In 30 seconds
- Special called meeting (continued from 8/18) reviewed financing for new police vehicles; Chief Sanders reported the department is down to 3 operating vehicles out of a 10-vehicle fleet, with delayed emergency response and prisoner-transport strain.
- Cost on the table: roughly $360,000 for 5 new vehicles including required police upfitting; the mayor and city treasurer said they were comfortable affording 5, and called the chief's original request of 10 unrealistic.
- Mayor presented general-fund figures showing a January starting balance of -$186,783.94, a year-to-date net change of +$361,378, and a positive ending balance of $174,594.73; he also cited roughly $700,000/year in lost revenue from the now-expired county justice-complex agreement as the real driver of the city's fiscal strain.
- No vote was taken: a press-notice problem surfaced mid-meeting (the Daily World and KJAW radio both said they received no notice), raising a FOIA risk, so the council chose to defer action rather than act without proper notice.
- Discussion shifted from 5 vehicles toward 3; the three council members present converged informally on pursuing 3 now, and the mayor tasked the city clerk with bringing financing numbers for 3 to a further special meeting the next day, 8/20.
Recap
Fleet is down to three vehicles
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders told council the department is operating with only three functioning vehicles and the situation is worsening, causing delayed emergency response and forcing officers to be stuck transporting prisoners . Per council's request from the prior night, he researched used-vehicle sources: a Missouri Highway Patrol contact who updates a for-sale fleet list every Friday, with vehicles around 54,000 miles, and Arkansas state surplus, which currently lists only one Dodge Ram and it is not outfitted for police use .
Insurance payouts on totaled cruisers not set aside
Chief Sanders said insurance checks for totaled police vehicles were turned over to the city clerk and, to his knowledge, none of that money was set aside to replace those vehicles . He noted Officer Daniel Lawson, a former Marianna city mechanic, has been pulling usable parts off dead vehicles on his own time, unpaid, to keep the remaining fleet running .
Cost figure: five vehicles at about $360,000
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller put the cost of five vehicles at roughly $360,000 , and Chief Sanders confirmed that figure includes the required police upfitting and equipment .
Mayor's fund report and the affordability case
Mayor Whitfield reported the city started the year in January with a negative general-fund balance of $186,783.94 , and that since then the city has spent $361,378 less than it has taken in, producing a positive ending balance of $174,594.73 . He said he and City Treasurer Derrick Turner were both comfortable moving forward with five vehicles, after ruling out the chief's original request for ten as unrealistic . Answering a revenue-source question from Dr. Miller, the mayor also disclosed that the city's now-expired justice-complex agreement with the county had cost roughly $700,000 a year in lost revenue, which he offered as the real driver of the city's fiscal strain .
Press-notice problem stops a vote
A notice problem surfaced mid-meeting: the Daily World newspaper and KJAW radio both reported they received no notice of the special meeting . A council member raised the legal point that the press is entitled to actual notice (sent directly), not just constructive notice via a Facebook posting, and that FOIA requires the media get that notice; the body opted not to risk a violation by taking action that night .
Consensus moves toward three vehicles; matter continues
With no vote taken due to the notice issue, discussion shifted from five vehicles down to three, and the three council members present converged on pursuing three now . The mayor tasked the city clerk with bringing financing numbers for three vehicles to a further special meeting scheduled for the next day, 8/20; no vote was taken on 8/19 .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Meeting Agenda — August 19, 2026 (Special Called Meeting)
One-page agenda for the special called council meeting . It lists a single item of new business: review of financing terms for new police vehicles . No other business is listed.
| Agenda items under New Business | 1 (police vehicle financing terms) |
Text document — see the agenda link below.
Commercial Capital Company Formal Financing Proposal — Police Vehicles
A formal (non-binding) financing proposal dated June 17, 2026 from Commercial Capital Company, L.L.C. to the City of Helena-West Helena for 5 new police cars, structured as a finance/ownership contract with no residual value . It sets a 5-year fixed term at 6.96% interest with monthly payments, and states the deal must be credit-approved and funded by 8/24/2026 or terms may change .
| Acquisition cost / principal balance | $360,000.00 | |
| Number of vehicles | 5 new police cars | |
| Term | 5 years | |
| Interest rate | 6.9600% | |
| Monthly payment | $7,121.64 | |
| Down payment / trade-in | $0.00 | |
| First payment due | One month from close | |
| Funding deadline for these terms | On or before 8/24/2026 |
City Treasurer's Report — Month Ended July 31, 2026
Derrick Turner's monthly financial report for the City's General Fund and other funds, covering the balance sheet, statement of revenue and expenditures, and bank reconciliations . The General Fund balance sheet shows total liabilities of about $2.47 million, driven mainly by IRS payroll tax and LOPFI pension obligations, against a fund balance of $174,594.73 . The revenue and expenditures statement shows a year-to-date operating deficit of about $1.59 million, offset by nearly $2 million in other financing sources — mostly a transfer from Landfill Debt Service — producing a net year-to-date gain in fund balance of $361,378.67 and moving the fund from a negative balance in January to $174,594.73 by July .
