The Monticello City Council closed out 2023 with their December meeting on Thursday, December 14. Monticello Mayor Jason Akers called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. There was a roll call that found all Aldermen present except for Clarissa Pace. Mayor Akers asked Joe Burgess to give the invocation and then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The council approved the minutes from the November meeting and found that there was no unfinished business to tend to.
The first item on the agenda under new business was to approve a resolution that would allow the city to sell scrap metal. The city has accumulated significant amounts of scrap metal from various demolitions, unusable equipment, and other various sources. This scrap metal needs to be disposed of properly, and in a way that is beneficial to Monticello.
The resolution would allow the city to sell the materials to the company that offers the highest price and will be able to pick the scrap up where it currently lies. All proceeds from the sales would be deposited into the City General Fund. The resolution passed unanimously.
The second, and final, item on the agenda was to receive an update on the city’s sidewalk projects from Tim Lemons of Lemons Engineering. Mayor Akers said that he has attempted to have Lemons appear for an update for several months. Akers added that these projects date back to 2019 and 2020 and cover extending sidewalks from US Highway 278 down to Old Warren Road, and the other project would extend sidewalks from Jordan Park to the library.
“First, I want to start by apologizing to this governing body, to the mayor, and the council,” Lemons said. “When we started these projects I really thought we were gonna be further along, or possibly even finished by this time. There have been some delays that have been encountered with the highway department. I cannot apologize for them, but the delays that have been encountered by me and my staff, I can apologize for those. As the saying goes, ‘Life gets in the way’. We’ve had some things happen in our family the last couple of years that have led to a lot of changing, but we’re over those, and trying to move forward and get things finished up, but I just wanted to formally apologize to you all.”
The project that would run down US Highway 425 S, has received environmental clearance, and the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) has accepted the city’s right-of-way certification. The only thing left to clear up is some remarks and recommendations left by ARDOT’s reviewing engineer. The engineer who started on the project has left for a new job, and Lemons is scheduled to meet with the new engineer in early January. The main issue is that ARDOT wants to include a three-foot grass buffer between the curb and any new sidewalk construction. Lemons said that he will fight them on this as all of the city’s current sidewalks butt up to the curb, and adding the buffer would cause the city to incur unnecessary additional costs. Lemons said that he hopes to get approval to move forward at the January meeting and put the job out for bid in the spring.
“For clarification, the engineering agreement was signed on November 16, 2019. On May 5, 2020, Lemons Engineering received payment in full for both projects,” Mayor Akers said. “On May 26, 2020, the city received a letter from Lemons Engineering that said that final plans were at ARDOT and were being reviewed.”
On the Jordan Park extension project, there are right-of-way issues. Lemons has not been able to get Drew County Title to help, as they are currently swamped with jobs.
“Wherever y’all tell me to go to get the title work done, I’ll be more than glad to talk to them,” Lemons said.
There are approximately 25 properties along the proposed route where the city doesn’t have an existing easement. The owners of these properties would need to grant permission for the sidewalk to run where it needs to.
City Attorney Whit Barton was asked if any of the title companies in surrounding counties would be able to do the work. He said that they should be able to. Barton also suggested using the EDGE software that the city has to find parcel numbers and owners to expedite the process.
“I don’t want us to get off track. I really feel like the issues that are coming up are unfortunate, but they’re not our problems,” Mayor Akers stated. “We’ve paid $51,000 for sidewalks and we’re haggling over whether or not to use EDGE software to find right-of-ways. We need to know when this is going to get done. We need our sidewalks or we need our money. The city shouldn’t be getting off track on who’s going to do what, or if Mr. Barton is going to do this or that. We need to know when this is getting done.”
Lemons said that he will be providing the city with a monthly progress report moving forward.
“I think that will be a requirement of the council moving forward,” Alderman Mark Tiner said.
“This is our last council meeting of the year,” Mayor Akers noted. “I want to thank you all for being here. It’s good to see you all. Thank you to all of the council members. Thank you for the work you do and your diligence in making the city run smoothly and run on track and continue to move forward.”
With no further business for the year, the Monticello City Council adjourned until 2024.
