In 30 seconds
- The council met in special session on one subject: getting the trash picked up. All six members — Etherly, Messina, St. Columbia, Davis, Maxine Miller, and Dr. Kyle Miller — were present, confirmed by name in the meeting's two roll-call votes.
- Council adopted Ordinance 16-2026, waiving competitive bidding under Arkansas Code Annotated 14-58-303, to rent one automated side loader for a month; the ordinance passed 6-0 by roll call, and its emergency clause also passed 6-0.
- Two quotes were on the table for that single truck: Premier Truck Sales & Rental at $10,400 for four (28-day) weeks with freight waived, delivering from Sherwood, AR, versus Big Truck Rental (BTR) at $10,900 for four weeks with city pickup in Memphis. In an informal round, members leaned toward the Sherwood/Premier option.
- Separately, the chief of staff presented an option to purchase two used (about six-year-old) side loaders outright for roughly $130,000 each ($260,000 total, financed), with warranty coverage and quarterly inspections. No purchase vote was taken. Councilman Etherly argued at length for a rear-loader alternative and against new long-term debt; the mayor said the city can afford the trucks and called the trash situation a state of emergency. The administration agreed to try to price a rear-loader option and said updated invoices/quotes would come before the weekend, ahead of a decision at Tuesday's regular meeting.
- The rental is funded from roughly $30,000 in street-department salary surplus, leaving about $20,000 toward truck payments. The chief of staff cited July's near-100% route completion and $100,000-$111,000/month in sanitation-fee revenue; Etherly relitigated July's $30,000 three-truck rental as money spent with nothing retained, and Messina said his own household had gone four weeks without pickup. The city attorney framed the real issue as rates — raised only twice in about 20 years — with FOIA requests out to roughly 20 comparable cities (about seven responses back so far); that rate conversation also carries to Tuesday.
Recap
The Meeting & Attendance
This was a special called council meeting on one item: street and sanitation department updates, including whether to waive competitive bidding to rent a truck . Mayor Whitfield opened by asking the clerk to call the roll . The clerk called the roll . Before the roll finished, the mayor said the council had a quorum and would verify full attendance once Councilman Messina arrived . All six members — Etherly, Messina, St. Columbia, Davis, Maxine Miller, and Dr. Kyle Miller — are confirmed present by name later in the meeting's two formal 6-0 roll-call votes .
The Rental: Two Vendors, One Truck, an Emergency Ordinance
The chief of staff presented two quotes for a single automated side-loader rental, each for a 28-day month: Big Truck Rental (BTR) of Memphis at $10,900, with the city responsible for pickup , and Premier Truck Sales & Rental at $10,400 with the freight charge waived and delivery from Sherwood, Arkansas . The packet included two draft ordinances, one per vendor, both initially capped at $10,900; the chief of staff said he hand-corrected the Premier draft's figure to $10,400 to match the vendor's official quote . This was for one side loader, not two . In an informal round on vendor preference — City Attorney Valley put the question directly, “Which one are you recommending?” — the mayor himself made the case for Sherwood: “cheaper and delivery included… it's in Arkansas” , and Councilwoman Maxine Miller said she'd go with whichever the body picked, naming Sherwood when pressed . The council then voted to suspend the rules and read Ordinance 16-2026 by title only ; City Attorney Valley read the ordinance, which waives competitive bidding under Arkansas Code Annotated 14-58-303 . The ordinance passed 6-0 by roll call , and its emergency clause — making the rental effective immediately — also passed 6-0 .
The $260,000 Purchase Option — Debated, Not Decided
Separately from the rental, the chief of staff described an option to buy two used side loaders — about six years old, one with roughly 55,000 miles/9,000 hours, the other 40,000-plus miles — outright for about $130,000 each, $260,000 total, to be financed rather than paid at once . The administration clarified this would be a purchase, not a lease, distinct from a separate two-year "buyback" rotation program the vendor also offers . The trucks would carry warranty coverage and quarterly inspections . Councilman Etherly argued at length for a rear-loader alternative instead, citing an email in which Councilwoman Davis had asked at the time why the city was renting instead of buying , questioning $260,000 in new debt on top of the city's existing obligations, and saying that if the administration would not bring a rear-loader option, "we're stuck with what's presented to us, the options that we're given" . The mayor said the city can afford the trucks and called the ongoing trash situation a state of emergency . One council member asked the administration to also price a rear-loader option for comparison, and the chief of staff agreed to try . No purchase vote was taken; the chief of staff said full information on the purchase would come before Tuesday's regular meeting , and the mayor said the administration expects new material — updated invoices and quotes — by the weekend ahead of that discussion .
Money & the Capacity Debate
The rental is being paid for out of roughly $30,000 in street-department salary surplus within the general fund, which the administration said leaves about $20,000 toward the first payments on any trucks purchased . The chief of staff defended the department's capacity by pointing to July's roughly 100% route completion once fully staffed and equipped , later adding that the department brings in about $100,000-$111,000 a month in sanitation fees . Etherly pushed back on the department's rental history, citing July's $30,000 three-truck rental as money spent with no truck retained at the end of it , and the email in which Councilwoman Davis had asked at the time why the council was renting instead of buying . Councilman Messina raised his own household's experience: "I know. Four weeks at my house, and it ain't picked up"
The Rate Question & What's Next
City Attorney Valley told the council the underlying issue is revenue and rates, not equipment: whether the city contracts out or buys new trucks, rates will likely need to rise. "That's the conversation that we all have to have," he said . The chief of staff said he has built a tracker on comparable cities' sanitation rates, revenue, and expenses obtained through public-records requests, with about seven cities responding so far . Closing the meeting, Valley reminded the council that sanitation rates have been raised only twice in about 20 years, calling it a necessary discussion as the council takes up the truck-purchase decision on Tuesday .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
August 26, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda
One-item special-meeting agenda: call to order (clerk), prayer and pledge, roll call (mayor), then New Business limited to a Street & Sanitation Department update, with two sub-items — discussion of a plan of action for sanitation services, and a competitive bid waiver for automated side-loader (ASL) rental naming either BTR or Premier as the vendor — followed by adjournment.
Text document — see the agenda link below.