| General Fund total current liabilities | $2,470,265.31 | |
| IRS (941) payroll tax liability | $1,653,601.26 | |
| LOPFI (police/fire pension) liability | $693,710.10 | |
| City HWH Police Dept Equipment cash balance | $4,101.17 | |
| General Fund total fund balance (7/31/2026) | $174,594.73 | |
| Beginning fund balance, January 2026 | -$186,783.94 | |
| Year-to-date Revenue Less Expenditures (operating deficit) | -$1,594,845.53 | |
| Year-to-date Other Financing Sources | $1,978,313.56 | |
| Largest financing source: Transfer Landfill Debt Service | $1,304,699.34 (YTD) | |
| Net change in fund balance, YTD | $361,378.67 |
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 ↗
0:10
Unidentified Meeting will come to order now.
0:17
All present Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
0:58
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Maxine Miller, Dr. Kyle Miller, Don Etherly. Absent: Adrian Messina, Joe St. Columbia, Monica Davis. (Attendance verified in the Workroom review by Robert.)
1:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We have three council members present with myself. Um I also make a quorum so we do have enough to continue tonight's uh this evening's meeting. So as um a continuation from yesterday, our um only business today is to discuss potential police vehicle purchases um that we discussed yesterday and tabled for a special meeting today. I did invite Chief Sanders to come back up to share with us a little bit of um what he shared yesterday. I think that might be good for you, Dr. Miller, since um you were out but also just kind of what he was able to see and um I'll share what we discussed as well with the treasure uh for a potential pathway forward.
1:59
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Okay, so as I stated last night, I came a few months ago just telling you about our fleet and how we needed a vehicle. It's worsening. We're operating with three at this moment right now.
2:13
Unidentified Okay.
2:16
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Those just have been days on them at this point. We're keeping them afloat, but I say we're transporting prisoners stuck on the side of the road. We're calls for service, we're not getting there in adequate time during emergencies. So, I'm back in front of you all asking for the vehicles.
2:35
Unidentified Okay.
2:36
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Uh today, I know we talked about used vehicles, so I dived off into it before I came and asked you guys initially. I dived off into it last night and furthermore today. I possibly found one entity that might have decent vehicles, but again, like I said last night, nobody wants to get rid of a good vehicle. They only want to get rid of the ones that they don't want.
3:00
Unidentified Mhm.
3:01
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders But it was a Missouri Highway Patrol. I talked to a guy. He updated their fleet that they're going to sell. He updates it every Friday, so he's going to email me something Friday, and then we'll discuss from there. Certain other certain cars of theirs in their fleet, they discontinue them out of their fleet at 54,000 mi. That isn't bad. And then they'll be highway miles because they're Mississippi State Patrol. So, that might be a route we can take potentially. Any questions from anybody?
3:41
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Yeah, I guess just FYI, I was told, I don't know if it's true or not, I didn't confirm, Arkansas State Police uh changes their fleet out once a year?
3:53
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yeah, so I looked on surplus. Uh that's where you have to surplus uh Arkansas surplus I can't remember the correct verbage for but I looked and currently right now that cuz that's where you have to buy they only have one Dodge Ram taking over right now.
4:11
Unidentified Okay.
4:12
Unidentified But I did look and I'll continue to look.
4:15
Unidentified And then are
4:17[clears throat]
4:17
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Are we and you may have answered this yesterday but are we also um using the you know like the the state contracts?
4:25
Unidentified Yes, sir.
4:25
Unidentified Okay. Okay.
4:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Is that is that one Dodge Ram or one vehicle that for that that they have as um state highway?
4:34
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° One Dodge Ram it's not even outfitted for police but that's the only vehicle that they had on there this time.
4:41
Unidentified Okay. And
4:45
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders That'd be something that we can check into at the beginning of the year since they they do rotate them every year.
4:51
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Do you Do we know um is there time of the year that they particularly
4:57
Unidentified I'm not sure. I can definitely find out though.
5:02
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Probably the fiscal year.
5:04
Unidentified That's what I was That's what I was thinking.
5:05
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Which we just missed um a couple months ago but probably fiscal year.
5:10
Unidentified The end of June. Yeah.
5:13
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) And so you know I had some people to stop me and I because I believe in trying to voice what the people are asking. So of the trucks that we bought was it 2021?
5:29
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders 2021 Ford Explorers hybrid all-wheel drive.
5:32
Unidentified And it was how many?
5:34
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° That was 10.
