh, and I I'll organize it.
1:36:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Excuse me. If there are none, Mr. uh Rose, he was not here. So, Mr. Rose um had a um scheduled appearance for this evening to give you all a timeline for the existing projects. There are several water projects that are going to be happening and we want to make sure that you all are aware as well as the public because that's going to be excavation um funds from the ANRC um loan that we've taken out. Those funds are going to they have already been tapped into um with engineering uh fees and the Delton regional authority grant that was 2.5 million has been um awarded. So we'll see some excavation around waterline replacement u very soon. Um so I will make sure that he gives us those timelines that you're able to see that and we'll share that as well as a uniform proposal. I do believe that he had a proposal that he wanted to present you all from uh with from Centas which was the same group that he brought the last time that he had the conversation. Being that that's the final formal item, I do want to ask is there anything else that we uh want to engage before?
1:37:33
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I didn't realize that you had changed the agenda, but the the one that you sent to us had sanitation update on it. Um we we have a deadline to deal with these sanitation trucks and the cost. What is the plan?
1:37:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So the plan is we have uh as I mentioned earlier, we have one truck that the street sanitation department has agreed is um would be a successful purchase if if we went that route. It's $30,000. It's located in Memphis. They're currently looking for a second truck as well. Um, and as of this morning at 10:20, um, we were supposed to have numbers from Republic as of tomorrow morning, but they their financial manager has been out because they're dealing with other business units and he wants to make sure that he'll give us he wants to give us those answers early next week on Monday. So, we're looking at currently, presently, we're looking at having one unofficial bid by Monday through Republic. um one truck has been found that the interim director thinks is viable and that that input around uh viable has come from the input of the mechanics at the shop as well as help contractors that we've worked with and so they're currently looking for a second one. Uh, and once that number from that second truck, should it be found, is ready, and I've asked them to expedite that process. Like day, like I said, day one, we're working with a clock, a ticking clock. Um, nothing. We're we're not getting too comfortable in the administrative office understanding that we're getting closer to August. Um, without a confirmed decision,
1:39:12
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° when do those trucks have to be back?
1:39:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Our last day, official day is the last day of August. So that would be the July July sorry 31st. So that Friday
1:39:24
Unidentified July 31st next Friday.
1:39:26
Unidentified Friday
1:39:27
Unidentified the truck that was in the shop is out.
1:39:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° It is still out. It was out
1:39:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° on Friday. That truck Thank you for asking about that. On Friday that truck was uh we also have a timeline for that as of Monday. The issue with that is um I think the fact that it's under warranty. They have been very obviously have been very slow with returning that truck to us and we've called several times to uh express our displeasure with that process. Uh but that truck is scheduled to be ready Monday. We've had three consecutive deadlines of that truck being ready that have constantly been moved by four to five days and this is the most current iteration of our new deadline.
1:40:13
Unidentified So that's the only one that will be shot. on the shop.
1:40:24
Unidentified So when that comes out of the shop, what will we have? That's ours.
1:40:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We will have the rear loader, the um overhead that will come out of the shop as well as our lip trucks. So tomorrow morning if anybody wants to come in and get to looking on Google and making some calls with me, you are more than welcome. Um we will make sure that we make the calls necessary and um do our research and present that information to you all. um as well as sharing as well as reaching out about the um special call meeting, I will make sure that you all get the link for this particular truck as well so that you can see it um as soon as possible.
1:41:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Are there are there any other questions or comments um sanitation related or not? What
1:41:29
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) on water? Can can you get us some more information on the new well? The presentation that was made by the water superintendent uh two weeks ago was that the new well is not operating properly. Um that was alarming to me. Um can we get an update on that situation? Uh you can send it by email or any other form, but I think we need some update on what's going on with the new web.
1:41:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Make sure we correspond. Is there any other item seen on set? Miss Maxine, there are no other items. I'll take a motion to adjurnn. We all set. So move. Is there a second?
1:42:16
Unidentified A second.
1:42:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Meeting adjourned.
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.