Draft Ordinance — Competitive-Bidding Waiver for Side-Loader Rental (two alternative versions)
Two alternative draft emergency ordinances under Arkansas Code Annotated 14-58-303, identical in structure but naming different vendors: pages 1-2 name Premier Truck Sales & Rental, 700 Wall Street, Cleveland, OH ; pages 3-4 name "River Big Turck Rental, LLC" [sic], 4221 W. Boy Scout Blvd, Tampa, FL . Both versions find that exceptional circumstances exist and the bidding procedure is not feasible at this time, waive competitive bidding for the side-loader rental, authorize the mayor to execute all contracts to complete the purchase, cap the total estimated cost including fees and incidentals at $10,900.00, and carry an emergency-enactment clause making the ordinance effective immediately . Both versions also state the city has "determined that it is necessary to waive competitive bidding and award the bid in accordance with the grant" . Signature blocks are prepared for Mayor Joseph Whitfield and City Clerk Sandi Ramsey on both versions . Notably, the Premier version carries the same $10,900.00 cost cap as the BTR version even though Premier's own rental quote totals $10,400.00 .
| Statutory authority for waiver | Arkansas Code Annotated 14-58-303 | |
| Total estimated cost cap (both versions) | $10,900.00 | |
| Premier version — vendor | Premier Truck Sales & Rental (Cleveland, OH) | |
| BTR version — vendor as written [sic] | “River Big Turck Rental, LLC” (Tampa, FL) | |
| Cap vs. Premier's actual quote | $10,900.00 cap vs. $10,400.00 quoted (+$500.00) |
Premier Truck Sales & Rental — Rental Quote (Mack/Heil 33-yd ASL)
Rental quote from Premier Truck Sales & Rental, Inc., prepared 8/26/26 for the City of Helena West Helena, AR, attention Kevin Martin-Arnold, by Megan Lojek . One Mack/Heil automated side-loader (ASL), 33-yard capacity, is quoted at $10,400.00 for a single 4-week rental cycle, with delivery and pickup freight of $857.00 each way waived under a 500-mile freight discount . Terms include a certificate of insurance showing a minimum of $2,000,000 liability naming Premier as additional insured and loss payee, a $5,000 credit-card deposit per truck, a four-week minimum and twelve-month maximum rental duration, customer responsibility for regular maintenance and tire care, and a provision that 25% of rent billed may be applied toward purchase of the rental unit .
| Equipment quoted | Mack/Heil ASL, 33-yard, qty 1 | |
| 4-week rate / estimated total | $10,400.00 | |
| Delivery & pickup freight | $857.00 each way, waived (500-mile discount) | |
| Insurance requirement | $2,000,000 liability minimum | |
| Deposit | $5,000 credit-card deposit per truck | |
| Rental duration | 4-week minimum / 12-month maximum |
Big Truck Rental — Supplemental Rental Agreement (2025 Autocar ACX64 Side Loader)
Supplemental rental agreement/quote No. 00097093 from Big Truck Rental, created 08/26/2026 by Brianna Arthur, for asset 4024008, a 2025 Autocar ACX64 side loader with 1,481 hours . Billing contact is City Clerk Sandi Ramsey; shipping contact is Kevin Martin-Arnold at 201 South Sebastian, Helena-West Helena . Pricing is $2,725.00 per week across 4 weeks, totaling $10,900.00, for a rental window of 08/27/2026 to 09/23/2026, based on the OMNIA Partners National Cooperative Contract #2019000319 . The quote carries a $0 security deposit and $0 inbound transportation cost under customer-pickup terms; return transport will be charged at the end of the rental term based on dealer-location availability . Use is capped at one shift (50 hours/week), with surcharge tiers for heavier use, and the customer is responsible for routine maintenance, tires, and damage beyond normal wear . A signature block is prepared for Mayor Joseph Whitfield .
| Asset | 2025 Autocar ACX64 side loader, 1,481 hrs (asset #4024008) | |
| Rate | $2,725.00/week x 4 weeks | |
| Total amount due | $10,900.00 | |
| Rental window | 08/27/2026 - 09/23/2026 | |
| Deposit / inbound transport | $0 security deposit, $0 inbound transport (customer pick-up) | |
| Contract basis | OMNIA Partners National Cooperative Contract #2019000319 |
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 ↗
2:30
All present Our Father in heaven, 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 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.
3:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield All right, Madame Clerk, will you call the role, please?
3:24
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Dr. Miller,
3:25
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° yes.
3:25
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Mr.
3:31
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Mr. Etherly,
3:33
Unidentified he coming. Wait to verify attendance.
3:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° We have a
3:43
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Okay. Well, we do have a quorum and we'll verify attendance as soon as Mr. Messina walks in. Um, thank you, Madam Clerk. Uh we have one item of business for today and that is to discuss uh street and sanitation department updates as well as uh potentially waving competitive bidding for uh ASL rentals uh which would be for trucks we will use pre um in the near future. I want to just give a little context. I know that this has come up because a couple city council members as well as people um and residents from the public have said that this is something that we need to make sure we move on and take some actionable steps on. Um, and so at this time I do want to yield to the chief of staff and interim uh street and sanitation director to kind of disclose to you what you will see in your packet which is the culmination of some some research and some conversations and meetings that we've had over the last uh two weeks to be exact. So um with that I'll yield to chief of staff and let them take it from here.
4:42
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold Uh just a quick update on routes. We're kind of in a similar situation as we were last week when I was talking about it. Um yesterday we were able to get 32 up and running, but it literally has a different issue every time we get up and running. And so yesterday, um after like 6 hours of running, something happened to where it wouldn't, um go all the way up when they were trying to dump it. So we had to take it out of commission again. Got that part fixed today, but not until about 3 or 4:00. And so um that's that was our issue. But yesterday, we finished about 95% of the route. So that was probably our best completed day in the month of August. Um um and so yeah, we've still been working to uh get the routes completed how we can using the relief routes with the dump I mean the um other pickup trucks as well as the walkbehind. The other thing is so while Okay, so I know we've been having a lot of discussion about buying used vehicles. Um the side loader versus rear loader being a conversation and um us really trying to stick around that $30,000 range. Um, I was able to have a conversation with Miss Ramsey earlier where she was able to give a lot of insight in terms of some different options we might be able to uh look at, especially considering um the financing options that you guys were presented with with the police department. And so, uh, through that conversation, meetings with, uh, River City, um, hydraulics, River City Hydraulics, um, they were able to present us with some pretty decent options, um, which I think will really kind of piece kind of what you were asking about, Miss Miller, um, in terms of like finding some really nice trucks that are affordable. Um, and in this case, we would be trying to take the financing option. Um, just ballpark range, I can tell you that. So, at first they presented us with one truck um to be on like what they'll call their B plan, which is kind of like a buyback system. So, every two years it would get rotated out and then they would bring them in and then keep bringing them in. Um I that wouldn't have been able to get started until February. Um that truck was around 312,000. We were only going to be responsible pay about 125,000 of that before that two-year part would have came in. Then we would have went back into refinancing for a new set. Um and even when she ran the numbers with the uh finance company, it came out to be about 6,000 a month. Um which she said again like given some um cuts on some other sides of things, we would definitely be able to make those. But again, that meant that we would still be struggling though for 5 months to be able to get routes picked up. Um which made me uh think about maybe doing a rental agreement so that we could at least have a good truck in um and we'll have a a way to be able to get those routes completed. Um, but I also was still just pressing the guy about being able to get um some a fleet in sooner than that. He was able to reach out to a partner of theirs that they that's also through River City that does the two-year options. And the way that it works is so it's like a ABC um type of
7:36
Unidentified tier system.