5:35
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) 10. Okay and so we're utilizing three. Correct?
5:40
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Four one is held up in the police academy right now. So currently we're operating out of three of those.
5:45
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) Okay, four. And so the other six, um whether it is, you know, just because they're completely run down, can't function, if they've been wrecked, you know, have we collected the insurance? Those were some of the questions I was asked. And do we have any of that laid to the side that we could put on any potential new trucks? Are we able to utilize parts? I'm just sharing with you what people ask me.
6:16
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders So, the ones that were totaled, we were paid out for them. The money did not come directly to me. The checks were turned over to the city clerk. I'm going to say that they hit the general fund, but to my knowledge, none of it was laid to the side to replace any of those vehicles. However, Daniel Lawson, one of my officers, he was formerly Marianna city mechanic. He has been pulling parts off of the ones that are that won't operate anymore, keeping the ones that we have afloat. I just want to say that publicly that I commend him for doing that job because of certified mechanic salary is much more than what we pay him as a police officer. And he does that on his own.
7:05[clears throat]
7:09
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° To answer your question, we I'm I do not believe that we have any of that money that we got back off the total totaled vehicles set to the side.
7:22
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) So, so five vehicles would be uh $360,000? Or is that what the
7:31
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders That's with the upfitting everything.
7:32
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) Okay, okay, got you, got you, got you. Okay.
7:35
Unidentified That's [clears throat] That's with all the equipment that the law says that we have to have on
7:43
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) Okay, so were were we thinking about um purchasing two, one, three? I know more than likely we're not going to be able to do five just judging from the conversation unless I missed something last night. So, Mayor, what what did the city clerk say?
8:04
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, the the clerk's been out today, but I did have a conversation um today with the treasurer um as well as the chief of police. And so, um on your tables is a copy of the financial report. This is from um last month, so the month of June. August, well, I'm sorry. But, um if you look at the general fund, there's a couple places that are really encouraging to see in spite of all of um the claims that the city has lady levied against it. Um I want to just And I should have number Yeah, these are number. So, page five. Um page numbers are at the top right. Page five. Um one area in particular that's really encouraging that um um I'm proud of is that we've been as conservative as we can be um and you can see the fund balances uh at the bottom in the middle. We started this year in January uh with a negative fund balance of uh $186,783.94. And the net difference um and this does include some transfers um but not solely transfers, but does include some. The net difference in terms or I'll pause there before I say that, but since January, the negative fund balance, we have spent $361,378 less than what's come in. So, the the chief of staff, the department heads, uh my conversations with the clerk, my conversations with the treasurer, any commission that we have, the message has been do we need what we're purchasing? Do we need what we're buying? Um and that difference that you see is $174,594.73, and that's the result that results in a positive ending fund balance. Um particularly and I looked at this a little bit this afternoon as well, but particularly in the police department um in the police department, I did make this point yesterday that $50,000 was paid annually for um up to the Army Corps of Engineers, and that last payment was made this past June. Um Councilman Etherly did bring up um yesterday evening that that was a lump We made that payment in um in lump sum form whenever we made that payment. But that $50,000 is coming out of the the the general fund whenever we made it, and I feel if we need to consider that going back on the books, but using that using those funds for police vehicles, um that is one option that we should consider. And then rentals and leases, if you look at that as well, specifically in the police department, um for this year we budgeted $76,000, and to date they've used $15,149. Now, um that's all This is all This is on page four. Um so rentals and leases for the police department, um we'll see that there's roughly $60,000 $60,000 left. Um if we factor in what we're going to have to pay um the county for the next um What is this? August? For the next 4 months, we're going to see we're going to see a payment of at least another $9,000 to that goes to the county for um us using their space, but that would leave us with approximately $50,000 there as well. So, another item that's not represented in this form um or in this financial report is that uh the last payment for the vehicles um the current fleet that we have was also made uh uh last year, June 2025. And I want to say, if I remember correctly, that payment was a little more than $5,000 a month. And in essence, that payment can essentially we can essentially push this payment or bring that operating cost back into the budget. Um, I believe that this is it is necessary for us to have these vehicles. Um, we're spending conservatively. Um, again, I want to reiterate that. So, that is encouraging because another conversation that we definitely need to have at this table, um, not today, but it's just different ways that we can make sure we are the city is generating funds. So, we need to think about ways that the city is generating money, um, as we continue to think about creative solutions for um, all the claims that we have. But, in terms of what we have operating with, we're being smart with it. And so, I think that there is a pathway for us to get these five and make sure that um, we're responsible and we can provide the safety and quality of protection that the residents in the city of Helena Helena need. So, so that that's my assessment of having looked through this financial report. Um, I feel comfortable with us taking this uh making this purchase and I do understand that uh we this does not erase claims that the city has, but our our police office our police department has to function and we want to make sure that residents, um, get somebody at their door when they do call.
