Call to Order
Mayor Lisa Hackett called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. A quorum was present.
I. Approval of Minutes
The first item on the agenda was the minutes of the July 10, 2017 city council meeting.
David made a motion to wave the reading of the July 10, 2017 city council meeting minutes. Margaret seconded the motion. All Councilmen in attendance voted in favor. Motion passed.
Ginny reported that it had been Councilmember Cook that had brought up the loose chickens, not her. David made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 10, 2017 city council meeting with the above requested correction. Ginny seconded the motion. All Councilmen in attendance voted in favor. Motion passed. Melissa will make the requested correction.
Mayor Hackett introduced Andrea Woods, candidate for the 20th Judicial Circuit Judge. Ms. Woods addressed the council. She stated that the position had a 6(six) year term. Judge Mike Murphy had resigned leaving 2(two) years of the term left. She stated she was running to complete those two years. She told about herself as well as her experience for the position. The election will be held May 22, 2018. Mayor Hackett thanked her for coming.
II. Unfinished Business
The first item of unfinished business was the proposed trash dumping resolution. David reported that he had a draft of the proposed resolution prepared. He will get a copy to Melissa for the council to review and discuss it at the September meeting.
III. Mayor Updates
Bids received for the additional street work needed discussed at the July council meeting were passed out to the council for review. The bids were received from Laland Huggins Construction and were as follows:
John Henry Road – Concrete repair and 4 hours trackhoe use – $2,895.
Valley Drive – 8 loads SB-2 gravel and 12 hours 550 dozer use – $3,080.
E. 1st Street – 1 load SB-2 gravel and 1-hour backhoe use – $345.
Hauling of cold mix – $1,200
The price of the cold mix from Delta Asphalt is $85 per ton. The City is purchasing 1 load, part of which will be used to repair the dip on Lightfoot Drive. Mayor Hackett also reported that some of the streets rights-of-way needed mowing and the ditches cleaned out. Randall stated that he believed the county had mowed the sides of the streets in the past. Mayor Hackett will contact Judge Hooper about this in the morning. David recommended contracting with Mr. Huggins to patch the various potholes in the city with the cold mix. Randall made a motion to accept the bids received from Laland Huggins Construction and have Mr. Huggins clean out the ditches. Ginny seconded the motion. All councilmembers in attendance voted in favor. Motion passed.
Mayor Hackett reported that the bid, in the amount of $222,000 for the AR State Aid project had been awarded and work is set to begin in late September or early October. Randall asked what amount will the City be required to pay. Mayor Hackett stated there was no cost to the City.
IV. New Business.
The first item under new business as proposed Resolution 2017-07 supporting Senate bill 140 of 2017 concerning internet and online sales tax collection fairness. Ginny made a motion to adopt Resolution 2017-07. David seconded the motion. All councilmembers in attendance voted in favor. Motion passed.
Mayor Hackett presented a letter received from Community Water System regarding the 2(two) water tank overflow events that occurred at the tank located by the school. The letter stated that CWS monitoring data indicated that the water overflowing out of the tank was at an average rate of 54 gallons per minute. The 2(two) events combined lasted a total of 17 hours. Based on the current contracted wholesale water rate of $2.75 per 1,000 gallons the Shirley Water Department will be refunded $151.47. Larry Dollar, Shirley water superintendent, reported that the bill received for water covering the overflow period was an estimated $1,000 higher than normal rendering a refund of $151.47 unacceptable. CWS General Manager Tim Shaw will be contacted about the matter.
Mayor Hackett reported that since a representative from Community Water began riding around with Larry inspecting the city system it has been determined that the meters within the city are not reading right. The meters throughout the city ranged in age from 6 months to 40 years old. 6 out of 75 meters were found to be accurate. The estimated life expectancy of a water meter is 10 years and the cost of a new analog meter was roughly $63 and a digital meter was roughly $150. Larry had estimated the cost to replace all the meters would run about $10,000. Randall stated that the amount of water that goes through the master meter should be equal to the amount of water going through each individual meter. It is estimated that the department is losing an estimated 12% of water, meaning the City of Shirley is picking up 12% of the cost of water used in the city. The current amount money in the water departments budget could not afford to replace 75% of its meters. Larry estimated that after the death of longtime Mayor John Clark, Jr., the City of Shirley’s former administrations had borrowed and used $100,000 from the water department and only repaid a portion of the funds back to the department twice since 2004. Randall stated that, whether the city continues running its water department, a schedule for changing out meters needs to be put in place. This matter will be addressed at the September council meeting.
Mayor Hackett announced that 2(two) truckloads of junk and debris had been hauled off from the old Bank of Shirley structure to date and $80 was raised from the “save the bank” sale earlier this month. More fundraisers to “save the bank” are planned to be scheduled.
IV Adjournment
With no other items on the agenda, David made a motion to adjourn. Ginny seconded the motion. All councilmembers voted in favor. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Next meeting: September 11, 2017
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Worthing
Recorder/Treasurer