7:36
Unidentified Type of tier system. Yeah. And so like the somebody who's on the A will get the newest ones for two years. Then it goes to B who gets them in that two that three to four. Then it goes to see who gets them in their five to six. And then after that six year period is when they usually just sell them. Um because after six years is when they their warranties usually are up. And again at that point they're trying to get newer trucks and they just keep them within one to six years. Um so he was able to contact one of his um associates out of Louisiana, one of their partners out of Louisiana who just so happened to be um on their last ones in terms of like ones that would be six years old. And so he was able to provide us with quotes on two um two side loaders which um both cost about 130,000 um which would be about 260,000 total less than what we were originally financing which means that hopefully when we get those numbers back from that financing company that we will be paying even less um in terms of monthly notes. Um they also are already on the ground which means that we will be able to get those trucks within um a week to two weeks after everything would hopefully be approved. Um, which again would set us up to where we would be able to get those trucks in faster. These trucks have the one truck has about 55,000 mi um low hours. I think about 9,000 hours. The other one has 40 something,000 miles low m low hours on that one as well. Um, completely they've been covered under warranty. That means everything has already been fixed and upkept on them. Like I said, they're on the ground, which is why instead of because at first like and again all this is it's been like a and again this is my apologies for the um delay on getting you all the packets because like literally at every hour of today the plan was changing more and more in terms of like what was becoming available. Um and so and then I was also waiting on the different uh rental agreements from Big Truck Rental as well as Premiere. Um Premiere is a partner of River City Hydraulics. Um BTR is who we went through the last time we did the rental agreement. Um we again we didn't damage the trucks or anything. We only got charged a little extra for like some tire tread and yeah and yeah I didn't know that we had to maintain the tire tread either. And so um so uh the only difference in the co and so we're only asking for a month's worth of rental because once we get those financed number which we hope to have by this upcoming regular schedule meeting Tuesday um we'll be able to present that and then see if you all will be okay with going ahead and approving us financing those. Um the other part of that is so yeah that brings us to literally what the discussion is today. So that's the that's the plan in terms of how we want to move forward is to get those two side loaders. That'll put us back in the position that we were in really in July where we have two side loaders and a walk behind that will be doing the courtesy route and part of the handicap route. Um and again that will give us some more normaly in terms of our trash pickup. Uh right now we're asking for just you all to honestly you can choose between either of those um rental agreements. They're both for one month. One is from BTR is $10,900. We would be responsible for going to pick it up. Um, the other is from Premiere. It It says 10,400. At first it said 10,900 on one of the uh pages she gave me. That's why on the ordinance it says 10,900 and I scratched it out and put 10,400 because I realized that's what she put on the official quote. Um, they also waved the uh freight charge which means that they would be delivering them from Sherwood, Arkansas. I know that the address on there says Ohio is because they're out of Ohio, but they are again, like I said, a partner with um they're a partner with Riverside, River City. And so um they station their trucks in Sherwood, Arkansas. And so somebody will be delivering that from Sherwood, Arkansas tomorrow if we were able to get everything approved. And so um yeah, if you guys have any questions, feel free to let me know. But I feel free to take some time to kind of look them over and everything. Again, the only difference is a $500 difference. We would either be responsible for going to pick up the one from Memphis for 10,900 or they would deliver the other one for 10,400. And these are 28 day uh months as opposed to 30 to 31 days like we usually count days.
11:53
Unidentified And this is for two front loaders.
11:55
Unidentified No, this is just for one. This is just for one side loader.
11:57
Unidentified One side loader.
11:58
Unidentified Yes. Are there any questions? I know I probably spoke really fast again. I'm working on that. Sorry y'all.
12:09
Unidentified And you're saying that this will this will fix our at least temporarily.
12:13
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° Oh yeah, for sure. Like even yesterday we were able to do um like I said like 95% of Tuesday's route which again it's not one hour heavier days which is why again like yeah having one side loader was is helpful but then you get on that Thursday route which is which is a a good amount of streets. Um, and so like, yeah, it it would help us to have that one, especially considering that we got the our other silo to kind of fix it down. Like, you know, it's just it's so old that like again, every time we get it fixed up, it's really one of those examples of why we would rather go with something that's a lot newer if we can so that we're not having to deal with whether or not we test drive it or whatever, you get to using it for a week or two, it might break down anyway, no matter what kind of used truck you get, especially if we're in that $30,000 range. and these and these options these other options you gave which we're looking at for the future.
13:01
Unidentified Yes. And I can present y'all with those too. I just didn't want to bombard y'all with stuff especially we didn't have the lease agreements and stuff but he did send pictures um the mileage and everything else on those other trucks from um Louisiana.
13:12
Unidentified And you're saying that both of in both of those options you'll be looking at like a like a like a option where you keep it for a couple years and then you rotate it out.
13:21
Unidentified No, sorry. That is the part that I do want to clarify. So with this option because they're at that same Not not yeah not not with the uh No, I'm saying with the two trucks that will be coming from Louisiana. Those would actually be purchased and not leased.
13:35
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° So we would still try to finance the per the purchase which is why we wouldn't be paying $260,000 all at once. And so because they are 6 years old, they've aged out for River City. They would normally sell the trucks anyway to somebody because we've been reaching out to them. They're giving us first dibs on them basically. Um I mean there are still other options we can do from there. I mean, we it it's a long ball. I mean, not even a long ball. I mean, it's it's just not necessary, per se, but if we want to get into a buyback type of situation, nothing is really stopping us from being able to like purchase these two trucks now, and then when they get another new fleet on the ground in February or March, us trying to refinance, well, selling the two trucks, refinancing, and then going with um River City's newer trucks, and then that way we'll be a part of that two-year buyback program.
14:21
Unidentified And these,
14:22
Unidentified did that make sense?
14:23
Unidentified Yeah. And then those two that and I know we're going to talk more about them too, but those two those are front loaders.
14:29
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° No, these are all side loaders.
14:31
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° All side loaders. Okay.
14:33
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° And again, side loaders being just because with the capacity that we have right now, side loaders usually only take one person to operate. We don't even do the whole having two in there. We have one person in there and that way that frees up
14:44
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° if we're talking about relation to a walk behind, it frees up two other employees. That way we can start back doing asphalt and things like that. Right now we're having to like rotate people out on the truck just because they're spending eight eight to 10 hours at a time. Well, if I don't then they're spending eight to 10 hours on on the truck while behind.
15:01
Unidentified It was estimated at around two 200,000 for both.
15:06
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold Uh it would be 260. They're 130,000 a piece.
15:09
Unidentified Okay. All right. Okay. I look forward to saying that next week.