13:05
Unidentified The the 50,000 that was for the That was for something from back in the '90s or whatever it was.
13:12
Unidentified I think it was a five-year for the Army Corps of Engineers. But, I think maybe it was and I know that it was a we had a five-year payment plan that was $300,000 that we paid off.
13:21
Unidentified after the
13:22
Unidentified paid that last payment, um, this past June.
13:24
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° And how often do we make that payment?
13:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Um, once a year.
13:27
Unidentified Okay. We make $50,000 once a year.
13:29
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay. And the Ooh, and probably Okay, this is a 5-year Okay, 5-year period. Yeah. Yeah, 5 years for a police vehicle is a long time. I mean, you know, cuz I talking about the current vehicles that you have. Like, we would I think in our personal vehicles, oh, 2021, that's not that old, but that's that's that's
14:16
Unidentified is, yeah.
14:17
Unidentified Yeah, for a police it is, cuz that's you get a lot of wear and tear on these vehicles.
14:20
Unidentified And I've driven these as regular vehicles also.
14:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yeah, that's all that's all that's all. What y'all thinking?
14:33
Unidentified So, the treasurer and the clerk are of the mind that we can afford or work out how many.
14:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Well, I don't want to I don't want to speak for the clerk cuz the clerk was out today. Um, but I did have a conversation with the treasurer and we we both feel comfortable that we could move forward with the 5 10. Was I I know that I do have a request, that would be a stretch and we can't do 10 at this moment. Um, we had a conversation candidly where we did discuss with the chief, it it would be a while before we need to before we can consider looking at another purchase for vehicles, but moving forward with five, um, we felt we felt comfortable with. Considering that it is a necessity and considering that we've been conservative with the uh, we started this year with a negative fund balance and I mean we we're we're being conservative. We're not we're not [clears throat] we're not overspending more than what we're getting. Again, the issue has just been we have to create positive or not positive but creative ways to tackle tackle claims and so but yeah, long roundabout way of saying that the treasure the treasurer and I both felt comfortable. And I can't speak for the clerk. I don't want to speak for the clerk. I'll I'll put it that way. I don't want to speak for the clerk.
15:59
Unidentified The the the amount of I don't know who this question will go to. The amount of funds that are taken from like citations and tickets and stuff like that. Does that go to the general fund or does that go to the police?
16:12
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° It does but it's not it's not what people think it is.
16:15
Unidentified It's not a it's not a lot.
16:17
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° There's a general conception that we make a ton of money off the citations that we write.
16:22
Unidentified Yeah.
16:23
Unidentified That's not true.
16:24
Unidentified Okay.
16:25
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders In fact, the ordinance that you all passed inattentive driving I guess late last year when I brought it before you all, we make a little bit more off of that but we didn't even I didn't pass that ordinance to make money off I passed it to help the citizens. I mean it stays off their driving record. And that's so we're we're not looking to make a killing off
16:47
Unidentified Yeah.
16:47
Unidentified off our citizens
16:48
Unidentified No, I'm just saying.
16:49
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° We get pennies on the dollar for the citations we write.
16:52
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I was just wondering. I'm I'm always just in my mind trying to think of uh although you know, we don't want to intentionally you know
16:59
Unidentified Right.
17:00
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° try make that a revenue source. But I'm just I was just trying to think of revenue sources cuz we always look at you know, spending less and that situation but I'm also trying to think of what what ways we can bring we can create revenue.
17:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I think I think this um, the department doesn't generate generate revenue and I want to be on record just echoing not a lot um, not a considerable amount in terms of um, being able to sustain uh, expenses through uh, for their department. Um, and I think what you're getting at Dr. Miller is in part a conversation to be had around our justice complex agreement that we've made with the county. Um, I think that that I think it's worth saying that that decision and really impacted and put us um, in the position that we are now. It's not that list of claims that we have that we're battling um, daily it is not based off of one just no like one snowball I guess occurrence but losing that revenue roughly $700,000 um, a year we we we're feeling that and so that was a source of I would say of some of the revenue that you're talking about and potentially in the future
18:15
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° the amount we got from the prison and then from the jail fines and stuff. But what you people staying in jail
18:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield And potentially um, in the in the future as the city of Helena-West Helena Police Department does not have um, its own building that could be a potential project that's funded by um, by the city by residents so that might be something that residents would um, be in line with and so this this data is really premature because we haven't had the next uh, town hall meeting but um, we asked can citizens something for those of you listening at home um, we did have a recent town hall 2 weeks ago and one of the questions that I think it's worth asking as especially in this season of uh, it being an election season is are citizens would citizens consider a new money campaign whether it's a revenue uh, bond um, a new tax a a new millage and from the results that we've gotten from that first town hall, 72% of people, which was um a total of about 30 people responded um so far, but 72% of those responses were we would support that. So, there pathways forward I think to maybe get us back in that position. But, um that's not that's not going to be it tomorrow, unfortunately.
