The monthly city council meeting was called to order by Mayor Jason Akers on Tuesday, March 28. In attendance were council members Clarissa Pace, Michael James, Al Peer, Mark Tiner, Craig McRae, Mike Wigley, and Claudia Hartness.
The meeting began by discussing unfinished business regarding the sale of Fire Station No. 3 to Drew County Office of Emergency Management.
Mayor Jason Akers stated that the counties offer to purchase the facility was less than what the property appraised for, so an agreement had been made for “in-kind” work to be done by the county to off set the monetary difference. The council members were in agreement and approved a resolution authorizing the sale.
In new business, the council was presented information regarding Water Well No. 4. Logan Scherm with Ideal Pump Service was present to explain the preventative maintenance work that needs to be done for Well No. 4.
After some discussion by the council, a resolution was passed to advertise bids for the work required to fix the Well.
The meeting agenda was amended and three nuisance properties were added along with a proposed change to Ordinance No. 794, the alcoholic beverage tax.
In 2015, Ordinance No. 794 was accepted by the City Council of Monticello and set rules for businesses that would sell alcohol.
One of the requirements for obtaining a license from the Arkansas Alcohol Beverage Control Board is that the city in which the business plans to operate, must grant a permit with permission to sell alcohol. The way the original ordinance was written needed some “language tightening” according to City Attorney Whit Barton, to ensure that businesses that are selling alcohol renew their permit with the City each year or be fined. An emergency was declared and the rules requiring three readings of the ordinance were suspended. The council voted unanimously to pass the amendments to Ordinance No. 794 which will go into effect immediately.
Next on the agenda was a discussion with Chad Murphy, owner of Pine Haven Trailer Park, regarding tying in to the City’s sewer system.
Pine Haven is already connected to City water but due to property easements, the homes can’t be connected to the city sewer lines without proper permitting that must be applied for by the City of Monticello.
It was noted that Murphy was funding all costs associated with this project and has agreed to sign a pre-annexation agreement. With the council permission, Akers will apply for the permit to begin the process of getting Pine Haven connected to city sewer.
Taking care of some minor items on the agenda, Marty Davis was appointed to the Parks Commission to fill the open seat left by long time member, B.J. Jackson.
A resolution to allow the Monticello Fire Department to apply for a $50,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture was presented and accepted by the council. This grant would go towards the new fire truck which is being purchased.
A resolution was presented to the council which would grant permission to the Monticello Police Department to apply for a Rural Crime Reduction Grant in the amount of $96,000. This grant will be used to purchase the equipment and software needed to retrieve digital data for mobile devices. Currently, there are no agencies near Monticello who have this technology, and this causes major delays when investigating crimes. The city plans to reach and and try to partner with neighboring agencies. These agencies could either pay MPD per use, or they could split the costs of future subscription costs as updates to the system happen. The resolution was approved by the council after a short discussion.
The council was presented with a resolution to amend the budget to allow the city to make a payment towards the city’s trash removal provider. This would involve cashing out a Certificate of Deposit that the city has, and paying off the amount they are behind. The council voted to approve the resolution, and discussed further options to prevent this situation moving forward. It was noted that the sanitation system is always over budget due to the fees charged not being enough to cover the services provided. Mayor Akers stated that some things would have to change.
Akers added, “We want to have a balance to where we don’t charge our citizens more than we need to operate, but we also shouldn’t be scraping pennies to pay our bills.”
The council also heard resolutions on three nuisance properties. The council voted to act on two of these resolutions, but granted a 90 day extension to the third to allow the owners to take care of the situation.
With nothing further on the agenda, Mayor Akers gave his State of the City address. Arkansas state law requires the mayor to give this address within the first 90 days of the year.
Akers opened his address by stating that the City of Monticello is fiscally sound. He also stressed that the citizens of Monticello can expect to receive quality work and services in a timely manner, and that the city would not do business with entities who could or would not provide this. The mayor discussed several projects that are ongoing, and mentioned some that have come to completion recently. Akers said that the mayor’s office is examining policies and procedures. They are altering, editing, and removing whenever necessary, or when those policies do not conform to efficiency, modernization, equality or effectiveness.
Akers added, “The old ways aren’t working anymore, adaptation and new approaches are the only way to move our city forward.”