15:17
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Some I just wanted to add something else. excuse me, to consider about the buyback program is that one of the benefits you get with that is uh is a quarterly um inspections. Yeah. So um
15:30
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold quarterly inspections if anything major comes up in between those times, you just kind of let them know about it ahead of time. That way when they do come for the quarterly inspection, if they know it's something they need to do a major repair on, they already come with that equipment ready to prepare. I mean ready to repair.
15:43
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° Okay. Okay. And these ones that we will be in for six years will still be able to fall under a warranty agreement once we get them. Make sure that they're maintenance. No engine lights on. We can throw a warranty on them. That way we are able to get them um repaired and maintenanced in Memphis or wherever we need to take them during that time. And then
16:01
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° and they're certified being essentially being that they're being that they're from big city um hydraulics essentially getting certified trucks instead of um a possible limit. So yeah. What what size are these trucks?
16:18
Unidentified The the ones that are coming from uh just just the y audience just so
16:26
Unidentified 33.
16:29
Unidentified Wait, sorry. Which one are you talking about? Are you talking about the rental ones or are you talking about the two trucks that we're considering from Louisiana?
16:35
Unidentified Well, I guess both. Uh that's a great question. uh 28 yards.
16:45
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° The ones we currently have at 28 yards.
16:47
Unidentified That is a great question. I'm not aware.
16:50
Unidentified Okay.
16:52
Unidentified Sorry. I said I don't know.
16:54
Unidentified Okay.
16:54
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° These are side load trucks.
16:57
Unidentified Yes.
16:57
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° We'll only require one employee to each truck.
17:02
Unidentified Yes, sir.
17:03
Unidentified I commend you for the nice job you've done, Mr. Mayor.
17:08
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I want to credit the the interim director. And uh uh you've done your homework. That's that's good. Looks good.
17:16
Unidentified Can we afford this project financially?
17:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° The rent the rentals? Yes. The rentals? Yes. And potentially the financed option for the new trucks? Yes. We're And I I don't want to um there's a lot to potentially continue to discuss, but um I know Dr. Miller wanted to bring up I think the the option to potentially still contract out.
17:42
Unidentified Yeah,
17:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield we're at we're essentially at a point right now where um as a city residents or us as a uh municipality, we're going to pay for these vehicles one way or the other. And I I think it's a good time for us to we kind of I think we've gone a while without making and committing to a decision. And I think it's time for us to commit to a decision. Um whether that is potentially contracting out which also will be a four to six month process with getting trucks mirroring kind of what the experience has been looking for quality um trucks that we can have or going the route of purchasing trucks. I mean the money is going to come out one way or the other. And so I
18:24
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold I say I would also like to point to again when we talked about purchasing uh when we talked about purchasing um like a used truck, we did mention that. And so unlike with the um I want to point to the police department, but unlike with the units and everything, um we still plan on using part of the funds from the street department that we are paying their salaries for through the general fund to be able to cover some of this at least until we get into the uh conversation around the budget for next year and everything and putting that in there. And so again, we're only spending about 10,900 on um a rental for now, which again, even if we're just limited, it's still at that $30,000 pot that we talked about for the truck. That's still giving us about $20,000 that we will be able to like make sure that they're the initial payments on those trucks are being made up until end of the year hopefully. Well, maybe not end of the year, but like for the next three to four months. Yeah. And again, it's still more money that we've definitely spent on salaries than $30,000 out of the street fund. So if that if it came down to it, I'm sure the treasurer could attest that that would be a reasonable move of the money to be able to make sure that we're making those payments on those trucks. And I hate to and I and I've heard a few comments around like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but I don't look at it that way just because again in this case Peter owe us a little money and so he's just giving us where he owes and we're using that to pay our bills.
19:50
Unidentified Yeah.
19:52
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Yeah. Well, I I personally still believe we need to con contract this out, but if you feel like this is a solution to our problem, we don't need any excuses why we're not picking up the garbage,
20:08
Unidentified right?
20:09
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Uh so I think contracting it out is we we've done this before, contracted it out, and it was successful years ago. Of course, times change, but I think that's the the best solution to to it. But that's why, you know, maybe at least perhaps when we get ready to look at this the option of purchasing the other two, I think you said from Louisiana, maybe we could also have that that that option as well. the what would these two um even if it's temporary even if it's just a year you know because my my concern about all this is I know we said we're gonna lose money and all this other stuff but I'm just concerned do we had a capacity you know and that's no slam you I think you've done a wonderful job and picking up things but my my question is do we really had a capacity at this point and I'm not saying forever but this point to handle our own trash and I'm and I I don't know the answer to Are sorry, are you referring to like capacity from a manpower perspective or um financial?
21:19
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I think I think maybe financial might have a little bit to do with it, but I think definitely just in manpower.
21:25
Unidentified I think I I'm I just cuz we have a lot of trash issues and that's not that's not and I'm not criticizing anybody. I'm just saying, you know, we might need a little help for a little bit to get over the hump.
21:38
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold I understand. I mean, I just would point back to July. That's my only evidence that I have right now is that like in July when they were fully equipped, we were able to get 100% route completion. Okay. Um using the system that we developed and being able to track the streets and everything. And so
21:52
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° I personally think that we do have the capacity. Um I even brought in two more laborers recently. Um and so like now we are fully staffed on the labor side of things. We might als we should also have one driver coming in which will put us at capped on the budget. And so we're Yeah. And then this would take us out off of the overtime issues and everything. And so I I think we would be stable enough to continue doing operations with the right equipment and doing it the right way.
22:18
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Okay. And I I would add to that an agreement to potentially rent out um a year I think to make it for anybody that's going to seek that option um or seek that opportunity to to contract for the city. I think they'd be looking for for definitely more than a year um to make it worth it for themselves.
22:38
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold Also though, as it relates to increasing capacity though, I think there's al the I have to um allude to some conversations that I've had with the attorney um who's he's tasked me with um FOIA in 20 to 21 cities for their sanitation rates, revenue, expenses, and things like that. So that we can potentially look at seeing if we are even in the right ballpark area. um if there's something that we could do to make sure that we are you know doing every doing the best that we can to get the revenue that we should be getting as a city considering how many people we serve and everything else.
23:13
City Attorney Andre Valley Yes. My my issue that I have I still don't think you all have gotten to a point where you comparing apples to apples. So after the last council meeting when the chief of staff was speaking to me after the last regular council meeting with chief of staff speaking to me I took let's let's take a simple brass tax approach. Let's see what everybody's charging. Let's see what the other contracts say and etc. Because if you just do the raw numbers uh the raw numbers the issue the elephant that's in this room that nobody is addressing is you got to look at the revenue and the rates. If you contract it out, you're likely going to have to increase the rates. If you buy new trucks, you're likely going to have to increase the rates. And what does that look like? That's the conversation that we all have to have. I'm not telling you to do that today, but I'm just saying that's a conversation that everybody going to have to have.