19:33
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Okay. Um I'm trying to I guess just as a to be clear the the treasurer sent us this report on Monday. I think we got it about 10:30 and 10:30 Monday night. And so, I did take a look at it. Um it wasn't something that we took up yesterday. So, when I looked at it about at 11:30 on Monday night um I did some quick math on it and I didn't want to cherry-pick any of the numbers cuz I haven't gone through it cover to cover. Uh but, I did notice that some of the revenue projections were down and some of the um the liabilities were up. Um so the the the balances always for me have always been a trap. Um but the revenue and expenses is what I like to rely on. But, I'm not in a position to to have an opinion one way or another as we sit here today. Um but, the revenue projections being down is a is a is a red flag. That's a separate conversation from about the police cars. My question about the police cars is can we on a cash basis can we afford to make payments? Um I would like to hear more about the used vehicles uh to see where that puts us. I don't know what the equipment um requirements would be. Uh you're looking at I think I guess on the on the new vehicles the the equipping of vehicles is about the same as the the car itself. But what would it be on a used vehicle? Um I'm imagining if it's a used police car then there's there's fewer uh alterations or modifications that need to be made. But I'll let you correct me if
21:34
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Just depends on what the setup is, uh.
21:37
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Yes, sir.
21:41
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° And we haven't talked about this, but we got an email from The Daily World indicating that no notice had been sent to the press. Um, that's an issue to the extent that we take any action here. Um, I don't know what your position on that is, Mr. Mayor, but uh, the press would be entitled to 2 hours notice of the meeting. And if they didn't get that notice, then we would subject ourselves to litigation for the violation of the FOIA. Um, so—
22:08
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I believe that was sent out. Um, let me do a quick check, but I do believe that that was sent out, um, ahead of time.
22:24
Unidentified I did entertain a separate call from Mr. Mondello at KJAW and he says he received no notice. He checked his email. He said he received no notice. And uh, he says he routinely doesn't get notice. He, he wants to be notified of the meetings with a copy of the agenda as well so that he can, in his capacity as media, um, either share that with his audience or or do whatever he wants to do with that.
22:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Our staff, uh, our staff has gone to Jay, so I'm just trying to check in, but I, I, that was the directive earlier today to make sure that that was done. Um, I mean, in the meantime, are there, are there, are there shared reservations, um, with council, uh, Councilwoman Nettles, here on on this matter in terms of taking action today for, um, police vehicles? Let, or just reservations alone as it relates to, um, being comfortable or feeling, uh, comfortable making the decision that we can afford these vehicles. I'm just, I'm not wanting to rush the discussion.
23:38
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° The only reservation I have is if, you know, um, the Havelock World did not get proper, timely notification. I don't want us to be, um, in conflict or to find ourselves, you know, at the end of another FOIA request.
24:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah. It was sent out at 2:09. Um, our public meeting today was, um, pressed or sent out at 2:09 today.
24:10
Unidentified When you say sent out, you mean, um, it was—
24:14
Unidentified Publicized on our, uh, media platforms.
24:18
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Okay, so for purposes of FOIA, the media would be entitled to actual notice, as opposed to constructive notice. Constructive notice would be placing it on the Facebook page. It constructively notifies anybody who might view the page, but the media would get actual notice. That is, it should be sent directly to the, to the, the newspaper and the and the radio. And that way they have actual notice. And I guess since we're going down this road, I'll say this as well. Because I would not have known to be here if I hadn't got, read the email from the Daily World. Uh, we had some email traffic that went between all of us, and you asked if we could meet at 4:15, and there we had three yeses, but there was no confirmation and agenda that came behind that. And so, until I saw that email, I didn't realize that the, the Facebook page had a a notice saying that we were meeting at 4:15. So, I would not have been here without some confirmation from—
25:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield There's, there's a confirmation that was sent out at 3:48. Um, and I know before you came in, so the confirmation went out at 3:48, but the time was slightly being adjusted from 4:15 to 4:45 because of the Wednesday—
25:34
Unidentified But, I'm saying there was no confirmation of 4:15.
25:38
Unidentified This was, this was the confirmation of the change of time from 4:15 to 4:45.
25:44
Unidentified But, 4:15 was never confirmed. See, you sent an email and you asked if we could be here at 4:15, and we all said, "Yes." We said we could be here at 4:15. I think what, because Miss, I think Miss Miller sent an email that says, "Are we meeting?"
25:58
Unidentified Yeah.
25:58
Unidentified And the thing is, is we said yes, we could be here, but until we get a notice that follows that that says, "Okay, we're confirmed for 4:15." Because we independently don't know if we have a quorum or not. Only only you know that. So, if you see what I'm saying, if you send us then an agenda that says we're confirmed for 4:15, then we know officially that we're on. We've only shared our availability at that point. We, but, we don't have a confirmation from you saying, "Okay, we're now I see it."
26:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So, I hear what you're saying, and I just, I just want to make sure I'm clear. So, at, at, on today at 11:01 a.m.
26:36
Unidentified Mhm.
26:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I did ask, "Are we able to do 4:15 p.m. today?" And if so, I will let KJIW know for broadcasting planning.
26:45
Unidentified Right.
26:45
Unidentified That email left, um, see the email at 11:01 a.m. And the responses that you just mentioned did come in.
26:52
Unidentified Yes, sir.
26:53
Unidentified And I was obligated to follow the, that next step that I said, which was letting KJIW know that we would meet to broadcast, meet to have a meeting today.
27:05
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° That's right, but you're seeing this from your perspective. I, I get it. From a council perspective, we don't have an agenda. We don't have any, we don't have anything. So, we've been asked if we're available, and yet she said you would get it, set, notify them, but we don't have any confirmation that the thing has now been formally set. And so, the reason why you got the email from Ms. Miller, I'm speaking for Ms. Miller, but the reason why you got the email from Ms. Miller is because she didn't know that it had officially been set. But, in my mind I was thinking the same thing. There's no meeting because we haven't received an agenda. There's been no follow-up. This was set with confirmed. And so, what I'm saying is the confirmation would have just come from just us, them saying, "Yes, now we are set. I've made all the notices. Here's the agenda." Would have let us know.
28:00
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I mean, it feels, it feels like I, I hear you, Councilman Etherly. It just feels like a technical, a technicality. I mean, everybody, there's one item that we said we want to address today, which was the trucks, and that's the only item that's that's on our agenda that's placed out and confirmation. But, I, I, I hear you. So, I mean, if we're not, if we feel like the best option today is not to take action as a body, and we can't do that even, especially if one person member's not, then I understand that. So, but I do just want to be on record to say, I mean, I I think that this is a technicality that—
28:34
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Well, it's it's, but it's important, and and the reason why it's important is because a special meeting is only, is limited to only the item that's on the agenda. So, from this side of the table, council members look for that actual document, that agenda that tells them, because you may have added something to it. You may have added something to it, then we're not prepared to discuss the subject matter that may be documentation. So, just from a, a pure preparation standpoint, council members are looking for a confirmation that it's going to take place, as well as a copy of that agenda that says this is the item, because when we come in this room, if it has two or three items on here, and we thought it was going to be about something else, especially since it's a special meeting and you can't, you can't change that. We may be unprepared for those additional items. So, just to allow people to prepare, that's all I'm saying.
29:24
Unidentified And, and being that that's not the case, we still feel uncomfortable moving forward. Being that the, that the agenda only has item — [clears throat] — that we, I'm just, I'm just asking for clarity. So,
29:36
Unidentified Yeah, that, that's not the reason why I, the agenda is, I I was just clarifying that people didn't, couldn't confirm those meeting. But, to the extent that if the media was not notified, then, when — that's when I talked about actual notice to the media, something to, uh, Mr. Bagley or whoever he designates as his person to receive a notice, if they didn't get actual notice, then we haven't complied with FOI. And so, I wouldn't want to go forward and take any action. We can meet, but action subjects us to one of those FOI losses. So.
30:11
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Okay. Um, when do you want to meet tomorrow?
30:16
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I'm available tomorrow. I'm available Friday. Look, let me let me say this for the record. I want you to get what you need. I do not want us to be without cars. I want us to financially be as responsible as we can, because we're in a really bad position financially. So, I want us to consider all of our options. And I, but I want you to get what you need, and I'm making myself available. I mean, I can meet tomorrow, I can meet Friday, I'll meet on Saturday, Sunday, whatever day we need to meet to get this done. I'll do that, but I want us to have all the options on the table before we do it. And so, that's my only position on it. To the extent that we can afford it. So, maybe we won't be able to give you a brand new fleet, but to the extent that you, we can get you cars, so that we're able to keep your people out on the street and keep the patrols going, and I want to be able to do that. So, this is not a flat out no, I don't want you to see, see you in cars. Just let's make the most financially responsible decision. And you talked about used cars and how it may be somebody else's problem. Right now, we may have stopgap measures to get us to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing. Uh, where we may end up, new cars may be a reduced number of new cars may be the answer. But, I would like—
31:35
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° That's the step that I took. I, ex per 10, I reviewed the council meeting. I stayed up.
31:40
Unidentified Yes, sir.