24:01
City Attorney Andre Valley If you look at the numbers, what he's saying, a new sideend loader, they have them in low, brand new, they're like $420,000 a piece. And then the rear end loaders are front loaders are somewhere around 350 360 a piece.
24:16
City Attorney Andre Valley Uh but those are only 28 yards. That's why I was asking what the yardage was. And you look at the raw numbers. You're just looking at how many do you need and what what are you willing to uh to pay as as it relates to contracting. As the mayor said, no contractor wants to come in. They can't get all their profit back in one year. And so that's probably not going to be a vibe officer. you're going to contract it out. You probably going to contract it out for longer than a year. Uh but the issue is we haven't had the actual discussion to see what is the actual cost that we're having to expend as a city on sanitation. So I also asked the chief of staff and said, "Well, let's look at every rental contract that we've done in the past year, excuse me, so we can see what we're paying, what we rented uh from Big Truck Rental as well as the small rentals from the gentleman from Mississippi. His name escapes me right now. But all those contracts and see what your labor is and etc. See what is department costing, what is what is our fuel cost, what what are what are our employees cost and etc. So you can see what's actually happening to the $28 that you're receiving from every household on their or every uh customer on their sanitation or water bill. Once you make that discussion, until you have that discussion, you're not really to have the full discussion. We're constantly creating additional uh payments where you're paying every time we pay this you're pulling it from somewhere that you you really don't have. And as we pull it from somewhere we really don't have. We keep again kicking down the road. Okay. What is the actual cost? When are we going to make the decision to decide what we what we should do and how much we're going to pay? Are the citizens going to have to pay it? If if the citizen gonna have to pay an increase $5, $10, $15, $20, I'm not throwing out any numbers to say that's what you should charge. I'm just saying whatever the increase is, it needs to look at it. If it's going to be a contract, whatever the increase here, we need to know. And that's that's where we are. But we need to pick up the trash.
26:16
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold And whenever I get all that, um, I've came up with a FOIA tracker and everything. Um, like seven of the cities have responded so far. Whenever all of them have or at least a good amount of them have to enough to for us to be able to look at those raw numbers and everything, I'll be sure to disseminate that with the council.
26:34
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Well, I think there's a more nuts and bolts conversation that um Mr. Martin touched on. Uh but for me, it's real loader versus silo loader. And to be fair for everybody who's listening to this conversation, they don't care if we use a rear loader, side loader, top loader, underloader, whatever. They they just want the trash picked up.
26:59
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Um, but it reminds me of this time last year. It was near Labor Day and I was getting calls from sanitation about whether people could go in and work on Labor Day because truck number 55 was not working and truck number 32 was not working. And the thing that those trucks have in common is they're both sideloading trucks. Um, we got behind on garbage right after Labor Day for about a week, week and a half. They finally got truck 55 up and working. It wasn't a week later that it got rear ended and totaled out. Uh, truck 32 was always up and down, up and down. It would run something would happen, they would have to take it back in. So, it was never consistent. Again, the common thing was those were all side loading trucks. The other thing is, and I hear what he's saying about not being able the emails and what's being presented about not being able to pick up trash, but remember when the when 55 got totaled, we contracted our garbage to uh Mr. Cellers to help us pick up garbage and he brought a rearloading truck. And so we had reloading trucks on the road and we didn't get more than a day behind on garbage. I mean, it got it got picked up. So, we've seen it happen before. As a matter of fact, that wasn't Mr. Seller's first trip through Helena, West Helena. He had already been contracted several times before that period of time. He brought his he would bring his truck and the garbage didn't get weeks behind. And so, for me, I I don't necessarily understand the comparison between then and now because we we've been here before. Uh, the other thing is as we talk about these different trucks, I guess I kind of always go back to our financial situation. We're talking about renting another truck for $10,000. Well, we rented trucks in July for $30,000. That's $40,000 that would be gone and we have nothing to show for it. We picked up some trash, but we have nothing to show for it. and going through rentals. I mean, you think about sanitation uh not sanitation department. You think about uh pumps, sewer pumps and all the things that we spent rentals on. We spent rentals with big truck rental
29:17
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) uh back a couple of years ago. We we we had that on our backs when last summer we had to pay it because we got sued uh well, they were threatening to sue us in the state of Florida and uh we had to make a payment plan with them. So, the rentals I'm not in favor of. If there's a purchase option, I don't want us to give. We don't have money to give away. So, if there's a purchase option, I I prefer that we make a purchase. We've been doing hit or miss on sanitation now for nearly a year. When I say hit or miss, I was reading the email chain. I was not at the meeting when the council voted to to rent those three trucks for $30,000. But I read Miss Davis's email when she confirmed that she could be available and her statement was, "If we're going to spend $30,000 on a rental, why don't we purchase a truck?" That was in the email chain. Well, that didn't happen. But if we look back now, and I know there's there's some resistance to a rear-end truck and and I hear the arguments, but we could own another truck at this point. We could own another truck at this point. And so I don't know that we're best served by and I'm hearing two trucks now for $130,000 each, which is $260,000. I've been saying this for a long time. We don't act like we don't have money, people are not going to believe we don't have money. I don't know how we lump $260,000 on four plus million dollars of debt. Uh the police cars were not only a necessity. They literally were down to bare bones. So, we were forced into that situation, but I think we have more options on on trash. Um but that's my spill. Um, if I my eyes were correct on Mr. Martin's email that he sent, we were not going to get a rear end loader option. So, I would simply say uh between the mayor, Mr. Martin, if you're not going to present a rear end loader option, then we're stuck with what's presented to us, the options that we're given. Contrary to popular belief, we don't have purchasing authority. Only you have purchasing authority. And so if you're not going to consider one, then we're stuck with the options that we're given. But I've seen it before. The citizens have seen it before, although they didn't know they were seeing it. It's been done before. Um, I can't see why we're passing up a rear end loader for less cost, no long-term debt. And I keep saying we have if we plan this out, we can look to the future for when we can be able to remedy some of these things in a more permanent matter. But uh I'm not in favor of a rental with nothing to show for it. I'm not in favor of a side loader, but if I'm forced to buy one, then I'll be forced to buy one. That's where I am.