31:41
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders My fiancé had to tell me to come to bed. I looked at the meeting from start to finish. You guys asked me, could I do it six? I came back and asked for five. We always putting a price on safety, but there's no true price you can put on safety. If we don't show up, bad things going to happen. That's just, that's how I can put it.
32:06
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Some, somebody might have asked you for five. And I respect it if somebody said five and you did five, but I'm still going to every time go from, from A to Z on the numbers and what our options are. And so, that somebody would not have been me, but there's, I always say this, there's five other people at this table. It's five, I'm just one. I'm just one of five. And all you need are three of them. And so, that's just, I I only speak for me. That's my position. I want to make sure that we properly approach this issue, given where we are financially.
32:42
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I think that I could move forward with five. I think that when we say we bring the next meeting together, if we can have, uh, the treasurer here or the clerk here.
32:57
Unidentified Noted.
33:00
Unidentified Any, any other discussion?
33:03
Unidentified That's all I have.
33:04
Unidentified What do y'all think?
33:05
Unidentified I mean—
33:06
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I mean, that's that's that's fine. I would like to hear from one of them directly, but I don't know about the, the church is physically able to to attend. So, I would, I would assume that that the clerk—
33:14
Unidentified Conference call? Can we get—
33:15
Unidentified Is that, is that legal?
33:17
Unidentified Conference call? Can you conference call?
33:19
Unidentified With the treasurer?
33:19
Unidentified Yeah. He's not a voting, by, uh, member, so yeah, that's that's that's that can happen.
33:25
Unidentified Yeah, we could conference call him. Yeah.
33:27
Unidentified Mhm.
33:30
Unidentified Just so we can hear her.
33:31
Unidentified I agree.
33:32
Unidentified So, um, should more pertinent information come up before, um, our next regular schedule, meet regularly scheduled meeting, um, I'll reach out via email potentially with another special meeting within the coming days, and, uh, make sure that we are ready, the, with the requested parties here.
33:55
Unidentified When is our next regularly scheduled meeting?
33:58
Unidentified 2 weeks from yesterday.
33:59
Unidentified Okay. Make sure we look at that, too, cuz sometimes they run to—
34:02
Unidentified If you, if you come across used vehicles, for example, even if it's one or two, and they're somewhere where you can get them, and that happens Friday, I would say let us know. If there's something we can grab quickly, let us know. We don't have to wait until the next meeting. Um, and again, I speak for myself, but I'll make myself available any day that I'm here, and if I don't have to be out of town somewhere on the road, I'll make myself available at some point during the day.
34:33
Unidentified So would you, so, so are you say, so, so, he's clear, cuz he knows what he's doing. So are you talking about it then, like a hybrid of three and two, or just two, you—
34:45
Unidentified Whatever we can do to get cars on the street quickly, having considered all of the information available to us.
34:49
Unidentified Okay.
34:50
Unidentified There's two things. He may be able to find something, and we may not have all the information that we need financially to to make the decision.
34:58
Unidentified Mhm.
34:59
Unidentified I speak for myself. If I, I don't know, you may need something different from me. I may be asking for something different from everybody else. So that could be a whole different discussion.
35:06
Unidentified No, I just, I, cuz I'm, cuz I'm probably more, I'm probably out of the three, I'm probably more closer on cheese to where Chief is than maybe you guys are. And so I'm, I'm trying to save him some time. You know, and going out and finding a whole bunch of stuff and then he comes back and then we say, "Ah, we don't want to do that either." So, you know, so he's kind of clear what he's looking for. So if it's, if it's an additional two, or maybe two, two with, and then we may be looking at a hybrid of another three or just two, you know, two, um, you know, two used ones. You know, maybe looking at those two options.
35:48
Unidentified I mean that's—
35:48
Unidentified Possibly.
35:49
Unidentified That, that's a possibility. That's a possibility.
35:54
Unidentified And then, and then the third option would be five, you know, five, new but—
36:00
Unidentified Only concern, again, with used vehicles. Well, another concern I should say—
36:07
Unidentified Mhm.
36:07
Unidentified Is that... who's going to work on them? He's, Daniel Lawson is doing it out of the kindness of his heart, but we're going to get them with no warranty. They're, they're going to be our problem.
36:20
Unidentified Yeah.
36:22
Unidentified I hope he keeps doing it, but I can't. It's not in his duties.
36:28
Unidentified Can, can he look at them before you buy them?
36:31
Unidentified I can, I can—
36:32
Unidentified That's that's kind of, that's kind of what I would, that's what I would do if I were buying a vehicle. I would look at it first. I would, yeah. And so that's what I'm asking, if he can look at them before we buy them. I mean, that would help. And he may say no, he may say yeah, these are good. So.
36:50
Unidentified We're just basically trying to explore all the options, and then if, if — I mean, just do, do you do your, do your best, you know. You might get out there like you've done now, and you're looking and you see that this one is like — it's just like in the situation with the city when you, you made the attempt to buy the trucks, you know, we made a good faith to buy, when we got there and then it wasn't, you know, it wasn't up to par. You, you might find that type of situation in your research that it's just not, it's not going, it's not going to work, but we're just basically asking you to do your due diligence. And not to say that you're not.
37:21
Unidentified Sure.
37:22
Unidentified You know, just asking you to, you know, trying to get, try to get our best option. But basically we're, I'm trying to make that correctly. We're in favor of you getting, getting some, some vehicles. We're just trying to figure out the, the best pathway to make it happen. So it's not a no, it's just a, we're working it out.
37:56
Unidentified What was the turnaround on the new cars again? You mentioned it last night.
37:59
Unidentified I talked to him today.
38:00
Unidentified Mhm.
38:01
Unidentified They have sold one, and multiple people are calling about the other seven.
38:05
Unidentified Okay. So it's—
38:07
Unidentified But he have seven on the fleet right now. On the lot, ready, ready, ready to be outfitted.
38:16
Unidentified What, what, just, I care, this — what model is this?
38:20
Unidentified 26.
38:21
Unidentified Dodge Durango. Dodge Durango with all the, with everything, for that amount? Dang. That's a good, that's a good—
38:33
Unidentified What Sandy said, though, there's an extra, what, 20,000, I think she said, to outfit them. I think that's just the base.
38:40
Unidentified Yeah, but the Durango goes for about 60 on its own. That's a good deal.
38:44
Unidentified Well, we got the state, we're on the state contract.
38:46
Unidentified The state contract. That's a good deal he got.
38:49
Unidentified I mean, but good deal — and do you have the money still, like — like my dad's going to say, that's a good deal, but still, $100,000, but yeah. That's a good—
39:00
Unidentified And so the outfitting, what's the time frame on the outfitting again?
39:06
Unidentified It depends on how many agencies are in front of us and depending on what parts they have to install.
39:10
Unidentified Okay, so that, that was the part that was unknown in terms of purchase to to actual, to the street was the outfitting. Okay.
39:25
Unidentified Okay, la- last thing, and then I, I'm — keep, I'm going to let you go. The, so basically our, our contention is, that is really more, in one — in one sense, it's also making sure that, uh, we're legally set, because we did not give — okay.
39:49
Unidentified And, and then any other discussion?
39:51
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) No, I just want to make sure we're clear, cuz I don't want to have to eat up a bunch of his time. So let's say — could I, we could, I'm just going to say it — could we settle with three?
40:01
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I'm all for three if the treasurer says we have the money. At least three, million ones, and then if we can, you know, if we have to, possibly find two, uh, use that are decent. Sometimes you have to start with where you're capable. I mean, we all know what we need.
40:20
Unidentified I go — I, I believe in three. Are you caves?
40:25
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° I mean, I mean, I close my eyes and vote for three.
40:28
Unidentified Okay.
40:29
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Can you get us the numbers on on the financing numbers on three?
40:31
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° On three, that would be the city clerk's.
40:34
Unidentified Okay. That'd be — who would do that? Would you say two?
40:38
Unidentified I'd have to get the financing.
40:39
Unidentified Okay. So ask her — oh, she, she, she made the call.
40:42
Unidentified Yeah. I, I just do the raw number, but I got to call her.
40:44
Unidentified Okay. So, so—
40:45
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) Ask her, can she give us for three, and then we'll meet tomorrow or whatever.
40:49
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Can y'all meet tomorrow?
40:51
Unidentified I can do tomorrow. I can't do Friday.
40:53
Unidentified Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me check my time.
40:55
Unidentified It's just got to be — after—
40:59
Unidentified I'm just tied up in the morning tomorrow, anytime afternoon.
41:03
Unidentified It's just got to be after three and before six for me. Is 3:30 a good time?
41:13
Unidentified Thursday.
41:14
Unidentified 3:30?
41:15
Unidentified I'm using, I'm using the school line at 3:30. That's why I said between three and four, so 4:00.
41:19
Unidentified This is 4:00. Okay. 4:00 — three. You coming with the cost for three.
41:25
Unidentified About three?
41:25
Unidentified Okay.
41:27
Unidentified Okay. I'm going to try to get them this evening. I got court tomorrow, so I'll be coming back from Little Rock.
41:31
Unidentified Yes, sir.
41:31
Unidentified I'm almost certain I, I can make it back at four.
41:34
Unidentified Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
41:37
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Unless — unless there's any discussion — we will meet tomorrow at four. I will make sure that we get the proper documentation sent out, and with that, we'll take a — meeting, motion to adjourn.
41:50
Unidentified So moved. 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.