32:30
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold Was that was your What was your Go ahead. said, "Would you mind if I u it was just a couple things that I kind of wanted to respond to. Um I get that last year that the trucks went down. Um I know that you're saying that the commonality was that they were side loaders. I think another commonality that needs to be acknowledged that they were also older. Um they were older than the trucks that we are bringing in. Um and we know that age has a lot to do with the fact that trucks do go down. Um and so that's why I feel a lot more comfortable purchasing trucks that are a lot newer than the ones that we recently have, which was number 55 and 32. Um, the other part of that is yes, when they did go down, we contracted somebody with a walkbehind, but you also have to understand that two things. They're making $25 an hour, a lot more motivated to get that job done. The other part of that is they were additional labor, which means that we weren't having to miss out on other aspects of our job because you have other people who aren't even on our payroll who are doing that, which means that we're not having to spread ourselves thin with the workers that we have. And so I think that should also be acknowledged with that. Um, another part is, um, I mean, I know that you do say we don't have anything to show for spending that, but at the end of the day, we do bring in a hundred,000 to 111,000 a month off of sanitation fees. It's not necessarily our fault, nor do we want to have to pay other bills using the sanitation fees. We would love for that money to be able to go directly to us. We would have something to show for. We also have to show forth the fact that the trash was getting picked up consistently, which is what the people want and which is what they pay for. And so I think that is worth noting that that that we that's what we got out of paying those rental fees. Um yes, I I I did say via email that we were not going to present you all with walkbehind options because no one in our department who has experience with the sanitation department said that a walkbehind made sense to purchase. they they've only ridiculed the fact that the last administration purchased a walkbehind because they felt like it was inefficient. And so that is why I took the the advice of experienced colleagues who said that side loaders made the most sense in July. It showed that side loaders made a lot of sense. We were able to get the job done a lot more efficiently with those side loaders. And that is why I'm in that direction. when even when we were making the decisions to rent those trucks, we didn't have two $130,000 or six year old trucks that were readily available for us to be able to purchase, which is why we did what we had to do to get through July. Now, this is presenting itself, which is why we're looking at it now. If we would have had this option back then with a good financing option, we would have presented those options then. The goal is not to waste money. And so, it's not that we're we're we chose to push this stuff off. We're going with the best deal that has presented itself. Now, this wasn't the case in July. And so, that's why we're that's why we're going the way that we are. It's it's not to just not present you all with y'all's best options. It's also to make sure that the people who are going to be operating this and the department that it's going to be within, it fits the the job that needs to be done with them. And so I I completely get where you're coming from, but I do I do want to say this isn't just us being like just stubborn as much as again these this is this is what's coming off as the best fit based on what we see in the day-to-day operations that's going on in the street and sanitation department.
35:55
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) And and I want to add to that, I think for me personally, um I've sat with the chief of staff as he's done a little bit of the research and sat on the meetings. Um I don't I'm not anti walkbehind so much. I think that there are certain place as we looked at the rates for different cities. Um something I've learned is that every teach their own like what's going to be best for a city is going to be what's best for them particularly down to rates equipment that are being used that's being used. And for us I I concur that the sidearms have worked well with the new equipment that the new ones that we've used. Um it also increases our capacity. I I know that we have to be able to put our street and sanitation department in a position um to deal with potholes, to deal with signage, to deal with uh curb sides, to deal with ditches. We have to increase our capacity to do those things and having a side loader, I think, puts us in a position to do that. So, I I do feel like this this particular type of equipment for the street sanitation department allows us to turn the corner to focus on some other neglected areas that we that we need to focus on too.
37:08
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) Well, to to if I can briefly um when I say we got nothing out of it, I mean we spent $30,000 and at the end of that period, that 30-day period, we don't own the truck. Truck has to go back. The $30,000 is gone. Yeah, we picked up some garbage, but we still got to continue to pick up garbage. So, we don't have an investment in something that we retain is gone. That $30,000 could have been used for a truck. Now, to be clear, until about 2:00 today, we had a truck from somewhere in Michigan that was at a cost of $29,000. And so, that's what we had talked about. And we got this information at about 2 or 2:30 whatever uh that was sent to us. So, and why am I saying that? I'm saying that because the the target the goalpost keeps moving on this and you may not see it that way, but we started out with a rental. Then we went to a side loader that turned out to be not so good. Then we went to another side loader. And then for us, we had some new information given to us at two o'clock today. And we're asked to to consider this one is a $10,000 expense, which is another rental. And I've kind of watched this entire thing in slow motion from sanitation. Um, excuse me. And when I say I watched it in slow motion, this has been playing out since last year. when and it's difficult for the council to be rushed information and given something different week by week by week and to feel comfortable making really big expenses when you don't have all the information or you just get it and I'll tell you that because I think it's always should be a good practice if you have a big expense get it to the council as soon as possible don't wait till the meeting uh like that police car ordeal that We went through, we got the police car information at the table. A $300,000 purchase. It took us three meetings to get past that. But I've watched this sanitation play out in slow motion because truck 55 was was a total loss last year. And we had people coming to the meetings last year. We didn't even know how much money we were going to get. We had people coming to the meetings last year to make presentations to us, so we could do our homework, so we could do our due diligence, so that when we found out what we were going to get, we could make an informed decision. And all through last year, there was no action on the truck. All through this spring, there was no action on the truck. And so, we get to this point And I look at at I look at it like this. Um buying used equipment and this that you presented to us is certainly newer. I I forget the year 2024 2025. So it's certainly newer. So there's a higher probability that it's quality equipment than if it's got 100,000 miles on it. I I'll agree with you on that on that point. Uh, but for the council, I won't even I won't try to speak for everybody else. I've seen this going through all of these these loops, these hoops, and it just feels like I won't say it feels like we should have purchased a truck a long time ago. We should have purchased a truck a long time ago, and we wouldn't be against it. we would not have spent another $30,000. We wouldn't be talking about spending another $10,000. And we have to address these issues in a timely manner. But also, you need to get the information out as quickly as possible so that the council can consider it. People, there's people around the table who like to go and ask questions and do their homework as well. Um,
41:21
Unidentified if I may,
41:21
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold no, if if I may, um, again, one of these got sent out. I got one of these quotes for the rental at 1258. I got another one at 128. I didn't get the the final information on the trucks that I'm telling you that I'm not going to even put in front of y'all until Tuesday, which means that when I get the information from Miss Ramsey, who who is already scheduled to call the financer tomorrow. You're going to have time for the information. I'm not asking you about approving those trucks today. I'm asking about the rental today. And again, I didn't get those rental agreements until
41:55
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold 1:50 today. And you can check my call log. I've been I've been I've been forcing these people to get this out as early as I can because I know y'all don't like receiving information late. Um, and so again, it's not that we're trying to I'm not trying to bombard y'all with information at the table. I've been working all day to get this information. I've been working for weeks and months to try to get some trucks in front of y'all. And again, it hasn't been something where I've tried to necessarily rush it because I wanted to make sure we were making the best purchase and not just going to grab a walk behind from Memphis. And so again, I I'm I I'm not trying to pull anything to make this happen fast and don't give you guys time to to think about it. Again, even when we tried to do the Memphis and the first Memphis and Michigan trucks that I put in front of y'all, I gave eight days. And I know you said that y'all like to do your homework, but in those eight days, I did not hear from the majority of the council with any questions and or followup in regards to those trucks. And so, understand that like again, I'm trying to get this out as fast as I can. And even when I have gotten out earlier, it's not like I've gotten a lot of feedback or questions ahead of time and then we get in here and then I get all the questions and the comments and everything else in regards to concerns that we have about it. And so, again, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to pull anything. Again, all I'm here for today is to see if you guys will be willing to do is rent the trucks for a month. And between tomorrow and Tuesday, you guys be provided with all the information I can get you guys in terms of how much you'll be paying on those trucks, the specs on it, everything else you guys need. And if you got any questions between tomorrow and Tuesday, you have my number. I put it on every email that I send you all. So again, I'm it's this is nothing where I'm trying to bombard anybody with any information at the table.
43:36
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° So Mr. out of these out of these two.
43:39
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold The only difference is one is 10,400. They're going to drop from Sherwood. The other one is 10,900. We will pick it up from Memphis. BTR is the 10,900. That's from Memphis. Um, Premiere is the 10,400. That's from Sherwood.
43:56
Unidentified And then is there do you have preference on you? I mean,
43:58
Unidentified I don't I mean, yeah, I I don't.
44:03
Unidentified We've read it from BTS before, haven't we? Yeah, we rented from BTR before. I'm not sure depending on how far I go back. We premiered in Yeah.
44:12
Unidentified And we we've done we rent it before from this place in Sherwood. It's River City.
44:18
Unidentified I'm not from Well, we've purchased trucks from River City before and they're a partner of River City.
44:21
Unidentified Okay. But we've never ran.
44:26
Unidentified I think I think really with what we have in front of us, I think we either pick one pick one, vote it up or vote it down. And But I guess I have a financial question and Mr. Turner is not here but Miss Ramsey is here. Uh would you like to weigh in on this conversation about money
44:44
Unidentified about this truck?
44:46
Unidentified Yes. Yes, ma'am.
44:48
Unidentified Well, I think that as a council that we're oblig you're obligated to get the residential garbage up as quickly and as efficiently as possible. this is a health issue with it staying out so long and until you make a decision on a whether you're going to buy or what you're going to get. Uh rental is looks like your only option in order to get it up or either you're going to have to contract with another vendor to come in and start dumping it for us
45:21
Unidentified and and yes ma'am I understand these are the options that we have but my question is about money. Are are you going to be able to pay it? I I think what what Mr. Turner and the mayor had discussed I think y'all have we could do it out of the uh the money from the street fund that we use that the treasurer bills for their payroll and you're only maybe talking 10,000 for one month.
45:47
Unidentified Okay.
45:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Um I I mean I if you want to know my thoughts we can't afford them. I I agree that this is a state of emergency to make sure we can get the trash picked up. The my my hesitation with um or not even hesitation, I think the approach is a better word. My approach with wanting us to purchase trucks was tied to um my preference in trying to make sure we had a director that was knowledgeable about trucks. Um I think that sometimes it's important to acknowledge if you don't know something. And I think that knowing what's a good truck to purchase should rest in the hands of somebody that's driven trucks, um, fixed trucks, own trucks, and so even this conversation around the two trucks that we potentially purchase if that if the if the decision comes to it next Tuesday, it's been uh conversations that we've had with certified owners and certified mechanics and people in our department. So I think that the right people need to make that decision and those voices and I think you agree councilor Nephil that you said you had we've had people um have presentations on those trucks and so this is actually one of those uh same such companies if we were to go the route of purchasing but
47:03
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° sir I I I agree with what you just said but we're doing that thing right now I mean
47:10
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° we may not be truck operators or mechanics but we've purchased trucks before So people around this table know the questions to ask. In addition to that, we had people over in sanitation and what we're saying today is we're relying on the people over in sanitation to tell us what we should and shouldn't do. So we're right at the same point that we were at last year with or without a permanent director. We're doing the same exercise that we did last year or could have done last year. And so it's water under the bridge now. Uh we didn't do it. uh we still have to I I agree that we have to purchase a truck. My my entire discussion has not been about whether we need to purchase a truck. It's about the route that we need to go. And so uh to the extent that that the options that I would take are not an option at this table, then I'll take one of the ones that's presented to me. I believe in stating my peace and making my record, as they say. And so that's that's what I'm going. I think I think that uh um you know there's a a better financial option for the city, but if that's not what you want to pursue, you get the final say. So
48:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I w I welcome and not just council me, but I just want to as we talk about purchases and I I see Councilman Dr. Miller wants to um say something, but as we talk about purchases, I welcome each of you to come into the office and present an option that you think is doable or um justifiable. The door is open. You are all invited. Um, and you're welcome to share those thoughts and opinions and we we ask you to. So,
48:46
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) what what uh ordinance Which one are you recommending for? Yeah. Is that for the recommend
49:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield cheaper and delivery included? I I agree.
49:08
Unidentified It's in Arkansas and even though it's hour
49:13
Unidentified that's the
49:14
Unidentified longer. It's in Arkansas. That was my ration.
49:17
Unidentified Would that be here tomorrow if we were to move forward with the Sherwood option?
49:25
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. Sword number 16, Madam Clerk.
49:31
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Yes, sir.
49:35
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) Are y'all are y'all okay with the Sherwood Premier City, River City, or do y'all have for BTS?
49:47
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Um, I'm not okay with either one of them, but whichever one y'all pick is the one I'm going to go with.
49:51
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I got you, Miss Miller. Which one?
49:55
Unidentified Sherwood. Sure. What
49:57
Unidentified days?
49:58
Councilwoman Monica Davis (Ward 3) That's fine.
50:06
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° Okay. Joe. Yeah. But that's not going to happen now. Just like Sandy said, even if we look at that, which that's what that's where I feel right now. We got to get the trash picked up.
50:21
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2) I know. Four weeks in my house picked up. Well, we'll have a new truck. You make sure if it stops by, you better make sure it stops by.
50:32
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° I don't mean to laugh, but
50:34
Unidentified I'm serious. Yeah, it's frustrating when your crash didn't get picked up.
50:38
Unidentified I guess let me ask a question to make sure I understand before we get too far down the road. Yes, sir.
50:42
Unidentified You're talking about renting a truck. This is for 30 days.
50:45
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° 28 days.
50:47
Unidentified What happens in 28 days?
50:49
Unidentified Well,
50:50
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° I want to say what happens now. And what's happening now? But you going to bring another option on you bring an option on Tuesday.
50:56
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° Exactly.
50:57
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° Along with the the vendor the vendor option.
51:00
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° Yeah. My I mean sounds like it might even
51:04
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° if if everything is presented to you all tomorrow and you guys make an informed decision on Tuesday if you approve the two trucks, one truck, whichever one you decide to go with. Um either way it goes, they're on the ground and they were I was assured they might be able to make it here within a week or two. And so 28 days we'll have we'll be taking one back and we'll still have two or one that we purchased potentially
51:31
Unidentified if there's any way and I I'm just asking is there any way just for the sake of a good conversation
51:41
Unidentified can you also bring some sort of a estimate for a rear loader?
51:47
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Sure. Um, well, I'm not going to say sure because I don't know if I can find one with a good fit on me if you can.
51:55
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Yeah. I'm like, uh, I'll try.
51:57
Unidentified Okay.
51:58
Unidentified I'll try.
51:59
Unidentified Okay.
52:01
Unidentified For real loader, I knew.
52:06
Unidentified The rear loader. Those are the ones that the guys walk behind, right?
52:10
Unidentified Okay.
52:10
Unidentified I had to do my research. I trust.
52:15
Unidentified Okay. I'm respecting what the what the chief says. I don't know enough about either one of them. So, I'll be doing my research this weekend. I don't know the difference between
52:27
Unidentified Okay.
52:27
City Attorney Andre Valley So, what's the language? Go ahead.
52:30
City Attorney Andre Valley Uh to suspend rules place orders number 16 2026 on it third reading reading the title only.
52:40
Unidentified Okay. I'm going to make the motion first. Uh I make that motion and then you can do your discussion. No, go ahead. You make a dec. Well, let me see first cuz I might not have a second.
52:48
Unidentified You got to have a second.
52:49
Unidentified I second.
52:49
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead. Discussion.
52:53
Unidentified The trucks that we're going to get, are they going to be diesel or are they going to be gas?
52:57
Unidentified Diesel.
52:59
Unidentified Diesel. Diesel.
53:01
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° Both of them are diesel.
53:03
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° All right. Do we have any contractors that do we have anybody that's mechanic can work on these trucks? They're going to be under. We will also purchase a warranty to we would also purchase a warranty to where if they if there is any major fixes that need to happen, they'll go to River City in Memphis
53:22
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° or they send a mobile team.
53:26
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° Yeah. Or Yes. Sometimes they send somebody down. That's happened a couple times too with the walk
53:30
Unidentified and that what was the terminology? That's the I'm saying lease to own but that's not the right terminology. What was that term you you said for that type of purchase purchasing?
53:40
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° Well, not the buyback. That's this isn't the buyback. The buyback will be that B option I was telling you about where they rotate every two years. Okay.
53:46
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° But because these are in that sixth year, which is when they usually sell them out,
53:51
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° we're getting we're getting two of those.
53:53
Unidentified Gotcha.
53:53
Unidentified Yeah.
53:54
Unidentified So, these trucks only six years old or or younger. Okay.
54:03
Unidentified On this day, some of mechanics Do we have to send the trucks up there or are they going to send somebody down to work on how how's this going to work? It
54:13
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° usually depends on the type of issue.
54:15
Unidentified The what now?
54:16
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° It usually depends on the type of issue.
54:19
Unidentified The type of what?
54:20
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° The type of issue.
54:21
Unidentified The type of issue when the warranty is going to cover what?
54:27
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° Depends on what we pay for. Anytime you deal with hydraulics, you going to have a problem. I can tell you
54:35
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° going to have a problem. I know about that.
54:37
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) You got that sidearm, you you you going to have a problem.
54:42
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) I mean, that'd be something we can evaluate. Miss Miller, she's saying she asked him asked the chief officer to to bring an option for a new one with a back loader. So, we'll have that option, too. So,
54:52
Unidentified you know, we can look it up. We can explore all of those options. Are you is that correct?
54:55
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° Yeah, it's front loader, back loader, whichever one it is. That is not the sidearm.
55:01
Chief of Staff Kevin Martin-Arnold° Yeah, back roller. So, yeah, she was
55:03
Streets & Sanitation (interim director)° both use hydraulics. The rear loader just has lease hydraulic hydraulic components.
55:08
Unidentified Gotcha. Okay.
55:10
Unidentified Well, mayor, I hadn't gotten my question. Are they going to come down to us or do we have to take them up to them?
55:15
Mayor Joseph Whitfield It it depends on what the issue would be. If if it's an issue if it's an issue that requires them to do maintenance in their shop, um they will come and pick up the truck. if it's an issue that they can fix literally on our yard or even roadside, they have a mobile mechanic team that they can send. And so that is um yeah, that that that's hopefully just a quick direct answer to that maintenance. So is there any other discussion? We have a a motion in a second. Is there any other discussion um before we uh read the title only? Uh, madam clerk, will you call the role?
55:55
Roll call Roll-call vote — Monica Davis: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Maxine Miller: yes.
56:22
City Attorney Andre Valley Yes. Ordinance number 16, 2026 an ordinance waving compared to bend in the courts of Arkansas code enter 36 section 14 58303 authorizes the mayor to enter the contract of purchase of certain purchase and rental certain property for the city of Haw for other related purpose. There needs to be a motion to adopt.
56:41
Roll call Roll-call vote — Joe St. Columbia: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes.
56:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Thank you all.
57:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We need a motion to pass the emergency close.
57:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Is there a second?
57:08
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Don Etherly: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Joe St. Columbia: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes.
57:19
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes. Um do want to say I think I think that this was the right thing to do today to get this. Um is there any other discussion in terms of trash? We can expect uh new material ideally tomorrow but definitely before this weekend on um what those invoices or quotes will look like um for any purchases that can be talked about next week.
57:40
Unidentified Hey Mr. Mayor,
57:41
Unidentified I just want to go ahead.
57:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Go ahead.
57:43
City Attorney Andre Valley I just want to remind you two things. Sanitation rates have only been raised twice in 20 years. So, as you're looking at it, I know that's not a popular discussion to have at this time, but it's one of those things that I think it's going to be a necessary discussion,
57:55
City Attorney Andre Valley and it's one of those things that you all need to think about as you discuss it Tuesday.
58:01
Unidentified Um, Matt, is it is it do you I'm not I'm asking for a reason. Do you do you have help putting together your packets? Say you've been doing a bad job. I have a reason why I'm asking.
58:11
Unidentified Uh, I mean,
58:13
Unidentified does he have help putting together his package for his for our meeting? Uh uh sometimes I I do most of them. Chief of staff does them. Um just something that has to be done and we get it done.
58:24
Unidentified Y'all y'all might want to get some help. And I'm not saying you're doing a bad job. The reason why is like for instance he he was making the comment about numbering the pages and stuff. I know y'all don't us and usually I do that.
58:35
Unidentified I'm usually kind to do that cuz y other daily things to do.
58:39
Unidentified So just help you get somebody to help you to do that.
58:42
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Okay. All right.
58:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Is there a motion to adjurnn?
58:45
Unidentified Yes. Second meeting. Byebye.
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.